- Post score: 9
- #1
My first trip to Africa was a stunner. Finished up with 5 Leopards in three days. Took more bird images than I expected.
What I learned as a rookie is that the sun and animals cooperate as my two Hooligan Bengal cats at home. The land is theirs. Was interesting to note that our tracker was more afraid of elephants than the cats. The Z9 did great. I would have never gotten some of the shots with the Z5 which is used mostly for people and events. Animal eye detect was hit and miss on FW3. I attribute that to either lack of color contrast, distance or low light. Crop mode was great to have when animals were far. I had that set to L-fn1 on my Z100-400 which I used the vast majority of the time. A longer lens would have been great for the smaller birds, but for the mammals wasn't necessary.
I never really felt in fear of the animals even though elephants approached the vehicle and in one place we tracked Rhino and Cheetah on foot. In one Leopard sighting the Maxim male had a kill in a tree and was on the ground resting. When we first approached he did snarl a bit. It's his land of course and he is less habituated than some of the others. Truly a magical experience.
This Senegal Bush male is known for his tattered ears after many brawls.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
What I learned as a rookie is that the sun and animals cooperate as my two Hooligan Bengal cats at home. The land is theirs. Was interesting to note that our tracker was more afraid of elephants than the cats. The Z9 did great. I would have never gotten some of the shots with the Z5 which is used mostly for people and events. Animal eye detect was hit and miss on FW3. I attribute that to either lack of color contrast, distance or low light. Crop mode was great to have when animals were far. I had that set to L-fn1 on my Z100-400 which I used the vast majority of the time. A longer lens would have been great for the smaller birds, but for the mammals wasn't necessary.
I never really felt in fear of the animals even though elephants approached the vehicle and in one place we tracked Rhino and Cheetah on foot. In one Leopard sighting the Maxim male had a kill in a tree and was on the ground resting. When we first approached he did snarl a bit. It's his land of course and he is less habituated than some of the others. Truly a magical experience.
This Senegal Bush male is known for his tattered ears after many brawls.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
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