Photography

There is a huge amount of information on the internet and in books about photography and especially taking pictures on safari. The old adage of a picture tells a story of a thousand words is often true and we know that you will want to capture some great images to help preserve memories of your trip and to share with friends and family back at home. This article gives a few basic tips and recommendations for what to bring to help this.

Firstly it is important to say that you don't have to invest a small fortune in brand new gear in order to get some nice snaps you will love to flick through again and again. But at the same time the amazing images of Africa and its wildlife that are beamed into our homes in BBC and National Geographic documentaries are likely to be beyond what most of us can manage to get ourselves - these shots often take literally months of planning and work in the field to get. What is important is that you are familiar with the operation of the camera you intend to use as wildlife encounters can be over in seconds. We certainly don't want anyone to miss the action due to studying the buttons on the camera instead!

Today's digital cameras range from point-and-shoot type compacts through superzoom compacts, compact system cameras and up to full blown digital SLRs (dSLR). What also generally follows the same continuum is image quality and the degree of control you can exercise over the image.

Compacts

While a point-and-shoot will be fine for candid snaps around the lodge or to grab basic landscape views it won't deliver stunning wildlife images. Equally the small image sensors place a significant limit on image quality and as a result you won't be able to enlarge the final shot very much (either by cropping parts of the image or printing larger). The lag time between pressing the shutter button and the image being recorded can also mean missing the action. Yet on the plus side their light weight and small size means you will rarely be without it and thus won't miss an opportunity for a picture. This is further enhanced by the relative lack of user controls meaning less time playing with settings and more time taking pictures!

Next we must consider the zoom available and here a note of caution is important. Far too many manufacturers advertise amazing sounding zoom ranges for their cameras but these don't always correlate with the actual "reach" of the lens. What they are doing is dividing the maximum by the minimum focal length to get a zoom factor, whereas what most people actually think of by zoom is really just the maximum focal length - how much closer the camera seems to make the subject of the picture appear. To find this out you need to look for the 35mm equivalent focal length measurements for the camera quoted by the manufacturer. To illustrate this let's look at two theoretical examples:

Camera A is quoted as having a 50-200mm reach in 35mm terms, which gives it a zoom of 200 / 25 = 4x

Camera B is quoted as having a 10-100mm reach in 35mm terms, but this is a zoom of 100 / 10 = 10x

It is clear from the example above that although camera B seems initially to have a better zoom, in reality camera A makes the action seem closer as its reach is superior (200mm v 100mm).

This brings us on to so-called compact superzooms. These cameras are all-in-one and do not have any interchangeable lenses, although they do tend to offer some control over the image taking itself. Their sensors may be slightly better than some other compacts but largely they are the same. What is different is the effective reach, often around the 700-800mm mark in 35mm terms. This is well into the range at which most people will need something to steady the lens to avoid camera shake in the final image and certainly enough for grabbing some nice close up pictures of wildlife. However the compromise remains with image quality due to the small sensors limitations. Recent examples of this breed of cameras are the Fujifilm HS20EXR, Panasonic Lumix DMZ-FZ100 and the Canon PowerShot SX30IS.

Compact System and dSLRs

These two types of cameras have interchangeable lenses that can open up a range of possibilities in user control over the resulting image. However this comes at a cost - prices are higher, weights increase, and the level of knowledge required to make use of all these features rises. Compact system cameras are a halfway house between compacts and dSLRs. They try to preserve the size and weight advantages of the former but move towards the image quality and user controls of the latter. Examples include the Pansonic Lumix G series (and other micro four-thirds cameras) and the Sony Nex series. Many of these cameras also offer HD video recording.

The image quality versus a compact is a huge step up and their speed of focusing, shutter lag and low-light performance is also superior - all very important benefits for wildlife photography where animals are often moving and seen at dawn and dusk. One limitation is the relatively small range of lenses for some types as compact system cameras are a relatively new addition to the market. This means there is a lack of "fast" lenses (with a small f number for better low light performance) designed specifically for these cameras, although with adaptors it is often possible to use older camera lenses (but they will be manual focus only). Although the reduced size and weight versus a dSLR is useful, and the image quality versus a compact is certainly much improved, they aren't yet able to truly compete with a dSLR for versatility or image quality in the hands of an experienced user.

Digital SLRs are at the peak of the image quality tree but in achieving this several compromises must be made. The first of these is the size and weight of the camera body, which will often be several times that of a compact and perhaps double that of a compact system camera body. The second is the lenses required. Although a reasonably good telephoto lens with a range of say 50-300mm or so can be acquired relatively cheaply it will be limited by its aperture and thus low light performance. Although the maximum aperture of these consumer zooms is similar to that of compact system cameras the latter often have image stabilisation which allows you to avoid camera shake at slower shutter speeds. The consumer zooms for dSLRs generally do not have this feature and this can impact on the images it is possible to get. Of course bigger and better lenses are available for dSLRs since they have been around for many years now and are the standard devices used by keen amateurs and professionals. However a fast zoom will often set you back several thousand Dollars / Pounds / Euros!

The above is just a very brief overview of the options that are available and some of the relative pros and cons. One useful website that discusses these issues in more detail is Safari Guide, although it does focus primarily on superzoom compacts, and there are a number of discussion threads in the Safaritalk forums.

If you are thinking about changing your camera in advance of a trip to the reserve we'd strongly suggest seeking expert advice, trying out a range of options and doing all of this in good time so that you are familiar with your new gear before setting off.

Other camera gear

Of course the camera and lenses are only one part of the gear you will need. Please don't forget to bring spare batteries, a charger (and adaptor plug), sufficient memory cards, a robust bag to protect it all when out on the reserve, cleaning equipment (Africa is very dusty), a tripod, beanbag or monopod for stability, and any other bits you expect to use. The instruction booklet is often useful when trying to remember how to activate the function you most need (for example turning off the autofocus beep which isn't great for remaining discreet around wildlife!). Visitors will also often want to shoot video footage of their experience and so do bring your video camera along. Likewise if this has different batteries, cards or chargers  bring these too!