Some advice on suitable equipment to get that unique photograph while travelling to East Africa on wildlife photography safaris

Cameras and Other Gadgets

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	Compact Film Cameras Safariing is usually a once-in-a-lifetime experience (well that’s what we thought the first time we went) and so you may want to record the event for posterity. Spotting animals is challenging enough, but if you want to get a photograph to impress your friends back home then you need to plan ahead. The simple instamatic camera is pretty much worthless for recording anything other than wide-angle landscapes, with perhaps a sunrise or sunset thrown-in for good measure.
	Film Cameras with Zoom Lenses Over the years Alison has graduated from a Pentax Compact Zoom with built-in 28-170mm auto-focus zoom lens, through a Canon EOS SLR camera with interchangeable 28-75mm and 50-300mm zoom lenses, adding a x2 converter to this. It became cumbersome continually changing lenses and missing shots, so the lens was replaced with a Sigma 50-500mm lens compatible with the Canon EOS body, rather than buying a second body.

	Digital Cameras I eventually decided I wanted more to do on safari than spotting and bought my first camera - a digital. I chose the Sony Mavica MVC-FD7 because : it had a x10 zoom lens ; it saved directly to floppy disk, which could be easily read by any PC.
The VGA format (640x480 pixels) and the high compression used to save a reasonable amount of images on a single disk seriously limited the picture quality. I struggled on until I found a camera that offered the correct balance between zoom and resolution. Although there were higher resolution cameras available I again opted for the Sony Mavica CD1000 with a 2 million pixel resolution and x10 zoom lens. This saves images directly to mini-CDs that can again be read directly on a PC. It also offers multi-program functions, steady-shot and flash functions similar to SLR cameras.
	By 2004 with all our safaris I was finding it difficult to recall our routes and I decided I needed some help. So I bought a GPS kit. I didn't need all the usual navigation tools with the usual display, maps, waypoints etc, but a simple logger and the means to extract the raw data. After a little research I bought a refurbished portable Pretec bluetooth logger with memory for 32,000 'breadcrumbs' and 12 hour battery and combined it with the HP iPAQ RX3715 which came with bluetooth built-in. One drawback is the logger needs re-charging every night and mains power isn't always readily available. Safari camps and lodges however do generally have a re-charging capability and as long as you're polite the staff are happy to help.
The first software application I tried with the iPAQ appeared to work well in the UK, but failed to cope with the Equator. After complaining and getting nowhere I finally downloaded Navio from HP's web-site, which allows me to upload any calibrated image file to overlay the tracks and position. I now tend to capture high resolution satellite images from Google Earth with suitable layers of information before we travel and use these. Initially I manually synchronised the camera's time to the GPS (Zulu or Universal time = GMT), but I now take a photo of the GPS time, displayed on the iPAQ and use the EXIF meta data from the JPG file to correct to GPS time - a trick I learned from OziExplorer. Of course all cameras need to be 'calibrated' in the same way.
Alison finally 'went digital' in the Summer of 2005 - well she had to taking up to twenty 36 exposure films on every safari and throwing 75% of them away! She adopted the Canon EOS300D - a whopping 6.5 mega-pixel camera (it was then)! The functions and controls are similar to the film version and it takes the same lenses. She started by taking the camera and the 75-300mm zoom lens (equivalent to 120-480mm), as the combination isn't so bulky and is much lighter to use.
Of course this has inevitably pushed us to carry a laptop to regularly transfer and review the images (rather than risk losing a memory card). At the time Alison changed her camera her company were replacing their Compaq Evo N200 sub-notebooks and we managed to buy one at a good rate. This was ideal as local flight operators are not as generous with their baggage allowance as international ones and we could leave the docking station with the CD drive at home to reduce weight. Our travel kit includes a multi-card reader and a bluetooth USB adaptor.
	In recent times I have adapted the my slideshow viewer (developed in the days of Windows 98 before Microsoft included one) to combine all the raw data (photos, GPS log files, pre-loaded calibrated map and satellite files) so that within 30 mins of completing a safari it can play a similar slideshow to those available on the slideshows page, with photo positions determined by cross referencing the corrected time to the GPS log file. When the Evo N200's hard drive failed just before we were due to fly to South Africa in July 2007 I immediately sourced a refurbished Evo N410c. Having subsequently replaced the N200's hard drive we now have two to choose from.
I finally gave my Sony CD1000 camera away to a friend at the end of our last South African safari. I had exhausted my stock of mini-CDs and had been thinking of upgrading to an SLR for some time. By then Alison had bought a Sigma 28-300mm lens, so she didn't have to keep swapping lenses. It seemed a waste for me to purchase the Sony Alpha camera I had been considering with its own family of lenses, when we had 3 perfectly good ones lying around. I tracked down a very reasonable second-hand Canon EOS 350 camera, with its 8.5 mega pixels. I now use this with the Sigma 50-500mm lens Alison no longer uses, which she had found too heavy. I've turned the lens rest around so it can be used like a rifle which gives the combination more stability.
Being a CCTV expert I had often considered how the technology I play with every day could improve the safari experience and after toying with many solutions I bit the bullet in November 2009 and bought a night vision scope. I choose the Yukon 24027 NVMT 4x50 as it offered the longest range at an affordable price and was advertised with an adaptor compatible with our Canon cameras - ideal! Unfortunately the reality was a little disappointing. Although the adaptor fitted together quite neatly it didn't position the scope and camera well enough to allow the camera to focus. I managed to rig up a heath-robinson affair which worked, although the combination was flimsy and needed to be used carefully. To date we haven't photographed any wildlife at night, so you won't find any examples on the web-site or slideshows. We had high hopes of viewing the many crabs that scurry along the beach, but the scope cannot distinguish them on the white sandy beach. And there's usually too much light around the camps and lodges for the scope to be highly effective.
The best use we have found for it to date is star gazing, especially on Kenya's beaches where the sky is clear. The 'Seven Sisters' have at least 13 stars when viewed through the scope and once your eyes are trained, moving the scope slightly shows many more - but as it needs to move to see this extra 'layer' they are too difficult to count. Unfortunately while playing with the camera adaptor and trying to get a combination that works I fear I have damaged both Canon cameras as the auto-focus no longer works on either of them! The results with manual focus are more difficult to achieve, especially as I now need glasses and consequently the quality of the photos from our last few safaris have been disappointing - in the dog-house again!

Accessories Of course the longer the shot the more difficult it is to frame and focus so you may need a rest of one form or another. Tripods are O.K. in the open with plenty of space, but are impractical in a crowded mini-bus or 4-wheel drive. Monopods aren't much better and only provide a single point rest. Beanbags are probably the best as they can be moulded to the available support - window frame or sun-roof. Blow-up bags, although less stable also help and reduce packing, especially if you use the free-issue neck supports often handed out on international airlines. Don’t forget to take a lot of film (or memory cards). You can get film at the lodges but it is expensive. Alison has been known to use over a film on a single pride of lions! In these digital days of course you may wish to carry a laptop to download your images daily and recycle the memory cards. You obviously have to balance the added security risk, power availability and added baggage. Reminders You may not have a readily available power source to recharge your batteries - check with your operator beforehand! In a safari bus you may have 6 or 7 people all trying to manoeuvre to get the best shot of the same animal. You obviously have to be patient and considerate (otherwise sparks will fly before the end of your once-in-a-lifetime safari)! Be wary of taking photographs of the locals, especially in the countryside. Some cultures believe a photograph somehow steals their soul. You should ask permission beforehand, otherwise you could face a confrontation. One of our friends was asked to hand over her videotape when she took a pan around the hotel lobby and caught a local woman in the shot. In the end she settled for it to be erased. Video cameras have to be declared at customs on entering the country and an additional fee must be paid in many of the parks for videoing. One of the biggest problems with getting the very best award winning shot is your fellow traveller. The old hard-of-hearing or excitable young woman or child will jump up at the first siting extolling their luck at seeing such a rare animal at the top of their voice, only to startle it. All you’ll get then is a shot of their rump as they disappear into the bush. So a quiet word with your party on the first evening pointing out good ‘safari etiquette’ may (but unlikely) afford you some of the better shots.