Hello Johan,
I also am a user of Nikon and I would be charmed with if you had time to answer a few questions.
At these moments I have a D200 and a D100 and i am thinking about a D2x.

Which are for you the major advantages as for the habitual use during the safari of the D2x on the D200?

How often do you use the High Speed Cropped Image mode?.

I am also saving to buy the very expensive 200-400 f\4 for my november trip to Botswana:

Do you use this lens with a beanbag in the vehicle or maybe window mount tripod or monopod?

Do you have a bag that fits the 200-400 attached to the D2x and can go in the plane as hand luggage?

Thank you.

Paco.

Only a couple of not direct answers to your questions The Nikon 200-400mm lens, $5,100, you call that expensive? I all it un-affordable . It weighs only about 7 and 1/2 lbs, 15 inches long. Right there you are half of your allowed carry-on weight for intra-Africa flights!!!! Or, do you just strap it to you, under your belt pant leg? Flight attendant says, "That the Nikon 200-400 in your pocket, or you just happy to see me?" (Flight attendant, of either sex).
Good news is that it with the body is probably "only" 18 inches long which is within the maximum hand carry-on box length of 22 inches. Of course you'd also have to convince airline security that it could not be used as a club. Just show them your purchase receipt ($5,100) and ask them if you look that stupid!!! No, wait, their answer might be yes, you'd have to be to pay that much for just a lens !!!
regards - tom
ps - so, if I can't have it, I can at least make fun of it

Paco,

I bought the D2X first and probably wouldn't have bought it, if the D200 was available at the same time. I am not a professional photographer and I am satisfied with the D200 at the moment. Actually I find the quality of the lenses the most important in my photography.

I don't often use the High Speed Cropped Image mode because mostly I am close enough to the object I like to take picture of.

For a comparison between the D200 and the D2x have a look at the following article.

http://www.digitaldarrell.com/Review-D2xVsD200.asp

I use the 200mm-400mm mainly with a tripod (works well for me) and I like to sit next to the driver because I like to take pictures from the lowest angle possible.

All my camera gear is taken as hand luggage and till now I didn't had any problems with South African Airways on it. I have a bag that fits the 200mm-400mm with a D200 attached to it. I change bodies in camp if I need to.

Best regards,

Johan

Thanks Johan,

I guess i will leave the D2x for another time.

My lowepro nature trekker fits the d200 attache to my sigma 50-500,the d100 attache to the nikon 24-120,the sigma 105 2,8,the nikon 12-24,the nikon coolwalker,converters and some more small things but, i am not sure it will fit the 200-400 in stead of the BIGMA.

What bag do you use?

Paco.

Cary999,

Actually ,before the 200-400 i was thinking at this :

http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/b...emberID=197302




but when i showed the picture to my wife she said:

"tell me of what you presume and i will tell you what you lack".


I hope the translation spanish-english works



Paco.

Tom, along the lines of making fun of what I cannot afford...I refer to my "jealousy" of people traveling with humungous lenses as "Pentax Envy." Regardless the brand.

Johan,

Great photos! Could you tell me the location of the shot of the split rock in front of the dune? Were there other similar rocks in the area or was this an anomaly?

Thanks,
George

Yeah Paco, go for it. Looks like it comes on a wagon mount so you just attach/unfold included wheels to move it.

Lynn "Pentax envy", huh uh huh, more juvenile humor. Shame on you. (But love it)

regards - tom

Your pictures.....got me excieted about my trip, which is still quite sometime away(month and a half)...but, still enough to look forward to!!!

Rgds,
Hari

George,

That picture was taken at Wolwedans. I can't remember if I have seen anything similar on other locations.

Greetz,

Johan

Johan-

Awesome images!!

Your images are averaging about 1/2mb each, which is way overkill for the web. I would try to keep to around 50 to 125k each, with 125k being on the high side. I resize for about 650x475 max, which is still a very generous size. This being the web, I have to take into account all people that will access a given web page. Even if I threw a ton of images onto 1 page, such as your thread, it will take a while to download. I might suggest an external link to a page with all of your thumbnails, and people can choose to view any larger image after that.

Fantastic photos!!!

Andy

Lovely set of images, thank you for sharing!