Need Camera/Binocular Suggestions
 

I am scheduled for the A*K Tanzania Hemingway Safari followed by a quick turn with mountain gorillas in Rwanda at the end of Oct.

I am by no means a photography enthusiast, so I need something pretty automatic. That said, anyone have suggestions on cameras?

What about binoculars?

Also, do you just take tons of memory cards or do most folks take something to back them up to?

If it has image stabilization, do you still need a bean bag?

Any suggetions are much appreciated.

Do you have a digital camera now? What is you budget for camera and for binoculars?

regards - tom
ps - bean bag not required

I have a Canon PowerShot SD800 IS. I'm thinkng of getting one just for this trip and using the Canon as the backup.

Sad to say, but no budget at this point if I think it is worth it.

That said, I'm not looking for a DSLR, because I will never learn how to use it.

Your SD800IS has a 28-105mm lens. It would be good for safari to have more telephoto, "longer", lens. The Canon SX100IS has a lens range of 36-360mm which is a good range. The Canon S5IS has a lens range of 36-432mm, not much different than SX100. The SX100 is much smaller and lighter than the S5. Both have good movie mode (so does your SD800). Try to find the cameras and play with them. There are also similar models by Sony and Panasonic. As for memory cards, take tons, they are not that costly now. Figuring on maybe 200 photos per day?

regards - tom

Thanks. I've been looking at the Panasonic DMC - FZ28 as it has a superzoom. Any feedback on the different brands?

What about binoculars?

A good digital photo site with lots of camera reviews is - www.dpreview.com. Check them out for camera review and comparisons.

Personally, I don't carry binoculars. Do a search here, binoculars get discussed every so often.

regards - tom

I'd recommend you check out the Panasonic FZ28 - I have the earlier FZ18 which has a 504mm zoom and am very pleased with the results. As a point and shoot, the camera does a good job - I really can't claim any photographic knowledge or skill and like you, I'm unlikely to invest the time required to master a DSLR.

I found this site helpful when purchasing my first digital camera - www.dpreview.com.

Cheers,


Pol

I just bought the Panasonic FZ18 for my trip to South Africa and Botswana next week. It will supplement my small Canon digital. It has MANY features, but I will only use the auto focus at this point becausse everything else is too complicated for my pea brain. I also liked it because of its relatively small size. So far, the pictures I've taken in practice are awesome. Our travel agent, an expert on Africa, said 7x35 binoculars are the best bet.

I've gone ahead and pre-ordered the panasonic fz28...now to figure out how much storage to bring...

thanks for the help...

FZ-28 is an excellent choice - compact and great zoom with optical stabilizer. We use this type of Panasonic cameras for quite a while - we have FZ20, FZ7 and FZ50.
About the storage cards - It's never enough :) I have 20GB MP3 player to dump the pictures to, and last year in Australia I went 5 GB over that. Especially if you plan to do some movies with the camera too. So for my Africa trip this fall I've bought extra SD cards as they are cheap now.

Regarding the binoculars - I would suggest Canon 10x30IS image stabilized binoculars - works wonders as soon as you press stabilization button. And it's very light too. It costs ~ $350.

Look at this link:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...tabilized.html

Old Elephant

What MP3 player do you dump the photos too? Do you do it by card or USB cable? How long does it take to transfer say 1 GB of photos? I am interested because I was looking to buy a separate portable storage device and an MP3 player before our Africa trip

Cheers,


Geoff

Hi Geoff,

I use Archos Gmini 400 (bought it in 2005) and SD card adapter for it. Copying 1 GB card takes a couple of minutes. Many newer MP3 players work as USB host, so you could connect the camera through the normal USB cable to the player to transfer the pictures. As an example, the newer Archos model Archos 605 may have 30/80/160 GB and even GPS in it.
http://www.archos.com/products/gen_5...al&lang=en

Hi there I’m a newbie here and now I’m exploring some marine binoculars hoping to offer and share also some precious tips with you guys.
___________________________
http://marinebinocularshub.com/

Binoculars: I can highly recommend Nikon Monarch 8x42. They are pretty light weight, very easy to use, have the excellent NIkon optics. I'll be taking them on my first trip to Africa next year, but I've already used them for bird watching and they are super. Best of all they are only around $250. See Amazon for lots of reviews on these binocs.

I would second the Nikon Monarch ATB. I purchased the 10x42 (about $250). I also bought the Steiner 12x30 Wildlife Pro (also about $250) and have owned a basic pair of Bushnell 7x50 marine binoculars. (There are four of us traveling so we'll be sharing the 3 binoculars.) I did a field test last week. Of the three, I liked the Nikon the best for general use. Good field of vision (FOV), bright, clear, well designed, etc. The Steiner is great, too. I think they are the best to hold and carry but the high magnification with the narrow FOV limits them for general all purpose use. They are slightly better for viewing stationary animals/birds at a distance once they have been found. The Bushnell (around $100) were surprisingly good, but not quite up to the other two in terms of brightness/clarity but with the wide FOV, they will do just fine. All are waterproof, a feature to look for as it helps protect the optics from dust, too. And, they all appear to be capable of taking hits on the bumpy "roads". The Steiner appears best in this regard, followed closely by the Nikon.

FWIW, mbinocularshub post above is an advertisement for their business selling binoculars.

regards - tom

Too late for the OP, but will post for future travelers.

We are headed to Tanzania in January 2010 for our second trip to Africa. I am an enthusiastic amatuer photographer. Last trip we shot film, this time its digital.

We just purchased the new Pentax K-x 12.4 Megapixel Digital SLR Camera Body with Shake Reduction, HD Movie Capture with the Pentax DA 55-300mm f/4-5.8 ED Lens. We are going to <u>rent</u> a Sigma 50-500mm F/4-6.3 (Bigma)to take along too. We can rent this huge lens for our month long trip for about $150 -- much, much, much cheaper than a purchase. We will probably never use it "around home" so why pay out nearly $1000 to use once?

I have been greatly impressed with this camera, especially the speed and capture in very low light conditions. Just amazing. We will take lots of memory sticks. I feel that I don't want to keep "all my eggs in one basket" so will use multiple smaller memory sticks rather than one or two huge ones. Don't want to drag along a laptop or other for downloads on the fly. The memory sticks are each the size of a stick of gum. Why not take a dozen or two?

For binoculars, we each purchased a pair of Leupold, Acadia, 8 x 42mm, FOV 7.5, waterproofs. We found them in the bargain cave at Cabela's for only $90 each. I really love these binos for the clarity of distance and also the sharpness of close in objects.

You can check out the below sites to read some guides about buying Digital SLR Cameras and look some Digital Cameras and Binoculars.
Digital SLR Cameras Buying Guide:
http://www.macworld.com/article/1370...src=nl_mw_tout
Uxsight - Digital Cameras:
http://www.uxsight.com/category/3138...l-cameras.html
Binoculars:
http://www.uxsight.com/category/2817...elescopes.html

Add my favorite site for digital camera reviews and discussion-
http://www.dpreview.com/

regards - tom