afrigalah

"Otherwise you will be placing two mediocre pieces of glass in front of your nice lens."

Spot on, Chuck. That's why I'm firmly against stacking filters...even if you buy good quality ones, stacking a polarising filter, a warming filter or some other kind over a UV or skylight filter is merely increasing the amount of detrimental glass in front of your lens.

John

Nikao

I decided not to go for a filter this time. Also because I wonīt have enough time to experiment with it and I donīt want to learn how to use it on Safari itself. I will just see how I experience things and will decide afterwards to bring one next time or not

safarichuck

Nikao,
Take along a pair of inexpensive polarized sunglasses and see if you think any of the images are more to your likeing when viewed through these glasses. If you like it and can afford the loss of light, go for it. Just keep in mind that good polalizing filters (B&W, Heliopan, and some Hoya) are multicoated and are not cheap ($150-$200 U.S.). If your around the water as I am, they are worth it but on safari?? I'm not certain anyone has mentioned cleaning your sensor. Look into how to clean and give it a practice cleaning before you go. Not changing lenses reduces the dust on the sensor somewhat but not entirely.
Chuck

steeliejim

"At least have a P&S along for backup. Also, do not forget to take something with which to clean your sensor--esp. if you have only one body and have to change lenses a lot. The sensor is a dust magnet, and dust will affect the quality of your pix. And, of course, a good lens cleaning kit--liquid cleaner and lens tissues, plus micro fiber cloths"

Actually, I mentioned it (sensor cleaning) in the first reply to Nikao, above, but it doesn't hurt to bring it up again. In fact, if the budget can handle it, that's another good reason to have a second body (to avoid having to change lenses).

Yeah, I know, once again it's easy to spend Nikao's money, but you can get a D50 body at B&H for $449, perhaps less elsewhere, but I've always had good service from B&H. If it's a stretch financially, you will be able to sell it on Ebay when you get home for very little less than what you paid for it (It's actually pretty funny how some people bid up something on Ebay for more than what they can buy it new). I'd sacrifice other stuff before going on safari without the backup.

And, you'll want to take off those polarized glassses when taking pictures with a polarizer since you will not be able to shoot in a vertical format without blacking out your view through the viewfinder. Too see how that works, just take two pairs of polarized sunglasses and hold one crosswise over the other.

Nikao

I will take a sensor cleaning kit with me as well .. thanks for the tips for this one.
any recommendations for a specific brand/kit?

I will take the P&S I used last year with me as a backup and 'sidearm'

I was planning to wait with buying a backup body untill Im ready for a new and better body (a D200 or newer version of this one) and then use my current body as the backup...

safarichuck

Two main sensor cleaning methods. 1) Dry clean i.e., both bulb type blower and brush methods and 2) wet cleaning i.e., liquids and special pads. The second wet method is by far the most effective (CopperHill makes a good system) but the first Dry clean method, particularly the Brush is usefull under safari conditions. One of the more popular Brush techniques involves the "Artic Butterfly" made by a comapny called Visible Dust and sold directly or by B&H Photo. I use both methods and prefer to obtain my own brushes and to prepare them for cleaning myself. Most people find that while the dry methods work well enough for normal conditions, safari dust is just overwhelming. You can minimize this (but not completely) if you take two bodies and change lenes infrequently or not at all. If you can preplan your lens changing to those times when your in camp, you might avoid some sensor dust. Don't be too over concerned about sensor dust, first you can get rid of it in Photoshop and second, it usually is only visible at smaller aperatures. It is hard to identify on your cameras sensor so, unless you have a computer, you will not be able to identify until your return. Whatever method you decide to use be certain to practice it at home several times or until your comfortable with the process. It is possible to make things worse and to not know it until you reviewed the fresh images on a computer screen. This last little benefit of Digital makes some of us long for film