Photography Equipment

Awesome, full-featured DSLR for a beginner-intermediate photographer. The starter kit lens (18-105mm) is actually very versatile for everyday use but not as practical on safari where a zoom lens was used much more often.

Very versatile, very sharp lens. A bit heavy but solidly built.

Good quality lens but not as versatile as the 28-300mm. Often, you'll want to take a photo where you get more scenery or your subject is moving closer to you, in which case this lens won't be practical. (It was fine for us because we had two Nikon cameras and we couldn't afford to both have a 28-300mm. We could take photos with either lens in most situations, but we also had the flexibility that one of us could take a wider angle photo if needed.)

Newly available since June 2012, this lens could be the best option to bring on safari. As of this posting, there are no reviews available, yet.

I actually purchased this on Amazon, took it out of the box, and promptly returned it the next day. It was a behemoth! Easily 2x-3x heavier than the 28-300mm and took up 25% of our carry-on luggage.

Naturally, your next question will be, did I regret it while on safari? I have to admit, I did find myself in a few situations, particularly with the big cats or large birds where I really wished I had a 400mm or 500mm zoom. But, it's not practical to switch lenses very often so I would recommend a zoom like this only if you plan to have two cameras with you and can afford it. I'd estimate that I would have used a lens like this only about 5% - 10% of the time. If you do go with a lens like this, a solid, stable monopod is highly recommended!

So only get a 400mm or 500mm zoom lens as a second or third lens choice. Your primary lens should be as versatile (like the 28-300mm) as possible.

At the other end of the spectrum of a zoom lens is having an awesome wide-angle lens like this one. After many reviews, I settled on this hard to find lens but it didn't disappoint. Very sharp and the photos that I used it for came out beautiful. However, because it wasn't my primary lens and I had to switch lenses to use it, I didn't pull it out that often - maybe about 3% of the time. So, if you aren't the type that's after that perfect shot, you can probably sleep soundly without bringing along a wide-angle.

I got a chance to play around with this lens before going on the trip. It's an overall excellent lens providing great flexibility for landscapes, wide angle, and zoomed shots. However, we figured that most of the time, we were going to want to be between 200mm and 300mm zoom (which ended up being true) so this lens was left at home. In hindsight, it would have been an interesting option to get some wider angle shots but the fact that most of our photos were taken between 200mm and 300mm put that regret to rest.

I haven't used a teleconverter myself, but had I known about them before my trip, I definitely would have experimented with them. However, since I haven't used them, I wouldn't recommend them.

They come in various conversions, typically 1.4, 1.7, 2.0 which effectively increase the range of your lens by that factor (so a 1.7x teleconverter will give a 200mm lens the effective zoom of a 340mm lens).

Keep in mind that they work better with a fast lens (e.g., f/2.8 like the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8) and also a fixed zoom length lens and will affect the sharpness of your photos (but it may be an acceptable trade-off to you). Your best bet may be to go to a camera shop and ask to try it out (but be aware that your camera's LCD review screen will likely not reveal how less sharp the photo is with the teleconverter).

Just get the cheapest one you can find. If you don't mind, you can find similar brushes in the women's makeup department.

Just get the cheapest one you can find. Almost any clean scrap of microfiber will work. You'll find that your lens and camera equipment will need cleaning daily if not more frequently.

This was a very useful stabilizer in the vehicle. But don't kid yourself into thinking this will help you take a photo while the vehicle is moving - the dirt roads are very rough and bumpy.

This was very useful to have with the monopod.

We didn't use this at all. A lens brush and small microfiber cloth were more useful for cleaning out dust.

Good value for the speed and quality.