Camera for the novice

tireddoc

I've read all of the recent posts regarding cameras for the photo enthusiasts and I marvel at their knowledge and equipment! But, truthfully, I found it somewhat mind boggling! SO can someone suggest a camera/lense system which will suffice for no/low light situations and the other daytime shots for an elegant african safari for the novice photographer.
Thanks,
Tireddoc

traveler115

I took this tour in May 2013. I personally use Nikon equipment so I can only speak for their products. I'm sure Canon and most other major brands have similar cameras within the same price range. I think you should consider a long zoom point and shoot camera which is easy to operate, (especially on full auto mode because you just point and shoot) and gives you the ability to shoot photos from a distance. They are often referred to as 'bridge cameras' because they are a step up from a point and shoot and have some of the features of a SLR camera, so the best of both worlds. I have a Nikon P500 but the newer models are the Nikon Coolpix P510 or the Nikon Coolpix P520 both of which I believe are 42x zoom. For this trip I did buy a SLR camera and took a class to learn how to use the camera. I took some really nice photos and was happy with my decision, however the SLR camera is a little heavier and takes more space because you need a couple different lens. I bought the Nikon D3200 DSLR and added a 55-300 mm lens. This is a great trip, the game drives where the highlight of the trip for us.

Nick of Skara Brae

The Canon counterpart to the Coolpix cameras suggested by traveller115 is the Powershot SX50 HS. It has a 50X zoom and is much lighter in weight than the DSLR cameras. Your desire to use the camera in low/no light conditions can greatly increase the cost and weight. Greater cost and weight will also result in faster auto-focus and faster shutter response (less lag between pushing the button and taking the picture). You'll probably enjoy the trip more if you accept that you probably will not have the best camera or the best photographic skills there, and others will get some better photos. However, with any decent camera (including the Coolpix and Powershot models mentioned) that you know how to use, you will bring home hundreds of great photos. Lots of practice with a new camera can be more important than any other factor.

JoWeber

Did tauck provide bean bags to fill up once you got to safari locations? jo jo

Nick of Skara Brae

No, but an interesting thought. This would seem to be an inexpensive extra that could be provided by the local operators.

Randall and Donna Lau

When we went to south africa, I purchased the Canon SX20 IS which the older model of the Canon SX50 HS. It was perfect. One body; one lense - tlephonto zoom out to 500mm equivalent; and relatively light weight. The Canon nSX50 HS would be perfect. Pictures or video. Point and shoot, and if you have time to practice before you go, excellent tools. Keepin mind that many of the game drives take you right up close to the animals, if they are willing. Giraffes are shy. So are the leopards. Cheetahs and lions can be pretty laid back. Cape Buffalo are also laid back as are the baboons if they are not riled. But having the single zoom lense was a lot better than having to pack around a number of other lenses, and having to switch on the fly. Or even a simple point and shoot with some zoom capability would be perfect depending on the type of photographer you are.

joycesw

Tiredoc,
I was in the exact same predicament prior to going on the Classic safari. I knew my regular compact camera wasn't good enough but did not have the time nor inclination to learn how to successfully operate some of the more sophisticated camera equipment. I did some research, and I settled on one of the super zooms. The reviews I read narrowed it down to Sony, Canon (both 50 Zoom) and Nikon (42 zoom). What sealed the deal for me was that COSTCO had a deal on the Nikon Coolpix P520 (the deal included the case and a 16G card), so I ended up with that. I figured if I didn't like it, their generous return policy would allow me to return it. It was one of the three smartest purchases I made before the trip!! I love this camera, and I got fabulous photos! In fact, sometimes I couldn't see something with my naked eye (think leopard coming down out of a tree), but the camera picked it up! Ironically, two other people on our trip had the same camera, and at least two others we met the first day who were going on a different Tauck tour had it.
My advice would be to get whatever camera early enough to practice with it. I actually took a zoo trip which turned out to be so helpful. I learned that my hand was pretty shaky when the zoom was out, and it was better to use the viewfinder in those situations. If you are like me, those camera manuals are more confusing than helpful! After two pages, all I read is, "Blah, blah, blah!" I discovered a book, Photographer's Guide to the Nikon Coolpix P520, by Alexander White, on Amazon. Again, a great purchase! It has plenty of color photo examples and is written in understandable, lay terms! And, be sure to buy/bring an extra battery. With all of the zooming, and on and off, I needed a fresh battery half way through the day. The drawback to the Nikon is that the battery needs to be in the camera to be charged (instead of a separate charger), but I never had a problem charging the batteries.
Someone else on our trip had just purchased a Leica. I think it was about twice as much as what we spent, but, then again, his photos were beautiful and he was using it on automatic. It might be worth checking into.
As far as a beanbag goes, I made a nifty one out of a polar fleece material, sewed in a velcro closing and filled it with small styrofoam-type pellets (no weight...thought I was being so smart). I schleped that thing along, never used it, and finally dumped the pellets half way through, and used the bag for a quick dust protector for my camera (case got to be too much trouble) on game drives.
My two other "smart" purchases??? A "Travel to Go" power strip (suggested by someone else on the Forum). You only need one adaptor, one free hotel plug and you get 4 outlets and the "buff," which served as hat, scarf, dust mask, etc. .

jdurkin

Brilliant suggestions, Joyce! I really wish I could buy a 4 "berth" power board here to take Aussie plugs! I'd buy 1 each for the States & Europe! I take about 4 separate adapter plugs, and leave them on the camera, laptop, etc. But finding enough power sockets in hotel rooms that will actually take the extra size of an adapter …. grr….. particularly the sockets on the base of desk lamps. And all the crawling around under and behind furniture to find a socket that's not "hard wired" to something Really Important. Oh, it can be the bane of my travelling life!

Cheers,

Jan

rabo

Jan . . . Wonpro makes outlet strips that have US and Euro hard wired plugs. I've seen them available on Amazon.

with Euro plug - Wonpro Universal 6-Outlet Power Strip with Surge Protector Max. 16A/250V

with US plug - Wonpro Universal Power Strip 5 Outlets 100V-250V and 4000 Watts Built-in Universal Surge Protector with Safety Shutters and Circuit Breaker for Worldwide Use

Jerry

joycesw

Hi Jan,
Well, here is the web site where you can find the Monster Outlet to Go...
http://www.frys.com/search?search_type=regular&sqxts=1&query_string=travel+to+go+power+strip&cat=0&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

If the complete address doesn't come through, it is through Frys Electronics. The info might lead you to an Aussie version, or you can get the US one and put any adaptor for Europe, or Australia, on it. The beauty of this little device, beside the obvious need of only one hotel plug saving one the humiliation of crawling around in corners finding an available plug that leaves you neither in darkness nor without air-conditioning, is that it the cord wraps around and plugs into itself, making it very compact for travel, AND a blue light comes on when it is actually connected. I don't know about you, but I have plugged everything in, gone to bed, and gotten up with nothing charged because I didn't turn the little switch on the outlet itself on!! This prevents that snafu!
Joyce

jdurkin

Thank you, Jerry & Joyce! (How's that for alliteration!) I will go searching the web, properly, tomorrow. I just took a peek and couldn't make out if the one you suggested, Joyce, would actually take my gadgets with their Aussie plugs. That's what I would Really, Really love. Four Aussie plugs all lined up and 1 US plug at the end of the board and into the wall socket. I am a wee bit worried about an electrical company that would willingly call itself Frys, though. Did they really think that through?

Cheers,

Jan

rabo

HaHa . . . I had to look up the definition of "alliteration"!

What is in each of the titles of the Wonpro product (but probably needs clarification) is "Universal". I believe that these strips have outlets that will take Aussie plugs directly . . . No need for your adapters. A while back, I bought a hard plugged Euro strip and a hard plugged China (type G) to euro strip. I've been able to take these when I travel, but I still have to take plug adapters. The Wonpro strips look much more convenient.

jdurkin

Thanks, Jerry. I'll have a good look at that site.

Cheers,

Jan

jdurkin

Hi Jerry,

I have a question for you!

I found this:

http://www.amazon.com/Simran-SM-60-110V-250V-Universal-Protection/dp/B003UHYDYO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384062907&sr=8-1&keywords=universal+power+adapter+strip#productDetails

on Amazon of all places. (I've only ever thought of Amazon for books!) This was the only place I could find that seemed to want to sell to me in Oz. This one has a US, 3 pronged plug. I reckon you could add on a European adapter plug to the wall socket end. What do you think? Could I turn this into a universal to US or European marvel? Or a world-wild marvel (excepting South Africa), for that matter. South Africa seems to be the odd man out in all this adapter stuff. I bet you that goes to their recent history!

Cheers,

Jan

PS. The strip that I found above … has a 3 pin US plug. I seem to remember that some US outlets will only take 2 pins, thus making this wonderful power strip useless. Am I just remembering some very outdated wall sockets in some very old-fashioned hotels?

rabo

Jan,

Most wall outlets in the US are 3-prong (many device plugs are only 2-prong). The 3rd prong is the ground (needed for safety).

I found the web site for the Wonpro, the company that makes the universal outlet strips. There's contact infer, so you may be able to find out is they have a distributor in Australia.

http://www.wonpro.cc/en/index.php

I also found a few items at eBay's Australia site.

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_odkw=wonpro&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xuniversal+outlet+strip&_nkw=universal+outlet+strip&_sacat=0

Hope this helps,

Jerry

jdurkin

Thanks heaps, Jerry!

Cheers,

Jan

supersecdd

joycesw wrote:

Tiredoc,
I was in the exact same predicament prior to going on the Classic safari. I knew my regular compact camera wasn't good enough but did not have the time nor inclination to learn how to successfully operate some of the more sophisticated camera equipment. I did some research, and I settled on one of the super zooms. The reviews I read narrowed it down to Sony, Canon (both 50 Zoom) and Nikon (42 zoom). What sealed the deal for me was that COSTCO had a deal on the Nikon Coolpix P520 (the deal included the case and a 16G card), so I ended up with that. I figured if I didn't like it, their generous return policy would allow me to return it. It was one of the three smartest purchases I made before the trip!! I love this camera, and I got fabulous photos! In fact, sometimes I couldn't see something with my naked eye (think leopard coming down out of a tree), but the camera picked it up! Ironically, two other people on our trip had the same camera, and at least two others we met the first day who were going on a different Tauck tour had it.
My advice would be to get whatever camera early enough to practice with it. I actually took a zoo trip which turned out to be so helpful. I learned that my hand was pretty shaky when the zoom was out, and it was better to use the viewfinder in those situations. If you are like me, those camera manuals are more confusing than helpful! After two pages, all I read is, "Blah, blah, blah!" I discovered a book, Photographer's Guide to the Nikon Coolpix P520, by Alexander White, on Amazon. Again, a great purchase! It has plenty of color photo examples and is written in understandable, lay terms! And, be sure to buy/bring an extra battery. With all of the zooming, and on and off, I needed a fresh battery half way through the day. The drawback to the Nikon is that the battery needs to be in the camera to be charged (instead of a separate charger), but I never had a problem charging the batteries.
Someone else on our trip had just purchased a Leica. I think it was about twice as much as what we spent, but, then again, his photos were beautiful and he was using it on automatic. It might be worth checking into.
As far as a beanbag goes, I made a nifty one out of a polar fleece material, sewed in a velcro closing and filled it with small styrofoam-type pellets (no weight...thought I was being so smart). I schleped that thing along, never used it, and finally dumped the pellets half way through, and used the bag for a quick dust protector for my camera (case got to be too much trouble) on game drives.
My two other "smart" purchases??? A "Travel to Go" power strip (suggested by someone else on the Forum). You only need one adaptor, one free hotel plug and you get 4 outlets and the "buff," which served as hat, scarf, dust mask, etc. .

What is a "buff"?

jdurkin

http://www.buffwear.com

I discovered this very useful thing, thanks to Joyce. (above) If you google buff on YouTube, you will find a video on the many ways to wear one. It really is a very useful accessory. Strange … but very clever!

Cheers,

Jan
PS. You can buy them online or at any outdoors type shop.