Amateur photographer needs camera for trip to South Africa

Hi All,

 

 

Apologies in advance for such a long post

 

 

I am off to South Africa for 6 months from June and am finding it extremely difficult to decide which camera would be best for me. I have not done much photography at all, but after a recent trip to Zimbabwe, one of my biggest regrets was only having my smart phone and so have decided to invest in a camera.

 

 

I have decided on a bridge camera for ease of use and price. Would people agree this is the best option?

 

 

Also, how important is weather proofing going to be? So far I have only managed to find one bridge camera which is advertised as weather proofed!

 

 

Finally, any recommendations on cameras you may have used for wildlife photography/ safaris etc would be greatly appreciated! Finding it extremely difficult to know what suits my needs best.

 

 

p.s. At this moment in time, I am swaying towards a Panasonic Lumix fz300/330 (this being the only weather-proofed one I have seen so far), and getting a tele-conversion lens for extended zoom. What are people's thoughts on this?

 

 

TIA! :)

That camera has a lot of good features. I like that it has 25-600mm equivalent focal length range. That is a great telephoto for animals at a distance. I like how is has a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture for consistent performance from wide-angle to super telephoto. I don't know much about bridge cameras but this looks very nice to me for your use.

From what I can tell, I would have to agree with James. The alternative might be the latest Sony RX10, but that will be much more expensive. Both companies make compelling products, and it would probably be hard to choose.

 

For something that fits in a pocket, the Sony RX100 VI is arguably the best choice. The sensor is bigger than in the FZ300 but its zoom is 8x. For what you want, go with the FZ330.

getting a tele-conversion lens for extended zoom

A "red flag" thing, in my eyes. - I am admittedly no bridge camera user but in the DSLR world rule of thumb is: Think twice before you deploy a converter! The ones there go between lens and camera. The related problems: They pick a part of the image and try to spread that over the entire sensor. Unfortunately most (kind of affordable) telephoto zooms resolve already less than the sensor without converter. It makes absolutely no sense to use an optical device that eats light needed for handholdable shutter speeds or DOF that adds its own optical flaws to a not flawless lens to spread a resolution dot over lets say 6 sensor pixels that would otherwise cover something between 2 or 3 of them. - Using software, to cut away what you don't need of your image (some older cameras called that "digital zoom") would lead to the same result, in fact to a better one, because you avoid the optical flaws of the converter and have less trouble handholding the camera, avoiding camera shake.

I recommend looking up reviews of the converter before you buy one.

Talking about reviews, sites like dpreview.com usually have sample pictures of cameras tested. If your socialization permits, I firmly recommend viewing those on either a borrowed Retina iMac or somebody's 4K screen before you make your final purchasing decision. - YMMV, it is of course wrong to talk you into thriving for surplus image quality but have you made up your mind on defining that?

I can agree upon: "Most pictures get only viewed on screens; i.e. usually shown to others on smart phones. Sharing them on the Internet doesn't really demand much more than 1080x1920pixels (full HD) since 4K screens did not break through yet. Even a 720p or VGA image is good enough to illustrate a blog post." But while all of that is (right now) true, it is not my benchmark for pleasing photographic results. I'd like to be able to get something to hang on my wall printed or to capture magazine centerfolds instead of (half) pages or less. - Once again: YMMV. - I don't own a photo printer and the buddy who does is limited to post card printing and perfectly happy with his phone's results.

 

On bridge cameras and similar tiny sensored stuff: The last one, I pondered for myself, was a waterproof Nikon 1. Sample images "fell apart" on my 4K screen, so no, I did not buy one, knowing it wouldn't please me, although it would let me get away with it's results in a couple of use cases. OTOH I do know folks who ditched their big cameras for iPhone IV (& higher). Shoot what you like and trust me; whatever stays at home, because you don't like to carry it around, doesn't take pictures at all!

 

(My usual suggestion is to get a not overly expensive APS (/crop sensor) SLR with a pair of zooms, both with image stabilization. Microfourthirds cameras can be a more compact alternative to those (but maybe they get a tad more expensive). - I don't own a safari lens for such cameras, since I admit being too lazy to carry those around on ordinary days or vacations. Maybe I'd buy (and plan to resell!) a used Tamron or Sigma 150-600mm, if I was going. A "whatever to 300mm" for MFT would be something I'd keep.

 

Weatherproofing: lensrentals.com 's Roger (who tears cameras apart) blogs about it and apparently considers it kind of a misleading joke. In other words: it is a nice to have feature but shouldn't be taken seriously. My POV: I am a biker. I rode in Gore-substitute-tex suits and got weter than I might have been as a kid - not happy! - Either a device or container is up for an amphibian mission or it is not. Everything not made for snorkeling (or eskimo flipping) ain't really weatherproof. I had rain drops hitting ordinary cameras and the sky didn't fall down (yet), but to shoot in rain storms I'd get some serious plastic covers for my gear. Dust is devilish stuff, that 'll(!) make it anywhere and do it's destructive job. - I doubt a camera retracting it's lens to enter sleep mode will withstand it for a very long time. My best dust related suggestion is to scoop up outdated barely used gear for cheap and laugh, when it finally breaks.

 

Sorry for not being really helpful, this isn't my usual market segment. I recommend reading through dpreview's most recent roundups and tests and making up your mind based on these. There must be some quite attractive cameras out by now. - The last endless zoom bridge cameras I handled are 10+x years old, by now...