Nikon D100 vs Fuji S2pro for a safari in Tanzania

[kingston_chang1]

Hello I need some advices on gears for a safari in Serengeti in East Africa. I

used to used an F100 together with Voigtlander L. When I am planning the

gears for the trip I suddenly had a thought acquiring a DSLR body as I shoot

frequent enough to breakeven for film and development costs in around two

years. What's more the multiplying factor (cropping factor) appeals to me for

the tele power for a safari shooting environment. I am a Nikon user so the

straight forward choice are D100 & S2 pro and I cannot wait until the D70. I

am not familiar with the specs for both models so your advices would be

highly appreciated. Any other advices on safari shooting are also much

welcomed.

 

Thanks in advance,

Kingston

[deepblue]

I went on a safari a couple of years ago in Kenya. I used an N80, but I now own a digital camera (Nikon CP 5700) and I am a total digital convert. Here are a few random thoughts:

 

- I think a 300mm lens is the bare minimum for a safari, so the digital 1.5 factor is a plus. I had a 70-300 zoom and I frequently longed for more.

 

- Take a bean bag to balance the camera on the Land Rover (assuming you will be travelling by SUV). Some of the best shots come in the early morning and early evening when the light is falling, so it is helpful to have something to steady the camera with during these hours. I assume you will be standing through the roof like I did. A tripod is not really practical for most of the shots (a monopod might work if your vehicle isn't too packed with other people).

 

- The one concern I would have would be battery life. We would leave in the morning and come back in the evening after shooting pictures all day. Obviously, there was nowhere to charge batteries during the day. I'm not sure how many batteries it would take with a DSLR for a full day of shooting, but I think it would probably take 3-5 with my CP5700 at the rate I was shooting while I was there. Of course, you would need plenty of memory capacity as well. I think I shot more than 400 pictures over a period of 3 days. I would have taken more if I had been shooting digital.

 

- Assuming you don't sell the F100 to buy the DSLR, I would take it as well. Better safe than sorry.

 

You will have a great time. It's a fabulous experience and a photographer's dream.

[scott_robertson1]

<p>Not having used either a D100 or Fuji S2, I can't help there, other than to say thay I'm sure either would work well. The more important issues for a photo safari are, in my opinion, bringing big glass (on a 1.5x crop DSLR, <i>at least</i> 300mm), enough extra batteries to shoot all day since you may not be able to recharge during your daily outings, enough storage to shoot all day, a beanbag, a plan for dealing with dust (its everywhere in that part of the world) etc. For more specifics and info, please see <a href="http://www.slrobertson.com/article-digital-desert.htm">the short article on all of these issues</a> and more that I wrote up after returning from a trip to Namibia with my D1X last year.</p>

 

<a href="http://www.slrobertson.com">Scott L. Robertson Photography</a>

[beepy]

Bring the bag - buy the beans there - travel lite.

[kingston_chang1]

Thanks for all response and especially Scott, your webpage was such a

wonderful resources for me!!!!

 

Regarding the bean bags, I've got a strange idea of bringing the largest clear

plastic ZIP-Lock disposable bag and fill it with beans, would it ever work???

 

And did anyone know if the compressed gas dust cleaner are allowed to be

brought on a plane to Kenya??? I've never done it before.

 

Cheers and thanks,

Kingston

[scott_robertson1]

<p>I'm pretty sure that cans of compressed gas are prohibited. I always bring along a packet of Pec-Pads, Eclipse Solution and a modified, plastic knife to clean my D1X's CCD (see <a href="http://www.bythom.com/cleaning.htm">Thom Hogan's cleaning recipe</a>). Technically, the flammable Eclipse Solution is probably also prohibited, but I figure it really can't be any more dangerous than your typical bottle of perfume or liquor, either of which seem to be allowed on planes regularly.</p>

<p>I don't think using a ziploc bag will work very well since the compression forces of a heavy camera and lens would probably keep popping the seal. For another low-cost solution, just buy a bag of beans and use it as-is, or place the unopened bag inside a ziploc for extra protection.</p>

<p>You will probably find yourself shooting many more images with a DSLR than you ever did with a film camera. Since shooting digital images is essentially free, you tend to experiment more, which along with the ability to instantly check and review shots, hopefully helps improve your technique and composition skills faster. On the other hand, I still love the look of a properly exposed frame of Velvia! On my most recent photo trip (<a href="http://www.slrobertson.com/blog/new-zealand">New Zealand - images to appear soon</a>) I shot nearly as much slide film as digital images, using the film primarily for landscape and wide-angle shots and long, bulb exposures and digital for everything else.</p>

<a href="http://www.slrobertson.com">Scott L. Robertson Photography - slrobertson.com</a>

[kingston_chang1]

Thanks again for all the wonderful responses and the effort of going into those extra details that are so useful for a newbie like me. Last weekend I've finally got a D100 (at around US1,400) since the S2 Pro is out of stock everywhere already. Together I also brought the battery grip, 1 additional Nikon rechargable battery and the SB800 flash. I will also bring the F100 as a back-up and anyhow I'll still be shooting with film on the wide-angle side with a Voigtlander 15/4.5. I've bought two 1G microdrives to store the images and I'll bring my Mac powerbook to review the shots and detect if anything had gone wrong. I'll transfer the images everynight and also burn the files on DVD for additional back-up before going home just to be safe.

 

Regarding the lens choice, I have a Tamron 28-300/3.5-6.3, Tamron 28-105/2.8, a Kenko 2X converter, a borrowed Sigma HSM 70-200/2.8 with a 2X converter and a borrowed Nikon 20/2.8, I've seen a Tamron 200-400/5.6 new going for around US$400 which seems to be affordable for me but I'm not sure whether I'll need it, or should I just settle with the combinations that I've got already. I also saw a used Nikkor mirror 500/8 going on for around the same price but I'll probably have very little use of it after the safari, what's your advices here?

 

Also, do you think I'll have enough battery power to shoot through the day? I've got 2 nikon rechargeable batteries and it seems that they are quite powerful. I put both in the battery grip and shoot until 1.5 pieces of 1G microdrive are full and the display still reckoned them to be fully charged. I would probably be able to recharge them everynight.

 

Regarding the file format & resolution, which one should I choose? I'm familiar with JPG and TIFF but am not sure what RAW would do. I seldom print very large photos like 15R or 18R(didn't have good images worth doing it) but when I scan my photos for editing in Photoshop, I use TIFF and usually get around 20M file size.

 

Thanks for your great help again!

 

Kingston

[patricks]

Don't miss reading Gary Voth's story from his safari at

http://www.vothphoto.com/recent/africa2003/africa2003_main.htm

[chris_ladoulis]

Kingston, learn about NEF files and definitely capture in RAW-uncompressed mode. You'll get filesizes of just 9MB and 12-bit color, so your images are more practical and higher quality than TIF. You'll want Nikon Capture to take advantage of different adjustments, but even Nikon View 6 will let you open them and save as TIF. Start shooting NEFs now for archiving your digital "negatives".

[kingston_chang1]

Thanks again for all the advices, and I would like to share with you one of the

photos from the safari that I like.(ISO 400, 1/60s, shutter priority)

 

If there's any more tips please keep posting, I still have a lot to learn.<div></div>