Continental Africa - 1 year non-stop (what lenses?)

[filipe_fukumoto]

Hello, I?m planning an one year trip around the african continent, I?m deciding

over what equip I'll take with me.

 

Some info before you suggest randomly:

1. I'll hike all the way basically, so weight does matter;

2. I'm considering getting a Canon 5D or 40D;

3. I cannot afford buying a whole full pro equip;

 

My first options are:

 

Kit 1 (1,920kg):

EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM

EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

 

Kit 2 (1,670kg):

EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM

 

I'm considering a converter (1.4x or 2x) not sure. I will take all sort of

pictures.. portraits, safaris, landscapes, bright, dark, etc.. I'm having a

hard time deciding what to take.. I'll have to make some sacrifices..

 

Your suggestion is welcome.

[hjoseph7]

Are you going to be taking a tripod with you ?

[apetty]

Get the solar battery charger

 

http://store.sundancesolar.com/sochforcaba.html

 

and as many batteries andmemory cards you can afford/carry

[ralph_jensen]

I vote:

 

40D

17-55 IS

70-300 IS

Tamron 1.4 TC for the 70-300

 

BUT... I don't know what proportion of people-to-nature/buildings you expect to shoot.

 

Both of the huge "white" lenses you suggest are great for non-human subjects but are a real barrier for shooting people (I personally consider them unacceptable for that; others do not.)

[ralph_jensen]

Ugh. The hard-return problem.

 

I vote:

 

40D

 

17-55 IS

 

70-300 IS

 

Tamron 1.4xTC for the 70-300

 

See above on "white" lenses.

[JDMvW]

Have fun. But, nice as some of these big lenses are, think about the alternative of going light. Solar power depends on where you are and for how long. You'll need lots of back up for sure.

[a few images]

Straight up - You'll need a very hardy camera and lens setup and I don't see one picked up there ^

 

Get the Pentax K20D and DA* 16-50 f2.8 and DA* 50-135 f2.8 and of course the DA* 200 f2.8 or DA* 300 f4...

 

The camera and lenses are completely weather proof with outstanding image quality.. Best game in town, bar none!

[cliff_henry]

WOW! One year hiking around Africa, nice trip.

 

My lens selection would depend on whether you use a FF (5D) or crop (40D) body. With a FF body, 28mm should cover your WA needs, although I would prefer a 24mm. Maybe add a 20 or 24mm prime - not much weight or cost. I would prefer the 100-400 over the 28-300 because of the longer reach. 400mm plus a 1.4x extender should cover your long side needs. You are going to need, at a minimum, a monopod - maybe one of those walking stick types - and I would prefer a tripod. 560mm's for early morning and late evening wildlife shots is just too long to hold.

 

5D - 20mm or 24mm, 28-135mm, 100-400, plus 1.4x = 140mm-560mm

 

With the crop body I would add a 20mm prime or consider the 17-40 f4L, the 17-55 f2.8 or the 24-105 f4L over the 28-135. For the long side the 100-400L should be enough without needing a TC. Also consider the 200 2.8L plus a 1.4xTC, which may be less cost and lighter than the 100-400L.

 

40D - 20mm (32mm), 17mm(27mm)-40mm(64mm), or 17mm(27mm)-55mm(88mm) or,

24mm(38mm)-105mm(168mm), 100mm(160mm)-400mm(640mm).

 

Other areas to think about:

 

How much memory are you going to carry?

Where will you store files once memory cards are full?

How many batteries are you going to carry?

How will you recharge? Maybe a solar charger.

 

Expect dusty conditions. You will need to protect eq. and probably clean your sensor during trip.

 

Personally, I would not want to take a trip such as yours and risk being without a body. Should body fail what will you do for a backup?

 

Sounds like a trip of a life time. Good luck.

 

Cliff

[john_bellenis]

If it were me I'd go for two XTi bodies - light, cheap and not a disaster either financially or

photographically if one gets dropped or has a breakdown.

 

Then I'd go for the EFS 10-22mm wide angle zoom, a 50mm f1.8 to fill the gap and give

you low light capability and for longer stuff a 70-300 IS should do the trick. Total weight

is certainly manageable and no huge, distracting, white, heavy lenses to be seen. This is a

realistic total kit for hiking.

 

You could leave the 10-22mm and the 50mm lenses mounted on the bodies, have the

telephoto zoom separate, spare batteries, cards etc in a medium sized bag. You would

then be effectively covered (35mm equivalent) from 16mm to 480mm with a spare body

(and the capability to have wide and long lenses mounted simultaneously for any safari

situations),

 

Have a wonderful trip - I'm jealous!

[arie_vandervelden1]

Ugh, that sounds like a lot of gear.

 

I did two 10-week trips last year (parts of Europe, Central America). Gear I brought was my XTi, Tamron 17-50/2.8, Tamron 90/2.8 macro. I really wouldn't want to bring any more gear, too heavy, too much to worry about (theft). Honduras was sketchy and I'm sure you'll also be dealing with kids armed with pistol-grip shotguns and automatic rifles, and situations like local campesinos armed with machetes sizing you up while there's noone else around.

 

Yes I wasn't able to take wildlife shots in Costa Rica, but to me it wasn't worth toting and worrying about all that gear around for months on end.

 

Africa - sounds to me like a place for landscapes, and most of all, portraits. I'm sure you'll meet lots of interesting and colorful characters along the way.

 

How about XTi plus 17-85, or at the higher end, 5D plus 24-105 IS. Maybe you can rent a 100-400 locally, from one of the safari outfitters?

[john_bellenis]

Well, while it seems on the face of it a lot of gear here is how the actual weight breaks

down (in ounces)...

 

2x XTi (18 each), 10-22mm (13.5) 50mm (5) 70-300mm (24) - Total weight 78.5oz

(4.9lbs)

 

1x 40D (26) 100-400 (48) - Total Weight 74oz (4.6lbs)

 

In other words you can have a 2 camera body kit with coverage from 16mm to 480mm for

just 4.5oz (around 1/4lb) more than a 40D with a 100-400 zoom on it!

[anson_ko]

Tom Maher, Apr 23, 2008; 04:23 p.m.

 

Get the Pentax K20D

 

Wow, I haven't heard anyone recommending Pentax for a long time. How much is the resale value on ebay?

 

I take 5D+28-300IS for long trips. No need to change lens that risk dust getting into the sensor. IMO

[ralph_jensen]

I can see the appeal of the 28-300IS as an all-around "travel lens", but I can't see using it for friendly portraits of people who speak a different language.

 

Check out the length here:

 

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-28-300mm-f-3.5-5.6-L-IS-USM-Lens-Review.aspx

[images_in_light_north_west]

24-105 f4 IS, 70-200f4 IS, mono pod, 1.4x TC II, 5D, monopod lots of CF cards, batteries, cleaning kit. Backup on laptop with DVD burner and Lightrooma, 500gb external hard drive. for starters.

[john_bellenis]

A 5D with a 28-300mm lens is big, very conspicuous, unwieldy and weighs over 5.5lbs! How

this qualifies as a "convenient" option baffles me. And if either breaks you are out of luck.

[f72]

40d+70-200f2.8IS+1.4TCII.+canon G9+.and laptop.+500gb external hard drive .

[andre_stull]

5D + 24L or 35L prime and 70-300DO (same size as 100 prime). Very light kit, fast prime and very unobtrusive tele. Have a great trip!

[r.rajamani]

I would suggest an external hard drive which can transfer files from your CF card without using a laptop. I have seen it on B&H but forget the name. I think that would be more practical and convenient to backup your image files rather than have to power up your laptop each time.

[JDMvW]

Sure portraits are important, but of animals as well as people. Those great savannahs full of animals are the home of our species, after all. You do need something longer than a 90mm lens. I would say the absolute minimum would be something over 200mm. With the use of a APS-sized sensor that will give you appropriate coverage, even so, 300mm is even better. For those lenses you should get IS , so definitely consider the 70-300mm- it's not so heavy as those L lenses and is a tested a tried item. A year is a long time, so a second body is a super idea. At the very least, toss in a film EOS camera as a back up.

[steve santikarn]

Dust is a big problem in most of Africa, so that is a big negative for the 5D for me. The 40D and the Rebel have self-cleaning sensors (not 100% effective but better than nothing). The Xti with EF-S 18-55 IS, and the 50-250 IS is your lightest option (but not the sturdiest). Plenty of light most of the time, so no need for heavy fast lenses. Get one of the walking stick that doubles up as a mono-pod for low light situation.

[dogbert]

Well the kit I would take would be the 40D or Xsi, EF-S 10-22 or Sigma 10-20, 24-105L and either the 70-300 IS or the 55-250 IS, and maybe the 50 f1.8 or 35 f2.

 

All fit nicely into a Tamrac Adventure 9, which can fit a laptop and has room to spare for other odds and sods. This backpack is also not to big and will be fine as Cabin luggage on commercial planes.

[jo7hs2]

Err on the side of cheaper camera bodies (like the Xt/XTi/XSi from Canon) so you can buy two. A lot can happen in a year, and you want to have a backup. I have similar advice with lenses, try to make sure you don't have just one super-zoom lens like the 28-300. If your one lens breaks, you'll be screwed.

 

Assuming I didn't have MY kit, and weight and cost were MAJOR concerns, I'd go with something like this:

 

Body 1: Canon 40D or Rebel XSi

 

Body 2: Canon XSi, XTi, or XT as a backup body

 

Canon Lenses: 10-22, 18-55 IS, 70-300 IS, 60 or 100 macro.

 

I'd probably also pack a really cheap 70-300 from sigma or something, I'd hate to be in Africa without a tele. A full-year trip presents a lot of chance for equipment failure, so I've erred on the side of too heavy.

 

If you absolutely need minimum weight, I'd go with just a 40D/XSi, an 18-55 IS, and a 70-300 IS, but I'd be really uncomfortable not having backup gear in a place where replacements and repairs will be difficult if not impossible to procure.

[jay a. frew]

Wow! Good For You!

 

Not that I have any experience with a trip like that - but -

 

1. obvious-type suggestion:

 

40D, EF24-105L, EF300 f/4.0L, 500D close-up diopter (for the 300 f/4.0), circular polarizers for both lenses, "protective" filtres for both lenses, 1.4 T.C. and Walking Stick/Monopod

 

2. not-so-obvious-type (blasphemy to some) suggestion:

 

Two Good Quality digicams - one with a wide-ish zoom and one with a 10x super tele zoom. If possible, I would select two cameras from the same brand to limit camera operation confusion. I would also select cameras that can take "AA" batteries and ones that use the same storage media. Walking Stick/Monopod

 

Don't forget to take a Very Good Quality, waterproof compact binocular.

 

I am green with envy!

 

Cheers! Jay

[keith_lubow]

I'd get a used pair of Rebels (old ones to save money; 300s or 350s), a handful of low-end primes (consider any of the following: 24 f/2.8, 28 f/2.8, 35 f/2.0, 50 f/1.8), and a cheap 75-300. Some of those cheap ebay batteries. The Rebel's batteries last quite a while, especially if shooting jpeg. How many depends on how long you will go without a power outlet. A cheap, light tripod. Several CF cards and a hard drive onto which to dump them. How many depends on what file type you shoot. What file type you shoot will largely depend on what you want your final product to be; print, web, what size, how much editing you do, etc. Don't worry about dust. We have dust here too. Weight will be much more of a worthy consideration. Your greatest weight will come from water, so the lighter you can make anything else, the better. You also want cheap stuff, not high-end stuff. It's lighter and, of course, cheaper.

 

Keith

[photo_dark]

Well, seeing as the OP is gone.....

 

I'd second John's suggestion (dual Rebel's). Depending where you are going, dust and other junk is going to be an issue, the less lens swapping the better. Honestly, it's a tough call... there are so many different situations you could encounter there.

 

Personally i'd prefer 24-105 f4, 35 f2, 10-22, and 70-300 but that's starting to get rather heavy if you are planning on carrying it all on your back.