Fuji X Mirrorless system for safari

[Rod Sorensen]

I will be traveling to Africa for the 2nd time in several months. Once again it will be predominantly a mission trip and most of my pictures

will be pretty regular people and surroundings photos. But I will also be spending a day at Victoria Falls and a day in Chobe NP in

Botswana. I really hadn't had any thoughts of a mirrorless system as I'm very happy with my extensive Nikon film and digital equipment.

But it turns out that Emirates Airlines, which I will be flying to Africa on, has very restrictive carry on limitations and I don't think a

reasonable collection of camera/lens/etc is going to be possible to take. So I began to wonder if it might be time to consider a mirrorless

kit. Could I expect that to work for Victoria Falls and a safari? I was thinking of a kit such as Fuji X- T10, 10-24, 35/2, 50-140 and 100-

400. If I can convince myself that is a rational expenditure. Please share your opinions. Also, can I assume I'd need a tripod?

[Member69643]

<p>Why not go with a nice superzoom like the Panasonic FZ1000? One of the things I've heard many times about safari photography is how people didn't prepare for the dust and how it affected their lens changing. A camera with a nice superzoom lens eliminates that. You'd not need a tripod as the FZ1000 has built in image stabilization.</p>

<p>The XT-10 takes nice pictures too, but even with that limited selection of lenses you're looking at considerably more bulk than going with a superzoom.</p>

[Jochen_S]

<p>Tough question!<br>

In doubt I'd counter calculate pelicasing <em>insuring</em> and UPSing a 2nd half of the Nikon stuff back & forth. <br>

I'd surely put a 2nd body into a pair of socks wrapped into my spare shirts in the middle of my checkin luggage. An used X-E1 (or maybe X-Pro1?) is far from a great camera but I'd consider it nice to have beyond the wide lens while shooting the long one.<br>

Fuji batteries are <em>tiny(!). </em>This means: You won't be able to <em>shoot</em> out of your carry on. - I don't bother to have spares for my SLRs and didn't get some for Fujis yet, since I am <em>not</em> using them seriously but drained one of the bodies 2x so far. For shooting rabiedly on safari I'd bring 4 spare batteries 2 chargers (and expect the next guy posting here to call me a blue eyed optimist). <br>

Tripod: My crystal ball is foggy, so I'd suggest to email your safari organizers about their policy concerning vehicle engines. If they reply: "it takes us a considerable amont of cursin praying & voodoo to start them in the morning and we are selfishly interested in our customers staying alive to come back for a 2nd trip, so we keep them idling all the time to flee if needed." you won't need the tripod on safari to get your shots ruined by vehicle vibrations.<br />If you want to smooth out the waterfall with long time exposure behind ND filters go for one. <br>

I haven't handled the <em>recent</em> Fujis myself, but I'd firmly recommend doing so, before you think further. The 230mm end of the consumer zoom on a first generation body is <em>painfully </em>slow and annoying. With contrast AF it cranks back and forth between 2 shots focused on architectural details on the same wall after EVF blackout for image review. - I might be too dumb to setup my X-E1 properly but still I might be faster doing the same series with a manual SLR. <br>

Wildlife doesn't seem to be the strength of mirrorless besides recent Sonys and Olympus' wildest and as a Nikon user you are more spoiled than me used to Pentax.<br>

So far I calculated almost 3kg for your Fuji lenses. - Just for fun I added up Nikon's 12-24mm f4, 80-400 and 50mm f1.8 ending at 2.213kg that should cope with a D500's overweight compared to Fuji and maybe allow an additional D7200 or lens.<br>

What is in my own bag? - Pentax 12-24mm - 50mm f1.4, 135mm f2.8, 18 -50 kit zoom, 2 bodies. <- I see close to zero sense in replacing the 135mm prime with a heavy zoom ending at the same range and falling apart earlier, considering that I have SR in my bodies. The f4 wide cuts the cake, the 50mm does the rest of portraits in dim light and the kit zoom works fine by daylight. - Going for less overlap I might replace it with an also fantastic plastic 35-80mm from film days. I do own a Sigma 70-300mm but suppose it got too much abuse by previous owners and it also challenges the poor Pentax screwdriver AF too severely, so it serves as a paper weight. - But I am not going on safaris. <br>

IDK which Nikon kit you planned for which reasons. I guess I could cope with the basic one I mentioned and see the biggest challenge in going without a 70-200 f2.8 if you are used to them but still: a speedlight or two in checked in luggage might make it possible. <br>

Hitting a (department) store that lets you play around with the Fuji 100-400mm indoors should help way more with your final decission thn my guesswork based Internet wisdom. Good luck & even better light in Africa!</p>

[phule]

<p>[[Why not go with a nice superzoom like the Panasonic FZ1000?]]<br>

<br>

In addition there have been a couple other recently released cameras that offer a similar feature set: <br>

Canon G3X is a 24-600mm with a newer BSI 1" sensor<br>

Nikon DL24-500 is a (not surprising) 24-500mm also with the newer BSI 1" sensor<br>

</p>

[andylynn]

If you go with Fuji, prioritize weather resistance and get an X-T1 or X-Pro2. Try not to change lenses a lot - I'd go with the

18-135 and 100-400. Both are weather resistant. Get several batteries.

[ShunCheung]

<p>If you would like to get into the Fuji mirrorless system, I would say just do it. As far as I can tell it is a nice system, although Fuji's market share in mirrorless is very small.</p>

<p>However, I don't think a Fuji mirrorless system for safari will save you much bulk and weight compared to a similar Nikon DX (APC-S) system. Those Nikon D7100/D7200 are very small DSLRs and the 80-400mm AF-S VR is not that big. If you want to bring a 600mm/f4, sure that can be an issue. Otherwise, it shouldn't be difficult to stay within the carry-on limit.</p>

[Matthew Currie]

<p>When it comes to Nikon DX, how about going even smaller and cheaper? How would the AF speed of something like a D3300 compare with a mirrorless? My D3200 is hardly up to the 7100 in AF, but it's not awful, and the image quality is pretty good. </p>

[sebastianmoran]

<p>Vic Falls is a scenic situation; you probably know what gear for the people photos and Vic Falls.</p>

<p>For animals in Chobe, I wanted and needed some reach. 400 mm equiv was VERY nice to have, also ISO 800+ (my trip was back in the films days, so that was a stretch). To me the big question is handling of the mirrorless with a really long lens. I haven't tried it. I would take a Nikon DX body with the 300 f/4.</p>

<p>Enjoy your trip!</p>

[Rod Sorensen]

<p>I appreciate the responses so far. By the way, sending my stuff is just not possible with where I will be going in Africa - probably a 30% chance I'd never see it again. I've decided that getting an entire new mirrorless system probably isn't my best choice. The thought of getting a decent quality superzoom definitely has merits and I don't think it would be wasted money in the long run. But I'm thinking maybe I just need to take the right DSLR kit. It has to be 15 lbs or less, so my super tele lenses are all out as possibilities. I don't have an up to date DX camera, so I'd probably take my D800. Lenses I have and would likely take are 70-200/2.8, 1.4X converter, ?2.0 converter, ? 14-24/2.8, ?24-70/2.8. I might stick all the batteries, chargers, etc in my checked bag to save carryon weight. And then the last decision would be whether to add the 200-500, which duplicates what I have in telephotos, but would still be useful long term. And do I get a DX body as a spare or primary? And how do I get the carryon weight right as all of the above would clearly exceed it. So maybe another strategy for you to help me ponder.</p>

[Miha]

<p>Hi, Rod,<br>

beware - most air companies don't allow batteries in checked luggage. So better check before your flight to avoid any unpleasant complications.<br>

I can also recommend the Panasonic FZ 1000 (superzoom/bridge) camera. It is the size of a small DSLR, but with a 25-400mm zoom equivalent at F/2.8 - 4.0 suits a lot of photgraphic demands. And you don't need to change lenses. This is my favorite travel camera when I can't carry my DSLR kit.<br>

Enjoy the trip - I almost envy you :)</p>