Hello
I am just back from a 10 days safari to the South Luangwa National Park in Zambia during the green season.
I finally decided to take the following equipment:
- 2 K20D
- K-m
- DA*16-50/2.8
- DA*50-135/2.8
- DA*200/2.8
- DA*300/4
- TC 1.7x
- Gitzo tripod
What worked
- the weather sealing of the cameras and lenses worked perfectly and were heavily tested in the heavy rains of the first days
- the rain removed the dust bringing out much more colors and details than the dry season
- the equipment list was already too long so I decided to leave the macro lens at home and use the DA*300 for closeups. Thankfully, the toads, dragonflies, damselflies, butterflies, lizards and flowers are not too small in Zambia. The use of the DA*300 was especially useful when approaching the dragonflies and butterflies.
- a huge amount of birds, around 140 species to be seen, some unfortunately too far away or too small.
What did not work / was not needed
- with 3 bodies, I wanted to limit the lens swapping, but I was constantly adding/removing the 1.7x TC from the DA*300
- I nearly not used the tripod at all. Using the tripod on the vehicule was not easy, especially as I was not the only on the vehicule. Especially when using the DA*300 with the 1.7x TC, I could see every shake of the vehicule. I prefered to handheld the camera when on the tripod. In the evenings, it was either heavily raining, or I was in a camp in the middle of the National Park where you are not allowed to get outside the tent once it is dark
- I did not use the DA*200/2.8 frequently. On night drives in the green season, you do see much less animals than in the dry season. During the day, the animals are mostly either too far or too close for the DA*200
- as the equipment list was already too long, I decided to leave the AF540FGZ at home and rely on the spot light during night drives. Well, that was a mistake, the spot light was this time much weaker than on the last stay
- the animals did not have to come to the river as there was water in the whole national park. They were also able to hide easily in the green bushes and tall grass
I do now have to sort and process 1500 RAW photos (around 20Gb). Here a first few shots:
K-m, DA*16-50
K20D, DA*300
K20D, DA*300 + 1.7x TC
K20D, DA*300
K20D, DA*16-50
K20D, DA*200
K20D, DA*300
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