Hi
I am back from a wonderful 3 weeks trip around the Kalahari desert.
The tour started in Windhoek and headed south for the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Parc (KTP). Then, we left that parc for a few days in the Kaa Concession area and ended with the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), including mostly the Deception Valley.
The first week was very hot and dry (making it really dusty), the other two weeks showed us that the rainy season was not over. A rain or thunderstorm at midday or in the evening was likely. This washed away the dust, but humidity raised, up to the level of having quite dense mist on early mornings.
I finally decided to take the following equipment:
- 2 K-7
- DA12-24/4
- DFA100/2.8 WR
- DA*200/2.8
- DA*60-250/4
- TC 1.7x
- Solarpanel with powermodule and Ansmann Vario Pro charger to charge the K-7 batteries when away from power supply.
- Netbook
What worked well - The weather sealing of both K-7 and the weather sealed lens worked perfectly. Even in such conditions, I never had any dust on the sensor[
- With the help of the 26W solar panel, a power module and the ansmann vario pro, I could charge all my batteries (K-7, AA batteries for GPS and the battery of the netbook). I even charged the batteries of other people in the group.
- All lens delivered great IQ.
- Quite frequent use of high FPS was really helpful to follow actions such as playing lions
- Sorting the RAW photos on the netbook in the evening was not quite fast, but still very usable. I do now have to sort "just" out of 800 shots, while I did really take over 2500 shots.
What did not work as expected - DA12-24 does not zoom so smoothly anymore, so weather sealing seem to make the difference
- Because of the dust and rain, the DA*16-50 would have been the better choice than the DA12-24.
- As it is not allowed to leave the car while in the national parcs, composing nice wide angle landscapes with the DA12-24 is not as easy.
- Normally, on such a safari, I took both DA*200 and DA*300. This time, I took the DA*60-250 and DA*200 instead. I was quite surprised that the DA*60-250 was not what I expected. When taking a wild animal with a prime lens, if you are too close for the used focal length, you take a detailed shot or portrait shot, if you are too distance for the used focal length, you try to show not only the animal but also the surroundings. When using the 60-250, you always hesitated in taking a detailed shot or a shot showing the animal in its surroundings.
- The 1.7x TC on the DA*60-250 takes too much light on early morning and late afternoon shots.
- On many occasions, I missed a longer lens. I do really wish a prime lens in the 500mm region. Hopefully Pentax will soon bring a lens going beyond 300mm, or I might well take the Sigma 500/4.5.