Safari Photography Lenses and Equipment - How Much Zoom Lens Do You Need For A Safari?
/Safari Photography Lenses and Equipment - How Much Zoom Lens Do You Need For A Safari?
Which Lenses Should You Take On A Safari?
If you are a professional photographer, you probably have a nice selection of lenses to choose from when thinking about a safari. If you are not a professional but are a casual shooter or a photography enthusiast, you’re wondering “How much lens do I really need for a safari?” Read on and I will answer this question for all levels of photographers.
Let’s Face it, you’re spending a lot of money to take a safari with air fare, lodging, safari costs, etc., on what may be a once in a lifetime event. The camera and lenses you take with you will determine the quality of photos and memories you’ll bring home. Although iPhones, Samsung phones and others take amazing pictures, this is absolutely not what you want to be holding in your hand when an opportunity arises to shoot pictures of a cheetah in a tree, or lions lounging with their cubs. You’ll regret it for as long as you remember your trip.
Telephoto And Zoom Lenses For Your Safari
Zoom lenses are a necessity on safari, period. How much money you’re willing to fork out, will determine how much lens you can take with you on your safari. I've read a hundred articles, if I've read one, and everyone says basically the same thing. That you need at least 300mm to 600mm to capture any good wildlife photos. Unfortunately for me, a lens with this kind of reach is simply out of my budget range.
So, I found myself in the Masai Mara Reserve in Kenya with nothing more than a 55mm-200mm Fujinon lens aft the far end. I was prepared for anything closer with a second Fujifilm X-T2 body, fitted with an 18mm-55mm Fujinon lens. It was more worth it to me to buy and extra body, and not have to worry about changing lenses in a dust storm. It turns out that this was the best decision I could have made for the photos, and my wallet.
So how did I fare with the 55mm-200mm on an African Safari? Amazingly well, actually.
This Young Giraffe Calf image was taken at 155mm with plenty of room to get even closer.
Just minutes into the Masai Mara Reserve in Kenya we were already coming into contact with lots of game. In the beginning, the animals were a little further away than I had hoped, but my lens of choice was still able to get me some good reach.
This Waterbuck was photographed at 200mm with the Fujiinon 55-200mm lens. Masai Mara, Kenya Safari.
Is a 200mm Lens Enough For A Safari?
So my main question I wanted to answer was whether a 200mm telephoto lens was enough for a safari. For me, on my safari and on an APSC Fujifilm camera, it worked perfectly.
Although some of the shots I was able to make with the Fujinon XF 55-200mm zoom lens weren’t always super tight on the animals, they made perfect images that captured both the subject and the surrounding environment. So far, I was not disappointed with my choice of lens for this African safari.
These antelopes were photographed at 95mm, leaving plenty of opportunity to get tighter shots if desired.
Because I like to have some surrounding environment in my images, along with the subject, I fared quite well with my Fujifilm system. When it was time for some close-ups of these beautiful animals, I still fared very well. Of course the larger animals were easier to fill the frame, but I was still able to get some great images of the smaller animals and birds as well.
We spotted this large lion in the Masai Mara, Kenya while on safari. This image was shot on a Fujifilm X-T2 with the Fujinon XF 55-20mm F3.5-4.8 Lens, with no cropping on the final image.
As you can se from the image above, the Fujifilm X-T2 with the Fujinon XF 55-20mm F3.5-4.8 Lens proved to be quite the capable safari lens. Although I couldn’t get those images of the zoomed in eyeballs, I think the images I was able to make are great for professionals, enthusiasts or beginners. So I guess this should answer the question: Is a 200mm lens enough for a safari? Absolutely!
This young male lion was lounging under a bush for some shade. This image was shot at 181mm with no crop in this final image.
The young lion above was shot at 181mm, leaving a bit more room for a tighter shot, if desired. Also, with these 24 megapixel images there is still lots of room for cropping without losing the ability to print larger prints.
This Leopard Portrait was shot at 200mm and has no cropping in the final image.
Again, the image above was shot at 200mm. I’ve tried to show you here that a 200mm lens on a safari is just fine (on a crop frame camera, such as APSC). So, asking “How much zoom lens do you need for a safari?” My final conclusion is that by purchasing a second body, and sticking with my Fujinon XF 55mm-200mm, I was able to make amazing images while hurting my wallet a lot less than if I bought a new longer lens. At the same time, I must say that although my results were pretty spectacular, there were certainly times when I wished I had a longer lens. But there also were no shots I was really disappointed in.
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Cheers,
Matt
