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You will also want a wide angle for scenery.

I would pay a lot of attention to Thom Hogan's advice here in these discussions. I have seen the best results under these conditions with the 200-400 Nikkor. The problem is on safari you are shooting at a distance which for me is not how I often shoot as i am used to being able to get closer. On safari I find that you are going to be shooting at a distance and almost always in challenging lighting and the 200-400 is the way to go and renting it with the usual insurance package is the way to go. You will need the DX 1.5 multiplier effect. Lucky you are not facing FX issues in this case. I have been there and done that with D300 and seen results from D300s that prove this can work. I do think you will find that 300mm is almost the minimum focal length you will use. I m not a 100-500mm fan. Be advised the 200-400 is a big rig. If you had the freedom to get a little closer the 70-300VR Nikkor would be awesome but you will find most safari photo opportunities to be long distance.

The 200-400 reach isn't much difference than the 120-340 I get with the 70-200 with 1.7 but I also lost a stop with my setup as the best it can get is f4.8. That extra stop would have been really helpful as we seemed to see the most on evening game drives when the light was pretty low. I left the TC on the 70-200 the whole time, but I had a D40 with an 18-200 next to me just in case I needed a wider shot. 80% of my pics (3300 or so) were with the D90/70-200/1.7 setup. I took another 700 on the D40 with the wider angle. If I had time for sunsets, panos, and whatnot, I put the 18-200 on the D90 just for the quality and iso performance bump.

Because I am a US expat in the Middle East, I did not have reasonable rental options, so I went with a setup I can actually afford. I already had the 70-200 and D90 for sports like high school football and basketball and bought the 1.7x tele as a refurb for about $300 with plans to someday go to Africa. I knew I would never be able to justify $5000 for glass as an amateur photographer. If I was going to from the the states, I would have rented an FX camera and the 200-400 or maybe even the 300 2.8 with a TC. It would have cost me close a $1000 I guess for the rentals, but better than the 10K the setup would have cost.

The safari as a whole was great, I am working on building a website with a day-by-day blog and pics and will post it here when it is finished. I think if I do it again, which I may next summer, I may go somewhere not as restrictive. In Kenya they are very strict about not leaving paths to follow animals and you are not supposed to get within 20 meters. We were much closer many times and the animals did not seem to mind. You are allowed to leave the path for the big 5 but the game wardens in Masai Mara kept a pretty keen eye about getting too close or following. One morning we came upon a pride of lions with cubs, but I couldn't get a shot of the cubs because the grass was too high. The game wardens in a truck watched us for over an hour to make sure we didn't drive out to get closer.

i may try South Africa or Botswana next year on a more rugged trip that involves camps (Kenya was all nice lodges with 4 course meals) and following the animals on hunts. That might make for some much better photo ops and more excitement. A safari was the #1 thing on my bucket list (I am only 29) so I did get to mark that off at least.

thanks for sharing Your pictures with us Victor, You have really some nice gems in Your collection. Apart from that I would like to thank You for showing all of us, that You don't need the newest, coolest camera to capture great snaps.

BTW:
how did You found Your new sigma, was it fast enough?

Victor said:
Well I don't, due to prices from the rentals I know here in Norway.. It might be that UK have rentals that ships to EU (btw Norway is not a part of EU, but i guess you mean Europe?) but I don't know any of them and I could not easily find any with a quick google search (found only US based rentals that looked serious). I honestly don't see why we even discuss this, firstly I generally don't like to rent stuff, and secondly I've already been on my safari.

My experience was that 300mm was great on a DX camera and TC's was not needed, ergo length was not an issue for me (might be luck). Even though we could instruct our driver, he still had to follow the "roads".

Yes 200-400 would have probably been better/more flexible, but I still think I managed OK. Did you even look at my pictures or did you just make a general comment that 200-400 would have been better?

No my apologies I was making a general comment about safari lenses, the 200-4000 is the sweet spot in my opinion, most people don't own such as lens and most will rent one lens going on safari so I was making the point that it was the best lens for the job. And that renting can be much much cheaper than the prices you we're quoted. Nothing personal in it. You got some fantastic stuff with what you had with you and the excellent option of your own driver!

@chancetlu You were lucky too it seems :)

So with your experience from your safari, were you in general happy with the TC-1.7? Did you leave it on all the time? What would you bring next time? More reach? Would you consider renting something like the 200-400?

JayGannon said:
Wow, I don't know where you rent from!

Well I don't, due to prices from the rentals I know here in Norway.. It might be that UK have rentals that ships to EU (btw Norway is not a part of EU, but i guess you mean Europe?) but I don't know any of them and I could not easily find any with a quick google search (found only US based rentals that looked serious). I honestly don't see why we even discuss this, firstly I generally don't like to rent stuff, and secondly I've already been on my safari.

My experience was that 300mm was great on a DX camera and TC's was not needed, ergo length was not an issue for me (might be luck). Even though we could instruct our driver, he still had to follow the "roads".

Yes 200-400 would have probably been better/more flexible, but I still think I managed OK. Did you even look at my pictures or did you just make a general comment that 200-400 would have been better?

Victor, we actually saw the big 5 by day 4 including a leopard mother bathing her two cubs. According to our guide, who had been doing this for 8 years, it was his first time to witness this. I was shooting on a D90, with a 70-200 and 1.7x tele. It was dusk though and I still couldn't get as close as I wanted. Due to the face it was at iso 1600 it is too grainy to crop as well. Oh well, still got to witness it in person.

We had another leopard actually walk up to the van and pose for 5 or 10 minutes before walking off.

Wow, I don't know where you rent from!
I rent from a number of guys in the Uk and while a little steeper than 400 dollars (600 euoe) its nowhere near that and they will ship within the Eu no problems.
Yeah its handy because you had your own driver/vehicle but most would not so I would still advocate the longer reach personally, but everyone has their own style, I know one successful guy who goes with nothing longer than 200 and has amazing work from Namibia in particular.

@JayGannon I've mentioned it before in this thread but I'll mention it again: I'm from Norway and the renting prices here are very different, at least where i checked. Renting Nikon 200-400mm for two weeks (with todays currency) would cost me about 3587,26 dollars, buying it new would cost me about 8804,29 dollars. The new price of my Sigma 300mm F2.8 was about 3261,15 dollars.

Of course I would have liked to rent/own the 200-400, but not at any price. My rambling above was more of a summary of my experience with TC on safari.

Besides, I did not feel I missed any shots due to short length. Like I conclude above, 300mm along with 70-200 on the other camera (mostly operated by my wife) was more or less perfect (Could of course be that we where just lucky to see the animals so close). If I had to mentioned one thing I would change to next time, it would be to bring a third camera for my 14-24mm.

Personally i think if your shelling out for a Safari you should be renting a 200-400 to bring, you'll end up missing some great shots without a long long lens. 2 weeks rental is very cheap for something like that these days
http://www.borrowlenses.com/product/nikon_super_tele/Nikon_200-400
400 dollars for 2 weeks seems like a bargain for the extra shots you'll get.

Yeah, we where told that we where lucky, and I feel lucky! Only thing we missed to get "the big five" was the Black Rhino, even though we spent an entire day in Ngorongoro Crater just too look for them. Would also have liked to see Leopards doing something else than just lying on a branch in a tree..

Awesome photos...I just got back from Kenya a month ago. You really lucked out to get in on some of the kills. I was able to photograph almost everything you saw, but never came across any kills or feedings.

I'm back from safari, I had a blast. Lots of animals, lots of photo opportunities. We saw lots of animals very close to the vehicle, a lion family eating a zebra just next to the road and a cheetah hunting and killing a wildebeest. Lots of amazing sights! I loved it and I highly recommend it!

I'm very happy with the lens I bought (Sigma 300mm F2.8). I also bought Sigma TC-2 and Nikon TC-1.7 but I hardly used any of them. I could not be bothered with putting them on, so my experience was that TC's are not flexible enough for me in a situation like this. One second you could perhaps use it (with the loss of light/quality that follows), but then the next second another animal is suddenly too close and you just wasted time on a mediocre shot and missed a great shot.. We had our own driver so instructing him on driving closer or to get another angle was no problem, and It's just amazing how most of the animals just ignore the safari vehicles. A zoom like 200-400 would be perfect, but too expensive for me (even to rent). 300mm on DX (D80) was actually perfect length most of the time, and some times even too long. My wife used the Nikon 70-200mm F2.8 on the other camera and didn't complain.

You can see some of my shots here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/karlstorpet/sets/72157624515665203/

I wish I could remember where I saw some comparison images of the 70-200 f2.8 VR2 and the same lens with the new TC-2 converter. There was a little loss in the corners, but I thought the result was more than satisfactory...so much so that I was going to consider the new converter when I get a 70-200 f2.8 VR2 later this year.

I will try to find a link.

You have a marvelous trip planned.

If you like sunset shots, don't forget to take grad filters.

Thats awesome Victor, I was away for a bit but to answer your question I would not trade my sigma 150-500 for anything longer...its 750 on a d90. Ive always stayed at 500 if I can but have only had to either step back or zoom back to 300. The focus is fast and the OS works well. The only lenses im looking at in the future are a 24-70 and 70-200 mainly because shooting indoors can be difficult with some lenses I own currently.

I think you will be super happy with that 300 2.8 though. Have fun and show us pics when you get back!

@adamz Hopefully I'll be able to fit it all in my lowepro computrekker plus, and still be under the carry-on weight limit.

And thanks for all the advice guys, the selling point (that made me convince myself to spend a little more than planned) was that this is "a once in a lifetime experience".

:) You need a larger backpack :)

I figured I should post when I made my decision, I just ordered sigma 300mm f2.8, a sigma 2x converter, a nikon 1.7 converter for my 70-200, a Gitto dust blower and a beanbag :D

Now I think I'm ready for safari, can't wait to test it all!

@chancetlu Thanks for the link. 70-200 with the 1.7 TC is probably good enough for most shots, but for some shots I'm afraid it might be too short. The dude in the article also mentioned this a couple of times (that he was too far away to get the shot). If I can afford 300mm f2.8 + 2.0 TC, I will go for it.

Regarding wide angle I have no experience with anything other than my 14-24, and I would gladly recommend it.

I am planning on going to Kenya in May/June for 8 days but have the opposite problem. I decided on the 70-200 with a 1.7 teleconverter as I have had good luck shooting daytime sports with this set up. My problem is that I cannot decide on what wide angle lens to buy for the trip. I will have the 70-200 with a 1.7 on my D90 but plan on carrying a D40 with a wide angle or my 18-200 for those just in case moments where 120mm might be too much.

A good read would be at:
http://bonusphotography.wordpress.com/going-on-safari/

BTW, anyone have any suggestions on a wide angle (the 14-24 is out of my league)? I have looked at (online only as there are no retailers in Qatar) at the 10-24 Nikon, 12-24 Tokina, and the 10-20 Sigma. I need AF-S for now until I upgrade my second body.

@PB PM Thanks a lot for the tips! From what I understood from my friend, If you saw something interesting, or rather the guide pointed out something interesting for you (apparently they had a very keen/trained eye for spotting animals etc). They would stop, and you could stay there for hours if you wanted, so I guess the active VR won't be an issue. But very good to know what shutter speeds are recommended and that VR is not fast enough for speeds above 800.

If you are shooting from a moving vehicle, which I'm guessing you will be if you are on a safari, using active rather than normal VR on the 70-200mm. I'm not sure if the Sigma has something like that or not, you'd have look into it.

When you are shooting with lenses 300mm or longer, steadiness and fast shutter speeds are of the utmost importance. I say that because any movement at 300mm + will be magnified a lot, which will show up as camera shake. When I want the best results with my 300mm F4, which really isn't that long, I always shoot from a steady tripod with shutter speeds between 1/600s or faster. If you were to shoot at 500mm on a crop body you'd want shutter speeds over 1/800s, but 1/1000 or better would be optimal to insure that camera shake is not a problem. Once you get into the 1/800s or faster range turn off VR, it cannot steady itself fast enough.

@PB PM True. As 200 is the longest lens I have, I do not have experience shooting lenses that long, do you have any advice regarding "using them properly"?