Top African Safari Telephoto Lenses

For quality safari wildlife photography, telephoto lenses are even more important than the camera itself.

In fact, it's often better to first choose the right lens and then get the camera body that fits with it. But what is the right lens for safari photography?

The Perfect Safari Telephoto Lenses

I often get asked what the best lens is for an African Safari and the answer depends on a number of factors...

Your budget and your purpose with the telephoto lens:

If you are going to go on the occasional safari (or only one) and you practise wildlife photography as a hobby you will have different telephoto lenses requirements to the professional safari photographer who intends to sell the resultant pictures.

The size of the lens:

Because it is relatively difficult to get very close to your subjects (most reserves don't allow off-road driving), you need to take along a lens with a big magnification. At least 300mm for mammals is adequate (400mm is better) and 600mm for birds.

Continuous predictive auto focus:

The lens should also be able to focus automatically for any action picture opportunities that might come along like a fish eagle catching its prey on the water with talons extended or a lion ambushing an impala in a river bed.

Image stabilization:

Ideally you would want telephoto lenses with image stabilization to prevent blurring so that you can hand hold it when there is enough light (use a beanbag or tripod when there is low light).

One lens is better than two:

Also, because of the dust that is prevalent on an African safari you want to change lenses as little as possible to prevent the camera mechanisms from clogging up and to avoid missing that split second when the leopard yawns to reveal its sizable canines because you were fumbling with another lens.

The Best Telephoto Lens For the Occasional Safari Traveller

You want to take some decent wildlife photographs on your safari (it is a once in a lifetime trip after all) that don't end up as dark blobs in the distance surrounded by a lot of vegetation to show your friends and family back home.

But you don't want to break the bank in the process and be able to use the telephoto lenses when you are not on safari for other wildlife photography projects (but you don't sell your photos for a living).

This is my recommendation as the perfect lens for you...

The Canon Powershot S2 IS 36 – 432mm f/2.7-f.3.5 zoom lens.

This monster zoom means you can get close to the wildlife action using image stabilization (you can hold the camera and lens in your hand in many situations) to get excellent quality pictures at a very affordable price.

What makes this even better is that you get a digital camera attached to the lens because it is a compact.

Many of the pictures on this website were taken by me using the Canon Powershot S1 IS which has a slightly less powerful zoom lens than the S2 at 80 - 380mm which is not to be sneezed at either. (I bought the S1 before its bigger brother became available otherwise I would have gone for the S2)

Another advantage of  the Canon Powershot S2 IS is the video function which adds an extra dimension to your safari photographing experience. The quality and sound is very good but make sure you have a card with a lot of storage space.

I highly recommend this camera for safari photography.

The Best Safari Telephoto Lenses For the Professional Photographer

You are serious about your safari wildlife photography and want to sell your pictures (or already do) and enter competitions.

My recommendations for the perfect safari lens for you is this...

The versatility/price ratio of the Canon EF 100-400L IS or the Nikon 80-400VR zoom telephoto lenses is hard to beat for a safari trip. Add the extra 50% zoom factor you get with a digital SLR and you have a single lens that runs the gamut from mammals to birds.

If you want to forgo versatility for very high quality (you will have to have deep pockets though) then the prime Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS used with a 1.4X extender is about as good as it gets unless you go into debt for a very long time and stump up for the Canon 500mm f/4L IS.

Related Wildlife Telephoto Lenses Content:

Links: (opens in a new window)

Comprehensive review of the Canon Powershot S2 IS camera and lens at the Dpreview website...

Reviews of Canon telephoto lenses  by a professional photographer who owns and uses them regularly...