Safari Wildlife Camera Equipment

Which wildlife camera is the best for safari wildlife photography and what format should you use to get the best results?

Having the right camera and lenses will make a big difference to the quality of wildlife pictures that you produce but it doesn't automatically guarantee good photos.

You still have to control the composition and in some cases the exposure when the camera isn't capable of exposing the scene effectively. But the right photography equipment does tilt the balance significantly in your favour even if you are a novice.

So after twenty plus years of safari wildlife photography experience here is the wildlife camera equipment that I believe is the best for safari photography...

Digital or Film Format?

Others may disagree but I think digital is by far the better medium to work with on safari from a cost and usability point of view.

Most subjects on safari are by nature very skittish and that means that when I come across something I want to photograph I tend to fire off a few pictures quickly before the animal has a chance to scamper off into the undergrowth.

Inevitably there will be some that are not very good but with digital this is no problem as you can just hit the delete button. If you use film those mistakes cost money and it can very quickly add up to a large sum.

If the animal hangs around for awhile (sometimes you get lucky) then I can start paying more careful attention to composition and exposure and take some more pics. It's not difficult to take over 150 images in a day and at that rate a week long safari is going to cost you a lot of money if you use film.

The purists argue that film and slide has better quality than digital and this is true if you are taking professional or competition level pictures. But if you don't fall into that category then digital quality is ample and the difference will only be perceptible to the trained eye.

Digital Wildlife Camera - Compact or SLR?

To answer the question of type of digital wildlife camera effectively you need to determine just how serious a photographer you are.

If you take pictures on holidays and other occasions for memories and the sheer enjoyment of subjecting other people to the results of your photographic efforts then a compact digital is right up your alley.

If you are a little more serious about photography and want to publish pictures, enter competitions and earn money from your efforts then a digital SLR is the way to go for you.

The Best Compact Wildlife Camera

Compact digital cameras have come a long way and they are improving all the time. There are some excellent ones available in the market today and it's not my aim to compare them all here because I did that intensively when I was looking to buy one for myself to take pictures with on safari.

After a lot of research I bought the Canon Powershot S1 IS and it really is an excellent camera. Many of the safari pictures on this website were taken by me using this compact.

It was the 10X image stabilised zoom lens that eventually sold me because you need a pretty long lens on safari and the image stabilization helps to reduce blur.

The zoom runs from 38-380mm which means you don't have to mess about changing lenses and possibly wasting an opportunity as the animal disappears over the horizon. It also cuts down on the amount of dust reaching the internal part of the wildlife camera which can be a problem when changing lenses.

On the negative side there is a lag between the time you press the shutter release button and the time the image is recorded (very slight but long enough to miss the exact moment when a cheetah catches a gazelle) and it takes a second or two to power up which has caused me to miss getting decent pictures of a honey badger carrying her baby down the road.

The Best Digital SLR Wildlife Camera

Because I am a serious wildlife photographer a digital SLR with its access to a wide array of quality interchangeable lenses is a good option for me and after all the research was said and done it turned out to be another Canon.

The Canon EOS 20D is widely acknowledged as one of the finest digital SLR's available in the world at the moment. It has an 8.2 megapixal sensor which is more than enough for excellent image quality and it is blisteringly fast in the start-up and shutter lag stakes which is like manna from heaven for a wildlife photographer.

It doesn't come cheap especially when you factor in the extra cost of the lenses you need to buy so be sure that you want to go the whole digital SLR route before committing yourself.