James’s Canon camera & photo gear

Packing the right gear is crucial for safari photography trips. Here’s our Canon kit setup…

01 LONG ZOOM To fill the frame with distant animals, you need a long lens – at least 300mm. Monster prime lenses, such as Canon’s 600mm f/4, are preferred by pros. But, for most of us, this is way out of both our price range and baggage allowance. A versatile, quality zoom, such as the Canon EF 100400mm f/4.5-5.6l, is ideal. 02 MEDIUM ZOOM For large animals, a medium zoom is ideal. We used Canon’s 70-200mm just as much as the longer lenses in our bag. A wide maximum aperture of f/2.8 means you can blur out backgrounds – which are frequently cluttered with bushes and trees. It also means better quality images in the low light of dawn and dusk. 03 EOS CAMERA EOS cameras with great low-light performance, such as the 5D Mark IV or R5, are hugely beneficial, as you can shoot animals in low light at high ISOS, and your images aren’t overrun with noise. A high megapixel count is also useful as you can crop images when your lens isn’t quite long enough, and still retain quality. 04 EXTENDER An EF Extender gives your lens extra reach. Compact and lightweight, they’re useful for travel photography when bag space is limited. Canon’s Extender 1.4x multiplies focal length by 1.4x, so 400mm becomes 560mm. The trade-off is a stop in aperture and a slightly slower autofocus. 05 BEANBAG Stability is vital when using long lenses, and a beanbag resting on the side of a safari truck is often more practical than using a monopod or tripod in such a confined space. Check with your tour operator before you go out and buy one, as many keep their trucks well stocked with beanbags you can borrow. 06 MONOPOD When shooting with a long lens, a monopod gives you enough stability to ward off shake, and enough manoeuvrability to track the animal. As such, it’s one of the most useful bits of kit in the safari photographer’s bag, especially when shooting from vehicles that don’t have rails or windows to rest the camera on. 07 SPARE EOS BODY If you have a spare EOS body, and the space in your baggage, then bring it along, too. Cameras can fail, and you don’t want to be left without one when on the trip of a lifetime. You can also use your backup camera for different tasks that might tie up your main body, such as shooting a time-lapse or for video. 08 BACKPACK A top-quality bag is vital – not just for transport, but also protection. Your bag becomes sort of like a mobile office when on a trip. With space for all your gear plus a laptop, the Benro Sherpa 600 here is a great choice. Crucially, it’s just under the standard airline dimension limits for carryon luggage. 09 GIMBAL A gimbal, like the Benro here, is by far the best way to mount a long lens to a tripod. It enables you to smoothly track the movement of a running animal or bird in flight. You probably wouldn’t find it all that useful in the limited space of a safari vehicle, but when you’re shooting on land it’s invaluable. 10 ACCESSORIES Bring along plenty of memory cards – your EOS will eat through them. A backup drive can help to free up memory card space. You need a spare battery or two (although some safari trucks are equipped with sockets for recharging). Lens wipes are also useful as the dust is persistent during the dry season.