jaapv Posted July 28, 2014 Share #41 Posted July 28, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) I did not regret it.... Fast DSLRs with long white tubes produce thirteen-in-a-dozen images. Technically perfect but utterly boring.... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 28, 2014 Posted July 28, 2014 Hi jaapv, Take a look here Afrika Safari with Monochrom? Please advise!. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
john neal Posted July 29, 2014 Share #42 Posted July 29, 2014 Dehumanization seems to be the goal of those who run western societies; breaking the human spirit makes people easier to control. This is a sad and sick commentary on our western world. It is not a course of action to be emulated by developing nations IMHO... I would agree wholeheartedly. Sadly, I have worked for several "blue chip" organisations that follow the same model in order to control thier workforce, but never again.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tookaphotoof Posted July 29, 2014 Share #43 Posted July 29, 2014 You will regret it.........wrong tool for the job....................African Safari are so colofull and fast moving you need a DSLR and fast AF lenses..............keep the Monochrom for another day/tripHave a great holiday You might want to scroll a bit up. He's already back. Anyways, it's not a matter of 'wrong vs right tool'. It's about personal taste. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS Posted July 29, 2014 Share #44 Posted July 29, 2014 You might want to scroll a bit up. He's already back. Anyways, it's not a matter of 'wrong vs right tool'. It's about personal taste. +1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinnfell Posted July 30, 2014 Share #45 Posted July 30, 2014 (edited) Just came back, great experience! Great images. Black and white works great, you concentrate on shapes and strong form, which there is a lot of. Otherwise color steals the attention. Especially like the hippos. jpk: would you care to tell more about your experience? lenses use, dust issue etc. Edited July 30, 2014 by skinnfell Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpk Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share #46 Posted July 30, 2014 (edited) OK, here some technical information about how I took fotos: Monochrom with Summicron 28 ASPH, APO-Summicron 50 and Macro-Elmar 90. There was a lot of dust, but I did not bother and changed lenses when necessary. Unused lenses were stored in a dust sealed pouch. Cleaning of lenses: only once after the whole trip, and that after 9 days and ca. 1000 fotos. Another 1000 fotos took my son with his Pentax K200D and 18-55 plus 55-300 kit lenses. 300 was plenty enought for this 10 megapixel APS-C camera. In a few cases I "borrowed" the Pentax from my son to take portraits of lions etc., but the animals I almost exclusively shot with the Macro-Elmar on my Monochrom. Many of the pictures I will have to crop, but the resolution allows me to do so, and I am even surprised at how close I can get by doing so. I also took many pictures of people - and that the Monochrom was ideal for! For that I used mostly the APO-50 but also the 28, and I had a small pocket camera (Olympus mju-2) with my last roll of my favorite color negative film: Fuji Reala 100. These 36 frames I used for landscapes where color was important for me such as the red color of Lake Magadi, but also for people with their colorful clothes. For my style of shooting one roll was perfectly enough - I will have to scan them with my Minolta Dimage scanner. Did not miss much color, but a big mistake was the slow speed of my 90mm lens: I have taken some pictures with ISO 10.000 (e.g. Leopards at night in torch light), and with a Summicron these would have been with ISO 2500 (so practically clean vs. heavy noise). If I do this kind of Safari again (some game driving plus 4 days trekking/camping) I will definately take the Monochrom again (for people!!) but likely will add a full frame DSLR with 80-400 lens (for animals) and take only the light kit with me for trekking. All I can say is that although my gear was not perfectly up for all the different tasks I am fully satisfied with the result (about half of the pictures deleted, from the rest 200 selected). And I was very "impressed" by some "pro"-folks who shot with DSLRs: every singel shot some 5~15 frames in ultra-high-speed-c-mode, you know what I mean: KrKrKr---KrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKr---KrKrKrKr------KrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKr--KrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKr-----------KrKr----KrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKr-----KrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKr and so on! Edited July 30, 2014 by jpk 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted July 30, 2014 Share #47 Posted July 30, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) An old pro wildlife photographer nce told me: If you shoot on a Motordrive the shutter will be open for 1/1000th every second, which means you have a 999 out of 1000 chance of missing the shot... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
walterleica Posted July 30, 2014 Share #48 Posted July 30, 2014 Being a resident in South-Africa and growing up on a game farm in the Waterberg i have to agree with everything Jaap said. We have a saying here in Africa :your best telephoto lens are your own two legs...That said, take the lens you are most comfortable with and make Africa your own. Best of luck Walter:) 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted July 30, 2014 Share #49 Posted July 30, 2014 I see exactly where you are coming from, Walter. if you think wildlife photography is hectic, if you need extremely long lenses,(except for birds), if you need continuos shooting with large buffers, you are lacking the skill. It is about bushcraft, in-depth knowledge of the habits and reactions of the animals, patience and leisure, and interest in nature. Then take a camera, any camera you are comfortable with and you will come back with some amazing images. If you go with the crowd, use a brand-new unfamiliar camera with the stovepipe the salesman or forum convinced you is needed, you may get some technically OK shots, maybe even hundreds of them, but your audience will be snoring. Nice for the album, though Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS Posted July 30, 2014 Share #50 Posted July 30, 2014 OK, here some technical information about how I took fotos: Monochrom with Summicron 28 ASPH, APO-Summicron 50 and Macro-Elmar 90. There was a lot of dust, but I did not bother and changed lenses when necessary. Unused lenses were stored in a dust sealed pouch. Cleaning of lenses: only once after the whole trip, and that after 9 days and ca. 1000 fotos. Another 1000 fotos took my son with his Pentax K200D and 18-55 plus 55-300 kit lenses. 300 was plenty enought for this 10 megapixel APS-C camera. In a few cases I "borrowed" the Pentax from my son to take portraits of lions etc., but the animals I almost exclusively shot with the Macro-Elmar on my Monochrom. Many of the pictures I will have to crop, but the resolution allows me to do so, and I am even surprised at how close I can get by doing so. I also took many pictures of people - and that the Monochrom was ideal for! For that I used mostly the APO-50 but also the 28, and I had a small pocket camera (Olympus mju-2) with my last roll of my favorite color negative film: Fuji Reala 100. These 36 frames I used for landscapes where color was important for me such as the red color of Lake Magadi, but also for people with their colorful clothes. For my style of shooting one roll was perfectly enough - I will have to scan them with my Minolta Dimage scanner. Did not miss much color, but a big mistake was the slow speed of my 90mm lens: I have taken some pictures with ISO 10.000 (e.g. Leopards at night in torch light), and with a Summicron these would have been with ISO 2500 (so practically clean vs. heavy noise). If I do this kind of Safari again (some game driving plus 4 days trekking/camping) I will definately take the Monochrom again (for people!!) but likely will add a full frame DSLR with 80-400 lens (for animals) and take only the light kit with me for trekking. All I can say is that although my gear was not perfectly up for all the different tasks I am fully satisfied with the result (about half of the pictures deleted, from the rest 200 selected). And I was very "impressed" by some "pro"-folks who shot with DSLRs: every singel shot some 5~15 frames in ultra-high-speed-c-mode, you know what I mean: KrKrKr---KrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKr---KrKrKrKr------KrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKr--KrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKr-----------KrKr----KrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKr-----KrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKrKr and so on! To much writing...........post up some pictures.....Please:D Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
walterleica Posted July 30, 2014 Share #51 Posted July 30, 2014 Jaap i could not have said it better. Visitors to Africa must also not forget that we have magnificent night skies and that's where the Leicas are in a class of their own. Also sitting around a campfire taking pics of the fire....i am of to the farm this weekend. Kind regards Walter Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff S Posted July 30, 2014 Share #52 Posted July 30, 2014 To much writing...........post up some pictures.....Please:D Post #31…and discussion about them after. Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted July 30, 2014 Share #53 Posted July 30, 2014 Jaap i could not have said it better. Visitors to Africa must also not forget that we have magnificent night skies and that's where the Leicas are in a class of their own. Also sitting around a campfire taking pics of the fire....i am of to the farm this weekend. Kind regards Walter Jealous.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpk Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share #54 Posted July 31, 2014 To much writing...........post up some pictures.....Please:D Yes, sure - but I need some time for processing... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwolf Posted July 31, 2014 Share #55 Posted July 31, 2014 Safari is all about animals and they need to be in color. Africa has some beautiful landscapes and they are best shown in color. Monochrome is a nice camera for some things, but it is too specialized for me. jpk's post above and Jaap's article show how wrong you are, except maybe the "for me" part. Very nice work! John 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnbuckley Posted July 31, 2014 Share #56 Posted July 31, 2014 As it happens, I am leaving for South Africa and then Botswana in a few hours. Jaap may remember that one year ago, I began asking on the forum what people thought of the R 2X extender, as my long lens is the 80-200 f/4. At that time, I was excited about taking animal photographs using my long lens. A few things have happened since, one of them being this thread. The other, and perhaps most important development, is that my 16-year old son with his Canon 6D and 200mm telephoto has proven himself to be an excellent photographer. And so in just the past few weeks, I have come to orient myself quite differently. I am still taking the 80-200, and yes, the 2X extender. But I am likely to leave most of the long-distance shooting to my capable son with his capable camera. Instead I am really looking forward to working with my Monochrom and M-240, and the 28 Summicron, 50 APO, and 90 APO lenses I am bringing. Martin Amis some years ago titled a book "The War Against Cliches," which is a lovely concept. If I can come back from our trip with some pictures that are not cliches then I will have achieved at least one goal. Shorter lenses, using my Leicas as Leicas, taking advantage of the Monochrom as well as the M: it's a very different mindset than I had a year ago, when what captured my attention was the long-lens capability of the M-240. Thanks to the OP, to Jaap, and others who have given, I believe, the right advice. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted July 31, 2014 Share #57 Posted July 31, 2014 Have fun I'm sure you will. And good light! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpk Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share #58 Posted July 31, 2014 Good luck and have a good trip!!! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tookaphotoof Posted July 31, 2014 Share #59 Posted July 31, 2014 No matter what camera and what lens you have, you can always take beautiful photos in any situation you run into. Have fun! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS Posted July 31, 2014 Share #60 Posted July 31, 2014 jpk's post above and Jaap's article show how wrong you are, except maybe the "for me" part. Very nice work! John John you are wrong and tobey is correct........ after seeing the B&W pictures on this thread they would look100% better in color. I love B&W photography but it's the wrong tool for the job if you are looking for quality pictures if you are looking for the experience of doing a safari and don't give a hoot about the pictures then use your iPhone with the 400mm zoom Rangefinders are the wrong tool for safari...... period Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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