African Safari Super telephoto Recommendations

[JB Rasor]

Greetings everyone! I am putting together a dream trip to East Africa, a safari actually. This will be my first time using super telephoto glass.
I have never used a lens longer than 70 to 200mm (the Canon L f2.8 II). I was hoping to get some recommendations for glass to shoot the wildlife. However, I'm in a strange predicament with regards to gear.
I have the fantastic Pentax 645z and the Sony A7r II is on order. As great as those cameras are, neither have native glass longer than 400mm.
I was thinking one of a couple things may work here: Pentax FA 400mm prime, Sigma 150-600mm with adapter on A7r II...a couple of options. It would be one or the other, as I don't want to lug 50 pounds all over the globe.
If anyone has done a safari before, is 400mm perfect or not nearly enough, or? And if anyone has used super telephoto on the A7 series and has some tips I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks so much everyone, as always!

Best regards,
JB

[NancyP]

Why those two cameras? I can see one camera for the landscape opportunities (either the 645z OR the Sony A7R II), and another camera for the long lens action. If I  were going, I would be taking a Canon 7D2 with its high burst rate, generous RAW buffer, sturdy build, and crop factor convenience giving the same field of view for 400mm on crop as you have for 600mm on full frame. I would mount a Canon 100-400mm f/variable L IS II (brand new) for hand-held shots or Canon 200-400mm f/4 L IS with built-in 1.4x teleconverter for tripod/monopod/vehicle - mounted shooting. If money is no object and you are experienced at bird or wildlife or sports photography and plan to use tripod/monopod/vehicle mount, and you want best low light action performance, a Canon 1DX full frame camera plus the 200-400  would be ideal. If you are a newbie to wildlife, the 7D2 and 100-400 II would be a lightweight and easier to handle combo. ++++++ Practice+++++++ on local birds, dogs, racecars, whatever to familiarize yourself with the complex autofocus options of either of the Canon cameras and get warmed up on your panning skills. Don't go on safari expecting to pick up skills.  I wouldn't expect to see the kind of high speed, high accuracy supertelephoto performance from Sony A7R II plus Metabones adapter plus Canon lens that you would get from the Canon camera plus Canon lens, no matter what Sony claims. This is a demanding AF use and not the sort of situation that Sony has been using for demonstration. The supertelephoto motors are driven from the camera's battery, speed depends somewhat on the voltage of the battery. Also - you could rent the supertelephoto.

My situation:stills shooter, small woman, currently shoots wildlife and birds (in flight) with 2 kg combo handheld Canon 400mm f/5.6 and APS-C camera Canon 60D, shortly to upgrade to 7D2.

[tom b]

LuLa contributor Glenn Bartley takes some lovely bird images. He is very knowledgeable in telephoto photography, his website.

Cheers,

[Praki]

You may want to read Reichmann's review of the Canon G3X in LuLa.

[Tony Jay]

Although I have my eye on the Sony A7 Mark II as well, as far as I am concerned it is still speculative whether this camera will actually work for bird and wildlife photography, especially using third-party lenses. For example what happens when we combine a 500mm or 600mm f4.0, 2X tele-extender and an adaptor with this camera? Anyone know? I sure don't!
We have heard of apparently great performance using adaptors for Canon lenses but lets see first what happens with a production camera.
This Sony is due for release in a few weeks.

Focal length is only one of several criteria that need to be considered in choosing camera/lens combinations for bird and wildlife photography.
In fact the criteria for birds and wildlife are actually quite different unless one is shooting Ostriches as an example of a bird.

Common camera attributes would be very snappy autofocus, high speed continuous shooting frame rates, and, arguably, a crop-frame sensor.
The reason Nancy has recommended the Canon 7D mark II is that it fulfills all these criteria - as long as one uses a robust CF card to stop the in-camera buffer from filling too fast with continuous shooting.

Common lens attributes include large constant aperture lenses that complement the focusing ability of the camera body. Variable-aperture lenses are not really the go (ie having a zoom lens aperture change as one changes the focal length.

Where bird and wildlife photography diverge is in the extremes of focal length required.
In Africa, most of the time, a focal length in the range of 200-500mm is adequate for nearly all wildlife while for birds even 1000mm is not really sufficient.
The Canon 200-400 f4.0 with built in 1.4 teleconverter would be a fabulous choice for wildlife while the 600mm f4.0 with access to a 2.0 teleconverter would be the best choice for birds nearly all the time.
Importantly, both of these lenses have an aperture of greater than f8.0, even if teleconverters are employed and so autofocusing ability is not reduced (this applies to the 1Dx, 5d Mark II, and the 7D Mark II).
Apart from the weight though the prices of these lenses is enough to make a grown man weep!
However, combining the 7D mark II with a 70-200mm f2.8 lens and the 200-400 f4.0 with tele-extender one almost has the ideal setup (taking into account the crop factor) with much less weight.

If the autofocus ability of the Sony A7R mark II via an adaptor proves to work well then consider taking it as well.

As Nancy has mentioned shooting at long focal lengths is not for the faint-hearted and lots of practice is necessary even to become vaguely competant with super telephoto lenses.
I don't shoot nearly enough with my 500 f4.0 with tele-extenders and so every time I go back to Africa it takes me a while to get up to speed again.

Tony Jay

[JB Rasor]

Thanks everyone for the info. I actually came across a Lula safari article posted a few years back and that was quite helpful. Nancy and Tony...I think you're both right. I'll more than likely rent some gear.
I'm thinking the new Canon 5Dsr and the 200-400mm f/4 1.4x would be a great start. I like having the apsc crop for tighter shots, but I'm just not a fan of anything smaller than full frame. The 1Dx would be an option for fast frame rates, but at 18MP it has its drawbacks too. Maybe a 7D Mark II as a backup body.
I'll mull it over...I have a good bit of time before the trip.
The A7r II is just straight up not a camera built for the bush, though I was trying to be optimistic. Even if the focus is lightning fast and tracking works well, attaching it to a huge Canon lens would be ackward in the field. So back to the tried and true gear for this trip I think.
Thanks everyone for your guidance! I really appreciate it!

JB