Originally Posted by DavidTO Marc and Andy are reserving their flights, and buying new lenses!

What did they get?

Originally Posted by kdog What did they get?

I'm still shopping But I need something long. I may in fact get a Nikon and 200-400 f/4 VR if Canon doesn't come up with something along those lines.

Originally Posted by Andy I'm still shopping But I need something long. I may in fact get a Nikon and 200-400 f/4 VR if Canon doesn't come up with something along those lines.

Yeah, I was wondering if you had actually gotten it yet. Of course if you go that route, you're gonna need a Nikon DX3 to attach to it.

Originally Posted by Andy I'm still shopping But I need something long. I may in fact get a Nikon and 200-400 f/4 VR if Canon doesn't come up with something along those lines.

I just got my 200-400 last week.

Originally Posted by Harryb I just got my 200-400 last week.

Yeah, nice Harry. I'm probably going to rent a D3x and the 200-400 VR for the trip.

Oh, #8 just signed up for the trip, for real, there are only 2 spots left. I know the trip is 11 months away, but we're nearly filled. Just FYI.

Originally Posted by Harryb I just got my 200-400 last week.

WTG Harry!

I have used that lens with a D3 on several shoots and it leaves no room for excuses

Originally Posted by Marc Muench WTG Harry! I have used that lens with a D3 on several shoots and it leaves no room for excuses

It is a sweet lens now I'm just hoping that Nikon will come out with the D4 before the trip.

Then I will have to decide on a back-up camera, get a new head for my monopod for the 200-400, figure out what form of camera support to get for the trip (besides bean bags), and get a bunch of higher capacity CF cards. This excursion is getting more expensive by the day. With all of that I have no room for excuses.

If anything goes wrong I'll just blame Andy.

I can't decide what's best for my sanity, knowing about these workshops or not knowing about them!?

Sigh.

Looks like it will be an absolute classic.

Charlie

Originally Posted by thebigsky I can't decide what's best for my sanity, knowing about these workshops or not knowing about them!? Sigh. Looks like it will be an absolute classic. Charlie

Got a spot for you Charlie! And from where I sit, you're half-way to Nairobi already

How have you been?

Originally Posted by Andy Got a spot for you Charlie! And from where I sit, you're half-way to Nairobi already How have you been?

Well that's true, plus jet lag won't be an issue, however I think dreaming about this trip is the closest I'm going to get.

Been fine, lost my mojo when it comes to photography but hoping the bug will bite again soon. I hope you're well, must try and re-engage with the forum.

Charlie

Originally Posted by Andy Oh, #8 just signed up for the trip, for real, there are only 2 spots left. I know the trip is 11 months away, but we're nearly filled. Just FYI.

Tap tap tap. Is this trip for you?

hi everyone and happy new year!! i can't wait, and i only just got back!!! kenya is FABULOUS!!! i'm still there emotionally, and i caught myself mentally packing yesterday,and had to resist the urge to go and start putting things aside ... oh boy, it's going to be a long 8 months and 20 days!!

ok, a question, seeing as comments are starting on equipment. i have a 5dmk2 with 70-200 and 300 plus 1.4 teleconverter. 7d is in the mail :-))) arriving tomorrow to replace the 40d that i took on this last trip.

many images are poorly focused, having used bean bag (home made as the molar bean bag that would require 8lbs of rice/beans did not show up till after my departure). bean bag was light - filled with buckwheat husks, but normal size. i was unsure as to whether image stabiliser should be on or off when using a bean bag. it seemed pretty stable, but not perfect? i kept the aperture around 9-11 to aim for the sweet spot, and even images of a g@# d#$$ tree were blurry!! yes, people sometimes wiggled around as they lined up their shots, but there seems to be have been a consistent (on an erratic basis) problem. one difficulty was that there wasn't enough time to view photos, detect problems, and problem solve, and i am aware of that...

so question, should the image stabiliser be on or off with a bean bag? is there any point in keeping the better bean bag to fill up with lentils/rice/whatever on the way to play with the animals? anything else anyone can think of that i did wrong? i did even use the cable release sometimes, but not the mirror lockup as i really did want to look through the view finder to see the animal behaviour (less important for the tree, of course!)

so, thoughts would be much appreciated.
looking forward to meeting you/seeing you all again. YAYYY!
cheers, sarah
ps. c'mon charlie - if you need a kick start, africa will certainly fire the adrenaline!!!!!!

Originally Posted by DavidTO Muench Workshops -- African Adventure October 1-13, 2011 Beneath the shadow of Kilimanjaro lies a vast universe of life and death. This unique struggle for survival is known to all, but few see it for themselves. Get up close and personal with creatures great and small. If you've got Africa on your Bucket List, here's your chance to do it "Muench Workshops" style, with Marc Muench and Andy Williams. We're taking 10 photographers on their trip of a liifetime. We only have 4 spots left, so we hope you can join us!

Next time you guys plan a trip do let us know..... I would be interested in joining..

Originally Posted by PHOTOempt i kept the aperture around 9-11 to aim for the sweet spot, and even images of a g@# d#$$ tree were blurry!!

What were your shutter speeds, Sarah? Show a couple links to pics. I'll help.

hi andy - thanks very much for your noble offer!!

here are some images, retrieved from the garbage!
this image was one of a series that i took to do a massive pano -used the tripod, first with is on (my mistake -realised and reshot, in a bit of a hurry because we weren't supposed to be outside the jeep, so i skipped mirror lockup and cable release. i manually focused each image to be sure, as the angle of the camera, to animals was changing as i panned round:1/250sec, aperture 9.0, iso 640, 300mm plus 1.4 tc. Crikey!!!! and they're all like that, with and without the IS, and no, i had not been drinking!!


so after the pano debacle, this is 1/400 sec f/10 iso 640, 300mm plus 1.4 tc. i must have shot about 100 images - all same quality. the flamingoes were moving but i would have thought that 1/400 would have quelled them into submission,


same for the next image which is 1/400 sec, f/8, iso dropped to 400 in the hopes of less noise as it was getting lighter with sunrise


just to prove that i can manage something in focus, here is a heffalump:


i did shoot throughout on a1 focus in the hope that if something stationary started to move, it would track, and what i discovered on setting up some testing this afternoon was that the IS was set to 2, which it was noted to be on first day in africa (after shooting of course!) i am beginning to wonder if the fairly random disasters were because sometimes the switch would get moved on packing/unpacking. i must confess that i did not check it every time.

it would seem from playtime at home here, that the IS is not required for bean bag use as long as it is stable, but AI focus is still better than "one shot". i was indoors and need to do some serious stuff outdoors. i had done this before i went, but obviously another round is required

anyway, i would really appreciate your thoughts, and everyone will benefit from the do's and don't's of nailing these shots on the first trip!! i dread to think how i'll get anything in focus from the plane......
many thanks, sarah

The elephant is the same lens as the other images?

Originally Posted by DavidTO The elephant is the same lens as the other images?

hi david,
yes, it was.: 300 plus 1.4. 1/320 sec, f10, iso 640. sorry , should have given that info. there are plenty of images that are well focused with just the 300 or the 300/1.4 combo, and plenty that were a disaster. one thing that i did notice is that the 5d mark 2 is hard to focus on AF, unless the centre point is used, which is hard when trying to compose a decent image as well as grab the shot. i quite often tried to use a peripheral point, and when it refused to focus, switched to centre point, and 'targeted it'. i don't think that that was an issue in the images that i've shown though!
thanks for looking, and all the best,
sarah

Hi Sarah

The 7d has a MUCH better auto focus! Though, it looks to me like those Flamingos are in focus? just a shallow depth of field is knocking out the back ground and foreground.

On the first three your aperture settings were between f8 and f10. The aperture really needed to be stepped down to get the kind of image you were going for.

I usually keep the IS turned off unless my shutter speed goes lower than I can safely handhold.