Best Digital Camera for Safari and Travel

Home > The Best Digital Cameras for Travel, Safari and Wildlife Photography

Even though I am a keen photographer, it is not often that I take my digital camera with me when I take guests out on safari as I prefer not to have the distraction and rather concentrate on making the experience as enjoyable and safe as possible for those who have paid for the privilege. I do however have plenty of other opportunities to go out on my own and photograph some of the incredible scenery and wildlife that Africa has to offer. I have owned and used a large amount of digital cameras that I have chosen for myself specifically for travel and for wildlife photography some have been average and some excellent So I have decided to write this "best digital camera reviews" page and I hope that I can pass on some advice and tips to help you get the the best digital camera for travel, safaris and wildlife photography.

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So what is the best digital camera?

That is almost like asking how long is a piece of string, but if we put some constraints on the question, we can start to narrow down the choices.

First decide what we will mostly be using the camera for, in this case:

• Travel Camera (both air travel and on safari)
• Wildlife Photography

And then add them together to get the best digital camera for travel and wildlife photography.

Best Digital Cameras for Travel

So what makes a great travel digital still camera? For me the most important features are:

The camera should be Small
This for a travel camera is very important, it must be easy to place in your hand luggage on the airplane, and then once you are traveling by car or landrover on safari, it has to be easy to carry with you, unless you are a professional photographer, where just about all your luggage will be photography equipment I would highly recommend a compact digital camera for traveling.

I have had a large digital SLR camera with an extra 300mm and wide angle lense before and whilst it cannot be argued that because all the professional photographers use them they have to be the best, you must remember that that is their job and you are on holiday with the idea being to enjoy it. Lugging around all that heavy and bulky equipment is no fun at all!

Don't become a Target
Another good thing to remember is that if you plan to travel around populated areas like towns or cities in any country in the world as a tourist you are immediately a target for thieves, don't make yourself the prime target with a huge camera case and camera round your neck. It is nice to be able to easily slip your camera out of sight sometimes.

Digital Camera on Safari
When you go on safari, you most probably will be traveling on a 4x4 and the size of your camera is not that important as long as it is easily available, but if you plan on going on a walking safari, again a small easy to carry camera is highly recommended.

Therefore for me the most important feature of a traveler digital camera is that it must be small.

Best Cameras for Wildlife Photography

When photographing wildlife the most important features to look out for are:

Get in close to the subject - Big Zoom required!
I think the principals for African wildlife photography are the same as that for photographing polar bears in the arctic, you need to get as close to the animal that you wish to photograph as possible. Now part of that is my job as a safari guide, to get you as close to the action that is both safe and comfortable for you and more importantly for the animal, so that we as humans do not disturb it's natural behavior. The rest comes down to your camera and it's zoom and for me the bigger the zoom, the better! In the past this meant huge telescopic lenses, but now there is a large variety of compact superzoom digital camers to choose from with zooms that go up to 18x (35mm equivalent to over 500mm)

So for me the most important feature on the best wildlife camera is to have a big zoom.

Digital Camera Battery types and Battery life
Battery life and what type of batteries the camera takes is also an important consideration to take into account, remember if you are traveling to remote locations there may not be any electricity to charge your batteries, therefore buying a spare battery or two is a must. You could also consider getting a camera that uses standard AA batteries, but also remember that some remote locations in Africa wont have a shop that sells batteries and it is for that reason I have always either used rechargeable type batteries and also made sure I have plenty of fully charged spares.

Best Camera for Travel and Wildlife Photography

So now we have narrowed down what are the most important features we are looking for in our ultimate travel and wildlife digital camera:

• The camera must be compact - easy to conceal and carry as hand luggage
• The camera must have a large zoom - get in close to that wildlife, including the birds!
• Not too expensive - if it gets lost, stolen or broken during travel, it can never be replaced.

 

Below are my recommendations for the best digital camera for travel and wild life photography taking into account the three key features of large zoom and compact size and price:

The Canon PowerShot S5 IS and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18.

As you can see by the stats below both cameras are very similar in most regards. When choosing my personal replacement camera recently I eventually went for the Panasonic and only because of the bigger zoom 18x (504mm) compared to the 12x (432mm) of the Cannon and the fact that it comes with a rechargeable battery as apposed to using AA batteries. But I think whichever you choose for your next safari holiday you won't be disappointed.

	Canon PowerShot S5 IS	Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18
Zoom tele (T)	432 mm (12 x)	504 mm (18 x)
Dimensions	117 x 80 x 78 mm	118 x 75 x 88 mm (4.6 x 3 x 3.5 in)
Image stabilization	Yes	Yes
Format	Compact	SLR-like
Price guide	£222.78	£219.98
Max resolution	3264 x 2448	3264 x 2448
Effective pixels	8.0 million	8.0 million
Battery / Charger	No	Yes
Battery	AA (4) batteries (NiMH recommended)	Lithium-Ion rechargeable
Weight (inc. batteries)	550g	407g
UK Shoppers Buy this camera in the UK:
US Shoppers Buy this camera in the USA:

Canon PowerShot S5 IS The Canon PowerShot S5 IS is an 8 Megapixel super-zoom camera with a 12x optically-stabilised lens and a 2.5in flip-out screen. The 12x optical zoom has an equivalent range of 36-432mm. Not as impressive as the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 but still pretty good none the less. The two features that are better on this camera than the Panasonic are the flip out screen, whih can be hidden to protect it and the video mode, which is of a better quality.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 is an 8.1 Megapixel super-zoom with an 18x optically stabilised lens. The FZ18 may be styled like the pricier FZ50, but is much smaller and lighter and so ideal as a super zoom travel camera. There's full manual control, easy access to settings and impressively for its price, a RAW mode. The 18x range gives you great flexibility from 28mm wide angle to extreme 504mm telephoto and unlike rivals, there's little fringing when zoomed-in. It's one of the best super-zooms available.

 

Photo Gallery

Example photos taken with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18
For some examples of photos taken with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18, check out my personal photo Gallery of Photographs of The Gambia.

 

 

 

 

 

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