Trip to Uganda...

[tcom]

Hi

It has been quite a few days since my last posting on this forum. I was pretty much occupied to getting used to my new camera equipement, a Nikon D700 and D3s which I intend to use mostly for sports photography and for low light photography.

I do not have photos to share yet about Uganda, at the moment, I am waiting at the airport of Geneva for my flight over London to Uganda. I will be doing a two weeks trip in Uganda, including Lake Victoria, Murchinson-Falls, Kibale Forest NP, Queen Elizabeth NP andlast but not least, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest NP to hopefully see the Mountain Gorillas.

Due to the trekking to the Mountain Gorillas, I finally decided to take the Nikon equipment as well, especially for the low light advantage these cameras are giving me which will be welcome in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. I saw quite a few photos on the internet taken there at more than 1600iso, the D3s will do a great job in such conditions.

I decided to take the following equipment:

- Pentax K-7
- Pentax DA12-24 (for landscapes)
- Pentax DFA100/2.8 WR (macro)
- Pentax DA*300 (for distant wildlife)

- Nikon D3s
- Nikon D700
- AFS 24-70/2.8
- AFS 70-200/2.8
- TC14E2

I will have both Nikon and Pentax equipment on this tour. I wanted to avoid taking two brands (which makes a pretty heavy backpack) but between the low light requirements (Nikon) and the long tele requirements (K-7 + DA*300), I had to take both.

I will have to really think about my "travel" kit once I get back. The K-5 could make me stay with Pentax for travel photography if the high ISO capabilities are really as good as expected. Otherwise, I might as well add a macro lens and a long tele for Nikon. I would have liked to be able to test a K-5 on this trip and contacted Pentax Germany for that, but they told me, the K-5 will only be available on the 15th October, no way to get it earlier.

Well, that's all for now. I will add my photos of the trip on this thread once back.

[Mike Pearson]

Hope you have a wonderful and safe trip Dominique 

I look forward to see the results 

Mike

[Ron Kruger]

And I thought I had a heavy backpack...
I really envy your trip, but I don't envy your trek up that mountain.
At any rate, I can't wait to see the images. Be careful.

[JIMBO]

WOW!!!!! that us sime series $$$$ 's of camera equipment. Good luck and I am very interested in your thoughts on the D700 on the trip. Cheers JIM

[tcom]

Thank you all for the comments.

Well, everything worked right so far, I arrived in the hotel in Entebbe. The heavy backpack was a problem for me, but did not give any problem with the airline. This afternoon, I will be heading for the botanical garden, before the tour really starts, tomorrow

[blackcloudbrew]

Safe journey Dom. We await your photos!

[Roger]

Looking forward to see the results. Bon voyage!

[Craig]

Dominique,   Have a great trip!  I wish you, and your gear, a safe return.

[daacon]

Wow what a trip looking forward to some of the pictorial results !

[tcom]

I safely returned yesterday from one of the best trips I had in Africa. Uganda is truly the pearl of Africa.

I was lucky to see a lot of things, warm encounters with the locals (which do not like to be photographed) and a lot of encounters with the wildlife (elephants, hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, buffaloes, waterbucks, chimps, black&white colobus, mountain gorillas, shoebills and many more).

In regards of the photo equipment:

• the weather sealing on all equipment K7, D700 and D3s worked very well in the harsh environment (sunny but dusty mornings, cloud covered with rain or thunderstorms in the afternoons, and hikes in tropical forests)
• I could have almost have left the DA12-24 and DFA100 at home, I used both only for a few photos
• travelling with two camera systems is not practical. I should either hope the K5 does good enough in high iso, or expand the lens range on Nikon to travel only with one system.
• the battery performance of the EN-EL4 on both D700 and D3s is tremendous, I never had to charge the nikon batteries on this two weeks trip
• of all photos I took during this trip (around 2400), I think there are not more than 40 photos I would not have been able to take with the Pentax equipment. These are mostly the photos of the chimps in the dark rain forest where I had to set the ISO to 6400 on the D3s to get short enough shutter times, as well as a few action shots.
• I used mostly the K-7 with DA*300, the D3s with AFS 70-200/2.8 and D700 with AFS 24-70/2.8.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and from the photo equipment, I could have done probably only with Pentax, except for a few photos where high ISO was really necessary, but these are among the most important photos of the trip.

I do now have to sort the photos and hope to share the photos of the trip.

[blackcloudbrew]

Welcome back and we await your results.

[Ron Kruger]

Can't wait to see the shots.
I've been checking first shots from the K5 all over the net, and everything seems to have that WOW factor attached. 6400 ISO shots I've seen seem to have about as much IQ as 400 ISO shots from my K20D. Not real sure about the color yet, but it looks better than Canon and Nikon. Extra MPs seem to help. Some shots at even higher ISO seem to hold up well. The K5, I suspect, is an exceptional piece of work.
Most of what I've seen are high ISO samples, but I'm reserving final judgement until I see a bunch of 100 ISO samples.

[tcom]

Well, I finished sorting the photos and could start to post.

Just a question, as a lot of photos have been taken with Nikon equipment, should I limit myself here with the Pentax photos or show the whole tour, posting photos of both Pentax and Nikon?

[blackcloudbrew]

As far as I'm concerned, I want to see whatever you are willing to share on whatever equipment you used. So bring 'em on!

Tim

[Ron Kruger]

I want to see pics from both cameras and get your evaluations of the equipment.