Aperture for large animals

[parkap]

Hi all. My primary interest is [African] wildlife photography. Was wondering what aperture is best for large mammals, ie. hippo and elephant, when you want to get the whole of the animal in focus. Or even with hippos, for example, who have such large, long heads, that the depth of field required to get the while head in focus on a close up I find you need a really small aperture.
What are your experiences?

[res]

You may want to spend some time with this link

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

It is a nice tool for learning but when shooting in the field, I experiment and if am in question, will bracket shoot my f-stops as well as on occasion if I have the time use the depth of field preview button. Just thoughts. Rick

[chauncey]

the link referred to will require more info than you supplied us.

[parkap]

Thanks res. Will definitely check it out. At a quick glance looks like its got some useful info.

[RikWriter]

Never done Africa, but shooting Alaskan coastal brown bears at Katmai, I tried to keep it at f8.

[matman1975]

My experience in Africa has taught me that a hippo needs at least f/8 to be all the way sharp.
The truth is that you won't have many chances to shoot a "whole" hippo body during daylight cause they prefer to stay submerged and get out of the water only when the sun comes down and the temperature dropps.
Equally difficult targets are the Rhinos.....the fact that you can't approach them in a close distance (guide-drivers avoid geting close... cause their temper is explosive!) literally solves the problem.
If you finally have a chance to get a close-up Rhino shot, focus on it's horn and set your aperture at least to f/10.
Feel free to ask whatever you like about african safaris....I go there every summer!

Teo