Travel Tripod -- Africa Trip

While I haven’t been to Africa, I do travel compact & light, applying the 80/20 rule and “use-it or lose-it” before I travel, so that photography activity enhances my day not hinders it.
It may not work for your requirements, but you can get a lot of mid-long range shots (assume most guided-tour activity maybe in the 200-400mm lens) and sunrise/sunset/low light shots with the following (which are economical, very compact and light-weight, particularly for encountering of any weight-restricted travel)…

SURUI P326 Monopod:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …Section_Carbon_​Fiber.html

MANFROTTO MTT2-PO2 Tripod:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …P02_Table_Top_T​ripod.html
-lighter & more compact than bean bag; maybe worth inquiring/asking your tour company ahead to see if perhaps some sort of pads or maybe even bean bag is provided by tour for photographers, or type and configuration of vehicle(s) so you can plan equip/pack yourself accordingly.

LOWEPRO TRANSPORT DUFFLE Bag:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …port_Duffle_Bac​kpack.html
(Wt: 2.2lbs & external lineal dimensions of 42.5”, which is under FAA 45” maximum carry-on luggage guideline; not sure about your originating airlines policy)
-Depending on application, I use this light-weight bag(with some spare Lowepro partitions/dividers I have added) for transporting to & from (which can be folded/rolled up to approx 1/5th its width almost disappearing on my back, while on location even when I want to include a 500f4 + 2xTCmkIII mounted on a 1DmkIII).

(I have a Gitzo GT1542T tripod http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …Series_1_Travel​er_6x.html
for travel/location activity, but find even its 16.75” folded length + head a bit too bulky on numerous occasions)

Have fun on your journey and remember it didn’t happen without pictures!

Mary

I used a Slik Mini Pro during an Africa trip. It collapses to about 8" tall and fully extends to about 12". With the pop up roofs on the Land Rovers and Land Cruisers I could stand up, plant the tripod on the roof of the vehicle and shoot quickly. We were with others on the trip and the drivers had to accomodate everybodies needs.
I was very glad I had brought along this little pod.

Trips to Africa are once in a lifetime things, unless you're wealthy. I would spend whatever I needed to get the shots.

The sticks I took are the Feisol 3441T They're light very stable and will take a beating. In this catagory, I think they're better than the Gitzo, and I have a larger Gitzo and a Gitzo monopod, so I'm not Gitzo-bashing.

When I was there, the most value I got was from a monopod to use in the Land Rover, as you can only step out of the vehicle at certain places. You can use the Feisol with only one or two legs out instead, and that may be a solution.

I might consider renting a tripod since it's just one trip and you can't get anything stable and light for a low price.

I normally take a Gorillapod Focus on holiday and that works a treat. If you do go down the photo vest route make sure you load up the pockets before you get to check in. A friend who loaded up his jacket at the checkin desk got told to hand it over so they could weigh it with his hand luggage

While I would not comment on the tripods mentioned, my two weeks in Kenya and Tanzania taught me that unless conditions are ideal, you are not permitted to exit the Land Rover. I used a light tripod maybe twice over the course of the trip. The primary stabilizing agent is a good beanbag. The bag is put over the roof edge and works fine. I was able to take sharp photos with a 100-400 at max with a 2x teleconverter attached to a 5d Mark II with the beanbag setup. I concur with a prior poster about the excitement of such a trip. I took over 6000 pictures in the two weeks. Have a great time.

I would also have a look at this thread as a general point of reference. Dave has organised quite a few photography safaris and has posted a list of what he is taking. They seem to favour beanbags.

Not sure what airline you are flying, but if you are flying South African Airlines each person can take 2 x bags of 50 lbs for a total of 100lbs plus your 20 lb carry on.

Buying a cheap tripod is simply not worth it, I tried that and had the head of the tripod snap off and I my camera fell off the bridge into the river.

Lesson learned

tvphotog wrote in post #15349209
I might consider renting a tripod since it's just one trip and you can't get anything stable and light for a low price.

There is a good suggestion I hadn't thought about.Thanks.

adrian5127 wrote in post #15349264
I normally take a Gorillapod Focus on holiday and that works a treat. If you do go down the photo vest route make sure you load up the pockets before you get to check in. A friend who loaded up his jacket at the checkin desk got told to hand it over so they could weigh it with his hand luggage

^D'oh

Thanks to everybody who has posted comments...gives me lots to think over and I do have some time. Bean bag might make the most sense with a monopod getting some sderious consideration. After thinking about it some I remember the last time I was in East Africa (30 years ago)...we never were able to get out of the vehicles so not sure if I'd even use a tripod really unless at camp in the afternoons.

So. African Airways is what we will be flying from Washington DC. It's not them I'm worried about it's the light aircraft between camps that would be the over weight problem although I am not sure how stringent they get once you're actually there.

From my two safari experiences in Tanzania - I definitely say mono over tripod (never got to use the tripod I took), and even the monopod isn't a must as the tour companies generally have to be out of the game parks before dark anyway... so you are usually shooting in some pretty bright light

I lead wildlife workshops and Safaris in Southern Africa each year at Sabi Sands and in Namibia and there are a few things to consider. If you are going on walks (bush walks, cheetah walks and or leopard walks) which means you will be outside the vehicle with a guide / tracker with a rifle, you should not need a tripod as those are typically during the daylight hours with good light. If you are in a vehicle which you will be most of the time a beanbag and or monopod will be excellent. Also things to consider, are that you may want to shoot some astrophotography as the bush is dark and there is little air and light pollution typically (note typically) in the African bush. Gorilla pods work great and monopods work great, but the best I have found is to use your flash with a better beamer and practice your panning techniques just should you get the rare image of a cheetah, lion or leopard chasing down prey and the flash will help to freeze the image yet still allow the background to be blurred, or maybe just a hippo running at full tilt (which is something to see btw).
Other things to consider are, the African light when cloudless and that is often is harsh and you may want to use a 2 x nd filter so that you can slow your shutter down or darken the sky at times. If you need any further assistance, let me know and I will do my best to answer. Good luck and enjoy your trip to Africa, it sure is some kind of place.

Other things to consider, what sort of safari are you going on and what size lenses are you are going to carry. Many of the game drives, particularly in Private game reserves will get you really close to wildlife and you will not need big lens, in fact many of my clients show up with a 70-200 as their biggest lens and they get close enough to big cat that zoomed at 200mm they can fill a frame with a head shot

Monopod recommendation ... Manfrotto 681b is what I use

Gavin Slabbert

Andrushka wrote in post #15349924
From my two safari experiences in Tanzania - I definitely say mono over tripod (never got to use the tripod I took), and even the monopod isn't a must as the tour companies generally have to be out of the game parks before dark anyway... so you are usually shooting in some pretty bright light

Seems to be a concensus. Thanks.

gslabbert5119 wrote in post #15349961
I lead wildlife workshops and Safaris in Southern Africa each year at Sabi Sands and in Namibia and there are a few things to consider. If you are going on walks (bush walks, cheetah walks and or leopard walks) which means you will be outside the vehicle with a guide / tracker with a rifle, you should not need a tripod as those are typically during the daylight hours with good light. If you are in a vehicle which you will be most of the time a beanbag and or monopod will be excellent. Also things to consider, are that you may want to shoot some astrophotography as the bush is dark and there is little air and light pollution typically (note typically) in the African bush. Gorilla pods work great and monopods work great, but the best I have found is to use your flash with a better beamer and practice your panning techniques just should you get the rare image of a cheetah, lion or leopard chasing down prey and the flash will help to freeze the image yet still allow the background to be blurred, or maybe just a hippo running at full tilt (which is something to see btw).
Other things to consider are, the African light when cloudless and that is often is harsh and you may want to use a 2 x nd filter so that you can slow your shutter down or darken the sky at times. If you need any further assistance, let me know and I will do my best to answer. Good luck and enjoy your trip to Africa, it sure is some kind of place.

Other things to consider, what sort of safari are you going on and what size lenses are you are going to carry. Many of the game drives, particularly in Private game reserves will get you really close to wildlife and you will not need big lens, in fact many of my clients show up with a 70-200 as their biggest lens and they get close enough to big cat that zoomed at 200mm they can fill a frame with a head shot

Monopod recommendation ... Manfrotto 681b is what I use

Gavin Slabbert

Good stuff there.

I will be using a 70-300 L and figure that will get me a lot of great shots. I remember last time I was there that (30 years ago) we were pretty close to game most of the time so we'll see.

Thanks for the recommendation on the monopod.

Oh, one more thing...I asked in the duplicate thread I made in the Wildlife section (before I realized this might be the better place for the subject) about the need for a ball head on a monopod?

Opinions?

i-G12 wrote in post #15350026
Oh, one more thing...I asked in the duplicate thread I made in the Wildlife section (before I realized this might be the better place for the subject) about the need for a ball head on a monopod?

Opinions?

Definitely no ball head on a Monopod if your lens has a foot and a thread in the bottom. The ball head will just get in the way and you will have one more thing to deal with. (KISS theory )

Ditto the above I have used a ball head and it just got in the way and extra weight.

If you have a heavy lens it can slide over and in my case on my hand and it really hurt as I was borrowing a 20 year old 400 2.8 which is much heavier than the new ones

Thanks fellas!