[Leica] Re: Kenya and long lenses

[Douglas Cooper <douglas@metaversalstudios.com>]

At 03:59 PM 10/4/00 -0700, you wrote:
>I would like to add a
>longer lens but I don't want to spend a lot of money.  This will be lens
>that won't get much use probably.


I used to lead birding safaris in Kenya, and my advice -- heresy on this 
list, I'm afraid -- is to rent a C*n*n autofocus for the trip, with at 
least a 400mm lens.  (Check photodo for the best-rated long lenses.)  And 
have it insured to the hilt -- yes, Kenya is a dangerous place, *much* more 
dangerous than when I was there (in the late eighties -- and even then 
there were gangs with machetes in Nairobi).

You'll want the long lens and the autofocus if you want to shoot birds at 
all.  And believe me:  you will want to shoot birds.  Even if you think 
you're there mainly for the people.  I wasn't the slightest bit inclined 
towards birdwatching until I went to Kenya, where the average bird seems to 
have either a six-foot wingspan or colors you didn't think you'd ever find 
in nature.  Or both.  Kenya is, with Peru (and perhaps Ecuador), the most 
glorious birdwatching terrain on earth.  You don't even have to leave 
Nairobi to encounter spectacular winged things.  I interviewed the world's 
champion birdwatcher, who lives in Lake Baringo -- this was my first 
published piece, ever! -- and he has identified, if I remember, some 1400 
species in Kenya.

And yes, you'll want to shoot mammals as well, many of which you want to 
keep somewhere around the infinity focus point.  (The two most dangerous 
animals in Kenya?  The buffalo, and the hippotamus.  Responsible for many 
more deaths than lions, leopards, etc.  But don't be nervous:  I've never 
felt in safer hands than with those guys who drive the official safari 
vans.  Even if you head out for only a day or two, you'll be with one of 
these guys.  They all have about twenty years' experience.)

There's no way you'll be able to afford a Leica lens to do this kind of 
work (and I'm not precisely sure that such a lens, if it exists, would 
outperform the C*n*n in that range).  Also, you might want to think twice 
about exposing your own ultra-expensive equipment to the rigors of the 
Kenyan game parks:  the dust can be horrendous, and optical equipment 
doesn't like to be vibrated, six hours a day, in a truck trying to make its 
way over nonexistent roads.  Rent the equipment, and have *them* deal with 
cleaning and tightening it.  (You'll certainly pay enough.)

Oh, and take your Leica for the people, of course...

I envy you.  You'll have the time of your life.


cheers,


Douglas Cooper




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