About the Author

Matt Uys

Londolozi Alumni

Being surrounded by wilderness from a young age, you experience it in all of its essence. Matt was privileged enough to grow up in the Lowveld and its surroundings, sparking a great love for nature and all it has to offer, be it ...

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21 Comments

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Marinda Drake
Master Tracker

Great bog Matt. We can’t wait to travel to the bush.

Joan Schmiidt
Master Tracker

Matt, wonderful blog today, all the camera equipment I bring is an Canon FX70, with a wide lens capturing everything I need to capture🤗

Michael and Terri Klauber
Guest contributor

Thanks Matt! We can’t wait to pack up our gear again for our next visit to Londolozi! What is your opinion of the aperture range on the telephoto lenses? A 2.8 vs 4.0 lens for example?

Matt Uys
Londolozi Alumni

Hi Michael and Terri!

We can’t wait to have you back!

I for one will always go with the 2.8, that’s my personal preference, i like my images having a shallow depth of field. Other people might prefer the F4 as you get more of your subject within the field range. However the F2.8 does serve at an advantage in low light situations, giving you the upper hand at dusk when needing that extra shutter speed.

Vin Beni
Guest contributor

Great photo of a “serious” Sean Z.

Andrew and Daniel Bolnick
Digital Tracker

I rented my photographic equipment from Londolozi and it was a breeze. Pictures came out great

Matt Uys
Londolozi Alumni

Pleased to hear you had a wonderful experience!

Paul Canales
Master Tracker

Great information, thanks!

Bob and Lucie Fjeldstad
Guest contributor

Glad you mentioned spare batteries, not just for the camera but for some accessories as well. I also feel strongly about a protective filter over the lens (UV or Skylight) which has saved a trip on a couple of occasions over the past. And some sort of device like a laptop to download to has been critical to us along with an external storage drive to make sure we had two copies of everything on separate devices. We also travel with rain coverings for the cameras & lenses just in case of rain or severe dust. I would also recommend a puff-blower to get rid of the gritty dust before using the microfibre cloth. None of these things except the laptop weigh more than a few ounces in total. On a separate note my wife uses all this type of stuff and also carries along a second camera & lens, a second battery charging unit and lots of memory cards. I use a Nikon P900 which is a fully functional all-in-one camera/video unit with a 24-2000 mm lens, but small and lightweight, so we really have everything covered, if she can’t get the picture I usually can get a shot.

Denise Vouri
Guest contributor

My camera gear is set, but just need to rent a longer lens than my Nikon 70-200/2.8 I have a new Sony A7r iv but only with a 24-105 lens….

First I need to continue to rehab my fractured wrist so I can travel, photograph, etc. Looking forward to returning!!

Matt Uys
Londolozi Alumni

Hi Denise, Sorry to hear about your wrist, i hope for a speedy recovery!

70-200mm F2.8 is one of my all time favourite lenses.

Judith Guffey
Digital Tracker

Waiting impatiently for international travel into South Africa is allowed again. Hope to be at Londolozi in November, 2020.

Al Kaiser
Guest contributor

Thanks Matt. I’m already packed!

Matt Uys
Londolozi Alumni

No doubt about that Al! i have the 300mm patiently waiting for you!

Al Kaiser
Guest contributor

Cheers Matt. I actually bought a used 300m 2.8 when I was in Tokyo for the rugby World Cup!

Ian Hall
Master Tracker

Plenty of batteries and memory cards. I always bring a spare body with me as a back up.
The other thing is try and get an idea of the weight that you will be carrying, I now choose lenses on the basis of weight , do you really need a 300 F 2.8 when a 300 F4 is much lighter.
Do you need full frame or half frame?
A Canon 7D with a 300 lens has a longer focal length than a Canon 5 or 6 .
Don’t forget you’ll be lugging your camera bag with you through airports and it can get very heavy.

Gillian Lacey
Explorer

Sadly we have no plans to visit in the short term but the lock down has made me realise that I need to get back to Londolozi soon!
I have changed my gear to Fuji (a lot do with weight and size) and would love Londolozi to start including some mirrorless gear in their offering to guests to hire.

Matt Uys
Londolozi Alumni

Hi Gillian!

We are working on the mirrorless range, hopefully next time you visit we will have some gear in our arsenal to offer you during your stay!

Gillian Lacey
Explorer

Great news!

Suzanne Gibson
Guest contributor

I find a small torch is essential – learnt this the hard way, trying to find the various buttons on a black camera in a black bag when it’s almost dark!

Nicole Bernhardt
Senior Digital Ranger

Hi Matt, thank you for the blog! I’m actually on the hunt for some new equipment (also have a passion for wildlife photography) so this post was very helpful 🙂

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