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Equipment
Selection
Have you thought of joining one of our photographic workshops? While the most common type of camera on the market used to be the 35mm film camera it is fast being overtaken by the digital in both Single Lens Reflex and Point and Shoot formats. Many of the points we cover will also apply to the other formats as well as digital and video so don't feel excluded if you use these formats. Contrary to what many people imagine you don't need the very best, most expensive camera gear on the market to come back with good photographs. Even the simplest of point and shoot cameras can deliver really interesting pictures. Lets look at the different types of camera and what they and their corresponding lenses can do. Before we go any further we need to get a little technical so that we can talk about what these cameras can do. The most critical part of a camera is in fact the lens. It is essential that one grasp this fact so I'll say it again. The most critical part of a camera is in fact the lens. It is the thing that'll give you good, crisp, contrasty images, not the camera body. Get the best lens you can and then think about the body. The so-called “normal” lens for a 35-mm camera has a focal length of 50mm because this lens gives a perspective very similar to that of the human eye. A lens with a shorter focal length than this, say 35mm or 28mm, is 
termed a
wide-angle lens while a longer focal length, 100mm, 200mm or 300mm is
called a telephoto lens. The magnifying effect of the lens can easily
be calculated by dividing the focal length of the standard lens into
the focal length of the supplementary lens. Let's say that we have a
point and shoot camera with a 35mm to 105mm zoom lens. This means that
it magnifies the subject from 0.7 times to just over 2 times. Or to put
it another way if you are using a pair of 8X30 binoculars in the game
reserve to watch game and you wanted the same magnification on your
camera you would need to multiply the magnification by the focal length
of the standard lens. This would mean that you would need a 400mm lens
on your camera to achieve the same magnification as your binoculars.The most simple cameras on the market are the little “point and shoots” usually with a 35mm lens although some of the more advanced ones can have quite nice  zooms
on them, some as large as 35 – 160mm, giving a
fairly reasonable magnification. For the fixed lens models and those
with the less spectacular zooms one is limited pretty much to shooting
scenery or herds of animals in their habitat. This is, of course, not
necessarily inadequate and many of my pictures are shot with a 17
–
35mm zoom which makes the average 37 – 70 mm lens seem quite
long. Even
the cheapest are capable of giving really good results and I have made
some fairly substantial enlargements with my little model that fits
into a shirt pocket.This is, of course, not necessarily inadequate and many of my pictures are shot with a 17 – 35mm zoom which makes the average 37 – 70 mm lens seem quite long. Even the cheapest are capable of giving really good results and I have made some fairly substantial enlargements with my little model that fits into a shirt pocket. Next up from the point and shoot models are the so called “cross over” models and these tend to come in a variety of rather futuristic shapes. They are basically a fairly nice zoom lens to which the manufactures have added a camera. They are usually equipped with a host of features and controls that should 
satisfy even the most ardent gadget freak. They are capable of results
at least as good as many of the entry-level interchangeable lens Single
Lens Reflex cameras and are a lot more compact. Their disadvantage is, that if the photography bug does bite, one is limited to the lens that comes with the camera. Because these cameras tend to have slightly longer zooms one can start to venture into shooting full frame animals, and of course the scenics and so on as well. And then of course there are the fully-fledged, system single lens reflex cameras and here the sky's the limit! Some of the entry  level
ones cost pretty much the same as the “cross over”
cameras and so careful consideration should be given to the
interchangeable lens SLR before deciding on one of the cross over
models. Don't think that just because you have an el cheapo camera that great wildlife pictures are something you can only dream of. It's most definitely the person behind it, not the camera that gets great shots! If there's something that you would like to read about in this column or questions you have , feel free to contact me on e-mail at info@africaimagery.com . I will try to get back to you but things sometimes get a little hectic around here so please forgive me if I don't. It will, though, help to give me an idea of what you want to know.
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