My family went on Safari in Kenya 06/06/2025 to 06/14/2025. We went to the Rift Valley and the Masai Mara. It was two days at Lake Naivasha and two days in the Lake Nakuru NP as well as four days in the Masai Mara. It was a magical experience. Even though it wasn’t a photo safari, I knew that photography would be a big part of it so I dusted off my old Canon Rebel T4i DSLR and started taking wildlife photos. I found that I quite liked wildlife photography and invested in a Canon EOS R7 and a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens. I read as many blogs about wildlife photography and watched loads of YouTube videos from Canon ambassadors about safari photography, especially the tutorials from the Pangolin Safari folks. When the safari finally happened, I rented a RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L USM to go along with my Canon R7 because one of the professional Canon ambassadors I emailed suggested that combo for somebody with my experience and budget. He couldn’t have been more right! In my experience it was the perfect combo for a novice photographer on safari.
I took over 2,000 photos during my 9 day safari and, let’s be honest, so many of them are so beyond my ability level! This combo took amazing photos in spite of my ability level. The RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1L USM lens with the R7 is the perfect combo for us newbies who aren’t pros. Tack sharp photos using the animal eye detection and back button focus was paramount. We were at a site waiting for a cheetah to hunt some gazelles and I was able to get the scene in focus ahead of time so when the action popped off I was ready to go. The whole experience was magical!
My suggestion to those safari amateurs like myself is this, watch the hundred of hours of tutorials from the Canon ambassadors on YouTube. Train for taking photographs on Safari. Make it a thing you do before you go so that you’re ready. And if you can afford a big, fast prime lens like the RF 600mm f/4, then the more power to you. But if you’re like me, get the Canon R7 and rent or buy the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L USM because you won’t be disappointed. When I go back to Kenya to do Amboseli NP and the Masai Mara, the only thing I would change would be to take a second Canon R7 camera body and put a RF 70-200mm f/2.8mm L lens on it because our Safari guide did get us super close to the wildlife and the 100-500mm was sometimes too big and I couldn’t zoom out enough to get a shot. But overall, I’m super happy with the combo I took. And, I’m not sure if they let you talk about the Safari outfitters on this site, but I can’t say enough about the one we used. Not only did we see the big 5 and other animals but we spent time with them. If there is a way I can
share the outfitter we used I will. But just know, if you’re new to wildlife photography and you’re going on Safari, you can’t go wrong with the Canon R7 coupled with the RF 100-500f/4.5-7.1 L lens.
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Accepted Solutions
