Telephoto Zoom Lenses for Safari (2024)

FAQs

Do I need a telephoto lens for a safari? ›

MM: “Every safari photographer should have a telephoto zoom lens, such as 100-400mm or 200-500mm. These focal lengths are critical to capture the action that occurs within a certain range from the vehicles. There are times the wildlife is further away, but the majority of the action is within 200-400mm away.”

This is a great, all-round option that is the lens of choice for the vast majority of safari travelers. At 300mm the lens provides sufficient magnification for most game-drive sightings, while the shorter focal lengths work very well for "people" shots and even some landscape photos.

Best Lenses for an Africa Safari

Super-telephoto lenses with a focal length of 300mm plus are the staple for most African safaris and for crop sensor cameras 300mm should be ideal. If you're intending photograph birds as well as big game then the longer the better. Full-frame cameras will usually need lenses of 400m+.

Just point and shoot! Ample phone memory means you can take gigabyte upon gigabyte of pictures and still have space. Plus, it's easy to share your shots with family and friends on social media. Overall, a phone's small size and lightweight build make it the unparalleled choice for easy, accessible safari photography.

MM: “Every safari photographer should have a telephoto zoom lens, such as 100-400mm or 200-500mm. These focal lengths are critical to capture the action that occurs within a certain range from the vehicles. There are times the wildlife is further away, but the majority of the action is within 200-400mm away.”

Telephoto lenses are often heavy and bulky. You can photograph distant objects without needing to physically move. You may need to use a tripod to balance the lens.

A 200-300mm lens might be enough for you. On the other hand, if you usually shoot small subjects, like birds or other animals, in environments where they tend to run away as soon as they see you, well, even a 600mm may not be enough.

The bottom line – on a crop frame camera a 70-300mm zoom (Canon, Nikon, Sony) will get you pretty good coverage from 15 yards to 56 yards away, the 'sweet spot' for outdoor sports. If you're shooting a full frame camera – the Canon 100-400mm gives similar coverage.

To get a shot of the moon like the one below, you'll need a telephoto lens. An option with a focal length between 100 to 300mm is enough to get the moon look as big as this.

The 70 – 200 is one of the most poplar lenses on the market. It offers great quality at a good price. In South Africa the wildlife tends to be closer and many of the subjects will be in range of this lens.

Is 200 mm lens enough for wildlife? ›

A camera lens with a 200mm focal length is certainly capable of a capturing amazing images of birds, but species that refuse to get too close or move very fast (such as warblers) will be tough.

A telephoto lens

If you only take one lens on safari, make it a telephoto one. If you're shooting on a full frame camera, you'll want 200mm as a bare minimum. If you're going on a jungle safari, you can double that to 400mm. If you're shooting on a crop sensor camera, you can get away with a little less lens.

If you mostly get the subject filling as much of the frame as you need, then 20MP is plenty. 30MP gives you a little more room to crop and still reveal detail, but only up to a point and it's not as much as it sounds.

On iOS 13 and up, you can also set the camera and microphone to be enabled by default: Go to Settings on your device. Scroll down and open Safari tab. Ensure Camera & Microphone are set to Allow.

This is typically the zoom range of a lens. For example, a Canon 100-400mm lens would have a 4X zoom range (400mm divided by 100mm) and a magnification of 2X at 100m and 8X at 400mm.

The Canon 100-400mm lens is best used for wildlife and sports, although it's also very good for photographing portraits, landscapes, and airshows. It's designed for full frame Canon cameras, but functions perfectly with "crop" cameras too.

The photos taken with the 200-400 are just as good as the prime lens photos, but you get the ability to frame the photo with the telephoto adjustment and a lens that weighs much less than the 600. However, this lens is too heavy to hand hold, it needs a sturdy tripod and gimbal head.

A telephoto zoom lens lets you get close to wildlife without disturbing it. This is especially useful for animals that are timid, or even dangerous. You want as much telephoto reach as you can get – ideally more than 300mm – and this can mean a little shopping around.

A telephoto lens increases focal length. It's most commonly used to show far away objects with accurate perspective and with a level of precise detail that was once only possible with close-range photography. A wide angle lens expands the horizontal scope of a camera shot.

Which is better telephoto or zoom lens? ›

The main difference between telephoto lenses and zoom lenses is that a telephoto lens has a longer focal length while a zoom lens can change focal lengths but start and end at any focal length.

I've heard some people say that these lenses seem to “specialized” because they can only zoom in, which is ideal for nature and wildlife photographers. They're right, the 100-400 lens is great for wildlife, but it's also incredibly versatile for a walk-around lens that can get you some unique shots.

The Nikon AF-S FX 200-500mm f/5.6 ED VR lens is perfect for long-distance wildlife photography. The 500mm focal length allows you to get close to animals without disturbing them. That means you won't scare them off.

Look for a magnification between 8x–12x. Higher than 12x, you can induce hand movement, which will make viewing through the binoculars uncomfortable (unless you use a tripod). If you're mostly viewing wildlife in forested areas, 8x – 10x should work well, while 8x – 12x are ideal for lakes and tidelands.

Here is an example: For a 300mm lens, divide 300 by 50 to get 6x magnification. Or divide 300 by 100 to get 3, then multiply 3 x 2 to get 6x. Another example: For a 100mm lens, divide 100mm by 100 to get 1. Multiply 1 x 2 to get 2x magnification.

This 4x telephoto zoom lens is ideal for the budget-conscious photographer with an interest in shooting sports, wildlife or portraiture. In common with other telephoto lenses, the EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III compresses perspective and allows the photographer to restrict depth of field.

The AF Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4-5.6G is a lightweight and versatile option for those seeking affordable telephoto zoom capability. With a 300mm maximum focal length (450mm equivalent on DX-format cameras) it brings even the most distant action closer. It's an ideal lens for candids, travel and sports photography.

These shots will not be winning any photo contests, but, with a 70-300mm kit lens, you, too, can grab images of Jupiter and its four large moons, as well as Saturn and its spectacular rings.

For a medium power eyepiece (approximately 150X) a 13mm or 14mm eyepiece would do. For a low power eyepiece (about 75X), which are great for finding and centering or observing very large and close objects like the Moon or Sun, an eyepiece between 25mm and 30mm would work well.

Photographing the Moon: the basics

You can take good images of the Moon with just a single lens reflex (SLR) camera and a 250 mm telephoto lens. To get the best detail, you need a telephoto lens of at least 500 to 600 mm and ideally a long focal length telescope.

Is 200mm lens good for safari? ›

Although I couldn't get those images of the zoomed in eyeballs, I think the images I was able to make are great for professionals, enthusiasts or beginners. So I guess this should answer the question: Is a 200mm lens enough for a safari? Absolutely!

A 70-200mm lens is a versatile optic with uses for wildlife, wedding, sports, landscape and even portrait photographers. The option of having short, medium and long telephoto focal lengths in one lens with a fast constant aperture gives photographers so many creative options.

The most “traditional” prime lenses for wildlife photography are the 500mm f/4 and 600mm f/4 lenses. There are also wider 300mm and 400mm options from almost every manufacturer. Nikon recently released the Z 400 f/2.8 with a built in 1.4x teleconverter making this prized focal length even more versatile.

The Nikon Z 70-200mm 2.8 is the ideal lens for situations where animals get very close. The zoom gives you the flexibility to quickly switch between portraits and wide-angle images while the constant open aperture of 2.8 guarantees soft backgrounds.

Re: Is 300mm (on Apsc) good for wildlife photography? Without getting into details, 300mm is a good start. Better to add a 1.4x, or go to a 400mm.

While the pro-level Nikon Z 9 is often held up as the best of the best cameras for wildlife photography, it's also a flagship pro model with a price tag to match, making it an unrealistic option for most people. The next best thing for enthusiasts is the Nikon Z 6II.

A bridge camera is a particularly popular option for folks going on wildlife focused trips, such as a wildlife safari or birdwatching trip. The long zoom means you can get photos of far away subjects, without having the huge weight of a dedicated lens and DSLR setup.

The front facing camera can take 1080p 30fps video. But the rear camera can take 4K at 60fps or even 1080p at 240fps and the quality is way better. So if you want good video go with the rear camera! Also you must change the video recording quality settings in Camera panel in the settings app to take 4K or other.

Generally speaking, you'll want a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion of moving animals. Try 1/250, 1/500 or even faster.

Is full frame better for wildlife photography? ›

If you love shooting animals with blurred background or you want to focus on a subject through bokeh, then a full frame camera is the better choice. However, using a crop sensor camera to shoot wildlife will still give excellent subject separation even at a higher f-stop depending on the lens focal length.

Just point and shoot! Ample phone memory means you can take gigabyte upon gigabyte of pictures and still have space. Plus, it's easy to share your shots with family and friends on social media. Overall, a phone's small size and lightweight build make it the unparalleled choice for easy, accessible safari photography.

If you are using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari to join or host a meeting, you will see a dialog box to launch the Zoom application.

Telephoto lenses are generally great for situations when you cannot get close enough to your subject. If you want to get a shallow depth of field or avoid barrel distortions, these lenses are also great for you. Experiment with different kinds of photography, and you are going to see what lenses you need.

The Telephoto lens can help you see far-away objects closer without compromising quality. For example, if your subject is a wild animal and you can't get physically closer, you might use the Telephoto lens to make it look closer than it actually is.

The longer the focal length, the closer you can zoom in on a distant subject. Many entry-level DSLRs come with an 18-55mm lens in the package, which is a good choice as a general-use lens. For more zoom power, you'll need a telephoto lens, which typically falls within the 55-300mm range.

Is 70 200 good for Safari? ›

The 70 – 200 is one of the most poplar lenses on the market. It offers great quality at a good price. In South Africa the wildlife tends to be closer and many of the subjects will be in range of this lens.

In Safari, to allow a website to use the camera, choose Safari > Settings, click Websites, then select Camera.

Compared with the 2x zoom from the main camera, the 3x of the telephoto lens is only worth it when there is a lot of light to work with. Once things start to dim, the quality drops significantly. I found myself using the telephoto lens the least on my iPhone 13 Pro and I don't see that changing on the iPhone 14 Pro.

Of course, the iPhone 11 Pro models are more expensive. But the additional Telephoto lens is definitely worth it. You'll be able to zoom in on distant subjects. And the Telephoto lens is also perfect for portrait photography.

Using a telephoto lens for your close-up shots comes with several advantages over a regular macro lens; ​Better depth of field - macro lenses have very shallow depths of field and often require you to focus bracket in order to get sharpness throughout your subject.