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Hi, I'm new to the forum and I am also a photography enthusiast. Any tips in general on photography in KNP?

I have a Fujifilm Finepix s8000fd and at this stage I'm quite happy with it, although I would like a SLR, maybe Nikon D40

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Great camera and a great brand with outstanding lenses. I would get the 70-200 f2.8 VR and a 1.4x and a 1.7x convertor and that with your 1.5x crop factor will be plenty for a start in Kruger...I use that lens and convertors 90% of the time in Kruger with a full frame non crop factor camera..D700...I have been using N equipment for 40 years...I say go for it but have a look at the D90...best value for money at the moment but go for the glass first

Hi and welcome animallover!

What animals do you love? All or just mammals? Because if you like birds as well the setup proposed by PB will be too short.
I personally use a 100-400 lens, and quite often find the 400 bit too short...

Another problem I have with the converter on the lens setup is that it looses you one stop, which means a more pronounced background than without. That often is not the result you wish for.

The D40 is a great camera, but I bet you can find secondhand D60's, as well as a host of Canon 20D and 30D's. All three are more recent, with better sensors and a few more options.

Hi animallover,
I have a d40X with a 300mm lens and found it good but you
always want more.
Have a look at my pics of kruger on the link below for examples of
my pics with a D40x. I do belive there is a new upgraded camera to replace the D40x...i would look for that.

hope it helps a bit
john

Hi Animallover

Our suggestion would be the Nikon D90 with the 300mm f4 and a 1.4X or 1.7X tele-convertor. This combination will provide equivalent magnification in 35mm format of about a 600mm or 760mm lens, depending which TC you go for.

We do not recommend using the 1.7X TC on zoom lenses - I used to use the 1.7X on my 200-400 f4 lens but was not happy with the sharpness. On prime lenses, such as the 300 f4 or 300 f2.8, it works very well.

Mario
http://www.kruger-2-kalahari.com

I use a 2x Kenko t/c with an 80-200mm F2.8 which works well

joshilewis, I used a 2X Kenko on my Nikon 80-400 zoom lens and worked out to be a disaster. Lost most of its sharpness and so gave up at the end of it all, ended up parking it my bag and there it remains.
Might try it out with a 300 mm and see if quality gets any better.

Will try find some photos taken with my setup to post. I haven't really noticed much quality problems yet.

Hi Guys

Here's a short article on teleconverters with some comparison pictures: www.kruger-2-kalahari.com/Teleconverters.html

Mario

Hi fazekma, Thank you very much for the link. Those are exactly the results I got with my 80-400 mm and decided to park the converter in a draw.

My husband currently uses the 200-400 Nikon which is designed for Nikon convertors. I love it but find it awefully heavy after the Canon 100-400. Nikon have just announced a new 300 f2.8 with VRII and Nano Coat but more significantly a ground breaking 2 x convertor with an aspherical element to drastically reduce iQ degradation common with all 2x convertors up until now. He reckons that if we need to go to go to 400 with a zoom it is now feasable to use the new 2x convertor on the new FX 70-200 2.8 VRII and sell the 200-400 and get the 300 2.8 where with the 3 Nikon convertors we can now get 300 f2.8 as is, 420 f4 with the 1.4x , 510 f4.5 with the 1.7x and 600 f5.6 with the 2x. I reckon this will be great with the low noise FF D700 camera...what do others think??

Evening Jane,
I check the new Nikon 300mm today and looks like a great lens. What surprised me was the price 6.850 Euro is a lot of cash even for a new lens.

Ja but I am told it is the best and goes I think he said for $ 5900 around there...you get what you pay for

Jane, from the technical data it looks like a superb lens and definitely worth getting for high level pictures.
I recently got a Nikon 80-400mm zoom lens and still have some thoughts on my choice. Heavy to hand hold attached to a D90 with power pack!