Photography
It's ironic that some of our favorite photographs were not shot by us, but thankfully we were framed by fellow travelers and trusty tour guides. We have intentionally stuck with camera kits simple enough that we can hand to anyone to grab a quick pic. We also use little tripods with a remote to grab shots when on our own.
We Shoot Sony Mirrorless
We decided early on in our adventures that we would consciously capture as many moments as we could. It took us a few trips to land on a kit collection that would produce the image quality we wanted. Since then we've mostly stuck with Sony aps-c mirrorless bodies that never quit. For their reasonably small size, they output extremely sharp high resolution images when paired with choice lenses. Read on below if you're a camera nerd like me, or hit the Highlights if you want to just peak at some pics.
I don't have a camera problem, you have a camera problem.
A month in Tanzania meant I carried carte blanche to choose any camera combos I could squeeze into our carry-ons. Bush planes dictate strict packing restrictions while on safari: only a single small soft-sided carry-on each.
Pictured here were some of our final tester combos before our trip. I wanted to love the bridge all-in-one Sony RX10IV (far right), but the bulk and weight of it combined with the image quality from the 1" sensor just could not compete with the other setups.
We chose the smallest full frame we could find in the Sony a7C (far left) and paired it with the Sony FE 20mm f1.8 G (SEL20F18G) to catch wide landscape frames.
However, the star of the trip was definitely the aps-c sensor Sony a6600 matched with the Sony E 70-350mm G (SEL70350G). This combo gave us the immense reach we needed for far off wildlife spotting (525mm full frame equivalent) but still kept our kit very small and lightweight.
We also snuck in our trusted steed Sony a5100 (4th above) and stole the a7C's kit lens (28-60mm/SEL2860, above attached to the 2nd camera), this was practically a pancake package that served as a supersmall walkaround with high output capability for local village visits / street-style shooting.
What would we have done differently? Not much, I am extremely happy with the images we captured. We knew we wanted to capture more shots of us in the Serengeti rather than capturing isolated wildlife, so we did get a lot of use out of our wider lenses, including a lot of candid closer shots out of the 28-60.
I was wildly wowed by how well the real-time eye autofocus (a6600 + 70-350 mostly) locked onto the eyes of the animals- especially the lingering lions!
The kids took a lot of shots in the open range. We don't push anything on them, but absolutely encourage them to try out hobbies like this.
We have some stunning shots from this trip, but these 2 are easily up there in my top 10 (great job, Michelle!). Our goal for this trip was not to catch the perfect picture of a predator, but to instead capture moments of our family experiencing this magical place together.
This couple posed quite contently for us under the searing Serengeti sun.
These twin peaks served as a lookout point to survey the vast plains.
Helps to have a spotter!
Wet + dry mud creates a crafty contrast
The Amazon, Antarctica, Patagonia, the Falkland Islands
We took over 2 months to circumnavigate South America by cruise ship. This meant a lot of different climates and scenarios ranging from jungle boat treks in high humidity to stylish strolls through the streets of Buenos Aires to the extreme freeze in the Antarctic air. We brought a few Sony bodies and lenses: the full-frame Sony a7III with Sony 85mm/1.8, an aps-c Sony a6400 with 55-210mm, and our pocketable a5100 with Sony 20mm/2.8 pancake. The kit lens from the a7III (Sony 28-70mm) was also useful, sometimes pairing it on the a5100 for a walkaround with standard range.
What would we have done differently? I would have chosen a higher caliber zoom lens for Antarctica. The outdated Sony 55-210mm just doesn't have the sharpness at range that the sea creatures deserved. I have an eternal love affair with the cost-friendly Sony 85mm 1.8 that is so crazy sharp, but that did not give the reach needed to capture detail of the whales, seals, penguins, and icebergs we encountered while cruising the coastline around Antarctica.
