Do you need that big Canon 200-400mm for safari pictures and film?

It’s a classic safari lens and it’s very impressive in use and yet my answer is going to be, possibly not, unless….

We have recently come back from the most incredible safari in Tanzania, followed by some chill time in Zanzibar – all the stuff that dreams are made off. Our guide was amazing I would hire him again for a private tour!

I’d hired the big Canon 200-400m lens from lensesforhire (they were great) and here are my findings from using it .
(There’s an audio version at the bottom if you prefer.)

Initial arrival and test

You might have seen my story on Instagram the day it arrived. Instant panic and overwhelm, this lens is enormous! I reached out to Titch (experienced safari photographer wo had suggested I hire this les) who told me to stay calm and just try it out. I walked to our neighbour’s cows and had a play. This went super well, the pictures and footage was lovely – main success factor was leaning the lens on the fence for stability!

There are two types of safari

In Tanzania I quickly learnt there is a huge difference between a package family safari trip (what we were on) and a dedicated photography safari. Most “normal” people are simply using their phones so the guide will mainly stop for animals that are super close to the jeep – of course this is no good at all for taking pictures on big lenses, not even on little lenses to be honest. I got the feeling most people on safari simply want’s to show how close the animals are to the jeep and the guide probably feels lots of pressure to show lots of animals so it feels a bit “you’ve seen the giraffe let’s more on”. Meanwhile I needed much much more time at each animal stop. I wanted to sit and wait and see what they would do, see what pictures might come about, but this is not really available on this kind of safari with tight time schedules.
The other “issue” is having 6 people in the jeep. Even when parked with the engine off, 6 people standing and moving around taking pictures is super wobbly and makes it very difficult to film anything on a big lens, relying hugely on the vehicle for stability.

On a dedicated photography tour, or a private tour, you will have more time at each stop. The guide will stop for animals that are that bit further away, which places them perfectly in the environment for big lens photography!
Some vehicles are specially fitted with lower/open sides etc for different angles – we could only do through the window or high up through the roof.

General experience of bringing the 200-400

Honestly? I HATED it! It was big and heavy to travel with – I had to keep sneaking a second piece of hand luggage onto all our 8 flights in order to bring it.
Tanzania is exceptionally hard ground, there are no roads as such for most of the trip and the jeep is crazy bumpy, so I was holding two cameras with two big lenses in my lap the entire time – exhausting, but I simply couldn’t risk putting them on the floor of the car.
I normally ever only take one camera on holiday and usually with the tiny nifty fifty lens. This felt hopelessly too much gear for my liking – you know I’m not about gear.
I’m pleased I took it, in the sense that I learnt a lot, and at least I wasn’t out there empty handed wishing I’d hired it – it’s good to try new things.

The final pictures & video

Yes, there are 100% shots I wouldn’t have gotten without the big lens, like the leopard in the tree. Yes, there are some lovely pictures, and I have printed some pictures from this lens. But overall I missed more frames than ever, there was just too much shake in everything – because of the situation we were in.

I didn’t buy a filter for the lens as I only had it for hire, so I had to record video on super high f stops, which I don’t like, and again just far too much shake and most of it isn’t very usable.

What’s I’d do next time

I’d also hired a 70-200m. I used to have this lens back in my DSLR days but I’d worn it out and replaced it with a 135m. I loved being back with the 70-200m, and after holding the 200-400m that 70-200m felt lovely and little!
I came back and did then invest in the new RF 70-2000m – yes, it’s super expensive, but I’m loving it, AND this version is compatible with the x2 extender. So next time I go on safari (I can dream) I will probably just get the x2 extender and use the 70-200m.

If I was going on out on a dedicated photography safari or on a private tour I would possibly bring the 200-400m again (if I didn’t have the new 70-200m an the x2) and I feel I would probably enjoy it in the right environment.
But I would never recommend anyone taking it on a normal safari package holiday.

Other safari learnings like food, toilets & mosquitoes

My biggest worries before going on this safari were around food, toilets and mosquitoes, so just in case anyone else worries about this stuff.

The food at the lodges were amazing! Even the lunch boxes we had every day out on game drives were lovely. Yep, I did have an upset stomach the entire time, thank goodness for Imodium instant, but it wasn’t really a problem.

I travelled out armed with disposable toilets, braced for meeting some dodgy hole in the ground toilet situation – I can’t squat!!! Seriously, the toilets were all cleaner than any UK public toilet. Most were manned and cleaned all the time. There were toilet stops every day, it wasn’t a problem at all. Sometimes there wasn’t any toilet paper, so always bring your own, just in case.
Our trip was quite “high end” of the safari options and we went to big reserves, so maybe in smaller reserves the toilet situation might not be as good.

Mosquitoes see me as an all-you-can-eat buffet, so I was fully expecting to be devoured. Of course we took malaria tablets as advices. Much to our surprise we didn’t see any mosquitoes, I had far more bites on arrival from the UK than when we left. I got one bite on Zanzibar, that was all. Maybe we were lucky with the season, we went late July?

Wow, are you still reading? That was so long, I have so much to say about this. We all LOVED it, we would all go again tomorrow. If you ever have the chance, go go go.