Carrying a Big Camera while Hunting?

[mdwest]

I believe Lowe makes a camera backpack for carrying equipment. I took camera, but as most of the time I was riding in the truck looking for game, it was not a problem. But for serious walking and carrying a gun and camera, I would invest in the backpack.

Lowe makes an excellent camera backpack… a Lowe is what we’ve use…

it’s been stellar for non hunting trips (French Polynesia, Belize, etc) when we want to lug the big DSLR around…

 

[SFRanger7GP]

Mama said she wanted to get into photography. She took courses and in no time, we had enough stuff for her to open her own photo studio. We are hunting in Namibia and I grab my backpack the first morning and I am like, WTF?? It is pretty darn heavy. Mama said, I put some stuff in there. I look inside and see what appears to be a soft camera case. Later that morning I kill a gemsbok and she starts taking pictures with her iPhone. I told her to get her nice camera. She gives me a strange look so I open my backpack. The "camera bag" was a soft cooler with everything you need to make gin & tonics.

 

[rookhawk]

Hi all,

I’ve been to South Africa twice, both times bow hunting from a blind. Im also big into animal photography.
I’m now going to western Tanzania for a Buff/Leopard plus PG hunt (if time).

I don’t know what to expect when walking/hunting game. I have an iPhone (smallest) a Nikon P950 (medium), and a Canon EOS system with 70-200mm + extender (bulkiest).

Will I see a lot of wildlife worth photographing while hunting? Will the PH frown upon any slowdowns? I’m not wanting to stop every 20ft, but if a lion is munching on a kill in distance it would be cool to capture.

What do you recommend? And if so, did you carry a day-pack every where you went?

Thanks

I used to bring my leica on safari and it just got in the way. An iPhone is your best tool for portable, decent quality photos.

 

[Aaron N]

Mama said she wanted to get into photography. She took courses and in no time, we had enough stuff for her to open her own photo studio. We are hunting in Namibia and I grab my backpack the first morning and I am like, WTF?? It is pretty darn heavy. Mama said, I put some stuff in there. I look inside and see what appears to be a soft camera case. Later that morning I kill a gemsbok and she starts taking pictures with her iPhone. I told her to get her nice camera. She gives me a strange look so I open my backpack. The "camera bag" was a soft cooler with everything you need to make gin & tonics.

Sounds like a keeper who has her priorities straight!

 

[Hunt anything]

I take both, if possible a tracker will always be happy to carry the larger camera in a backpack. My problem with the phone camera is once a picture is taken with the phone they seem to go into some photo purgatory or something and we never print any of them out . Of course that is just me and my wife being lazy, we don’t seem to have a problem taking an SD card in but the phone is another animal all together.

 

[outwestidaho]

I haul a ton of photography gear to Africa . 2 video cameras, 1 big full frame mirroless camera , and a pocket camera. I have a good cell phone with me also. Cell photos are wide angle and do ok on small prints. But I rarely use it.
You might want to look at a small camera that fits easy in your shirt pocket. It's a great medium between large camera and cell phone.
Mine is a canon sx740 hs. It has a great zoom lens to 40x. It's light weight and I have blown up photos from it to 24 x 36 with not a problem. I use this camera when on the stalk . Easy to grab and shoot even when carrying a gun. Most can't tell the diff between photos from it or my large camera. But there is a difference in quality.