Hi guys just wanted to get an opinion of what you guys would take to a trip to africa if you had to shoot there..
a tripod, monopod, or a steadycam
of course your xhal and a lots of tapes what sort of shotgun mic
what else ?
just wanted to know as i might have to start getting things ready if God Wishes i might go there very soon....

It really just depends on where you're going. I went a year ago for a month and part of the time I could feel free to use anything I felt like and other times I could only film from inside a moving car for security reasons. Definitely try to pack as light as possible. From my experience there was a lot of moving around and to have a lot of equipment means just more things to keep track of and worry about. Good luck.

I just got back from West Africa about 3 weeks ago and I felt the same way... at times you dont feel as if you can get out of your car and others you can shoot til your hearts content..if your trip was anything like mine you will be traveling a lot I was moving everyday, Take dust covers for everything and plenty if tapes, I took my tripod but may have only used it 2 times ...take a quad band phone so you can buy the local pre-paid cards and a small laptop if you have it most Cafes will have a station for that ...

I took a small, inexpensive tripod and a Novaflex Pistock chest/shoulder pod.

There were occasions when I could get out the vehicle and the tripod was a boon - very easy to use as a monopod, too. When standing up in the vehicle, I simple used the roof itself as a stabilizer. Oh, and I used the cam's optical stabilizer. Quite often though, the wildlife was so close there was no need to worry. When you are 10 feet from a pair of mating lions you need a wide angle lens!

More importantly, though, I took a Portabrace to help protect the camcorder from the elements and to see the LCD display - it is VERY bright near the equator! Didn't really have a dust problem except on some of the roads where it was like fog due to oncoming traffic.

I also took my laptop. My camcorder has a memory stick for still images. I was able to download all of the day's images each evening and watch the video on a large screen, too.

Enjoy it!

Thanks a lot guys.... this will help me a lot

Hi:

Africa is a biig continent, where will you be going? Savana? Desert? Tropical rain forest? How will you travel? Guided tours? Hire a 4WD? Backpacking? What will you film? Nature? Culture? Day? Night?

I am in Costa Rica, doesn't compare to Africa, backpacking with my A1(!) I have a packsafe wire mesh to wrap my gear bag in, works fine.

The tripod is essential if you want to film wildlife - even the most steady hand shake visibly at full zoom. A monopod may be better though, it is just much easier to follow monkeys jumping around.

A hot shoe mic mount seems a good idea, the Canon mount is too clumpsy to use and you need to be relatively fast to rig the gear before wildlife is gone. You can't always travel with it ready to shoot.

I did not bring an extra battery, I have had luck staying places with electricity, but even then, I don't think it would have mattered too much, I don't get to record that many hours a day, most of the day is simply moving. You may find you need one depending on how/where you travel.

Otherwise, I just brought what I got, which isn't much anyway.

Hi:
I am in Costa Rica, doesn't compare to Africa, backpacking with my A1(!) I have a packsafe wire mesh to wrap my gear bag in, works fine.


Hey, I just got back a few months ago from touring around Costa Rica filming with my Z1 and a Sony A1. Good stuff!

Where are you at? I went mainly to Turrialba, Jaco, and Playa Hermosa.... had a blast!

Carl

Thanks erik
I will be mainly going to savan and if possible go see the rain forest so mainly i would be shooting wildlife, i would like to shoot day and night if possible but depends on circumstances, i will have a guided tour as thats the best way i think as i have never been there before.
I am opting for a Audio Technica 4073a mic and also am buying a rode ntg1 or 2 (one of them) i think the 4073a should be good for wildlife, what are your views ??
I will cary a few batteries and a lots and lots of tapes i have decided to take atleast 40-50 tapes just incase i dont get the same brand am using.. also i am thinking of just taking the monopod and dvmulti rig instead of the tripod
Thanks again for the advice..i still have a long wait before this dream comes true.

Hi Mickey
I work on the west coast of Africa on oil rigs and I take my camera when ever I can. I work between rain forest / Jungle and offshore and I find one of the best things to bring with me is some small pouches of silica gel. The same type that are in the packaging when you buy new electronic gear. During the rainy season the humidity can go to 100% and if you are spending time in air conditioned buildings and then going outside your equipment can become water saturated very quickly until they climatise. The silica gel works a treat to keep the moisture at bay. Just leave two or three packets in your case with your gear and if possiable, when going from one extreme to another, leave your gear for 20 mins before using it to let the camera get used to the new conditions.

Martin first of all thanks, you are one lucky person to work there i am so anxious to come to africa but with each day passes i feel its not gonna happen but i have left it on Gods hand and hope that one day soon i will be in the Land of Africa :). i appreciate and will keep in mind of what you said. thanks again .

While it is a little bulky (but fortunately very light), I would recommend a Cine Saddle.
When in Africa, I take a tripod for interviews and long lens shots, but the rest of the time I just use the Cine Saddle and get rock solid footage, assuming you have something to sit it on. I also will hang it from my neck and place the camera on the saddle allowing for pretty solid footage when on the move. The only problem is that at times, the aperture or focus can get bumped.

Mickey:

You didn't say where you were going, but it is hot, dry and nasty compared to the US everywhere in Africa. I had a short trip to Djibouti and didn't expect it to be so hot. Im going back in a few weeks, but will be prepared. A good bag to protect against dust and rough roads is essential.

50%+ unemployement, don't take too much stuff, and don't leave it unattended.

You could run into trouble filming/photographing in cities, ask someone first.

If you are shooting animals from a vehicle(s), the vehicle configuration becomes very important. I would recommend you check in to the kind of vehicle(s) you will be shooting from.

I found that for the open top vehicles a bean bag is probably best in most circumstances. However your pan angle will be limited with a bean bag. You can use a vehicle mount platform like groofpow (http://www.rue.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=6%5B/url%5D), but the setup time is much longer, so you miss a lot of shots. But the big advantage is if you put a big head on the groofpod you can get long smooth pans from the vehicle, even at maximum zoom- like the close up of the lion on a dead run, ending in a kill.

If you are in one of the open sided vehicles, I found a tripod the best solution. You can wedge it so it has 2 legs on the floor and one on the side of the vehicle. Great stability, but you can only shoot from one side of the vehicle, so you have to get the driver to always set you up properly.

Because of so many long shots, i often used a tel-extender, but either way I found a monopod useless because of the long distances.

Also, if you are going to be shooting with any support attached to the camera, consider always having a second camera at the ready for those unexpected closeup shots.


Rick

Thanks nate, thanks jeff
I am planning of going to Tanzania
Thanks Rick I might be getting dvmultirig pro which I think is easy to use and good if it needs to be setup on a tripod which I think might be of minimum use, groofpow also looks promising , I am no pro so for me even if the filmed video is a bit shaky would do I just wanna remember my trip and save it for my kids when they grow up as I don’t think I would be able to make a trip like that again.
Thanks a lot guys

I spent 30 days all around Botswana, including the Kalahari Dessert and the Chobe river areas this summer(their tail end of winter). I used an A1 handheld. If you are filming game on foot by tracking them forget anything other than a simple monopod. You will be ducking in and out of brush and you need to be as unencumbered as you can...even a mono pod gets in the way. From a vehicle is easy as all of them will be set-up for a good rest.

The biggest concern is keeping the camera clean...it is very dusty in most places so make sure you have a good bag, camera cover and lots of cleaning wipes. A tripod is great for when you are not moving and bring one that is small and light. Don't expect game to sit around for you to set it up but it will work fine at a water hole or other place you plan to stay at.

On the mics the fact is outdoors do not expect good audio because it is after all outdoors and usually windy...get a good wind cover for the mic.

Before you go practice holding steady with full zoom and practice manual focus...to get the animals in focus you will have to punch through lots of bush and manual is the only way to go.

I am planning of going to Tanzania

Try to find time to visit with a Maasai village (or two). It was one of the highlights of our trip to Kenya and Tanzania. You pay a small fee which goes a very long way to helping the village obtain medical aid (in the form of medicine and clinical treatment).

Thanks erik
I will be mainly going to savan and if possible go see the rain forest so mainly i would be shooting wildlife, i would like to shoot day and night if possible but depends on circumstances, i will have a guided tour as thats the best way i think as i have never been there before.
I am opting for a Audio Technica 4073a mic and also am buying a rode ntg1 or 2 (one of them) i think the 4073a should be good for wildlife, what are your views ??
I will cary a few batteries and a lots and lots of tapes i have decided to take atleast 40-50 tapes just incase i dont get the same brand am using.. also i am thinking of just taking the monopod and dvmulti rig instead of the tripod
Thanks again for the advice..i still have a long wait before this dream comes true.

Ok, last day of the trip, so I can post my experiences, but I haven't reviewed the tapes yet.

There is no way you will shoot at night without special equipment or at least a full moon. It's bloody dark at night (BBC recently made a special program with night recording without artificial light). You can shoot just before dawn and after sunset, if you only have natural light. You can bring a flashlight, but note that wildlife is disturbed by flashlights, also it may be difficult to get close enough that your flashlight makes any difference. If possible you may bring a red light, red doesn't disturb our natural night vision as white light does. When I went to see sea turtles nesting our guide had only a red light. Unfortunately all kinds of cameras were strictly prohibited.

Guided tours are great, that is guides are great to spot the wildlife. But if you're in a group you will suffer that people can't resist talking. Go alone with your guide, explain him that you want to film and ask him to just indicate where the animal is so you can film, then film until it goes away or you think you have enough, and then explain. You may wish to record while he explains as it helps you remember the details.

I can't help you on mic, I brought a AT897 because that's what I got. Anyway, the animals didn't speak up much so I guess I can reuse sound track to get rid of those French tourists on the guided tour. You might go alone after dark but before they turn on that noisy generator to get some sound you can dub to replace the noise of the engine of the 4WD.

I was optimistic too, and brought 12 tapes, I got 3,5hs total. And thats mostly because I went canoing and had the camera running up front two hours while I paddled around. You will travel a lot, film much less. I went on a 7 hour guided trek, got about 12 minutes.

I eventually left the tripod in the hotel, too heavy to carry, now I did a lot of walking, if you go in a 4WD just fill it up with everything... A monopod is good because it's so simple, light weight and fast to rig, you can't always have the camera ready when wildlife shows up so also bring a steady hand to go hand held.

Oh, and bring an alarm clock - wildlife is most active around dawn. Don't plan to shoot anything particular, or you'll have to wait a looooong time - just shoot as soon as something comes up, after all, that's why you bring those 50 tapes.

I think, that's about it...

Cheers, Erik

Thanks Randy, John and Erik for the advice, just one question as you guys have been to Africa, when you go on a safari whats the age limit ?? i mean can you take kids under 5 ??
Thanks a lot am saving all this advice on my computer for my future reference also if you guys put some video would be great...i just cant get enough of this Land if i ever had money i would just live there but i guess till then just dream of going there ............

I would not take a child at that age...if you are talking a true safari that is. They do offer photo safaris that are just fine for kids with all kinds of programs to educate them about animals etc but a true safari is not the place for small kids. I am taking my 2 kids for the first time in 09 and their ages will be 13 and 11. I am also planning on having a seperate PH/guide to watch after them as well as my wife. The last thing you want is to have to be slowed down by a small child or worse have them injured while the grown ups are not paying attention. In addition to the animals there are all sorts of things that bite like snakes and spiders. A true safari takes you to places that can be dangerous even for adults.

Thanks for that Randy i have one 3years and one 13 my situation is i cant live any of them behind :(( am thinking of waiting till 09 so my little one will enjoy more and remember more of the trip but patience is what i lack :( will see how life makes a move :)

just one question as you guys have been to Africa, when you go on a safari whats the age limit ?? i mean can you take kids under 5 ??

Let me say this, my parents took me to a safari park - nothing near Africa - when I was 4, and I still remember I was afraid the tigers could enter through the 5mm wide window opening. I have no other memory from the trip.

Erik thats where the xha1 will come handy :)

Hi Mickey,

We love Africa trips. in 1988 we drove about 13 000 km all the way from Sweden down to Gibraltar, crossed the Sahara desert and continued down to Cameroon during four months. A similar trip was made in 1990-1991 during five months with the same car. We learned to ride camels by the toureg people. I think we slept four or five nights in hotel. The other 145 days we slept on the soil. Sometimes we woke up while 30 black people were standing around us. When it rained and was muddy we had to put up our tent, sometimes on top of the car roof when there was many animals around.

Between 1984 and 2007 we have made numerous flights and stayed about 2 weeks to 2 months each time.

When we got the kids, who are now 4 and 8 years, we have still continued to travel but more comfortable and safer, sleeping in lodges, hotels etc.

Last trip was a three weeks tour to Kenya in May. We brought XL H1 with two lenses, big tripod, small LED light, 744T separate recorder, parabolic microphone, shotgun, stereo mic, Zeppeliner windshield, boom mike, wireless mic, timecode transmitter+receiver and nappies for the doughter etc. Guess we were loaded but we could distribute the load on four tickets.

No big problems except we where caught by a National Park warden for illegal filming, "stealing pictures" from Africa! After a nervous "discussion" we where released and allowed to film everywhere except his office and we didn't have to go to jail as first claimed.

After about 15 trips with lots of stuff I must say we have never lost any photographic equipment. Of course we have to guard it properly. The bush is much safer than the big cities.

The kids still have very nice memories and I believe the video will help to not let the african experience dim to much.

The last trip was one week together in a National Park. Then we separated. I followed a Rotary Jeep Doctor on his mission in the Masai land of the country and filmed the whole week. While my wife brought the kids to Lake Victoria for some research work.

Then we joined in Nairobi and took the old train to Mombasa for one lazy week with swimming and diving.

It was no problem at all to have the 8 year old boy on several days of jeep safari. He is even of help to watch, hand gear etc. He spots animals before we do.

The 4 year daughter is more difficult. Not so easy to stay quite while recording. But she made it great in the car.

But I would NOT bring them with me on walking safaris.

It is even good to have the kids because they open up many doors. Black people like the blonde kids and they make friends very soon and helps to introduce us who are 47 years.

GO, GO, GO! YOU WON'T REGRET!

Pelican makes a small case that would just fit your camera, be completely dry and waterproof, and cost about $125 USD. That would be a good idea. Take a tiny, and cheap, tripod. I hear things walk away when you're not looking. Also, if you're traveling a lot, think about a petrol backpack case. Those look like a basic pack, and then you can hide your camera in it.

Also, a lot of people will be talking about dust protection. Get a screw on UV filter, and a lens cloth, that solves 90% of your dust and flaring problems. If you really need a clean lens, screw it off, take the shot, screw it back on. I've done that for years and it always kills the flare... no expensive matte box required, no 'busy time' cleaning.

Other than that, think about power. Cigarette lighter charging and such. Go to the store, and buy some little airtight sandwich boxes, and keep your tapes in there. That should do you.

If you can travel with the little pelican and tripod, do. If you can't, think sandbag and backpack.

Save the rest of the space for you.
Resist the urge to take every cable and connector with you.

Thanks Johan just one question i understand that i will have to hire a private safari as i would be with my family just wondering if its as constly as people say it is...also would you think that about $200 american dollars per day be enough ??
also johan i have xha1 just been to dubbo zoo and yes you can get the animals pretty close but the zoom is still limited would it be the same with african safari or can you go really really close to the animals ??
Thanks a lot for everything i really appriciate it.

Thanks Alex i am looking at a palican case am also gonna consider something that will protect my camera from dust and water uv filter is good idea, thanks again.

I use either a PortaBrace rain cover or non-synthetic cloth bag. A pillow case works well. The cloth bag does an OK job of protecting the camera while you are moving - probably the worst time. The PortaBrace rain cover makes a great dust cover, but it makes the camera harder to use. A lot of practice will solve most of the harder to use problem. If there is blowing dust and the camera is uncovered you will get dust inside the camera, including the 3 rings on the front lens.

This is the cover I use
http://www.portabrace.com/productB-RS-XHAG1

They also have this newer cover which I have not tried:
http://www.portabrace.com/productB-CBA-XHAG1

As to how close the animals are - that depends. Sometimes the animals will be very close, but most of the time they will be a medium to a long distance away. Many of the parks do not allow the safari vehicles off the road without special permission. That means most of the time you are going to take long shots. I shot mostly about the equivalent on the XHA1 of 30X and needed 40X often for closeups. Choose your teleconverter carefully, I have had bad luck with the less expensive wide angle converters, they drop the resolution down to or below the equivalent of standard definition.

Rick

Rick reminds me of another thing I went to great pains to do...

Practice, practice, practice assembling/disassembling/interchanging your equipment. Using the Portabrace rain cover is somewhat fiddly at first, especially if, as in my case, I got it secondhand and without any instructions! (I only needed it for rain once but used it everyday as a sunshade for the LCD.) Rapidly attaching/detaching the chestpod, lenses, tripod, etc etc all in the confines of a small vehicle is something to learn before leaving for your trip.

I practiced sitting in the back of my car. I went through everything over and over again until I had it down to a fine art. I also bought a safara jacket with lots of pockets for tapes, batteries, filters and lenses. That also helped on those occasions we were allowed out of the vehicle (such as a remarkable hippo pool that would make every schoolboy's day - but that's another story!)

Basically, when the adrenalin starts pumping at the site of a lion hunt and the vehicle is bouncing all over the place, you want to be quick off the mark.

Hi Mickey,
I havn't been very much in Tanzania so I don't know much about the costs. But that should be easy to find on the net.

We wanted to move around freely without having interference from faster paced and talking tourists so we hired a safari bus just for our family.
In Kenya it was low season and costed about EUR 110 per day for a 9-passenger bus with pop up roof, driver with wildlife guide certificate and fuel costs.
Entrance fees for national parks, lodging, food and drinks etc had to be added.

In the middle of the bus there was an empty space where I could place my big tripod and look out between the pop up roof and the car sides in all directions. I don't regret for a second that I brought the big tripod. I regret some recordings without using the tripod ...
Next time I will have the driver to remove one more seat to to move better around the tripod.

All safaris are quite different. Sometimes small animals are very far (like fish eagles) and you zoom all the way. If you could add an even longer lens or tele adapter you would notice that any small movement caused by passengers moving in their seats would affect the stability or the warm air over the ground would destroy extreme tele photo shots.

Other times a lion is just outside of the window and a wide angle will do the job. Once in Botswana we came in a very dangerous situation with about 200-300 elephants around our car. A fish eye lens would have been the most proper lens to use at that moment.

I'm sure you will get many interesting rolls whatever you do. And as another fellow here wrote, drivers could get heavy fines if they leave the tracks so you should be limited to what could be seen from the dirt road most of the times. This means you will see many animals of different kind but it is usually harder if you search for a particular animal like Leopards. If it walks away from the road you should leave it alone ...

You should go for a bag which is easy to pull out the camcorder and stove the camcorder back. Otherwise you will not use the bag or miss fast action.

Sometimes the cheap solution is best: Pull a supermarket plastic bag over the camcorder for dust protection. (A luxury bag is not slippery and made of fabric.) Then have a padded backpacker or camera bag where you put the bagged camcorder when you travel between different sites.

A camcorder bag which does not look like an expensive camera bag is much safer and draws less attention from criminals.

Remember to blow & clean the UV-filter frequently. Sun is sharp, iris is small, focus depth is large and dust could affect the pictures.

I would also like to remind people that death and wounds are much closer in african life than on probably any other continent. Crocodiles could be waiting for you in rivers if you are careless. Swimming in lakes should in most cases be avoided due to Bilharzia. Don't go or drive between an Elephant and their kid. The list is long. You have to listen, talk to people, take it carefully, respect the animals and the people. Don't blame others if things go wrong. Blame yourself.

I attach a shot, taking directly from the XL H1 25F film to show the car.

Regarding a private car: You can get interesting shots from any car. Also when traveling with others together in a bus. However, if you want a clean audio track you must limit the number of people around you. If you want to show the animals alone, it s not easy to get very clean audio and stable shots with a lot of people around, especially if they are not as interested in photographing as you are.

We considered to get a 4WD car like Landrover style but it was about 50 % more expensive without driver compared to the minibus with driver. The roads where easy where we went this time. It is not easy to drive and do a good film job so a native driver is making it more relaxing and you see much more. But you need to find a good driver/guide. For instance, some of them won't turn off the engine at short stops. I made it totally clear when I ordered the car that I demanded the driver to quit the engine at all times when we stopped. There are many good drivers and guides around and they will teach you a lot about the animals and their habitats too.

If you don't bring a tripod: Buy a big bag of beans which you can put on top of the roof and cushion your camcorder in.

About your lens: If the tele is long enough? That depends what you request. Do you need close-ups of a lion´s face? Or is it enough that a zebra/giraffe/buffalo will fill the frame? It also depends how long time you will spend to get a good opportunity for a great shot. I think your lens is long enough if you aren't aiming for something special.

Good luck and have a happy journey!

PS. The upload of the .png files failed. Don't know why. So I converted them to .jpg instead. But they are screenshots from Final Cut Pro HDV 25F timeline.

Thanks Rick, Thanks John
I think you are right I need a lot of practice I am still not used to all the functions of the camera am gonna start practicing more and more till I get used to the camera. Rick do you know any good teleconverters for xha1. I looked on the web but its very hard to get something here in Australia.

Thanks Johan
I think I am gonna follow your path and might hire a mini bus with a open roof top which would be great also thanks for the tip of making it clear to shut off the engine so that you don’t get a lot of engine noise, one more thing did you get separate audio or just use the shotgun mic, the pictures are excellent, I have saved up a little bit but if am gonna take the whole family might have to wait atleast a year or so but I guess its gonna be worth while as am gonna stay there atleast a month and enjoy the land of wilderness. I love Africa.
Thanks for all the great tips guys forgive me if I missed something but I assure you that am saving all this and making it guideline to follow when am there.

Johan - the flamingos at Lake Nakuru must rank as one the world's most fantastic spectacles. Just the pink color of the rim of the lake from a few miles away is astonishing. As, too, is the cacophony when you are standing at the shoreline.

Sadly, the flamingos there seem to be disappearing...

http://www.safariweb.com/safarimate/flamingo.htm

Hi John and Mickey,

The flamingos around Lake Nakuru are fantastic to see and listen to. There is still a large number of them periodically. When we where there in May there was about 1.5 million.

We used different microphones. Most of the time the stock XL H1 mic with one of the best fur windshield.

At one of the photos you can see our Telinga parabolic microphone ( http://www.telinga.com ) which is possible to roll inside a tripod bag. We also had a Sanken CMS-7H stereo mic (very good and low noise) and a Sennheiser MKH70 we never used! It was never much wind so we didn't use the Zeppeliner basket windshield but we had it available just in case.
Most recording was made with the camcorder but some with the 744T harddisk recorder which we had in a still camera bag as you can see on the photo.

My wife is very interested in the cause of the flamingo death and she has had students working on the case as well as cooperation with a local scientist. She is an expert in the field of toxic algae and she did some sampling while our kids where collecting bones as you can see on one of the attached pictures.

At long distance you think the beaches around the lake are made of pink sand but when you come closer, you find the beaches covered with flamingos so close to each other so you don't see the soil!

Mickey, I think you should save money so you don't have too tight budget if possible. It is never funny to stand there and not be able to join an upcoming adventure.

However, there are sometimes the possibility to make it MUCH cheaper than to stay at the top notch tourist lodges if you don't buy a package. Then you should have more time than the scheduled package tours where there is not much time left for the unexpected. Remember, a local family father earns about USD 40 a month so it is obviously possible to live on less than USD 200 a day! But they stay out of the National Parks which are by all rights costly.

We have done our own trips and tried package tours also but we prefer to make our own trips and sometimes buy a few days locally as a package in the self planned trip.

We also promote local small companies and don't want to put our money in the pockets of the big companies, especially if they are based abroad.

It is a good idea to know all about your camera before you leave.

I have made walking safaris in Zimbabwe with guides who liked to take still photos. They didn't like video at all because they said those videographers never got the right feeling of a safari. They were too occupied by their equipment and to record. They saw everything through the viewfinder all the time! Mostly it is perhaps more rewarding to just be there and observe with a pair of good binoculars! /Johan

I use a Schneider Optics 1.6X teleconverter. It is more expensive than some, but I have been disappointed in the optical quality of the less expensive converters.

http://www.schneideroptics.com/ecommerce/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?CID=1385&IID=6223

I would be happier with a 2X, but I never found a good one. The good new is that most of the time 1.5x works well.

Rick

Thanks Johan
I am thinking of visiting Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, and Sarangati National Park Tanzania. as you have been to africa and have been on tours an well as conducted your own tour can you tell me if i get a mini bus and a guide how much am looking for per day rate also does that include the park entry i dont think so, am sure i might be getting on your nerves but am soooooo excited even talking of africa seems like am already there. and yes i will wait till i get used to my camera and have enough money and good knowledge of where am going and what i should expect to pay.
Thanks Rick
am looking at
http://dvdreamtime.com.au/raynox-hdp9000ex-18x-telephoto-conversion-lens-p-3056.html
it looks like good
Thanks for everything guys

Mickey-
I had a bad experience with a different Raynox lens- their HD wide angle for my HV10. It was slightly soft in the middle and got softer toward the edges. It also vignetted. Now that was a much less expensive lens, but they obviously have some poor quality lenses in their lineup. The lens you are looking at is not cheap, but I would be cautious and only buy from someone who allows it to be returned if you don't like it.

A related issue on a lens this expensive- are you going to put a transparent filter on the front of it or just keep wiping the dust off the main element? Check and see if you can get a filter and a sun shade for the lens. Many of these tele extenders don't seem to have compatible round filters.

Rick

Thanks Rick i would definately put a clear filter on it to protect the lense, also i saw a lot of good reports about the one you suggested Schneider Optics 1.6X teleconverter. I might even look at getting it.
Thanks again
Mick

According to Schneider Optics, there is no filter that fits the 1.6X. You have to use their mat box and 4x4 filters- and expensive solution and not as good at keeping the dust out. I went ahead with that option for a polarizing filter, but I don't use it for dust. I am just real careful about keeping the lens cap on.

Not a great solution.

Rick

I have a Manfrotto 680 monopod, with an optional spider leg tripod assembly that is stored away in the leg of the pod. It's lightweight, and small enough to fit in my daypack. (Using a 700RC2 head.)

I'll be going to South America next week. In a worse case scenario, the monopod can serve as a club to fend off would be muggers. :-)

Thanks Rick , Thanks Jason