Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/10/06

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Kenya and loooong lens: Another option
From: Christopher Hoover <hoovercd@pacbell.net>
Date: Fri, 06 Oct 2000 00:52:05 -0700
References: <200010052032.NAA28780@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>

Tina

Speaking of 400 Telyts, there's a beautiful on auction right now  ...
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=454293423

Another idea would be to get a 180f2.8 APO--Erwin's fav! ($2350 from http://www.deltainternational.com or a couple hundred more from Don Chatterton). With your 2x , that might be enough for some animal pics--it really depends upon what you expect to achieve. If you really want tightly framed big cats, a longer lens (500+) is
essential (along with a good guide or special photo tour).

I lived in South Africa for a year in 1984 and got to visit a number of game parks with a Nikon 500/f8 mirror and 200/f4 micro for teles (pre-leica epiphany). I found myself really disappointed with the slowness of the 500, especially since there were many situations where you can approach animals like giraffe, eland, etc, outside
of the car (and wanting to shoot K64 and K25 didn't help). But there are many wonderful animals to shoot with moderate teles as well, such as warthogs, snakes, baboons and some fantastic insects.

Have a great time and be sure to post some pics later so we can derive some vicarious excitement!

Chris Hoover
hoovercd@pacbell.net