Photographer Reed Hoffmann shares how he took one lens and two teleconverters to Africa for capturing a wide range of beautiful shots.
So instead of carrying a larger, heavier zoom, I’d have a lens that’s smaller and easier to handle, and with a little extra effort , end up with more options. Sure, I was giving up finer compositional control by not being able to zoom, but there’s another way to look at that as well.
For birds, I often switched to Pre-release capture, to easily catch them taking off. Frame rate was another setting I regularly changed, quickly cycling between 6, 8, 15, 20, and 30 frames-per-second, again based on subject and type of action. In other words, I leveraged as many of the goodies packed into the Nikon Z 8 as I could.
This won’t be the last time I take a group to Africa, and guess what? I’m sure that next time I’ll bring a different kit. Because again, what’s the point of doing the same thing the same way over and over? Yes, there’s a hippo in the middle of that muck. In this case, I’ve added the 1.4X teleconverter to take me from 400mm to 560mm but again stayed at the maximum aperture, now f/6.3, to again keep the background nice and soft. Nikon Z 8, Aperture Priority, Sunny white balance, ISO 1250, 1/1250 at f/6.3 in Matrix metering, 0.0 EV, Nikkor Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S with Z TC-1.4X for 560mm.
Combining eye detect and the shallow depth of field created by shooting the lens wide open is what let me make beautiful photos like this throughout the trip. Of course, it never hurts when the cheetah walks right toward you! Nikon Z 8, Aperture Priority, Sunny white balance, ISO 450, 1/1250 at f/6.3 in Matrix metering, -0.3 EV, Nikkor Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S with Z TC-1.4X for 560mm.
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