Am going on Safari, what camera and what lenses

Currently i have a K10D and 16- 45mm lens. I am going on safari.I need a tele. The question is what tele should i get. Should i spend the money on good glass or upgrade the body or both. Am tempted by a K7 but here mixed reports on the forum.

current thoughts are K7 looks good but should i be thinking KR. Will i notice a big difference from the K10D.

Lenses thoughts are buy a 55 300mm to keep or buy something more expensive and then sell it on.

Any Help would be most grateful.

For starters have a look Here

Davex.

In good light or daylight I'd say the x90 is capable of matching or beating my old sigma 400 on my k10.. so i'd suggest taking a camera like the x90 as a backup body and using good glass on your d-slr... if you cannot afford a good tele, this is a decent alternative.... the 55-300 is said to perform well.. and it sounds like you need that range anyways..

Welcome to the forum.
Where are you going on safari? It may affect which length is best.

I had a 28-300 when I went to Tanzania a few years ago. Very occasionally it was too short - leopard and rhino shots in particular. But mostly it was fine, as we could get close to most of the animals.

You could consider the Bigma - Sigma 50-500 or maybe the Sigma 150-500. The Bigma though heavy would cover most of the range you want, so you don't need to keep changing lenses.

Aside from reading the other thread about lens options, I would suggest that you do upgrade from the K10D - excellent high ISO performance will be a real advantage on safari as you may well be shooting outside the main daylight hours. High quality ISO640-800 would be very helpful, and going beyond 1600 may be useful on occasions (espeically with lenses that aren't terribly fast).

Actually, if you can, you might do worse than keep your K10D with the 16-45, and supplement with Kx or Kr with the 55-300. Between those two, you'd cover lots of bases!

Thanks for all comments and links to other parts of the site.Really useful.I am going to kenya.

I like the idea of keeping the K10D until after the safari. Then will sell. Am torn between KR and K7. K5 looks amazing but not sure i can justify!

The Bigma looks massive.55- 300mm is up there. Was very keen on the sigma 100 -400mm but have seen bad reports on its reliability.

X90 is something i had never considered, but certainly would be much the cheapest option.

Am going to go to SRS on Wednesday. Do forum users get any extra discounts?! On another note i would consider any of this kit second hand.

Many thanks for all your help.