I don't plan on using the TC all the time, probably just when we're on a vehicle and I can use a monopod or beanbag to steady the camera - when I'm walking I will remove it. I don't plan on using the camera at night, I know I will miss a few shots but I don't want to spend all my time peering through a lens. Unfortunately no one makes a 400mm f2.8 lens within my price range ....

Daniel - thanks for the recommendation I will take a look

I bought my Sandisk III Extreme 4Gb cards from play.com for £14.99 (free postage). Recommend the card and the retailer ...

It is possible to have a RAID 5 set with three disks but you won't be able to add one to your existing RAID set, so you would need to backup all your data - reconfigure your RAID set with three disks and then restore the data. Once you've created your RAID 5 set it is usually possible to add additional disks without breaking / rebuilding the whole RAID set (as long as your hardware / software supports it).

I'm making the assumption that you're not using Windows software RAID!

You would still only have 320Gb worth of space available with this as the remaining disk space is used for the parity bit.

RAID 5 is (generally) slower at writing but quicker at reading from the disk compared to a RAID 0 configuration - but with a fast RAID controller you wouldn't actually notice this. RAID 0 has the fastest performance.

This is a reasonable summary

Personally I would rather spend the money on an additional 320Gb+ external drive and just backup everything to that.

Someone had lot's of time on their hands!

Yes we have internal flights, which means 12Kg weight limit for everything - I may have to wear every item of clothing during check-in!

I posted a similar query to this one regarding lenses for this trip a little while back and the general consensus was that either the Sigma 100-300mm f/4 or (if it ever arrives) the Pentax 60-250mm f/4 (both with 1.4TC) would be ideal. Think I'd be more likely to use either of these lenses over the Bigma afterwards as I think they will be a little lighter than that.

If it wasn't for this holiday then I would have already bought the 55-300mm as it looks like a great lens for the price, but I'm not sure it's up to a safari due to low light?

Are you going back to Tanzania in 2010?

Thanks guys, Conwy is just up the road from me so I will check those out.

As the other half knows as much about binoculars as me I may be able to get away with the Aldi ones!

Thanks for the replies. I will have a look at those models you both mention.

I'm off to Zambia next June for a total of 17 days, the first 3 spent in Livingstone (Victoria Falls) and then off to South Luangwa / Lower Zambezi for for driving, walking and kayaking safari's.

Thanks again.

Being the organised person that I am I'm looking for Christmas presents . As we're going on safari next year we have decided to buy each other things that we need for that trip.

I've done a little research and feel that I'm looking for a pair at 8x42 magnification, though I don't know what brand, etc.

I have a budget of around £150, which I know isn't a lot but hopefully I can get something reasonable for this? After this holiday we will probably never use them again.

I've seen some Nikons which might fit the bill ...

Opinions, advice and alternative suggestions always welcomed!

Thank you.

Is the NAS drive running a RAID set? Have you checked for a failed HDD? If it's RAID 5 for example it will keep running but will run slowly.

It's also possible that this NAS drive is fragmented - but I would have no idea how to defrag it as Windows can only do this to local drives.

Also check out this link - it's not exactly NAS related - just slow network access in general.

Has this just started happening or getting worse over time?

Does the Sigma 100-300mm EX have the quick shift feature?

Lee