Story: Adhish Alawani
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
Shoot to thrill
Before setting out for Tadoba, we were warned by friends that, temperature-wise, the place was one of the hottest tiger reserves in India. Hence we decided to travel light. Canon, our photography partner, produces many high-end cameras and lenses that would have been ideal for the trip, but we chose the modest and lightest equipment that would not require an extra hand to lug it along. We selected two D-SLR bodies (Canon EOS 7D and EOS 550D) and two lenses (70-200mm f/4L USM and 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM). Both the camera bodies featured APS-C size sensors and, therefore, at 200mm, the lens provided an effective focal length of 320mm. Furthermore, the 7D’s 18-megapixel resolution would allow us to crop the images without compromising the image quality required for printing. 
Once in the reserve, we were fully convinced about the choice of our equipment. We could not find any tiger in the reserve, partly because access to many areas of the park was restricted, a tiger census being under way. However, the tiger is not the only animal you find in a tiger reserve. We could see spotted deer (chital), barking deer, sambar, common langur, bear, wild boar and Indian Gaur. Our equipment was adequate to capture them the way we wanted. The images turned out crisp even though the 70-200mm f/4 lens was not equipped with image stabilization, thanks to its light weight and comfortable grip.
