I met her through an anthropologist called Andrew Baring who was working in the Nuba and Darfur areas. Must have been late '70s(?). She called him Herr Boring but neither of us knew whether she was joking. His opinion of her was not a million miles away from that of Alexandrea Ludewig which I quote below, the last few lines being key:
(2006)
'Leni Riefenstahl, a legend recently deceased at more than 100 years of age, is perhaps best known for her association with Hitler in the form of her films Olympia and Triumph of the Will, and she has provoked controversy ever since. This paper will focus on the lesser-known African travel books which Riefenstahl published in Germany between 1972 and 1976. Therein she presents images of Nubian people taken in the Sudanese mountains which seem to echo her previous work in their portrayal of physical perfection. While her pictures of the Nubian people have so far been looked at as a homogeneous body of work, the following analysis will concentrate on the qualitative difference between Riefenstahl's first and subsequent Nuba photo-publications and her changing motivations. Riefenstahl's romantic quest to capture the innocence of Africa and her desire for renewal and salvation on the edges of civilisation, which were at the centre of her first visit to the region, are to be seen in stark contrast to the driving force behind following visits, when she sought to push into an even more unknown and wilder Africa, whereby her camera attempted to produce images reminiscent of a sublime. I will argue that, in doing so, Riefenstahl regressed into producing Eurocentric and sensationalist depictions of ‘her Africans’. Likewise, her role as an agent for change is viewed critically against her self-perception as an anthropological conservationist; her pictures are analysed together with her own commentary. Her narrative accompanying the photos seems to diminish the power of her images and may affect her reputation as a great visual artist as it appears to suggest doubtful motives.'
There is plenty of stuff on the internet (including the above), I have no comment to make apart from copying some of it here. As to cameras, she would have had loads of the bloomin things!