Alaska Cruise in June - what do I need?

radhak · May 30, 2013

So we are going on a 7-day cruise in June : starting Whittier, AK and ending Vancouver, CA. We'll have three days in AK before the cruise, and 2 days in Vancouver/Seattle post-cruise.

I recognize that I'm not gonna do this again, at least not for many years. So do I need any special gear? I have the Nikon D90 with the 35mm f/1.8; the 50mm f/1.8; the 17-50mm f/2.8; the 18-105 kit; and the 70-300 f/4.5-5.6; a speedlight SB600; and a tripod. Some of these lenses I'll leave behind (the 50mm, the kit lens). Dunno if I'll even need the speedlight, but the tripod should prove useful.

Do I need any other lens? I'm thinking of renting, if needed. Would the 70-200 f/2.8 serve me better than my slower 70-300? Or will I miss the longer reach of something like a Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 (albeit much slower lens)?

I definitely need a rain-cover, and this one seems to be great value.

cmason · May 30, 2013

Done many cruises, but not been to Alaska. For shore excursions, standard advice applies: you are going to want a wide lens for in town photos, and landscape vistas. I personally would recommend a 10-20 lens. If you go into the State Parks, your long zoom will be good for spotting wildlife.

Given you will be outdoors, I suspect your 70-300 will be fine. I don't think you would really have a need for 2.8, but if you are trying to justify a purchase, a 70-200 f2.8 in any brand will be a superior piece of glass to your current lens. The 500 might be nice if you will be really trying for wildlife and you know they will be some distance away, but 500 is gonna require that tripod. If you are on a tour that is not a photo tour, you might find that you won't have enough time at a location for all that photography messing about.

On board, you need your wide lens and the 17-50 will be fine. If you want some shots of the ship interior at night, a tripod works fine, though experience suggests you do this really late at night or really long exposures to remove the throngs of people.

Don't know about a rain cover, you won't need it on the ship as you will be nowhere near the water*. Flash? You might use it once.

So my recommendation is to get something really wide. Leave the 35 and 50 at home. Take the 17-50 and the 70-300 and have a good trip.

Glance thru these and these to get an idea of what lenses I used.

* Wait, what? Nowhere near the water? I am on a ship!! Yes you are, but if you go topside, and on one of the mainstream cruise ships, you are 12-15 STORIES above water. Even on the excursion/lifeboat boarding level (typically 4th level or so) you are a good 10m above water.

radhak · May 30, 2013

Great input, thanks! Yes, I can see a 11-16mm might be very useful.

Wow - inspiring pictures! I'll try and emulate them!

Qarik · May 30, 2013

did that last year. you will need the best telephoto for whale/eagle/critter shots, a good wide angle for landscape and a mid range for general purpose...basically bring everything. The flash will come in handy for people shots on the boat itself.

try and hit the whale watching tour and the white pass RR excursions.

Icebear · May 31, 2013

Qarik wrote: »

did that last year. you will need the best telephoto for whale/eagle/critter shots, a good wide angle for landscape and a mid range for general purpose...basically bring everything. The flash will come in handy for people shots on the boat itself.

try and hit the whale watching tour and the white pass RR excursions.

I'd leave the speedlight home in favor of a "Lightscoop" or similar type of modifier for your pop-up flash. Less weight, and one less thing to worry about protecting in your packing. One thing you will certainly need though is a rain cover for your camera and longest lens. It's SE Alaska. It is likely to be raining - a lot. When I did a small-ship cruise of SE Alaska a few years ago, I found my most useful kit to be a waterproof "tough camera." It got the most use, and I brought home more memories from that camera than with the DSLR.

radhak · May 31, 2013

Yes, we'll be doing the whale watch and the railroad trip, and maybe a short 'flight-seeing' from a small plane, where I hope the VR on the lens will be helpful.

I'm hoping a range of 300mm is good enough. Will I need a higher range of up to 500mm, which means I've to rent it? I know, it'd always be better to get closer, but am hesitant to load myself with too much gear.

The lightscoop is really interesting. Might opt for it in lieu of the the flash. And yes, I do need the raincover, probably this one.

Qarik · May 31, 2013

I wouldn't bother with 500mm, a TC would suffice considering your crop body and you will be shooting daylight assumably.

DsrtVW · June 1, 2013

I did a 14 day cruise to Alaska I am mostly a Wildlife shooter so I made sure I had my old Sigma 170-500mm(wished I had bought a 50-500mm) I was shooting a D7000 so the 17-55mm f2.8 was used the most for taking in the scenery. I had a 11-16mm Tokiina but I did not use it that much the vista are so huge especially from the boat.
I also had my 50mm f1.8 for the inside shots and landscapes just using the on camera flash.
The most used camera I used was the refurbished Nikon P100 P&S 26x superzoom. It was easy to carry and it had reach of the zoom. It was really nice when going on shore and not sure what i would run into.
I was blessed that only rained on 2 days of the cruise which all the other cruise veterans said was highly unusual I did not even use my rain covers.
I took a little Slik lightwieght tripod but I used my monopod almost exclusively tripods do not work on a rocking boat.
All depends on what you are going to be shooting

a tip use the monopod and remote release to shoot over the heads of the other passengers when they are all fighting for and crowding the rail at the glaciers

radhak · June 2, 2013

Thanks Chris - very useful info, particularly about the lens-range uses. I expect to shoot landscapes and whatever wildlife we see, and leave the people-in-front-of-landscapes to my wife

.

Now that you say so, a superzoom P&S would be nifty; after a lot of agonizing I recently got my wife the Canon S110 - an excellent camera, but at 5x zoom (going up to 30mm), falls short of the 20x superzooms I was considering. Maybe - at least for this cruise - they'd have been a better choice.

I do have a monopod I don't use much because of a weak ball-head, and had not realized that it might be better on a boat; with your input I'm now considering getting a good quick release head for it. BTW, how tall is your monopod? Mine is 68" and would not go over people's heads (I know, I know - I could improvise and set it on something, like my wife's foot

).

cmason · June 2, 2013

A tripod will work well on a boat, as long as you are using to take images ON the boat. Everything on the boat will be moving the same, including the camera and tripod, so there will be no apparent movement to the camera. Water in the pool and a few other items move, but otherwise, a tripod works great on board.
Using a tripod to take images FROM the boat TO the shore does not work well.

Alaska Cruise in June - what do I need?

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