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Need Alaska telephoto zoom advice


Juardis
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We're headed to Anchorage next June, going to Kenai Fjords and taking an 8 1/2 hour small boat cruise as well as the Prince William Sound 26 Glacier Cruise before boarding our large cruise ship headed south to Vancouver. Will pass by Hubbard Glacier and go through Glacier Bay. Other stops include Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, but none of the excursions we have planned there require a telephoto. We have a balcony room on our ship and I plan on taking my tripod.

 

I have a Canon 80d. I have a 70-300L. For Kenai Fjords, Prince William Sound, Hubbard Glacier, and Glacier Bay, I am seriously considering renting something longer to take in place of my 70-300. At this point, 100-400L II, but could be talked into something longer I suppose. I see the value in having a longer lens, but not sure I'll need it. A question though.

 

If I rent a 100-400 (or even a 150-600), is 100 TOO long. I mean, in Kenai Fjords we could, theoretically, be within 100 yds of whales (or closer) and I'd hate to have a lens that was too long in that situation. Maybe that's a problem while on the big ship too? That would kinda steer me to a 18-400 for example if 100 is too long (or 150 if I rent a 150-600).

 

My main lens is a 15-85 so I'm covered on the short to medium length. Just questioning my long lens choice.

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The difference between the 70-300 and the 100-400 is minor I'd go for the 150-600. You can always switch the lens to the smaller one if you need to.

 

You can never have enough lens in Alaska.

 

framer

 

2nd thought if the D80 is a crop sensor then the 70 - 300 is cool.

 

framer

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On a crop body, I really think you're fine with the 70-300.

Don't underestimate wide angle -- I found Alaska cruise presented far more opportunities for interesting ultrawide landscapes than for telephoto. I barely touched by telephoto in the end, but used utrawide constantly. So I'd consider something wider than the 15mm.

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I would highly recommend something like an 18mm-55mm and then a 70-300mm. Honestly, those two lenses should serve you for the entire cruise. Anything larger than a 300mm WILL need a tripod (at the very least) and probably a remote trigger as well.

 

If you are on a small boat excursion, good luck!

 

I recently got back from England, Ireland and Scotland - took those two lenses with my Nikon D810 and they worked like a charm.

 

Good luck and happy shooting!!!

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70-300 is plenty long for glaciers and whales, especially on crop. On our recent cruise, the only times that a longer shot worked at the glaciers is if we sandwiched it amongst others around 200mm on FF, and those longer shots are few and far between as keepers. The challenge with glaciers is you never know where they'll calve, so you either commit to one spot and miss out on others (or reacquire FAST), or zoom out and crop as desired.

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If you didn't have the 300 I would have said rent a 150-600. If you were doing denali I would have sent rent a 150-600.

 

I think you will be fine with what you have but I might also suggest renting the Tamron 18-400. It did a real nice job on a recent trip to europe and covers the full range of what you may need (I did a post on it with some samples in this thread):

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2526543

 

Then again, for Alaska I would dual body if I could for the boat trip.

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What does that mean? Good luck getting photos? Not getting sick? something else?

 

It means that when you are on a small vessel and you are using a long lens - the smallest movement will take your shot away (make it blurry at the very least) Small boats tend to bounce and yaw a lot.

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It means that when you are on a small vessel and you are using a long lens - the smallest movement will take your shot away (make it blurry at the very least) Small boats tend to bounce and yaw a lot.
oh yeah. gotcha. Hopefully IS (or VR if you're a Nikon guy) will help a lot with that, but yeah, certainly would need to put the camera in shutter priority mode, preferably at 1/1000th if conditions allow it.
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oh yeah. gotcha. Hopefully IS (or VR if you're a Nikon guy) will help a lot with that, but yeah, certainly would need to put the camera in shutter priority mode, preferably at 1/1000th if conditions allow it.

IS/VR/OS/whatever is not nearly enough to counteract the rocking of a small boat - you've got to keep the lens generally aimed at the subject for IS to have a chance to help you out.

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IS/VR/OS/whatever is not nearly enough to counteract the rocking of a small boat - you've got to keep the lens generally aimed at the subject for IS to have a chance to help you out.

 

 

IMHO IS/VR/OS should not be used if you are shooting above 1/500th of a sec. Depending on the generation of VR it may cause issues. I would push my shutter speed to min of 1/2000th or higher if able. I'm a fan of Aperture Mode and would use ISO to get my shutter speed up.

 

 

framer

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IMHO IS/VR/OS should not be used if you are shooting above 1/500th of a sec. Depending on the generation of VR it may cause issues. I would push my shutter speed to min of 1/2000th or higher if able. I'm a fan of Aperture Mode and would use ISO to get my shutter speed up.

My original point is that you can get yourself to a nice fast shutter speed, and VR or not, the rocking of the boat will mean you'll get a lot of shots of the water. Or the sky. Or the beach. But...not the whales. The longer the lens, the tougher it is.

 

That said, I do wholeheartedly agree with your comment about aperture priority. I'd much rather set my aperture (wide-open, in this case) and ISO (as high as needed) to get a shutter speed in the ballpark (or faster) than what I wanted, and let the shutter speed wander as needed to get a properly-exposed shot, than I would set my shutter speed (to an arbitrary value) and ISO (as high as needed) to get a viable aperture value, as a little moment of unexpected "darker-ness" will put your camera up against its aperture limits, and therefore result in a dark photo (unless you have some sort of "safety shift" setting, in which case it'll override that shutter speed you so carefully set anyway).

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  • 2 weeks later...

I went to Alaska a few months back with my Canon 70D. Did everything from bear viewing in Lake Clark, halibut fishing, Alaska Railroad that included a Resurrection Bay cruise, Denali flight tour, and much more! I took along my Tamron 17-50VC, Canon 18-135 STM, and rented the Canon 100-400 II. They all came in handy! I don't regret taking any of them! I did fine with hand holding my camera with the 100-400 attached. Just made sure my shutter speed was accurate to avoid blur. I think you may find many cruises do not allow tripods, I believe it may be a trip hazard. Monopod maybe? I would call and ask.

 

Have a great trip! Alaska is AMAZING!!!!!!

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Never ask, just beg for forgiveness. I've normally had a lower balcony and use the tripod from there. It gets used mainly in GBNP. It sits with a 400/2.8 I sometimes have a 1.4 extender on it depending on what I'm seeing. I then walk around w/70-200/2.8 for glacier viewing.

 

I have seen a few tripods on the promenade but you really need to work faster when out with the wolfs.

 

framer

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Never ask, just beg for forgiveness. I've normally had a lower balcony and use the tripod from there. It gets used mainly in GBNP. It sits with a 400/2.8 I sometimes have a 1.4 extender on it depending on what I'm seeing. I then walk around w/70-200/2.8 for glacier viewing.

 

I have seen a few tripods on the promenade but you really need to work faster when out with the wolfs.

 

framer

 

I never had an issue on a cruise ship. It's the glacier cruises I was referencing. Some of the walking areas from front to back (I'm sure it has a name, I just don't know it, lol!), are narrow. I am only guessing the charters feel that they are a tripping hazard. I could see it happening on a not so smooth ride with someone's tripod taking up most of the walkway, and people trying to maneuver past. That's why I suggested a monopod. Smaller footprint.

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When we did Alaska the Coral made an announcement that Tripods were not permitted in certain narrower deck areas on scenic cruising days but otherwise ok (of course, the don't be a jerk rule applies too). They were NOT allowed on the cruise/flight excursion we did out of Ketchikan or some of the whale watching excursions.

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The glacier cruises we're taking do not allow tripods. However, my tripod does have one of the legs that can be used as a monopod, but I doubt I even take that since I typically hand hold and I want to be able to point and shoot quickly. The tripod is mainly for our balcony on the big cruise ship and maybe out on the deck just so I can use a cabled shutter release and keep my hands in my pockets :)

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  • 1 month later...

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