What kind of camera for Alaskan cruise?

[SheriNtexas]

I am doing a cruisetour of Alaska in mid-May, and while my friend and I have done tons of research, i find myself with camera questions....

 

I mostly take pictures of my 5 grandkids...i have some kind of Sony Cybershot pocket camera that i usually take on cruises....but of course an Alaskan cruise is a whole nuther ballgame!:eek: I also have a Sony camera that is a bit larger...it's model # is DSC-H50....it does not have a great zoom on it....and it has always been fine for my needs around the house and on other cruises....so what i need to know is, what kind of attachments do i need to add to the bigger camera to be able to zoom in more? I plan on taking TONS of pictures, and want to be able to zoom in....i think this camera, or at least some of the accessories, have been discontinued...i did, however, find some lens on Ebay...will a lens make a camera zoom better? I'm so confused, lol! I would LOVE to be able to go buy a brand new camera, but i just can't afford it, and i'm afraid i'll just have to make it work with the cameras i've got....so can anyone tell me what i need to add to this camera to make it zoom better? Should i go to Best Buy and ask someone there? I've done a bit of research online, but there is a lot of info and i don't know anything about cameras....

 

Any suggestions? Thanks so much!

[pierces]

I am doing a cruisetour of Alaska in mid-May, and while my friend and I have done tons of research, i find myself with camera questions....

 

I mostly take pictures of my 5 grandkids...i have some kind of Sony Cybershot pocket camera that i usually take on cruises....but of course an Alaskan cruise is a whole nuther ballgame!:eek: I also have a Sony camera that is a bit larger...it's model # is DSC-H50....it does not have a great zoom on it....and it has always been fine for my needs around the house and on other cruises....so what i need to know is, what kind of attachments do i need to add to the bigger camera to be able to zoom in more? I plan on taking TONS of pictures, and want to be able to zoom in....i think this camera, or at least some of the accessories, have been discontinued...i did, however, find some lens on Ebay...will a lens make a camera zoom better? I'm so confused, lol! I would LOVE to be able to go buy a brand new camera, but i just can't afford it, and i'm afraid i'll just have to make it work with the cameras i've got....so can anyone tell me what i need to add to this camera to make it zoom better? Should i go to Best Buy and ask someone there? I've done a bit of research online, but there is a lot of info and i don't know anything about cameras....

 

Any suggestions? Thanks so much!

 

Add-on telephoto adapters are an inexpensive way to get more reach, but with the H50 already having a 15X zoom range, you would probably receive little improvement in you pictures with one. The main problem is that they usually only work without cutting off the edge of the picture when zoomed all the way out and even then, the quality of the image usually suffers from the combination of camera movement if you are not using a tripod and the general lower quality of the add-on lens compared to the camera's own lens.

 

The 31 - 465 mm reach of the H50 is already quite good and the addition of a telephoto extender would not be very helpful. I it were me, I would spend the money on more memory so I could shoot as much as I want at the highest resolution the camera offers and an extra battery fo those looooong Alaskan days!:)

 

Enjoy your trip! Alaska is AMAZING!

 

Dave

[SheriNtexas]

Dave, thanks so much for your help! I just hated the thought of buying a new camera that wouldn't get much use after Alaska! I have 4 extra batteries and plenty of memory cards so no problem there! Thanks again!