A Different Binocular Thread

[ihopfar]

I don't think I have seen this binocular question asked before:

 

Our Alaska travels include, among other things, a trip to Denali, a PWS tour, and a Princess Whittier to Vancouver cruise.

 

My FIL is bringing a digital camera with a good zoom lense. He has decided that it is probably not worth bringing binoculars as well, figuring he can always look through the camera to see wildfile, glaciers, etc. in the distance.

 

Does anyone have experience with this? Is this a good idea or a bad idea?

 

Thanks,

Brad

[lithlith]

If you've got both, then you might as well bring both along on the trip. How much room do binoculars take up?! I took both on my Alaska cruise last June and enjoyed having both, especially on days where I was take a lot of pictures and my battery would run down. Binoculars were great for just scanning the horizon, especially when searching for whales or other wildlife.

[Naps]

I use both, especially if you're interested in zooming. I scan with my binoculars, then photograph. For my point/shoot, I turn off the digital zoom and only use my optical. Otherwise, I end up with a shakey mess.

I can always crop in with my computer.

[Naps]

They make a harness for binoculars, maybe $15-20. Well worth it, you're hands are free until you want to use your binoculars.

[zqvol]

I took both and never picked up the binoculars, was too busy taking pictures and teh lens on my camera has much better zoom than any of my binoculars.

[Glaciers]

My FIL is bringing a digital camera with a good zoom lense. He has decided that it is probably not worth bringing binoculars as well, figuring he can always look through the camera to see wildfile, glaciers, etc. in the distance.

 

That's great for your FIL but what about you? I have my camera with the lens and my wife uses the binocs. Take both if you have the room. Certainly works better than passing the camera back and forth to look at some goat way up on the mountain.

[Putterdude]

I would be concerned with the strength of the magnification of a camera lens and the movement of the ship. This may cause motion sickness.

[pdmlynek]

I took both and never picked up the binoculars, was too busy taking pictures and teh lens on my camera has much better zoom than any of my binoculars.

Really? Do you mind posting what kind of a lens you have?

[mytime53]

I took both and never picked up the binoculars, was too busy taking pictures and teh lens on my camera has much better zoom than any of my binoculars.

 

Really? Do you mind posting what kind of a lens you have?

 

And the strength of your binoculars...

[ihopfar]

That's great for your FIL but what about you? I have my camera with the lens and my wife uses the binocs. Take both if you have the room. Certainly works better than passing the camera back and forth to look at some goat way up on the mountain.

 

Thanks everyone for your feedback and expeireinces.

 

Not to worry, my DW and I each have our our binoculars. We were just surprised to hear that FIL is leaning against bringing any...

 

Thanks,

Brad

[tjroadster]

we took binoculars and zoom lens. We ended up using more binoculars than camera. The view through camera just cannot compare to the binoculars.