Good digital camera to capture Alaska's beauty

[DarkJedi]

For newbies, like the OP, I think the a6000 with kit lens is a great option. Especially if trying to stick with the $500 budget. OP, ignore the stuff about the a7II and full frame and stuff. Those are like $2,000 cameras and $2,000 lenses so they better be much better in picture quality than a $500 camera.

 

Never tried that particular camera but that is about the best advice that could be given in this thread.

 

 

BTW, he might also want to keep weight and space down due to other traveling. I would love to take my Canon on our AK cruise, but will be traveling to and around Japan first and boarding there. One backpack each for traveling around Japan limits the ability to bring a full set up (not to mention dealing with TSA - still upset about them breaking a lens)

[gambit57]

Wow, cool itinerary. I'm doing the same as you, but with a few months gap inbtw. lol Still bringing the monster DSLR, but we're sticking to major cities.

[DarkJedi]

If I was able to take all the luggage with us I would, but most of our traveling in Japan will be by train, and not a lot of space for luggage on there. Considered a shipping service but we will be changing hotels almost daily. Picked up a Sony RX100V, haven't done much with it yet but seems to be a top line P&S. Adding a 52mm ring to it with a magnifier and filters so it should get decent distance shots.

And the whole package is still less than the lens TSA trashed going through Ft Lauderdale airport coming back from Belize.

[gambit57]

Yeah, the RX100V gets amazing reviews. I'm a bit tempted too. Please come back and let us know what you think of it. It does seem like quite an ideal travel camera.

[Flatbush Flyer]

Is this possible without breaking the bank? I'm hoping to get a smallish camera with good optical zoom within $500' date=' preferably without proprietary batteries, and maybe even splash-proof for those rainy days. I know our GoPro and cell phones won't cut it for close up pictures of flora & fauna.

 

This will be our first trip out on a cruise-tour (via HAL).[/quote']

 

 

 

iPhone 7+ will get you close in.

 

 

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[DarkJedi]

Flatbush does bring up a decent point. If you are never going to do anything with the pictures but show them on a phone or screen a good cell phone does take a decent picture.

[Dev'sMom]

Hi all,

Everyone's given great advice on camera size, zoom, potential uses. I greatly appreciate it! I'm going to give this all lots of thought before making a purchase (I'm so indecisive!). My target purchase time is spring break--I'll practice taking pictures of my son on his new bike then :)

I have gathered that I should free up space for batteries by packing fewer shoes ;)

Okay, those iphone shots were amazing! I'm going to be ready with both (iphone, zoom), excursion-dependent. This will be an important purchase--if this cruise goes well and no one gets sea-sick, we'll be heading for the Norwegian Fjords in 2019 or 2020! I just love the thought of waking up somewhere new each day without having to drive or pack food!

[knbcruisers]

I purchased a Panasonic fz200 for our 2015 Alaska trip and have been very happy. It has an excellent long zoom without having to change lenses. Shoots video & burst shoots ( great for wildlife). The controls give lots of options for knowledgeable camera people but the auto setting makes it idiot proof ( that’s me!) It’s larger than a point and shoot but very easy to handle . I paid $300 on Black Friday plus about $75 in accessories-camera bag extra battery and extra SD cards. You can’t have enough SD cards...I am getting more for our next cruise, one for each port day. .

 

 

 

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[Dev'sMom]

I purchased a Panasonic fz200 for our 2015 Alaska trip and have been very happy. It has an excellent long zoom without having to change lenses. Shoots video & burst shoots ( great for wildlife). The controls give lots of options for knowledgeable camera people but the auto setting makes it idiot proof ( that’s me!) It’s larger than a point and shoot but very easy to handle . I paid $300 on Black Friday plus about $75 in accessories-camera bag extra battery and extra SD cards. You can’t have enough SD cards...I am getting more for our next cruise, one for each port day. .

 

 

 

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oh yeah, good point, going to add extra sd cards to my shopping list, can't have too many indeed

[knbcruisers]

I mean to add that there may be newer version of this camera but if you can find this one you may get it at a good price

 

 

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[peety3]

Okay' date=' those iphone shots were amazing![/quote']

Amazing, sure, but nothing about them says (to me) that "it gets you in close". The jellyfish shot had to have been taken in an aquarium, and we have no idea how close the jellyfish was to the glass. Likewise, the flower shot could have been taken inches away from the flower. Both of those can be accomplished with any camera.

[olemissreb]

I have a Canon EOS Rebel T5, but it might be a little outside your price range. I can't remember what I paid for it. It's a step down from what I got my ex 5 years ago and that was $800 at BJ's Wholesale club and it came with a couple of lenses.

 

One thing I really love about my camera is the Sport Mode. It was on my ex's camera too and because of it, he was able to catch a whale breaching not just once, but 3 times! Full on breach from nose up to tail down. We were on a Glacier Winds whale watch excursion and the owner said he had never had someone capture a breach like that. Might be worth looking in to if you want to capture something like that.

[wanderingoz]

oh yeah' date=' good point, going to add extra sd cards to my shopping list, can't have too many indeed[/quote']

 

Call me paranoid but I also carry one of these - WD My Passport

Each night I load the contents of the days SD Cards to the hard drive. Simply unplug the card from the camera and plug it into the WD. It transfers all photos automatically if setup to do so.

 

Cheers

[olemissreb]

Call me paranoid but I also carry one of these - WD My Passport

Each night I load the contents of the days SD Cards to the hard drive. Simply unplug the card from the camera and plug it into the WD. It transfers all photos automatically if setup to do so.

 

Cheers

 

I'll have to look into getting one of these for my cruise next year. Would hate to lose all my pictures. Looks like it'd be easier to carry and lighter than a laptop.

[gambit57]

I'll have to look into getting one of these for my cruise next year. Would hate to lose all my pictures. Looks like it'd be easier to carry and lighter than a laptop.

 

They are. A laptop makes it easier to start weeding out the obviously bad photos. It's a lot harder on the little LCD screen on your camera. It's a give and take situation. The portable hard drives are easy to stuff in a pocket of a backpack or something.

 

If you really want crazy (and don't need crazy amounts of room), buy a SSD hard drive. Either one in a portable case already, or just the chip itself and get an external hard drive case for it. SSD drives (same stuff in your phone and basically your memory card for your camera) are much faster than the spinning platter type known has HDD (hard drive disk) and take travel abuse better as there are no moving parts to damage. If it's just for backup while traveling, a 256 GB or 500 GB SSD drive is still relatively affordable (about on par with the 2-4 TB HDD drives) and enough space for backing up stuff while traveling. You might decide the time you save or the lower risk of damage is worth the smaller amount of space.

[land lover]

I am partial to cannon.....have had all the generations... sx's.....my latest sx720HS.just becaue of the 40x..but I think my 2 sx280hs take better photos...my underwater/extreme is an Olympus.tough.....For a point and shot I am happy with both camera results...... remember to take 1 back up camera and xtra SD cards. I always use my phone camera when my battery runs out.

 

 

Edited January 31, 2018 by land lover

[land lover]

iPhone 7+ will get you close in.

 

 

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some of the phone cameras are amazing......but photographer has something to do with it......beautiful...

[Dev'sMom]

back ups are definitely important! I learned that lesson after losing a couple of papers in college when using computers regularly was sort of new.

[alibubba]

I have the Canon SX50/HS. I got it to take to Africa for great wildlife photos. Took some lessons from a friend who is a professional photographer. She loved the camera and so do I. I take it on any trip where I want real quality pictures and know I need a great zoom lens without having to carry lenses. It is bigger than a point and shoot, but just as easy and worth having the extra weight.

[new_cruiser]

I think I've got it narrowed down to the Panasonic ZS70, Nikon A900 or Canon SX730 for compact size and good zoom. Leaning toward the Panasonic.

[Herfnerd]

I think I've got it narrowed down to the Panasonic ZS70, Nikon A900 or Canon SX730 for compact size and good zoom. Leaning toward the Panasonic.

 

I have the ZS 50 and took it on our Alaska cruise - did a very good job

[Keith1010]

I think I've got it narrowed down to the Panasonic ZS70, Nikon A900 or Canon SX730 for compact size and good zoom. Leaning toward the Panasonic.

 

Not that model but I have had good success with the Lumix which this model is.

 

Good luck with the one you purchase and practice, practice, practice before the trip.

 

Keith

[Dev'sMom]

Hi! I'm the OP, who hasn't made a move on getting a camera yet! 1.5 months out, got some bills paid (including the cruise), so ready to resume the camera hunt. I saw a Sony mirrorless in a store yesterday (5100, also saw the 6000) , so nice and small with good zoom! Some of the replies in this thread are positive, so that one is in the running for me!

[WisCruiser2]

If you don't HAVE to have a new camera, you might be able to find a pre-owned one for a decent price. I just bought a 2011 Panasonic Lumix FZ47K from Amazon for around $120 as I decided I needed something in addition to my phone for Alaska photos. It has a 24x zoom so I'll see how it does at the end of this month!

[Tyskie]

I ended up with the Luminx zs70 - I have been playing with some of the features especially the zoom- very please thus far.

 

45 days out now from our trip - getting excited

 

Don't wait too long-you really need to " practice" ahead of time

 

 

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