recommended nikon lenses for alaska

[Action Dave]

Hi All...currently i have a Nikon 18-200 and 70-300 lens in my bag..Will these be sufficient for an alaska cruise.

Do you think i need a longer lens and if so what would you recommend..

Thanks

[chipmaster]

In Alaska you can't go too long, what kind of body and budget do you have, the 200-500.

 

If you are going after wildlife then you can't go too long.  Alaska is so expansive that 18 is likely good enough but on DX even a 10 effective gives even more extreme prospective.

 

But to put in prospective your gear is already likely better than 95% of the people showing up with smartphone and P/S or no P/S even, LOL

 

Edited July 11, 2019 by chipmaster

[masterdrago]

I used my 28-300 on almost everything - all whale watch tours and it worked fine. What you have should fill the bill. I had the 10-24 for big scenery and the 150-600 which came in real handy on the bus ride into Denali. See slightly cropped attachments. The 150-600 is a $1000 Sigma.

Edited July 11, 2019 by masterdrago

[TruckerDave]

What body are you using?  Going to assume a DX (crop) body and if it is one of the higher mega pixel ones you can probably get away with what you have. Maybe grab something wider if anything. Of course (depending on your budget) you an alway grab a 150-600 and really get out there. Or just rent a longer lens, no need to spend over $1000 if this is only for this trip.  You can rent a 150-600 for about $100 for the week (give or take depending on which version you get) from a place like lensrentals.com (not endorsing them, just using them as a reference point for price).

[masterdrago]

Totally agree on lens rental if only needed for one trip. I will warn you that it adds a substantial amount of weight to my backpack. Mine was a gift a few years ago and I use it at home extensively. Your 18-200 will most likely serve all of your needs and is a fine piece of glass. At less than 1/10th the cost of a 600 Nikkor, my 150-600 it is no match mechanically. Optically, I would say really close.

[Action Dave]

I have a D5300 body and Nikon 35mm lens as well as what i mentions in the post..I am currently looking for D500 which if i buy used is affordable..

I just want to say what a great community this is and I appreciate everyones input.  Masterdrago those are some very nice pics.

[chipmaster]

3 hours ago, Action Dave said:

I have a D5300 body and Nikon 35mm lens as well as what i mentions in the post..I am currently looking for D500 which if i buy used is affordable..

I just want to say what a great community this is and I appreciate everyones input.  Masterdrago those are some very nice pics.

 

Unless you need that D500 focus speed and FPS I highly doubt you'll see one thing in the actual image with the upgrade. But NAS is a terrible affliction

[masterdrago]

12 hours ago, Action Dave said:

I have a D5300 body and Nikon 35mm lens as well as what i mentions in the post..I am currently looking for D500 which if i buy used is affordable..

I just want to say what a great community this is and I appreciate everyones input.  Masterdrago those are some very nice pics.

Thanks. You might look at the D7500. Pix were taken with D7500 & the Sigma 150-600. In real life shooting, mine does 10fps, it's slightly lighter by 220 grams, has a built in flash, has slightly higher color depth and better high ISO performance. Where the D500 shines is 3x as many focus points, better focus w/f/8 lenses, slightly longer battery life, 2 memory card slots and higher LCD screen resolution. None of the D500 advantages except if using a telecompressor or needing two memory card slots. The D500 has support for UHS II memory cards but I think the last firmware update on my D7500 provides that. I use Sandisk Extreme Pro UHS I speed class 3 and I never overran the buffer shooting 50 or so NEF + Fine* Large Jpeg strings. And all were 10fps even though the stated D7500 fps is 8.

[Action Dave]

Good Info here thank you very much..i will certainly check it out

[LMADAMS91]

I took a Nikon D5100  with a Tamron 18-400mm, Sigma 150-600, Tokina wide angle and Nikon 18-300 to Alaska with us last May.  I've since upgraded cameras to the D7500 (which I love.)  I used the Tamron the most on excursions just because the 150-600 is so heavy and I really needed a tripod to shoot with it. (I also ended up breaking the Tamron after slipping on a wet rock, so be warned. ) The Sigma 150-600 takes beautiful pictures and is my favorite lens. I can get great wildlife pictures with it.  I replaced the broken Tamron with a Sigma 100-400 and the pictures are good but not as good as the longer lens. The attached pictures were taken with the 150-600 and Tamron 18-400.

[Action Dave]

LMADAM your pics are absolutely beautiful  thank you for the advice..nice, nice, nice...