Calumtdon

New to the forum. I would appreciate any input regarding my upcoming trip to Alaska and appropriate lens for my Nikon D7000. It probably goes without saying that I want to be able to get wildlife close ups with the proper lens that’s not to weighty. Relatively new to photography.

Thanks

DonB Loc: Port Royal , Tn

When are you going? Driving, flying, cruise? How long? Help us out.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Start a separate thread, and be very specific about the details of your trip. Just saying a trip to Alaska probably means you will travel 1000 miles in Alaska and will still be 500 miles from where I live. This is NOT a small place!

Calumtdon

Thanks for your reply. We are taking a 14 cruise with a 6 day pre cruise tour. ( 20 days altogether ) Flying to Anchorage to Talkeetna, Denali,Alyeska, Homer, Kodiak, Seward, Dutch Harbor. The cruise goes on to Petropavlovsk, Russia and Japan, Kushiro, Hokodate and Tokyo.

Am thinking of a Nikon 18-300mm??

Calumtdon

We are taking a 14 day cruise with a 6 day pre cruise tour. Flying into Anchorage. Then to Denali, Talkeetna, Alyeska, Homer, Seward, Kodiak, Dutch Harbor. Then cruise to Pretropavlovsk, Russia, then Japan, Kushiro, Hokodate and Tokyo.

I’m was thinking of buying a Nikon 18-300mm for my Nikon 7000 for its versatility? Would this work well for me?

sueyeisert Loc: New Jersey

The longer the lens the better. I took my Olympus 70-300 which give the view of 140-600mm and needed it. I would consider buy a good bridge camera with a long lens. Maybe a Sony. Do take a backup camera and lens what if you drop a camera etc. Also bring rain gear and cleaning supplies as well as a monopod.

ClaudiaA Loc: Venice, FL

I took this photo with the 18-300 on a D7100. We were traveling in our RV so I had all my lens with me. We were out 5 months and I only used that lens.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

I spent 4 days in Adak! Great photo opportunity. I used mostly my 14-24 2.8, 24-70 2.8 and 300 2.8 when birding. www.pbase.com/robertl594/adak
Have a great trip!

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

Were I you, I would acquire the Tamron 18-400. It's made for crop sensors, gives you the reach you'll need for wildlife/landscapes, and it gets excellent reviews. I'd also add a fast prime, 35mm would be my choice to give you and equivalent of about 50mm. I had my d7000 on our trip to Alaska paired with a 70-200mm f/4 and it didn't have quite enough reach for wildlife. Sea otters and eagles required a lot of cropping. (I've since gone micro 4/3s to lighten the load.)

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

You are going to need a lens like the Nikon 70-300 VR which will give you the field of view at 300mm the same view of a 450mm lens. It is not very heavy on the D7000.
There are many more lenses that you can use but this one is pretty small and practical in use and it has excellent optics.

ClaudiaA Loc: Venice, FL

This bear was ten feet away when I took this, no time to change from a 70mm lens. I found the 18-300 most useful lens for AK. We took off before he came in the Jeep window.

piperplt

We were in Alaska for two weeks in early August. I took 4 lenses with me; 16-35, 24-105, 100-300, and 150-600. The 24-105 is my normal walk around lens and I took probably 70% of my picutres with this lens, including most of what I shot from the White Pass and Yukon railroad. I used the 100-300 quite a bit during glacier viewing while the 150-600 was mostly for wildlife (whales and bears). Unless you are very lucky, my opinion is the 100-300 does not give enough reach for wildlife. If your lens will accept a tele-extender that would be a great option instead of a longer lens and it would keep the weight down. The down side with the super telephoto lenses is weight of course and getting a fast enough shutter speed to get sharp pictures as most of the time (at least for me) you are using it handheld. Even though my Sigma lens is rated for 4 stops of image stabilization I tried to live by the reciprocal rule (shutter speed should be at least as high as the length of the lens being use. At 600mm I tried to shoot at least at 1/500 second; faster if conditions permitted it). Whatever lenses you use, shoot lots and lots of pictures which will always increase your chances of getting images you will be satisfied with. All of the pictures I've posted were cropped from the originals.

piperplt

Those are great bear pictures! We've been to Alaska twice and probably the closest we've been to a bear was around 100 yards. I did get some close moose pictures this year as when we were at the Denali visitor center waiting to board the train a female moose and two babies came right up to the parking lot grazing.

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

We've driven to Alaska twice and returning in May, GREAT wildlife. In Denali you'll be riding a bus, wildlife can be 10ft to 100 yds or more. I use either a 18-200 VRII or 150-600 G2 take a pool noodle or something to lay on the bus windows.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

I have been on that trip and my favorite camera of all time is my Sony HX90V with the 24-720 mm Zeiss lens. It did the job on everything I wanted to do. Pop up view finder acted like my big D5. I got a belt pouch for it and I was hands free.
Travel right, travel lite.