Asking for location tips: Hello, Next week my wife and I will board the cruise ship in LA and will sail on it for 28 days visiting Honolulu/Oahu, Nawiliwili/Kauai and Lahaina/Maui and...

RightOnPhotography Loc: Quebec,QC

Hello,
Next week my wife and I will board the cruise ship in LA and will sail on it for 28 days visiting Honolulu/Oahu, Nawiliwili/Kauai and Lahaina/Maui and then continuing to Pago Pago/American Samoa, Apia/Western Samoa, Papeete/Tahiti, Bora Bora and Moorea. We will be staying for about 9-10 hours in each port, except Bora Bora (36 hours) and Papeete (32 hours) were we will be staying overnight. I didn't know what to expect in French Polynesia so I am carrying with me my Nikon D750 and Z6 and four lenses (16-35mm, 24-70mm, 50mm and 70-300mm) just in case. I don't mind the extra weight but I left the tripod at home.
Can anybody provide me with tips for a good photo-op locations at these destinations? Thanks in advance.

Silverrails

Sorry never been to any of these Tropical locations, but I would take the Tripod.

56HotRod Loc: Littleton CO

You'll be able to walk to Kalipaki Beach from the harbor. Most of the places worth seeing is a good drive from the ship. I'm sure you can schedule a tour to some of the closer places like Wailua Falls. Enjoy your trip. We go to Kauai every year. The whale watching in the islands is fantastic this time of year.

Lighthouse at Nawiliwili Harbor, Kauai

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Wailua Falls, Kauai
Wailua Falls, Kauai...

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anotherview Loc: California

Enjoy your cruise. The ship may have an office that helps identify photogenic scenes and situations.

The tripod has become obsolescent. See here: https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/digital-killed-my-tripod.htm

Still, you may wish to brush up on your hand-holding technique to ensure sharp images.

TTQ225 wrote:

Hello, br Next week my wife and I will board the c... (show quote)

RightOnPhotography Loc: Quebec,QC

anotherview wrote:

Enjoy your cruise. The ship may have an office that helps identify photogenic scenes and situations.

The tripod has become obsolescent. See here: https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/digital-killed-my-tripod.htm

Still, you may wish to brush up on your hand-holding technique to ensure sharp images.

Thank you. You are right about tripod. I am not a muscle man but I am able to get sharp shots at 1/10sec or sometimes even less. IBIS in Z6 works very well and all my F lenses are VR.

RightOnPhotography Loc: Quebec,QC

56HotRod wrote:

You'll be able to walk to Kalipaki Beach from the harbor. Most of the places worth seeing is a good drive from the ship. I'm sure you can schedule a tour to some of the closer places like Wailua Falls. Enjoy your trip. We go to Kauai every year. The whale watching in the islands is fantastic this time of year.

Thank you for a tip. Will try to visit these places.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

anotherview wrote:

Enjoy your cruise. The ship may have an office that helps identify photogenic scenes and situations.

The tripod has become obsolescent. See here: https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/digital-killed-my-tripod.htm

Still, you may wish to brush up on your hand-holding technique to ensure sharp images.

I guess Mr. Rockwell does not do many Focus Stacked Macro photographs. It is really hard to keep everything stable at 6 inches to possibly less than 1/2 inch of working distance without a good tripod. Locking the mirror up and using a remote release is a good idea as well. Doing macro with a MILC is probably a wonder! Sure for travel photos there is little point in using a tripod. Even in the film days that could be cumbersome.

Al Freeedman

You are taking way too much gear, most of which you will never use. You'll be spending too much
time selecting what to use, and not enough time enjoying the cruise. My last few cruises I took
a Panasonic DC-ZS70/90, and never missed a shot. With it's long reach you won't either. With it's
Leica lens (24 mm to 720 mm), you will not be able to tell the difference between it and any quality
DSLR. Take your battery charger, a spare battery and a couple of memory cards. Travel Light and
enjoy the trip.

Captain Al

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

TTQ225 wrote:

Hello, br Next week my wife and I will board the c... (show quote)

Tripadvisor.com

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Personally, I'm beginning to put Mr. Rockwell in the same league as the Northrups.
--Bob

anotherview wrote:

Enjoy your cruise. The ship may have an office that helps identify photogenic scenes and situations.

The tripod has become obsolescent. See here: https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/digital-killed-my-tripod.htm

Still, you may wish to brush up on your hand-holding technique to ensure sharp images.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

TTQ225 wrote:

Hello, br Next week my wife and I will board the c... (show quote)

Can’t help on locations, but I can tell you you’re taking too much stuff! If it were me, I’d take the Z6 with the 24-70 and the 70-300. Also as someone else pointed out, what you bring must be able to fit into the little room safe.

jearlwebb

TTQ225 wrote:

Hello, br Next week my wife and I will board the c... (show quote)

My suggestions is to go to the following site and put where you are going to be and you will see a lot of info on what to see and do. From there you can also book the excursions which will probably cost less than the ships tours. https://www.viator.com/

Everywhere you look will be a "postcard" shot! The water, especially Tahiti and Bora Bora is out of a Disney movie, absolutely wonderful!

Couple of tips:
Ziplock bags-lots of humidity, protect equippment from condensation and rain.
silica bags/gel kitty litter in a tea bag or sock.
microfiber cloths
wet lens wipes
polarizer
hood for lens
raincover for camera and lens.
Umbrellas

Hats and lots of sunscreen!!!

If I was taking your lenses i would take 16-35mm or 24-70mm

I lived in Hawaii and had a place on Moorea, where you are going you can get short downpours and then it is nice so be prepared.

Enjoy your trip, the island are magical and so are the people!

CamB Loc: Juneau, Alaska

Al Freeedman wrote:

You are taking way too much gear, most of which yo... (show quote)

The point of having all that nice gear is to get great photos in your life,which for me, includes my vacations. The kit you’re planning to take sounds good.
...Cam

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

rmalarz wrote:

Personally, I'm beginning to put Mr. Rockwell in the same league as the Northrups.
--Bob

Rockwell says digital has made tripods obsolete because he understands digital better than thousands of other photographers out there who would disagree. He says, shoot f22 on a tripod and compare it to f8 hand held for sharpness. Is this the type of testing he does all the time? I don't know what this is a test of. Let's ignore depth of field and the effect of post processing too.

Immediately after that Rockwell overreacts about diffraction, and ignores the effect Digital post processing can have on mitigating diffraction. I wonder what his credibility in digital processing is?

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

rmalarz wrote:

Personally, I'm beginning to put Mr. Rockwell in the same league as the Northrups.
--Bob

yup....tripods Are not obsolete. I'd like to see someone take a 12 shot pano (3x4), or any multi row pano without a tripod. I can do a single row ok with the content aware in Lightroom. But I wouldn't even consider a multiple row without one.