Quikster

Hello,
I'm new here and saw this seemed like a very active community. I will be going on a Celebrity Cruise in May and I'm trying to figure out which gear to take with me for photographing on the cruise/excursions.

Currently I own a Nikon D7100, Nikon 18-200mm VR, Nikon f/1.8 50mm, Nikon f/1.8 35mm, Tamron f/2.8 28-75mm. I was thinking of adding an ultra zoom to my collection for this and some other trips we have planned. Currently I'm leaning toward the Tamron 150-600mm G2 with the improved VC and weather sealing, but figured I'd see what others suggested. Other gear I have that will likely stay behind Tripod, SB-800 flash and might take my monopod.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Take your 35mm, you don't want to be lugging heavy equipment around.

Haydon

If you intentions is to shoot wildlife, 150-600 would be beneficial. For everything else you're covered. Remember you only have a limited time when on a cruise. I really can't see much time for the animals unless some of it was allocated to car travel.

Quikster

Hoping to get some wildlife on the exursions and some whales from the cruise ship and/or excursions. We haven't selected which of those we're doing yet. But overall our itinerary is:
Day 1 Sun, May 28 Vancouver, British Columbia 4:30PM
Day 2 Mon, May 29 Inside Passage, Alaska
Day 3 Tue, May 30 Icy Strait Point, Alaska 3:30PM 10:00PM
Day 4 Wed, May 31 Hubbard Glacier, Alaska 10:30AM 2:30PM
Day 5 Thu, Jun 01 Juneau, Alaska 7:30AM 8:00PM
Day 6 Fri, Jun 02 Ketchikan, Alaska 2:00PM 8:30PM
Day 7 Sat, Jun 03 Inside Passage, Alaska
Day 8 Sun, Jun 04 Vancouver, British Columbia 7:00AM

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Ok, if I get this correctly...

You have all this gear and you do not know when to use it???

Quikster

no i know how to use it i'm asking for advice on which gear would be best to bring to Alaska as I've never been. I've heard a lot of people say you want 500-600mm for capturing things far away but I've also seen some people say they only took 200-300mm and been happy so I'm asking what gear that I have should be brought on the cruise and/or what gaps should I try to fill

Philipschmitten Loc: Texas

I would go with the 18-200. I have been on the cruise and that is what I would've used. I used an 18-135.

par4fore Loc: Bay Shore N.Y.

Agree 18-200 gives you 27-300 and what you don't have is a 11-16 wide.

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

Boy, has this thread been over used. My advice has always been, Travel light, travel right. Personally I would never take a super zoom on any vacation, too heavy, gets in the way. My advice, get a 18-200 Nikon zoom and I would take the flash, 90% of my shots outside on vacation are of my beautiful wife with backgrounds, and I want the lighting to be right, so I use a flash every time, I also shoot locals, love the locals, use flash on them also. In addition to the camera, lens, and flash I always take my trusty Sony DSC-HX50V with the lens that zooms from 24 to 720 mm. And, to be honest, on my last trip to Alaska, I took two pocket camera only and had a great time, in addition to the HX50V I took my trusty Sony HX100 II and an external flash, remember, Travel light, travel right.

sinderone

I will be traveling to Alaska next August. On all my other trips I've taken my D7100 with 18-200 plus my 35mm 1.8. For my Alaska trip I'll be adding my 55-300. I would also suggest a tripod if you can deal with more weight. Lastly, a good pair of binoculars is a must have for me. I just bough the Vortex Diamondback 10x42.

I've taken a flash and monopod on past trips to China and Japan and never used them. One more suggestion. Take an iPad so you can download your photos each day. That way you have a backup should a card fail.better safe than sorry.

alandg46 Loc: Boerne, Texas

Let me preface this by saying I've never been on a cruise, but I've been to Alaska 3 times. If you go on a bear excursion out of Ketchican the longer lens the better. If you go on a whale watch tour out of Juneau you have a tough call. I went on a whale watching excursion this past August. I had a D500 with a 200-500 F5.6 attached. It was too long. Most of the boats for these excursions are relatively small. They pitch quite a bit. A whale breached twice. The first one the 200-500 would have been fine, except I wasn't fast enough to capture it until it splashed back into the water. The second one I was fast enough, but we were too close and with the rapid movement of the whale and the pitching of the boat I could not keep the whale in the frame even at 200mm. I got some acceptable, only to me photos. I had a 70-300 with me and that's the lens I should have had attached. I talked to the boat captain and the "nature guide" after we were heading back in and they said that almost always they get that close to the whales. It seems some of the whales like to "perform". I should have discussed them prior to departing. My fault.

Forget about a tripod. There are too many people. Forget about a monopod. I had to use one hand to keep myself steady. I could not stand and operate the camera. There was just too much boat movement, which leads me to the next equipment to bring, kneepads. I kneeled using the boat railing to steady the camera and then could use one hand to steady myself. But the cleated aluminum decking was painful.

At least my camera settings were good, 1/1000, f5.6, auto ISO, and burst. Have your camera prepared well before you think you may see whales. You cannot change anything fast enough when they breach. Put it on burst and leave it there.

I tried to talk my wife into giving me a second shot at it the next day, but she wanted to do some other things. I hope to try again next year.

par4fore Loc: Bay Shore N.Y.

Re-tripod , I used mine quite a bit in Alaska. Sure it is not useful on a moving ship and when the ship is stopped you can always lean on something. But what about excursions. One excursion I was on took us to a beautiful lush green forest. I was glad I took my tripod. When you don't need it leave it on the bed, but if you don't have it with you, you might wish you did. Have fun.

alandg46 Loc: Boerne, Texas

Of course, take your tripod. And depending upon the size of the boat for a whale watching excursion you might be able to use it there. I used mine on the Blackstone Glacier excursion and the Kenai Fjords excursion. They were both larger boats.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Ship/boat = vibration hence NO tripod.
Off the boat is another story.

alandg46 Loc: Boerne, Texas

I beg to differ.