vbhargava Loc: San Diego

I am planning to take the Rocky Mountain Train and continue to Jasper and Banff (8days) in the beginning of October. I am looking for your recommendations on the lenses I should take. I have Nikon D750 body and have Nikkor 24-120mm, 28-300mm, 24mm, 50mm, 300mm PF+1.4 TC, 105mm macro, 24mm and 10-24mm. Which lenses would you recommend. I am planning on taking my tripod. I also have the Sony A73 with two zooms but as diverse lenses only two zooms. I will use it for landscape, wildlife (if possible) and macro. I will only take one body. Look forward to hearing from people who may have done this trip

Xanadu Loc: Clay County FL

I have done the trip (2017) - Vancouver to Banff - car rental Banff to Jasper. I brought my Sony A65 and frankly I can't remember the zoom lens I used. There are photo ops around every corner. I shot many from the small platform between train cars. I cannot remember needing a tripod but it doesn't hurt to have it.
We did it in early September and I don't remember a day of rain.
You will have a great time and get some great shots regardless of your choice in equipment.
I'd do it again in a minute.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

As a rail historian, railfan, and model railroader, I have taken several rail trips with photography as one of the objectives. I've got a short one coming up next month. You have to decide what to take, but here are some things to think about.

Your trip is like a cruise. It is designed to accommodate passengers with a range of interests, including photography. But it is not designed to optimize your photographic specialty. You will do a lot better if you go with the attitude of adapting your photography to fit within the experience.

The first thing to remember is that the stairway from the lower level to the upper level is narrow and curved. Unless your roomette is on the lower level, you will have to negotiate it every time you board or disembark. It's a lot easier without two trunks full of equipment.

The second thing is that the windows are plasric, not glass. Wide angle shots are likely to show scratches, and telephoto shots may show wavy distortions. I try to stick to intermediate focal lengths when shooting out the windows. They are usually not friendly to polarizing filters.

The third thing to remember is that even on well-maintained track, there can be quite a bit of motion of the cars. Lenses with good VR are the best choice.

I'm sure you will want to take your 28-300 to try to get wildlife shots, but its going to be iffy to use anything beyond 200mm or so from the train, in my experience. I've not taken your specific trip, so will defer to others for advice when not shooting from the train.

For my trip next month, I'm taking a D850 with a 24-70 f/2.8, and a D810 and D500, each with a 24-120mm f/4. My plan is to choose two of the three cameras each day, depending on what we're going to be doing. This trip is something of an experiment to discover which of the three doesn't get used.

rcarol

Forget using the tripod on the train. It will be useless. The 24-120mm will be your most used lens. I would recomment signing up for the gold leaf service rather than the red leaf service. Enjoy yourself!

Sentinel4

We did the trip prior to covid outbreak. I would opt for the telephoto, the 24-120 and 50mm.
Sentinel4

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

That's the way I travel now...

vbhargava Loc: San Diego

We have already signed up for gold leaf service. Thanks for the suggestion.

vbhargava Loc: San Diego

Thanks for your input. Will keep in mind.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

We've travelled the Rocky Mountaineer and loved every minute of it.
I'm not sure that a tripod will be of much use: the train moves and the rails are not always nice and smooth!!!
I don't know if they are still doing this, but at that time, if the train approached something worthwhile taking photos of, it was announced on the PA and the train would slow down.

vbhargava Loc: San Diego

I was taking the tripod for next 4 days in Jasper and Banff. Thanks