I'm taking an Alaska Cruise Sept 2019. I will be in a balcony unit on the 7 day cruise. I am trying to decide what lenses I should take. I have a Canon T51 camera. Lens are Sigma 18-250 EF, Tokina Ultra Wide 11-16 Pro, Canon EF 100-400 Pro and a Canon EF 70-300. Space is limited so I only want to take 2 lenses. But never having been on a cruise before I don't know which 2 would be best. The ship does go into Glacier Bay which is one place I really want to get good photos of. Also I plan to take a helicopter/glacier walk tour in Juneau during the port stop there.
Thanks,
Suzanne
pmorin
Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs
zuzanne wrote:
I'm taking an Alaska Cruise Sept 2019. I will be in a balcony unit on the 7 day cruise. I am trying to decide what lenses I should take. I have a Canon T51 camera. Lens are Sigma 18-250 EF, Tokina Ultra Wide 11-16 Pro, Canon EF 100-400 Pro and a Canon EF 70-300. Space is limited so I only want to take 2 lenses. But never having been on a cruise before I don't know which 2 would be best. The ship does go into Glacier Bay which is one place I really want to get good photos of. Also I plan to take a helicopter/glacier walk tour in Juneau during the port stop there.
Thanks,
Suzanne
I'm taking an Alaska Cruise Sept 2019. I will be ... (
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Alaska has these huge scenic vistas to capture, so you definitely want a wide lens. It also has some incredible wildlife which is often at a distance. So you are also going to want the 100-400.
You know your wide end lenses best, so you would know which is best to use, the tokina or the sigma.
I personally would bring the 11-16 and the 100-400L
zuzanne wrote:
I'm taking an Alaska Cruise Sept 2019. I will be in a balcony unit on the 7 day cruise. I am trying to decide what lenses I should take. I have a Canon T51 camera. Lens are Sigma 18-250 EF, Tokina Ultra Wide 11-16 Pro, Canon EF 100-400 Pro and a Canon EF 70-300. Space is limited so I only want to take 2 lenses. But never having been on a cruise before I don't know which 2 would be best. The ship does go into Glacier Bay which is one place I really want to get good photos of. Also I plan to take a helicopter/glacier walk tour in Juneau during the port stop there.
Thanks,
Suzanne
I'm taking an Alaska Cruise Sept 2019. I will be ... (
show quote)
If you only take two lenses you should take the 100-400 for wildlife and the 18-250 for everything else. The thing is the 11-16 doesn't take much space and especially on your helicopter tour of the glacier you might want the wide angle. I would find a way to take all three. In glacier bay the 11-16 is too wide unless you are taking a kayak or some other craft closer to the ice than your cruise ship will go, and the 100-400 will probably be too big for part of what you will want to shoot, but if you don't take it you will regret it when you see wildlife.
Hi,
You're in for a real scenic treat. I would agree with pmorin and btbg about taking the 100-400 and the 18-250 and the 11-16 if you can find a way for all three.
Have a great time. We did in July, 2017.
HI Suzanne. I have just completed this trip 3 weeks ago. 7 days on the Norwegian Jewell. I took my complete camera kit - Canon 5D, 25-135 lens; 100-400 zoom lens and a wide angle that I never used. The cruise ships make a real effort to ensure you get great shots of the glaciers. However, I did not take many from my balcony. It was too restrictive. So I got on the top decks and took most of my shots with my 25-135 lens. The zoom was not used much as we only saw one lot of bears and some sheep from a huge distance making any photography poor.
So - to get the really good shots you will have to get out of your room and get with the masses. Let me just say this - there were very few reallly keen photographers - most were using and IPhone and lost interest quite quick and the minute they saw someone (me) with good camera gear they made room for me very graciously. I had some useful conversations with other keen photographers. Once we got really close to the glaciers I went back to my room and got great shots but often I was at the same level of the glaciers, okay for some shots but to restrictive for others. However, come what may - I am confident you won’t go home disappointed.
Of course you are subject to the weather - it can be “fogged out.” But otherwise, get out of your room to get the best shots.
Let me know if I can help you any further.
zuzanne wrote:
I'm taking an Alaska Cruise Sept 2019. I will be in a balcony unit on the 7 day cruise. I am trying to decide what lenses I should take. I have a Canon T51 camera. Lens are Sigma 18-250 EF, Tokina Ultra Wide 11-16 Pro, Canon EF 100-400 Pro and a Canon EF 70-300. Space is limited so I only want to take 2 lenses. But never having been on a cruise before I don't know which 2 would be best. The ship does go into Glacier Bay which is one place I really want to get good photos of. Also I plan to take a helicopter/glacier walk tour in Juneau during the port stop there.
Thanks,
Suzanne
I'm taking an Alaska Cruise Sept 2019. I will be ... (
show quote)
billnikon
Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
zuzanne wrote:
I'm taking an Alaska Cruise Sept 2019. I will be in a balcony unit on the 7 day cruise. I am trying to decide what lenses I should take. I have a Canon T51 camera. Lens are Sigma 18-250 EF, Tokina Ultra Wide 11-16 Pro, Canon EF 100-400 Pro and a Canon EF 70-300. Space is limited so I only want to take 2 lenses. But never having been on a cruise before I don't know which 2 would be best. The ship does go into Glacier Bay which is one place I really want to get good photos of. Also I plan to take a helicopter/glacier walk tour in Juneau during the port stop there.
Thanks,
Suzanne
I'm taking an Alaska Cruise Sept 2019. I will be ... (
show quote)
IMHO, you are taking too much. I only take a Sony HX-90V, pocket camera with a Zeiss 24-720 mm lens and has a pop up viewfinder. Anything bigger than a pocket camera is too much, IMHO.
zuzanne wrote:
I'm taking an Alaska Cruise Sept 2019. I will be in a balcony unit on the 7 day cruise. I am trying to decide what lenses I should take. I have a Canon T51 camera. Lens are Sigma 18-250 EF, Tokina Ultra Wide 11-16 Pro, Canon EF 100-400 Pro and a Canon EF 70-300. Space is limited so I only want to take 2 lenses. But never having been on a cruise before I don't know which 2 would be best. The ship does go into Glacier Bay which is one place I really want to get good photos of. Also I plan to take a helicopter/glacier walk tour in Juneau during the port stop there.
Thanks,
Suzanne
I'm taking an Alaska Cruise Sept 2019. I will be ... (
show quote)
Suzanne,
I would take the 18-250 (the 18 mm will give you enough on the "wide" side of the zoom and I would use it in the camera most of the times) and for wild life the 100-400 mm will cover most of that kind of situations
Have a great trip, enjoy.
I too just returned from a Princess Cruise 3 weeks ago. I am a Nikon user and the information I received from this group was invaluable. I also had a balcony room but spent little time there.
I brought a 24-70 and a 28-300. I was perfectly happy with the choice of lenses. I handheld on the glacier taking the same excursion you are signed up for. You will be assigned a seat in the helicopter. It is very tight quarters in the back. Bring your cell phone you won’t be able to maneuver your camera. If in the front you will.
For Glacier Bay bring a light weight tripod. Go the top deck or if on Princess go to the 10th deck and there is a deck on the bow.
I purchased and returned several new backpacks and ended up using my Think Tank roller bag. Regardless of what is said about limited space there is room to bring it. Hope this helps. It was such a wonderful trip and photographic journey.
My choice would be the 18-250 and the 11-16
Joe
Having been on a similar trip, take the Sigma and the 100-400. Space permitting, I might also add a 35 or 50mm prime. Fog is a factor. Do bring a monopod, skip a tripod. I did as many excursions as possible. I envy the heli trip! We did one over the Canadian Rockies that was spectacular! Have fun!
I took an Alaska cruise. You absolutely need the 100-400mm lens and the 18-250mm lens. Bring rain gear for your camera and a cloth to dry you camera and lens etc.
I’d suggest covering the focal length from 25mm to 300 or 400mm. Here are a few we took. The eagle on the iceberg used my 100 - 400 ... and the glacier walk and mountain scene used my 24 - 105.
I did the inside passage 2 years ago on a small NAT/GEO ship and had a great time shooting wildlife and seascapes.
I shoot FF and took a 16-35, 24-70 and 70-300 lenses. The 16-35 is too wide for that area unless you want mostly water, sky or a lot of deck in your image, so it never left our cabin the entire trip. I used the 70-300 for about 90% of my shots. I found a little longer reach would have been nice for whales, sea lions, etc., but I can crop considerably to make up for it.
If I were to do the trip again I would take only my 24-70 and 100-400 lenses. Leave the tripod at home as it will just get in your way as well as everyone else’s. I did take a monopod but didn’t use it. If you take shore excursions you should take a dry bag large enough to hold your camera with lens attached.
Have fun!
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