First thanks to all that have replied. I read the article was very interesting, I had done several web searches but nothing came up except on how to use them. Or just about one system. I am always amazed that I will try fifty different combinations and get nothing then someone goes right to it. Kind of like the check engine light be on for days take it in never comes on.

I had thought about the screw on filter, my have over thought this but; was thinking to quickly/easily change filters the Cokin/Lee system of square filter would be faster. Shooting a sun rise/set light changes quickly. Plus can add graded filter for the sky for more effects. I have had issues with getting screw on filters on and off when outside in the heat/cold (I know use a filter wrench) but the old fingers do not work well and I kind have issues dropping things, or sticking my big fat finger on the lens/filter when taking off my polarizer. Usually do this sitting on the floor so when I drop it.....

Thanks I am looking into the Nisi system now too. Also Lee has a ProGlass IRND line http://www.leefilters.com/index.php/camera/proglass-nd that they say was developed for the movie industry with no color shift does anybody have experience with these? Only available in the last two years. I cannot find anything on web about these most seem to talk about what appears to be the older system.

Hey “News flash”. Unfortunately I can read and have actually physically held the Lee big stopper ND filter in my hand and it be GLASS. Or is this a case of “fake news”? But to your credit I do believe you are correct the “graduated” ND filters are plastic. But in your some what distainful remark I can infer the glass ND filter is better in your somewhat obtuse response.

I have the graded Cokin Z-Pro set of ND filters, I am planning our bi-annual trip to Hawaii and want to do more creative shots with the water so have been looking at ‘full’ ND filters to give the water that dreamy look. I have several questions; how are the Cokin ND filters? Cokin are signifantly less than the Lee filters is it worth the bucks? The Lees ND filters ie the big stopper and little stopper have a foam gasket around the edges to seal out the light, I notice the Cokin do not seem to have this, is this foam an important feature or gimic? . Am better off getting the Lee filters and paying the bucks for a new system? ( $610 for new Lee system or $102 for 3 Conkin ND set)

Yes I know one is plastic / resin and the other glass. ( lighter to carry and heavier to carry)

I have the Nikon 18-300 and have used it on a D810 and D850 and find it is kind of 'soft' on those cameras (could be just me) and just flat out do not like the softness it has compared to the 28-70 or 70-200 on those bodies. I do use the 18-300 on my D7200 and find it works great and use this combo for long hikes or places where if something happens (stolen or dropped I will not have a heart attack and die). But with the D810 and D850 the heavy mega pixel cameras I want sharpness, dam fine sharpness because I have paid for all those mega pixels. And the images with those cameras on the 28-70 and 70-200 are amazingly sharp. Which with a tack sharp lens I can crop the heck out of it or make a huge print. (Yes I like printing them out instead of just looking at them on a screen). Once again this is just me as to the weight..I am going to take the photo, I am going to these places to take photos. Key thing "to take photos", I am not going to 'look around and document my trip' or have a 'few snaps' to remember my trip. I plan when the sun will be at what point to get the best shot, I get up early to get to a point to see the sun rise a this point. Somewhat extreme but this to me is relaxing and fun and such a rush to get that one amazing shot.

Also to me if you want to go light why take a DSLR just use your phone or take a pocket camera.

Just my two cents.

I have been to all three islands many times and have taken the D810 with a similar set of lenses. I found I have used the 28-70 more than the other two, so it would be a keeper. I kept this lens on the camera with the others in my day pack. I found I rarely used the super wide opting for pan shots with the 28-70 and then stitched them together in Lightroom. The 70-200 came out for BIF’s and water falls across Wiamea Canyon. I did the helicopter tours both on Kauai and Hawaii with the 28-70 which worked ok, liked having some reach on the lens apposed to all wide angle, but on Hawaii which I had taken the 70-200 lava was flowing then and wanted more reach to get closer. All that being said I rarely used the super wide so I too would vote 28-70 and 70-200. Enjoy your trip and have a Bubba burger on Kauai for me.

Thanks!

I also have a question about shooting whales. Would anybody recommend a fixed focal length lens? I have the Nikon D850 and was thinking of using it with the Nikon 300mm PF with the 1.4 tele converter. Or should I drag the behemoth 200-500? i have a second body with a 70-200.

Here is one on a cloudy day with polarizer. D850 24-70 f2.8 @50mm ISO800. It will take awhile to download :) the file. The file has been reduced over 50% to upload. I love this camera but it has huge files.

(Download)

Yes. Definitely on sunny days helped to cut the glare off the water, on cloudy days was able to really bring out the mirror reflections in the water.

I returned from a cruise to Alaska about 2 months ago. If you just set it on auto and bang away the glacier will be blown out or to dark depending on the lighting. The glacier is white / blue and the surrounding landscape and sometimes even the water (depends on time of day cloud cover, etc. can be dark will cause the meter to read for the dark areas and then over expose the ice. Use the exposure compensation to under expose it. I bracketed most shots shooting at the meter setting then -7, -1,-1.5. In going back through all the photos the -7 and -1 worked the best on cloudy days. On sunny days reflections off the water the white glacier blue sky had the opposite effect. We also went early in the season, still a lot of snow on the mountains caused the auto setting with matrix metering to be too dark so had to add exposure so shot +7, +1 etc. So best advice is you will be there for 30 min to an hour so you do not have to rush and think you only have one shot to get it right. Try different settings on your camera. Have a large memory card and down load your files every day or take lots of memory cards. Like stated previously there is a ton of things to photograph than just glaciers. Thankfully it is not like the days of film in those days I would take 700-800 shots which was very expensive to develop, on this last trip I came back with 8,600 shots. 2,400 are good ones, 400 are great shots, 100 down right amazing that I took them. So only my close friends know I only took 2,400 shots, everybody else 100.

Any way happy sailing, you will have an amazing time. I know I did. But next year going some place cheaper; Hawaii. Yes I know how much Hawaii is have been going every other year since the 90’s, staying a month island hopping. Alaska trip cost as much as going to Hawaii, twice!

I just returned a week ago, we did a B2B cruise on the Coral (north from Vancouver, stayed on the ship and repeated the same route back south returning back to Vancouver). I did not do the rail portion because of the carry on size limitation and what I learned would be very very early mornings and long, long train bus rides with little down time. This was confirmed by the people joining the ship in Whittier. Some looked exhausted. So we opted to repeat the ports that way we would be able to see more in each port instead of picking one or two excursions. Also we wanted to take float plane tours witch can be canceled due to weather, by going twice to a port increased our chances.

Our room was a balcony on the port side up and back. The first time to GNP we were on our balcony only ( was pouring down rain) , second time up on deck (sunny). I liked being on our balcony better, with the rain was easy to run out get a few shots run back in, on deck had everyone doing the selfie thing which was after a few times got old real fast, this one twink I almost pitched overboard. Sorry I digress. It was also eiser to change lens and cameras.

As to what I took;Canon G7X markII, Go Pro, D850 with grip and battery, D810, D7200 bodies; lens; Nikon 24-70 f2.8, 70-200f2.8, 1.4tc, 200-500, 105 micro, 28-300, Dx lens 12-24, Tamron 15-30 f2.8. One tripod/monopod. Think Tank rain cover, used a lot! (This load would not meet the carryon luggage restriction for the bus/train, main reason for not doing the land this was a big issue for me)

What did I use? Did not use the tripod / monopod. (Will never pack one again) used everything else but used these lens used the most 24-70, 70-200 and 200-500 and the tele converter on the last two. The 200-500 98% of the shots where at 500. Out of 8900 shots those three had almost equal percentages of the shots. The 200-500 was used in GNP to get shots of beavers, seals, eagles most right in the water next to the ship on the floating ice. I did get some seals right as the ship entered GNP on some rocks along with the sheep. I researched each excursion and planed what camera or cameras and lens I was going to use that day. IE in Juneau the glacier and whale watch: D850; 24-70 glacier, 70-200 w teleconverter, whale watch. I has thinking about taking the 200-500 but we were on a small boat (12 people) and was afraid the movement of the boat would make the 500 useless ( sharp image and finding and staying on the target) plus small boat can get closer to whales.

What would I not take; tripod, 15-30 and 12-24, for super wide telephotos I just shot a series of shots to photo merge in Lightroom sharper detail. I would swap the 200-500 for a 300 PF with 1.7 tele converter just for the ease of transport, ie with out the 15-30 it will fit in that spot in my bag. The 200-500 has it own bag.

Hope this is of use. And have a fun trip, we really enjoyed it and pretty much looked out the door or on the balcony the whole trip. This is one where a balcony room is a must.

If you take the train in in Skagway left side up right side down sit in next to the wood stove the windows will not fog up, they do in the rest of the car. Also in planes / helicopters wear black and use black gloves to cut reflections out the windows.