Lens suggestions for Alaska wildlife

Hello everyone,

I will be going to Alaska for about three weeks this summer, traveling through the inside passage all the way to anchorage, to katmai

national park, to Denali for a few days, and then up to Fairbanks. Right now I have a canon Eos 60D with an ef-s 18-200 is lens. Does

anyone have any suggestions for good wildlife photography and or landscape lenses? I have been thinking about the ef 100-400mm is

usm. I will probably ( hopefully) be photographing bear, whale, dall sheep, birds, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions for other gear I

should look at? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

<p>The 100-400 is probably an excellent choice. In Denali (for example) they <em>can</em> get pretty close (heck, anywhere they can get pretty close), but I wouldn't count on it, and your 18-200 just isn't going to cut it for stuff halfway across a valley. </p>

<p>For landscapes though, a good tripod is more important than a good lens, and your 18-200 should be able to cut it just fine. Anything that goes significantly wider isn't going to be much help for anything other than that (for example a 10-20/22/24), and unless you are planning on doing exploring <em>inside</em> stuff , you probably won't have a huge need for much wider than the FOV your 18mm wide end will give you.</p>

<p>I agree with Marcus' advice about a tripod. You might consider an extender (1.4X or 2X) for your 18-200; although I don't have that lens so have no idea whether that would impact AF, and it would definitely impact available light but it would extend for the few times you really need that length.</p>

<p>The 100-400 is venerable and proven solution. I've rented one a few times and always get good results. Just be aware that's it going to be a little heavy to lug around, and you may only use it a few times.</p>

I would check for compatibility before

getting an extender.

<p>Sarah,</p>

<p>Why not just rent the 100-400 for a month at a fraction of the cost of purchasing it. Possibly buy a good Tripod and Head if you don't already have one.<br />And, I expect one could also rent a Canon 1.4X Teleconverter too!</p>

<p>I would check at here <a href="http://www.lensrentals.com/">http://www.lensrentals.com/</a> and see what they have available for the dates you would need the lens. From what I understand, they have a pretty good system for getting and returning rentals to about anywhere!<br />Might be a better solution than a $2,000.00 outlay for purchasing the 100-400 & TC! And, besides, although I love my 100-400, you may find that you don't like it at all!</p>

<p>I lived in Fairbanks for 3 years back in the middle 70's. I hope you enjoy you trip. You are in for some beautiful country.<br>

My longest lens then was 135mm got some nice shots of moose bear etc..usually from my backyard. <br>

Tripod would be my top priority then I would look into renting a lens and TC If I wanted that length. Tho personally I would just look into a 1.4 or 2x TC for my long lens, and get comfortable with it prior to the trip</p>

<p>Tripod - definitely a good idea, but ...</p>

<p>You probably won't have many times on board ship when you'll want to use a tripod, but you won't really be able to - when the ship approaches something like Glacier Bay, College Fjord, etc, everyone on board will be out on deck on the same side of the boat - you won't find room to set up a tripod. So collapse the legs and use it like a monopod. Just don't put it down on the deck - rest the end on the top of your foot. The ship's engines will be running all the time and the vibrations may not be intrusive to you, but will show up in your photos. Resting the monopod on your foot isolates the camera from the vibrations.</p>

<p>The 100-400 is probably the best deal you will find. You come back from Alaska wishing you had a longer lens, but anything longer or better optically will set you back a cost equal to the price of a decent used car.</p>

<p>Whatever you get for a longer lens, get it soon and practice with it. Handling a longer lens is a separate skill; don't try to learn a new lens while on the trip of a lifetime.</p>

<p>Anything else category: get a good water-proof or water-resistant jacket that's too big for you. The longer sleeves allow you to keep your hands inside the sleeves when it's cold so you don't have to wear gloves. The hood will be larger enough to provide excellent shelter from the rain, and the jacket will allow you to enclose the camera inside the jacket in the rain. Very helpful in the rainy coastal climate.</p>

<p>At Denali, take the Kantishna shuttle - it goes from the Visitor Center at the park entrance all the way to the end of the line and back. It stops every time someone on board sees an animal. If you have a choice, take the shuttle on a cool, cloudy or rainy day. Lousy for scenery but best for wildlife sightings. The animals in Denali are geared to survive Denali winters and don't much care to warm sunny days - they are more active under cool conditions.</p>

<p>If you plan to take one of the day cruises on Prince William Sound or to the Kenai Fjords National Park, try to book on a catamaran (dual hull) type of boat. Single hull boats trend to be rocked more by waves, and the tour boats stand in pretty close to islands where waves hitting the rocks are reflected back immediately, causing a lot of motion in the boat. Dual hull boat designs dampen a lot of the motion since the waves hit the two hulls at different times. </p>

<p>I did the same trip in 2010. I took a 300mm f 4.0 amd a 1.4x tc, a monopod and a tripod, two camera bodies, both with a 1.5x sensor, (nikon d 300's) . I also had a 70-200mm f 2.8 and a 16-85mm zoom.<br>

I wish I had taken my 500mm f 4.0 as my 300mm f 4.0 with the tc was not enough focal length in Denali for the sheep and the bears. I used the monopod with great success inside the bus on the all day Denali trip. I used my 300mm f 4.0 with the tc mounted all day long. ( I second the recommendation for dull weather. It improves your chances for wildlife shots. And the colors are richer.)<br>

For the inside passage trip, take the smallest boat you can find. Smaller means you get closer and you will be lower which is better most of the time. You are inside so almost all of the trip is in calm waters. I used my tripod and monopod a lot on the boat. Smaller boats may turn off the engines to eliminate deck vibration. Just be prepared to use higher shutter speeds for wind control, vibration, etc. For my wide angle shots from the boat, I hand held most of the shots. A great accessory for a monopod is a wide round rubber foot to replace the rubber knob foot. It helps to absorb and dampen the vibrations. A good polarizer might be needed to reduce glare from foilage and water.<br>

Definitely be prepared for using your camera and lenses in harsh weather conditions. Buy quality storm covers; the "shower caps" will not work in Alaska conditions. <br>

Just make sure one of your camera bodies has a mag factor sensor. Renting lenses is a good option unless you have a permanent need for the longer lens. I would not take this trip with just one body. Too risky. And in many cases you will be shooting multiple focal lengths at the same time with no time to change lenses.<br>

Joe Smith</p>

<p>Joe</p>

<p>I run photo tours through Alaska, from Kaktovik to Denali and down south to Lake Clark. I'm just not one of those "pack light" types. Even with a new cobalt-chromium hip (that still gets pretty sore), I still take everything to Alaska.</p>

<p>For the Polar Bear shoot, we use small boats to get in close. The Canon 100-400mm L IS is a *great* lens for that, and the one I use most often. Though having the 16-35mm L available for a nice sunset shot of the Eskimo village where we go is well worth it. For more distant Polar Bears, I bring my 600mm f4 L IS. </p>

<p>You can see where this is going...</p>

<p>For some of the "down south" (it's hard to call any part of Alaska "south" with a straight face), the 14mm L does some fantastic landscape work. But I nailed two of my favorites with the 100-400mm.</p>

<p>For Denali, I shoot the 100-400mm on the 5D MkII and the 600mm on either my 7D or a 1D MkIV borrowed from Canon Professional Services. Sometimes the wildlife is just too close for the big glass - but sometimes it's far enough away that a 500mm or 600mm is the only real solution.</p>

<p>You might consider renting a second body - both because you'll have two different lenses available very quickly and also to back you up in case one body fails. How awful would it be to have your one and only camera body fail on your Alaska trip?!?</p>

<p>If you want a good general purpose lens, consider renting the 28-300mm L IS. It's heavy, but *very* versatile. I've done some decent bird-in-flight work with it, and at 28mm it should be good for a lot of scenics.</p>

<p>Another lens to consider is the Sigma 150-500. It's selling at around $1060 and you might be able to rent it. It's a little dark at f6.3 (at 500mm), but with high ISO performance getting better by the day, it's a pretty reasonable alternative.</p>

<p>Finally, you didn't mention it, but be sure you have a robust backup solution. I had a booth at a camera club convention recently where a woman told me a story that almost made me cry. *All* of her images were on her laptop's internal drive - with no backup. It died in such a way that even a data recovery service couldn't rescue her library. She lost EVERYTHING from her Alaska images to birthday parties.</p>

<p>Enjoy your trip!<br>

Charlie MacPherson</p>