Alaska Cruise

[glogower]

My Brother is getting set to depart on a 10 day Alaskan Cruise. He has a D70.

Can you folks make a few recomendations on what lenses he should consider

gettingor this trip? Thanks for the help.

[photo5]

Bring a Nikon 12-24mm for shots on the boat, and a Nikon 80-200mm 2.8 VR for shots

off the boat.

 

Pretty simple.

 

Dave

[Jerry_]

"Nikon 80-200mm 2.8 VR" is a unknown lens, maybe the AF 70-200mm VR f2.8D Nikkor lens?

 

 

 

The lens to take depends on what your brother like to shoot.

 

 

If a lightweight, one lens idea is what you want, see if you can locate a AF 28-200mm XR Tamron lens. And maybe a 62mm circular polarizer filter.

 

 

 

For a more varied lens kit, the aforementioned AF 24-120mm VR Nikkor is good. Add in a AF 60mm f2.8D Micro-Nikkor, and a zoom lens of your choice (the AF 70-210mm f4D~f5.6D Nikkor could be good...) and a couple of circular polarizer filters (72mm and 62mm.)

 

 

 

A monopod or a tripod can't hurt either (but look at lightweight, travel monopods and tripods.)

[tristanlaing]

I will recommend, if he wants to take photos of things off the boat from the boat, get

 

(cheap): 70-300G (150$)

(expensive): 200-400 VR ($$$$)

 

Some will recommend the 80-200 or 70-200 F2.8 constant zooms, but with the D70 you

can always rack up the iso so youll be running out of autofocus due to low light likely

before you run out of aperture. Bring a monopod so you can handhold below the 1/focal

length rule, and if your pushing the shutter speed take a series of 3-5 shots and pick the

sharpest one after.

 

If you want a wide lens, get the tokina 12-24 (like 18-35 on film). Tests show its almost

exactly the same as the nikkor version, and its half the price.

 

If you want a portrait lens, get the 100$ 50mm F1.8. Also, you can shoot landcapes in the

dark with that thing its so fast.

 

Just the 70-300G and 50 1.8 would give you lots of great oppertunities for shots, and your

looking at a total of 250$.

[dave wyman]

If it were me, I'd choose the 18-200mm lens (from Nikon, for the VR). That would be more than enough for me. Icing on the cake: a #4 plus lens for macro subjects.

 

I'd also have a back-up camera. Ideally it would be another DSLR, but at the least a nice point and shoot.

 

If I didn't think my wife would mind me hauling along extra camera gear (she didn't on our cruise to Alaska last year), I'd bring a Tokina, Sigma or Nikon super-wide.<div></div>

[kens]

For me vacation travel with my wife is a snapshot event. That is, knowing what type of

shots I'll take, subject matter, not much time to carefully explore a subject, what I'll do

with the end result - flexible and lightweight lenses are more valuable to me. A weeklong

solitary exploration of a national park is a different kind of trip with different objectives

and calls for the heavier performance lenses.

 

So for this type vacation I take a 2-lens set. Either 1) the 12-24 and 24-120 VR, or 2) the

18-70 and 70-300 ED. The former wider set is for trips where I'm touring the country

side, towns, cities, where there is high demand for cramped composition. The latter longer

set is for trips like cruises where there is more demand for distance.

 

My Alaska cruise was definitely a vacation trip of the second type, where light weight,

compact lenses of longer length were best suited. Taking the cruise again I would take just

the 18-70 and 70-300 ED (wish it was a VR) with a monopod.

[ky2]

Im not much an 18-200 believer, but if I were to go on a cruise, and intend to enjoy it without too much luggage or worries, I'd go for that specific lens. Otherwise, I'd be packing my primes: 24, 50, 105, 180 and the 1.4 TC.

 

Unless he intends shooting from a Kayak, I'd leave the super wide angles at home.

[tri-x1]

Just got back from a 7-day Alaska cruise but with an F4 and FM. I used a 24mm more than any other lens --especially in small towns where buildings are packed together on narrow streets. Had a 20 mm along but didn't use it much. Shot quit a bit with a 35 - 135 and a lot--especially from the ship, with an 80-200mm f2.8. It's good to have teles with a little speed as if it is overcast, the waters and mountains soak up a lot of the light. But you definately want a lens with a wide angle of view. We had a fabulous time. Hardest thing was to stop eating long enough to shoot.<div></div>

[mark_chappell]

On a SE Alaska cruise, I found a 17-40 and a 100-400 were my most-used lenses. I had a

28-70 with me but didn't use it much. This was for shooting scenics; I agree that a 12-24

could be very useful for on-the-boat images.

[nick_r]

I am in a similar boat, wondering about long lenses for Alaska. I am going on an Alaska cruise in July. I have a D70 with Sigma 10-20mm, various primes, the 18-70mm and the 70-210 F4 AF blast from the past which seems to work fine. I don't really shoot telephoto much at all; the 10-20mm lens is quickly becoming my most used lens since I bought it.

 

Anyway, if you were me, what would you do? VR would seem to be very useful, and I do have a monopod I can bring with me. I can rent a 80-400 VR Nikon out of Adorama for $210+, I could probably buy one and sell it when I get back, or do the same with the 80-400mm OS Sigma as I have better things to spend $1000 on. I could get a cheaper 400mm zoom without VR, KEH seems to have some for a few hundred dollars.

 

Or I could go with the 210mm focal length- am I going to dislike myself when I am out there and wishing for a longer lens?

 

Thanks,

Nick

[mark_chappell]

<I>I am in a similar boat, wondering about long lenses for Alaska.</i><P>

 

Nick: do you have plans for some wildlife shooting on your cruise? A trip to Denali, or

maybe some of the bird and seal rookeries in Prince William Sound or the Kenai Peninsula? If

so, you'll really want a 400mm lens (or more). Even for scenery, I often find myself using the

longer 'half' of my 100-400's zoom range.