European Cruise

[gerald_wallace]

<p>My wife and I, will be taking a 15 day (Viking) river cruise (6 countries) on the Rhine and Danube rivers in early July- our first European cruise. I'm not sure what photo equipment to take but I like to travel light - walking not carrying much photo equipment. My wife plans to take one Canon camera (7D mk 2) and two lenses (18-135mm) and 100-400mm mk 2.<br>

I'll be expected to carry a small back pack with (probably) my Canon 5D mk 3 with two lenses the 16-35mm and 24-105mm and a small tripod - I have other camera/lenses but don't want to carry the weight. (We are typically birders with long lenses).<br>

I welcome any comments or suggestions on equipment, clothing, etc. Thanks for your help.</p>

<p> </p>

[bob_flood1]

<p>I have good friends who have taken more than a dozen European river cruises, and their experience makes me think you will have the trip of a lifetime.</p>

<p>The river cruises stop in very good places to explore, and usually have some sort of included tours in some of those places, but there is an enormous amount of interesting scenic and historic landscape you'll only see from the boat. While a lot of people would ordinarily not take a 100-400 on such a vacation trip, I think you'll find it useful for shots from the boat - some of those castles are far enough from the river to require a decent lens. I also find the combination of cameras and lenses you described to be quite adequate. It's good to have 2 cameras along in case of a malfunction - you don't want to spend the trip of a lifetime taking no shots because the one and only camera you brought stopped working on day 2 of 15. Your stated lens choices give each of you good wide angle to modest telephoto capability and the 100-400 will provide added reach when circumstances warrant it.</p>

<p>A word about the tripod: river cruises may be different, but my experience on the big ocean-going cruise ships is that space enough to set up a tripod will be hard to come by while on board. When the boat is passing good scenery and the weather cooperates, everyone will be on deck, and the space a tripod uses can make you very unpopular in a hurry. Also, and maybe more important, to maintain positive control of the boat, the crew never shuts off the engines, which means there's a fine vibration 100% of the time, and the 3 legs of the tripod will transmit those vibrations from the deck into your camera. The alternative I used was to extend only one leg and use the tripod on board as a monopod. That way I took up no extra room, and by resting that one leg on the top of my foot, I insulated the monopod/camera from the vibrations. If you have a balcony in your room, you'll have space for the tripod without bothering other passengers, but with a view only on your side of the boat, and the vibration issue will still be a problem.</p>

<p>I strongly suggest taking a polarizing filter, too. You'll undoubtedly have lots of images that include the river, and the filter can help you cope with glare on the water. Many centuries-old buildings are decorated with colorful tile trim and mosaics, and a polarizer will help minimize reflected light and let the colors show through. I wouldn't try to take one to fit the 100-400, but one large enough to fit the largest diameter of the other lenses plus step up rings to adapt the filter to be useful on all the other lenses would minimize the gear to carry. If you do this, make sure you have a lens hood that will fit on the filter so you can use a hood on all lenses. I use a rubber hood that vignettes at wide angle (hard to find a screw-in lens hood that covers wider than 35 mm field of view on a film camera). I can fold the rubber back to get a wider view to a useful degree, but if I want to use the widest field of view, I can take the hood off, collapse it, and stash it temporarily in my pocket.</p>

[colin carron]

<p>The lens selection you have looks to me as though you pretty much have it covered. The 100-400 will come in handy for shots from the boat and for any wildlife you may spot on the way. Your shorter lenses will be most useful once ashore. The only additional lens I personally would take would be a wider angle for the 7D but that depends on your shooting preferences.<br>

The weather in July is the height of the european summer but you may get rainy days so be prepared to cover the possibilities. Have a great trip!</p>

[gerald_wallace]

<p>Gentlemen (Bob and Colin), thanks for your suggestions, I'm sure they will be very helpful.<br>

It looks like I will have to consider taking additional equipment. My purpose was to limit the amount of weight I have to carry around when ashore and I didn't consider shooting from the boat. Based on your comments I will probably take (in addition to what I mentioned) my Canon 7D mk 2 (in case of a problem with my 5D mk 3) and one or two additional lenses such as my 300mm/400mm/70-200mm - probably only one of the three mentioned. I'm not sure which lens would be the best for shooting from the boat but, my favorite is the 300mm?<br>

Bob: * I'll be taking a polarizing filter for each lens I use. *I'm sure my wife will be using her 100-400mm from the boat so will use the longest lens I decide to take (?). * I may take my mono pod (I've never used) for shots from the boat or use one leg of my wife's small tripod .<br>

Again, thank you both for your recommendations.<br>

</p>

<p> </p>

[david_henderson]

<p>Bear in mind that taking something on a trip doesn't mean you have to carry it with you every time you go to the rail or every time you're dropped at a town. I doubt whether you will need a wide angle from the boat, or depending on your photographic objectives and style a long telephoto may not see much use when on shore. I always take a spare body on every trip but it lives in my suitcase and never sees light of day never mind carrying it. <br>

For me, a 70-200 zoom would do. Quite a lot of photographs taken from boats are samey- strip of water along the bottom and not much variety in basic shape. So worth a lens, not two, and a lot of restraint. IMO you could take two bodies and three lenses without ever intending to carry more than one body and two lenses at the same time once you first board the boat.</p>

[Rick Waller]

<p>I just returned from a Rhine River cruise last week and I carried the equivalent of 24 to 300mm in 3 separate zooms. You might want to look at this thread where I posted some comments that are relevant to your question. </p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/travel-photography-forum/00dJPP?start=10<br>

Dave Henderson and I differ on our views (in both this thread and the other one) about the "ideal" lens for such a trip. He favors longer glass while my preference is wide to mid range. He doesn't favor his wide lenses shooting from the ship. I shot a lot of images using wide lenses since I like to occasionally include parts of the ship in scenic shots for scale. Obviously there is no right answer - it really depends on your style so read everyone's comments and decide what is best for your needs. Only thing I can tell you with any degree of certainty is that carrying a lot a equipment on day long walks at ports can interfere with your comfort. When I was younger, I carried way more gear than I now do. Physical limitations (just getting too old to haul everything just in case) has necessitated careful packing. One thing I do recommend is taking a flash with you. The nature of tours is that you will often be at locations at time of poor light (think noon) and having a flash for fill if shooting people is gimme.</p>

<p>By the way - while I am an experienced traveler and have done many cruises, this was my first river cruise and I enjoyed it a lot. </p>

[david_henderson]

<p>Eric. Either I'm miscommunicating or you're not getting what I'm saying. For nearly all my trips a big majority of my shots are taken with a 24-105 zoom on a FF Canon. I'm not trying to persuade anyone that they should take a long zoom instead of a wide-mid tele zoom like the 24-105L The issues I'm really trying to address are</p>

 

<ul>

<li>Does one need a longer lens? For me the answer is yes, in this case for on the boat, but in general on my trips a 70-200f4 sees decent use to the point I'd miss it if it wasn't there. I take more shots, pretty much always, with a tele zoom than with an ultra wide zoom.</li>

</ul>

 

<ul>

<li>There seems to be a mantra that for use while travelling a wide lens (by which I mean something wider than a 24mm with FF) is really important and indeed that its the only thing that's really important. Possibly because I see a lot of not so good shots with very wide lenses, and partly because I don't use the 17-40L that I carry all the time very much at all, I don't agree with that mantra.</li>

</ul>

 

<ul>

<li>Its possible to take equipment with you without carrying all of it all the time. The nature of my trips means that there's usually somewhere ( a car, a hotel, very rarely a boat) I can leave something I want to have on the trip, but don't expect to use much before I get another chance to collect it. </li>

</ul>

<p>Returning to the specifics of this thread, I recognise that the OP's "off ship" package is the wide to mild tele 24-105 and a wide zoom. I understand that he doesn't want to be weighed down. But I do think that a lot of people in his position would make good use of a 24-105 and a 70-200 to photograph from on board; as opposed to a 16-35 and a 24-105. But there again it depends what you want to take- I would not expect to take photographs including both boat and shore- you would. My post was an attempt on the one hand to get the OP to think about photographing from the boat-which he hadn't mentioned. And to consider that the equipment for photographing from the boat could well be different from the "shore" package without loading him down in either situation.</p>

<p>Cheers</p>

 

[gerald_wallace]

<p>David. I plan to take my 300mm lens to take pictures from the boat/ship (only) while under way - sights along the river.<br>

Thanks to you all for your recommendations.</p>

[phillips]

<p>My wife and I took a Danube River cruise in 2013 and I think that the two lenses you mentioned would cover almost all of the scenes that I was interested in off of the ship. My only thought was the possibility of adding a fast, wide lens, such as the Sigma 24 mm f/1.4. On occasions we were in areas that didn't allow flash or tripods. I really used my lightweight Gitzo tripod for twilight and evening shots. I did encounter a few occasions of scenes along the riverbank where a telephoto of 200 mm would have been nice, and for use on the ship that might be useful. Eric Waller's comment on not letting the weight of the equipment becoming a detracting influence on your enjoyment of the trip is something I can relate to.</p>

[gerald_wallace]

<p>I should have listened when I asked which lenses to take on the subject trip. My wife and I, are back from our 15 day European trip by ship along the Danube and Rhine rivers - Germany and five other countries. On the subject of which lens to take: my 300mm and my wife's 100-400mm stayed in our rooms safe the entire trip while aboard ship. She used her 18-135mm lens and I used my 24-105mm lens the entire trip. I carried (in a backpack) my new (heavy) Tamron 15-30mm lens but don't ever remember taking it out of the backpack. Again, I should have listened. Next time I'll take my 70-200mm as was recommended.</p>

[Rick Waller]

<p>"On the subject of which lens to take: my 300mm and my wife's 100-400mm stayed in our rooms safe the entire trip while aboard ship. "</p>

<p>You were able to fit a 100-400 and a 300mm lens into your stateroom safe? You must have had some room on that ship. :)</p>