Lens for whale photos from a cruise ship.

[andytaro]

Hi,
I will be on a MR cruise starting 2/19 and was wondering if I can see whales from my veranda. Do you think 70-200mm+1.4 ext too short for whale photo from my own room on the deck 8?

I have a APS-H Canon body which has 1.3x crop factor, but if it is too short to take decent whale photos, I am not taking 70-200 because it gets heavy and don't think I'll be shooting with that lens on the cruise ship. I don't think I am going to the whale photo safari excursion because I live in Seattle and can take a similar tour in Seattle area if I really want to encounter whales.

This is my first cruise so I don't know what to expect, thus I am looking for your inputs or sample photos of whales/dolphins from your room.

 

[jcb]

I don't know beans about MR cruises and whale watching on one but I can post a photo taken from Deck 11 on a cruise ship in Alaska.

This was taken using a 70-300mm zoom lens (D200 at 300mm) without any extender. It is not retouched or cropped so you can see the scale of the lens.

The lens and deck location isn't so much of the issue as the fact that you won't be that close to the whales in any cruise ship. Of course a much longer lens won't hurt but most photos of whales taken from a cruise ship will be of whales pretty far away from the ship.

Same lens, much smaller boat (in New England) (shot at 105mm on my D200, still no cropping).

I'd still take the lens. You never know. But if you want to see whales up close, I'd recommend an excursion.

 

[andytaro]

Thanks Jack for sharing your experience and sample pics. I love the second pic, and this is a great capture.
Based on your photos, I'll need more reach to get decent photo of whales. That said, I won't bother taking my 70-200 with me, and this will save my shoulders and back from carrying unnecessary weights.

 

[alloyd1170]

Where are you going on your cruise? What f/ is it? If it were me, I'd take the lens, especially if it's the f/2.8. You never know! I've got the 100-400 and that is a beast, but I always take it as I use it a lot. I left it home one time and regretted it after we saw the Obamas swimming in the bay in Panama City (we were on our boat). Any reach you can get in my book is a good enough reason to haul it.

 

[andytaro]

I am going to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta on MR cruise and visit DL before I get on the Wonder. The lens is 2.8f ,and this sucker is very heavy to carry around all day long.

I am taking 16-35mm, 24-105mm, and 35mm1.4 but was not sure 200mm+1.4ext is going to be long enough for shooting dolphins or whales from the ship.

 

[alloyd1170]

If I had that lens (top of my list), I'd take it. You don't have to haul it all the time. You never know when a whale may come close to the ship. I've been on a small ship and have dolphins right outside our cabin, or riding the bow wave at the front of the ship (if you're lucky, you can get up there and get some shots).

 

[disneyboy2003]

If you're going on a whale-watching excursion and you're shooting with a Canon dSLR, I'd recommend the Canon 100-400 mm lens. I know that you are ready have the Canon 70-200 mm lens, but I believe that the 100-400 mm lens is much more versatile and provides you with a lot more "reach" for a whale-watching excursion, and especially on an Alaskan cruise, where all the beautiful scenery, glaciers, etc. are all far far away.

The focal length range of 100-400 mm allows you to take pictures of any whales that are close to your ship/boat and gives you the flexibility to zoom out to 400 mm for the far-away whales and spouts.

You can probably look into renting this lens for your cruise. There are plenty of reputable websites that rent camera lenses for decent prices. They are also usually pretty fast at getting the lens to you.

 

[andytaro]

So I decided not to take my 70-200 because when I was packing my gear my wife gave me the look.
But I sneaked in my E-PL3 instead which it became very handy after my wife's Sony p&s crapped out during Disneyland visit yesterday. I am heading out to the port for MR. Ruise now knowing a redundancy is always good idea.

Here is my post-mortem:
Dont pack my gear while my wife is around
Always bring backup camera


Just my 2 cents

 

[andytaro]

So I decided not to take my 70-200 because when I was packing my gear my wife gave me the look.
But I sneaked in my E-PL3 instead which it became very handy after my wife's Sony p&s crapped out during Disneyland visit yesterday. I am heading out to the port for MR. Ruise now knowing a redundancy is always good idea.

Here is my post-mortem:
Dont pack my gear while my wife is around
Always bring backup camera


Just my 2 cents

 

[alloyd1170]

Ha ha! I'm a wife (and photographer) but my hubby doesn't give me much grief about my gear (ok maybe all the bags I have as the perfect bag has yet to be found)! I get a lot of grief when I spend days editing photos for soccer, but don't get paid a dime to do it as it's volunteer work required by the club. Now if I made him carry my camera gear, that would be a different story. No one touches my gear, so he's off the hook.