911Boss, thanks for the input and great pictures.

I'm using a Nikon D850 which is a full frame and uses a F lens mount.

Our cruise stops in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. In Skagway we are doing the White Pass Railroad and in Juneau we are going out to the Mendenhall Glacier. One of the questions I have is will my 24-120mm be enough for the White Pass Railroad or will I want to take a long lens. We don’t have any specific wildlife tours planned.

Going to the National park or up on the glacier itself? Either way, 24-120 should be good. May want to do a pano if you really want to get the wide view like I did.

Will you be going into Glacier Bay? If not doing any wildlife excursions, that is where you are going to see the critters and where a big lens will come in handy.


I had my 16-300mm on a crop body for the railroad but also used my iPhone on the train. Your 24-120 should be fine for that. Not much long range views or wildlife from the train.

My suggestion, sit at very front or very rear of a car. There will be a point where they let you go out on the platforms between cars. Much better chance for good shots instead of shooting through the less than clean windows.

Once they give the ok, folks settle in and stay there. Really only enough room for about 3 people to get a good spot even though there was 5-6 on my platform.

Also grab a seat on the left hand side. They will tell you it doesn’t matter, train turns around and both sides get the same view but most the views going up are to the left and not much to look at from the right until you head back down.

34mm on APS-C (55mm equivalent)

We actually looked at it closer yesterday and book the combo glacier and whale watching boat trip.

I expect the boar will get us closer and my 24-120 will be fine.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
We actually looked at it closer yesterday and book the combo glacier and whale watching boat trip.

I expect the boar will get us closer and my 24-120 will be fine.

Mmm, maybe not…


With a full frame I’d recommend at least 300mm. When we were closer to whales with my 45mp FF body, I was pretty much above 200mm at all times. Even shots at 300mm I ended up cropping in on in post. The whale tail with boat I posted on pg 2 in this thread was 300mm on FF and about 50% crop.

Looks like your body has a similar pixel count so you have some room to crop, but even though I had my 24-105mm it stayed in the bag on the whale watching boat.


Most of my whale shots we were from farther away and I was using my crop body. The whale tails I posted in the other thread were between 200-500mm on a crop body, and also cropped in on post.

Can’t count on the boat getting you super close because of the rules, if you’re lucky while the boat is sitting the whale may come closer.

I’d be worried at 120mm you just don’t get enough pixels on the whale for a good shot.

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
We actually looked at it closer yesterday and book the combo glacier and whale watching boat trip.

I expect the boar will get us closer and my 24-120 will be fine.

Mmm, maybe not…


With a full frame I’d recommend at least 300mm. When we were closer to whales with my 45mp FF body, I was pretty much above 200mm at all times. Even shots at 300mm I ended up cropping in on in post. The whale tail with boat I posted on pg 2 in this thread was 300mm on FF and about 50% crop.

Looks like your body has a similar pixel count so you have some room to crop, but even though I had my 24-105mm it stayed in the bag on the whale watching boat.


Most of my whale shots we were from farther away and I was using my crop body. The whale tails I posted in the other thread were between 200-500mm on a crop body, and also cropped in on post.

Can’t count on the boat getting you super close because of the rules, if you’re lucky while the boat is sitting the whale may come closer.

I’d be worried at 120mm you just don’t get enough pixels on the whale for a good shot.

Thanks, really good information. I'll havebto consider portability as well.
I keep my camera in a Stone soft bag and just carry it in my backpack vs carring a dedicated camera bag. It sounds like I'll want to carry both lenses and change out when we leave the glacier and board the whale watching boat.

I don’t know about Nikon, but Canon has a reasonably compact 100-400mm lens that doesn’t break the bank. F/8 at 400mm, but daytime and on the water that isn’t an issue.

Admittedly, my 200-800mm is H U G E and there aren’t a lot of backpacks the will fit it mounted on the camera. I found This one and it will hold the big lens mounted as well as room for a second body and 1-2 smaller lenses (or other stuff) as well. Great padded shoulder straps, waist belt all without being huge.

I'm leaning towards the AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR. It is affordable and I'm tossed up about buying it vs trying to rent one for the trip.
I'm taking Amtrak's California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco in January and it might be worth having it around. I was surprised to see there wasn’t much difference in price between new and used.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
I'm leaning towards the AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR. It is affordable and I'm tossed up about buying it vs trying to rent one for the trip.
I'm taking Amtrak's California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco in January and it might be worth having it around. I was surprised to see there wasn’t much difference in price between new and used.

Not sure where you get your gear or what constitutes a good price on Nikon, but BHPhoto currently has that lens for under $1200…

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c...00_500mm_f_5_6e.html

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
I'm leaning towards the AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR. It is affordable and I'm tossed up about buying it vs trying to rent one for the trip.
I'm taking Amtrak's California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco in January and it might be worth having it around. I was surprised to see there wasn’t much difference in price between new and used.

Not sure where you get your gear or what constitutes a good price on Nikon, but BHPhoto currently has that lens for under $1200…

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c...00_500mm_f_5_6e.html

Not really a good price but…. $1,100 - $1,200 seems to be the going rate across B&H, KEH, And Amazon.
We don’t have any dedicated camera stores in Jax anymore but there is a camera guy that has a pretty good booth at the flea market, open on Saturday and Sunday. I'm going to stop in this Saturday and see if he has one and the price. If it is close, I buy there just to support local.