KYBOB

I second this I never change lens on an excursion or for that matter once I am out side my cabin. I will take the lens that I think I will need; typically 24-70/f2.8 on one body and either the 70-200 or 100-400 on the other. For the whale watch I will probably take the 70-200 on the slower frame per second camera and then on the fast on put the 100-400 with more than likely the 1.4x teleconverter and what softness I loose regain with Topaz AI Sharpen. I would rather have the 200-600 but that lens now with the arm not going to be a choice. I just hope I can even do the 100-400.

Thank you so much for this information!! It is much appreciated!

Yes thank you for the information and photo. Since the question was raised how was the luggage handled? Were the planes regular commercial flights or charter? Just trying to figure out how to pack.

Well fate has decided for me! With 120 days until the first leg of the AAA tour I am calling it. (Alaska, Australia and last Africa. I fell last Tuesday and broke my left elbow, like snapped it in two. I go Monday for surgery to have a plate installed to reconnect it. So I have 4 months to be able to hold a camera so…looks like the 100-400 will be the one to go this trip. Even it may get sidelined for the 70-200 f2.8 Sonys new version ii is super light and the lightest 70-200 I have ever used. I still have a Nikon Z7ii and a Z24-200 lens that would be super light if I am not back up to strength by then.

I agree a mono pod would useless on both excursions. The best bet is practice hand holding shooting manual, setting the shutter speed and f stop the setting you ISO to auto ISO. This will allow you to control the camera stopping motion ( boat and the whale ) and what is focus. The camera will then adjust the iso to the correct exposure by adjusting the ISO. below is my favorite shot of a whale from a small boat 6-15 people which allows you closer shots to the water where you can blur out the back ground slightly to make the whale in sharper focus. This shot was with a 70-200 f2.8 w1.4 teleconverter. 1/2000 sec, f8, iso 800, 280mm. The others are out the window of the train, used circular polarizer and lens hood. Shutter speed was from 1/2000 to 1/2500 sec. 24-70/2.8. I was sitting right behind the stove / heater in the car.

I maybe asking a dumb question here but what or who is PVP? On the itinerary it says "scheduled jet service" which to me means a regularly scheduled commercial flight. AIR: SYDNEY TO AYERS ROCK Flight: Sydney to Ayers Rock This flight is scheduled jet service. You will be required to claim your luggage upon arrival in Ayers Rock. Your tour director will give you further details of the flight.

Thanks for the info! I have heard about the gnats we have head nets that we have used in Alaska for mosquitos and gnats there but have been warned that at Uluru it is a whole other level. Thanks for the info about the Lycra suit, wonder if they have one for a 300lb 6'-4" man? Otherwise what is there to do / see without getting in the water?

Will do, I am going to try to write a detailed description of all that happens. As to our current planning we have already booked our airfare, good thing too for several reasons. The flights I wanted were not to bounce around the US before we head to Sydney. So we only have one stop Lexington to Dallas, then Dallas (Qantas) to Sydney (15 hours 45 min) also there were only 4 seats left and only 2 together, that was 330 days out! I want the Dallas - Sydney Qantas flight in that currently they are using a Boeing 787-9, never been on one of those so it too would be exciting. But before COVID Qantas was using a A380 the big double decker plane, which was moth balled in Arizona during the COVID shut down. It is rumored Qantas is working on bringing those planes back in service and the Dallas to Sydney route will be one of the first routes to get one back. I also like planes as well as cruise ships.

There is another airline called Jetstar that has the same roll on bag size limit of 22 x 14 x 9 and allows a ’small item’; such as a hand bag or thin laptop bag that must fit under the seat the total combined weigh for both bags is the 7kg (15 lbs) weight limit. But you can of course buy more weight up to 14kg (30 lbs).

Thanks for all the info! Here is what I found on the Qantas/WestJet website for Australia Domestic luggage carry on sizes. Looks like you are limited to one carry on that is 22" x 14" x 9" including wheels and handels, and must weigh 10kgs. (22 lbs). Or (2) that are 18" x 13" x 9". total weight is then 14kgs.

How was the weather? I have read that January is the start of rainy season?

Practice and practice is the best before you go on a trip just to get it down where the controls are and how the camera functions with different metering and focusing options. I do a lot just from my front porch and some bird feeders. Better to do that than get on a trip and miss chances for some great memories to bring back home. Post some of your shots from this weekend.

We too are taking an Australia cruise tour from Princess so can help out some with an itinerary of one of the tours. I too would love to hear from others who have taken one. Our ship will be the Royal, I picked this one because we have sailed on her before and liked the itinerary also it was leaving out of Sydney. Our cruise tour booked through Princess as the Ultimate Australia tour is as follows; Leave Lexington, KY Dec 25 arrive Sydney Dec 27; 6:55am overnight Sydney Board Royal Princess Dec 28 Dec 29 - 30 at sea (figured this would help with jet lag) Dec 31 Fiordland National Park Jan 1 Dunedin Jan 2 Christchurch Jan 3 Wellington Jan 4 at sea Jan 5 Tauranga Jan 6 Auckland Jan 7 Bay of Islands Jan 8 & 9 at sea ‘do laundry on one of them’ Jan 10 Sydney start ‘Cruisetour’ part fly to Uluru Jan 11 Darwin leave Uluru fly to Darwin Jan 12 Darwin Jan 13 Cairns leave Darwin fly to Cairns Jan 14 Cairns - Great Barrier Reef Jan 15 Sydney leave Darwin fly to Sydney Jan 16 Sydney Jan 17 Sydney end of tour Jan 17- 21 Sydney on our own Jan 21 fly home For us we can find information about Alaska and Machu Picchu land tours by Princess and we know people who have taken Alaska land tours but nothing about any one taking an Australia ‘land tour’ through Princess. I guess for me my questions are how many were on the land tour part? I am assuming getting off the ship would be like a shore excursion and we would meet someplace ( On the ship or off?) from the sound of it we are flying commercial flights having to collect our luggage from baggage claim ourselves each time is how it reads then taken to a hotel. I am assuming the guide stays with us? Then at each stop there are tours in each place already scheduled. As to the luggage the info provided so far kind of reads like an Alaska land tour ie one bag for cruise, one for land and a carry on cannot be bigger than 17 x 14 x 4 so kind of curious about how the luggage works in that we normally fly with a roll on that is the ‘international’ size for a carry on 21 x 14 x 9 my wife will also have her back pack and I will have a camera bag and we will ‘ check 3 bags when on a cruise / trip this long one of the 3 checked bags will have all our ‘formal wear’. So the way it reads is for the land part we get one bag and one carry on that is 17 x 14 x 4 so that will be my wife’s back pack and my camera bag so do we eliminate the roll on bags and go with 4 checked bags - one for ‘the ship’ and one for land?

Practicing with more birds taken tonight with Sony A1 and my new toy a Sony 600mm/f4, Shutter 2500, f4, ISO 2000 (hand held) And to get the BIF's was 30fps. A little sharpness has been lost uploading to CC. Yes bird photography is an addiction and the need for speed is a must. (fast glass, unlimited buffer, fast cards, fast focusing, high rates of frames per second) Bird photography has advanced so much in the past couple of years.

Below are some examples where spot focusing is needed. the first three where taken hand held with a 200-600mm lens, Shutter speed 2000, F 6.3, Auto ISO (range was 500 to 2000) the 4th one of the dove with green moss on his shoulder was with the 100-400. The last one is with the 100-400 w/ 1.4 teleconverter. Pierces will be interested in that these we all taken with the A7RV. Most are 100% crops. It is just an amazing camera.

Yes, we live in south Woodford County close to the river. Near Troy and Nonesuch.

OK birds are my thing, I am not a Canon shooter so have know idea as to how yours works or compares to Nikon or Sony the ones I am familiar with. But for birds you will need the 1.4 on the 100-400 and if your camera will allow a button to be programed for crop mode even better. Now for getting the sharpness set the camera to manual set your shutter speed to at least 1250 or higher if you want to get a bird in flight (BIF) in focus 2000, aperture to as wide as you can get it then set your ISO (not to be confused with image stabilization) to Auto ISO. Most cameras you can cap the highest the ISO will go so 6400 is doable. You may need to run it through Topaz Noise reduction, which works great with new cameras. You want to turn on Stabilization to the highest setting (Sony lens and Nikon have 2 or 3 settings on the lens (3 for a Sony). If you use a mono pod you really need a gimbal head on it to shoot birds a fixed one will work for a situation where the bird is just sitting there Eagle eating lunch, etc. or just looking around. But when the action happens need to move quickly to track them. Also you want continuous Auto Focus and the fastest frames per second your camera will go, 10 frames per second is on the low end now days for BIF's. 20-30fps is kind of the birders happy spot now days and you will fill cards up very fast. A birder will have (2) 160gb or higher high speed cards in the camera with 4 more in their pocket. Focus selection just depends on where the bird is. In a tree with a bunch of branches in the way spot focus, on top of a pole a group shot would be best for when and if it takes off. Or for tracking a BIF. If you really want to get in to birding there are many youtubers that are good and very helpful. With that said most the ones I know shoot Sony or Nikon.

I forgot some of the other junk I take is a small point n shoot camera, Canon G7X Mark III, binoculars (waterproof anti fog) lots of extra batteries (remember I am a Sony shooter) two battery chargers for the Sony’s, Anker power bank and charger(they have one that I can charge 4 things at once saves plug space and luggage. Several lens cloths, rocket blower, lens cleaner, sensor swabs, lots of memory cards and small first aid kit. I do take a small table top tripod for the Canon to set up for shots of my wife and I together when I cannot find someone to take the shot for me. I either set it on something or use as a handle to hold the camera (kind of like a selfy stick). On a cruise I rarely use a tripod so have quit taking one. I do take a mono pod especially if I do any hiking works also as a walking stick. And one of the most important things a dry bag. These are fairly cheap and run around 20-30$ and can be rolled up in your pack or used as your pack but it has no pockets. I have 2 one I can put my day pack in and one that will fit just my camera. It rains in Alaska. These come in handy also if you take a raft excursion.

I have used one of the lens shade things below. Was kind of difficult to use required 2 hands ( one on the camera and one to hold the thing to the glass. I also had to cut out some of the inside to get it to fit over my lens. The other issue I had with it was I could not use auto focus with the glass so had to use manual to get it to focus past the glass. I have seen a different one some YouTuber had that stuck to the glass kind like a plunger for a toilet, but cannot find it. I eventually just gave up and like Crew News said used a polarizer I have one on every lens I carry, instead of the UV filter everyone recommends to protect the lens. The down side is I loose 2 stops of light with it. So that means I need fast glass (f2.8) lenses or higher ISO. The best protection tough is is the lens hood which never is off the lens except for when it might need to be taken off for transport in my camera bag. This will also cut down the glare from the windows. Another thing to do is wear dark clothing at least a dark shirt will reduce the glare. I also hold the camera touching the glass (actually the lens hood) or almost touching, which works like the rubber thing. I also positioned the camera either perpendicular to me or slightly behind at the bottom of the glass. The shots to Taku lodge I was in the very back of the plane and was the only one back there, kind of by choice and well I am a big person. So the pilot for weight distribution put me in the back and so I would have room for my legs. Every time I am on one of those planes I end up being in the back. This allowed me to shot out both sides of the plane which is fine by me. Below are some more shots out a window of a plane, not Alaska but another famous port. I was not in the back this time.

There is a good restaurant across the street from the clock where you can get a drink or appetizer to what for it to go off called the Water Street Cafe. We went on a Sunday for brunch and they had a very good Eggs Benedict with crab cakes special.

I do not know if you do this but a trick I learned was to turn the display off, I have set one of the positions on the 'dial' to cycle through the various display options with off being one. So only the viewfinder will be on the display off. I hit the up on the dial if I want to use the viewfinder for shooting. If you want to 'preview' a shot it will come back to life. That will greatly extend your battery life. But that being said I carry 2 batteries with me when I go out. The battery grip has also come in handy with its 2 batteries on a long days shooting. As to the cards you might need a few more, larger ones or not take many bursts, especially if you are shooting birds, whales, etc. It will fill up fast.

No you are limited to a backpack that measures 17x14x4, this is from the Princess site FAQ:Alaska Cruisetours.

I got mine back in December and it is amazing for resolution and the focus tracking AI is amazing. You will love it and worth breaking the bank for it.

I did this cruise in 2019 out of New York ended in Quebec. I took 2 bodies and 7 lens. I shot mainly with a 24-70 f/2.8 the other lens were a 14-30, 70-200 and 500 which the total number shot with the last 3 lens equals 1/4th the shots taken with the 24-70.

I have a pair of these I wear them everywhere a super lightweight very comfortable and last forever. The price of them has gone up over the years especially lately. Used to be around $125. https://www.danner.com/trail-2650-3-dark-gray-brick-red-gtx.html