For your Royal Caribbean Cruise - what do you use for taking photos?

[mommabean]

 

The other thing- i'm interested in the effort people take in photographing everything. Instead of just enjoying the moment. I remember going to Yellowstone, and my dad didn't see Old Faithful first hand, since he was looking through a view finder. Seems kind of pointless to miss moments just for a picture or a movie.

 

As one who takes way too many pictures so I'll "remember" what I did, I have to say you are absolutely right.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

It's a pack of cigarettes MORE than I would carry.

Different strokes for different folks...but my current/new HD quality camera is so small that it fits in a pocket. I struggle to think why that is a big deal for anyone.

I edit ours every night, lots of time before dinner, waiting for Moneypenny to get ready. That way I have it fresh in my memory what I intended to take.

We do something similar...going through them and deleting those we know we'll never want/keep and keeping the rest for editing/storing when we get back home.

The other thing- i'm interested in the effort people take in photographing everything. Instead of just enjoying the moment.

I guess we're not under that umbrella...in that with decades of experience...choosing what to photograph is far more selective than "photographing anything".

[Baatman]

We use an SLR or a pocket camera..depending on where we are.

[mjldvlks]

I have a rule of thumb -- less than 1000 pictures in a week and I am not really trying. I don't think it's a choice, I can enjoy the moment and take pictures that allow me to relive the moment for years to come. I don't necessarily edit pictures every night but I try to back up and delete the absolute crap. Great thing about digital vs. film . . . for all intents and purposes, with a fairly big data card, I have no real limit on the number of pictures I can take.

 

I have my computer set to play a slide show from my picture files as a screen saver. It almost never fails that at least once an evening one comes up that reminds me of a place or time I had forgotten. I have also done my fair share of standing and looking.

 

On this one, I am with CRUISEFAN0001, my camera takes much better pics than my phone, it has a better lens and has more options. Plus the transfer and manipulation of the pictures is much easier with the camera. It also has better battery life [or at least does not drain my phone battery]. I agree with the general concept that less is more. But the phone still does not approach what I get with my camera.

Edited November 19, 2013 by mjldvlks

[alfaeric]

Different strokes for different folks...but my current/new HD quality camera is so small that it fits in a pocket. I struggle to think why that is a big deal for anyone.

When we run, we do not have a pocket for a camera. So it is a big deal.

 

Or, it's not a big deal for us, since we don't carry one. I'm spending time enjoying the moments.

 

We do something similar...going through them and deleting those we know we'll never want/keep and keeping the rest for editing/storing when we get back home.

 

I guess we're not under that umbrella...in that with decades of experience...choosing what to photograph is far more selective than "photographing anything".

 

Those two lines do not meet up in my head. Which is my other point.

 

On the other hand, I'm not much of one who feels the need to share my experiences. Other than a few pictures for a Christmas card, doing that a lot can come across as bragging. Like- "look at me, where I was..... don't you wish you were me?" But that's just my view of things. I know others post a lot of pictures here to be educational. Which is fine.

[RC Dancers]

One thing that fascinates me is the people that take thousands of photos. Just what do they do with them? As you said, sit in a box or on a computer file most probably. Back in the film days, I thought I took a lot of photos, around 350/400 on a seven day cruise and around 600 on a 12 day one. I used them to make up photo albums and usually ended up using about 60/70% of them. Today, using digital I end up with a few more photos, but not too many more. I couldn't imagine taking 3000 photos, I wouldn't know where to start.

I prefer to use a camera with a view finder, my main objection to p&s cameras is that I can never see what I'm taking when I'm outside in the sun. For me they become a point & guess. I keep my p&s for indoors and underwater.

 

I figure about 2-3 thousand shots on a7 day cruise. I whittle them down to about 200 that we make into a 30 to 40 page photo book.

 

We take a point and shoot and a d s l r.

[knittinggirl]

This is perhaps the most prevalent misconception in the world of amateur photography-- that somehow the more expensive camera with the bigger numbers magically takes the best pictures.

 

I have seen more butchered shots taken with "quality" digital cameras and dSLRs than I could shake a stick at.

 

I've also seen truly stunning photos taken with a cell phone camera in the hands of a someone with a good eye and understanding of photography fundamentals.

 

While I have many thousands of dollars worth of dSLR bodies and lenses, I choose to leave all of the heavy cumbersome gear at home for the convenience of my smart phone camera.

 

There's certainly nothing wrong with bringing an expensive quality camera with you, but it certainly doesn't mean you'll automatically end up with "better" photos than with a smart phone.

 

In the words of Chase Jarvis-- "The best camera is the one that's with you."

 

True! My Nikon d5100 died on day 2 of my 11 day cruise, so I made due with my old Olympus Stylus. With some shots, it simply wasn't good enough with available light. Still, I was so grateful I had any camera. By the end of the trip, I still had enough shots to fill up a small photo book.

 

 

There is more to good photos than a pixel rating, there is also optics. I hate cell phone photographers at times. I can't count the number of times I have been about to take a great pic and have had dozens of 8 year old girls run in front and stick there Iphones in the face of the subject.

 

Know the feeling! I was composing a shot in Alaska, and this teenager plopped down on the rock I was using as foreground interest and wouldn't budge. Later, the same girl with her family hogged the platform on the Yukon White Pass train most of the trip.

 

Agree the photographer is no less than 50% of the result....then again...the best photographer can't make average or below equipment exceed it's limitations.

 

True, on our last cruise, many shots just didn't get taken!

[CRUISEFAN0001]

I figure about 2-3 thousand shots on a7 day cruise. I whittle them down to about 200 that we make into a 30 to 40 page photo book.

WOW - that's a big starting number!

 

While I tend to take about 1400 or so on a 7-day cruise to start with...I end up with something a 200-300 ending number of digital images/photos.

 

This reminded me of a "lesson learned" from a fellow cruiser many years ago - he told me: "You can always delete a photo, but you can't create one if you're no longer there..."

Edited November 20, 2013 by CRUISEFAN0001

[mjldvlks]

. . . "You can always delete a photo, but you can't create one if you're no longer there..."

And no matter how many I take there always seem to be things I remember later that I wish I had taken a picture of but did not.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

And no matter how many I take there always seem to be things I remember later that I wish I had taken a picture of but did not.

There is certainly some truth to that!

 

This morning, just for kicks and giggles...I checked out a couple of "LIVE from the xxxxxxx ship" threads.

 

My gosh...lots of photos - many of which were iPhone shots.

 

Good grief - why people post blurry snapshots from their phone is beyond me. After just scanning through a few posts and threads...my eyes feel like they are in desperate need of eyedrops. :eek:

 

I guess all this underscores that despite even having various kinds of equipment...the photographer still plays an important role in the end product.