Gear advice - Boston to Montreal

[JonSchick]

I'm a keen photographer but also like to minimise the amount of kit I'm carrying, especially when long haul / Transatlantic flights are involved....

 

My question for photographers who've done New England/Canada cruises is what kind of focal lengths did you find most useful?  Do you see much wildlife on these routes (even whales?) which mean a longer telephoto lens would be helpful, or did you find that moderate wide angle to typical telezoom is more than enough?

 

In full frame terms I have 2 good zoom lenses that would cover the equivalent of 24-90mm and 80-300mm between them, and another that goes to the equivalent of 600mm which I'm thinking of leaving at home unless there's lots of obvious reasons to bring it along.  I'll have a small fast prime lens for low light and portraits, and some filters too (polariser, ND grad).

 

Any thoughts?  Planning what kit to take is always part of the pre holiday planning fun!

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

[pierces]

I just took a quick look at the Lightroom metadata for our New England cruises, and both showed a 2:1 count between the wide-normal zoom and the short to medium telephoto zoom. I never felt the need for anything longer than 300mm.

 

Here are links to both galleries if you want to take a look at what made up those counts:

 

2018 New England & Canada (pptphoto.com)

 

2015 Fall Colors (pptphoto.com)

 

Dave

 

[hersheyhughes]

I love your photos! Amazing colors.  I need better equipment.

Going on the Montreal to NYC in July. Cannot wait after seeing your pics.

Kimberly

[JonSchick]

2 hours ago, pierces said:

I just took a quick look at the Lightroom metadata for our New England cruises, and both showed a 2:1 count between the wide-normal zoom and the short to medium telephoto zoom. I never felt the need for anything longer than 300mm.

 

Here are links to both galleries if you want to take a look at what made up those counts:

 

2018 New England & Canada (pptphoto.com)

 

2015 Fall Colors (pptphoto.com)

 

Dave

 

Good to know and thanks for sharing the links to your photos - looking forward to the trip in the summer and mind made up - I'll travel light!  

[KYBOB]

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.  

[JonSchick]

So a consistent view and I think my decision is made!  I have an OM-1 (digital) and will be taking 12-40/2.8, 40-150/4 and a couple of compact fast prime lenses (25/1.8 and 50/0.95).  The zooms and camera are more weather resistant than me, and this lot should cover most bases whilst remaining relatively compact.  I'm looking forward to the trip, on HAL Zaandam.