Going to Alaska for a week - need help

[uday]

Hi Folks,

I am planning to make a trip to Alaska for a week during the labor day weekend(Aug. 27th-Sep2nd). I need some help on what kind of lenses would be best to carry.

Currently I own
1> 50mm 1.8 Canon
2> 28-135mm (3.5-5.6) IS USM Canon
3> and Tamron 70-300mm (4.5-5.6)


I was planning to take a lot of pics of Glaciers, I am not sure how much wild life action will i see in Denali NP, but certainly would like to keep my options open. I was also hoping if i can capture some whale shots.

If anyone of you have either been to Alaska or had a similar trip. Please let me know if I can capture what I intend with the lenses I own. By the way I own a Canon Elan7 and was planning to take the PROVIA 400 slide films.

Thanks
Uday K

[justme_dc]

I went to alaska for 10 days in august of 2001. It was amazing! I shot some of the best landscape images of my life there. Here are the things I found on my trip. At least 400 iso is a must as it rained about 70% of my trip. Watch out for bears! no joke! the night I got there the police had to come and chase a black bear out of the front yard of the house I was staying at. Get a wider angle lens either the canon 20-35mm or maybe the sigma 15-30 if you can afford it, I shot most of my best images in this range. Bring a sturdy tripod or at the least a monopod. I didn't due to packing restraints and I lost a lot of get images as a result. Even at noon those forest images will still require 400iso and 1/30th or lower. Process your film locally in alaska or get one of those lead lined film bags and put it in your carry on luggage. request that the attendant hand inspect your film and not run it through the x-ray machine. If you are shooting digital then don't worry, x-rays don't seem to effect digital cameras or laptops. I can't really think of anything else right now..... but have fun and good luck!!!

[xdiii]

1. Take a very waterproof camera bag. During a four hour hike in the rain, I had my video unit inside a zip-lock bag which was inside a "waterproof" lumbar pack. Took 48 hours of drying time to even get the camera's power circuits working again. Get the kind of bag that you would use in white water rafting.
2. Forget a tripod when shooting from onboard a ship.
3. After you see a whale or two, watch the birds. A few will always leave the last site and move to the next area where the whales will next surface. Don't count on whale watching from shore.

[ineke]

Hi!!!

me too! I will be going to denali Np, fairbanks and Petersburg in august.

can anybody advise me on the best spot for aurora viewing in Fairbanks (according to the forecast there could be aurora show in the month of aug), any tips on photographing auroras?

any tips on photographing humpbacks from a kayak? I will be using an ewa marine housing for my camera.

thanks

[uday]

Hi,
As i have a packing restrain on what lenses I am taking I could not make up a decision of whether I should take the 17-40L ultra-wide angle for the beautiful scenic shots or go for the 100-400L telephoto for all the bears, whales and what not.
Any tips/suggestions.
I am planning to take 28-135 IS and 501.8 which I own. I also have a tamron 70-300 which i may not take as I am not that happy with its inability to take good pics in bad daylight.
By the way I was planning to rent either of the above two cameras mentioned(UW and tele)

Thanks for all ur help!
Uday K

[Phil Hall]

In addition to your lenses take a polarizing filter for pictures of the salmon runs.


Phil Hall
Santa Ynez CA

[fredlord]

Just got back from Alaska last week. I only took my 16-35 and 100-400 lenses as my 24-70 had to go back to Canon for a month. I also took the 1.4x teleconverter. I use a D60 camera body.

The vistas are so enormous that you should take as wide a lens as you can manage for that. The animals are sometimes close but usually just out of range unless you get lucky. In Denali this time I used the 100-400 with the teleconverter and got a few good shots of Dall Sheep. In 1999 we went into the park and I would have gotten some really good images with the 100-400 + TC if I had owned it then. I had the 75-300 non IS at that time and got a few reasonable grizzly images.

I did miss the 24-70 at times but there was no pressing need for it in the end.

A sample Dall Sheep image is here: http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=1617530

There are more at the bottom of the page here: http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=230287

In summation I would say you can't have too much of either wide-angle or telephoto. It's that kind of place. In Denali, if you stay on the mandatory bus, you will not have enough room to use a tripod. You can get off the bus and hope to get on the next one if you desire. Then you should have a tripod. They run about every half hour at peak times. I suggest you get on the web site and make a shuttle bus reservation now at: . The earlier in the morning the better as that's when the animals are more abundant.

Good luck and good shooting.
Fred Lord

[ssim]

I recently spent some time in the Canadian Northwest Territories, pretty similar to inland Alaska ( a whole lot of nothing but lot's to take photos of).

I went with my 50 f/1.8, 24-85, 16-35, and 100-400. I hardly took my 16-35 out of the bag.

If you are hiking in the bush make sure to take an ample supply of bug repellent. Learnt that one the hard way.

[xdiii]

See [url=http://itins.expeditions.com/tour.asp?ItinID=58[/url] for both land-based and sea-based ideas about what to expect.

Lindblad's Alaska cruises are as good as it gets.