Whale Photos

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Going to HI and hope to spot some whales from a cruise I am taking. Any suggestions are appreciated
I have all Nikon 600, 500, 300, 70-200 (Z and FX) and 2x converters
How big is the boat you are going on? Is this out of Maui? We got super close to the whales on a small boat out of Maui, so would use the 70-200 without the converter. But a big ship would be very different.

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I have shot a lot in the coastal waters around Juneau. there we used 500s though a 600 would have been nice, especially a 600 TC
 
Going to HI and hope to spot some whales from a cruise I am taking. Any suggestions are appreciated
I have all Nikon 600, 500, 300, 70-200 (Z and FX) and 2x converters
More details needed. What island and what kind of boat - sailboat, zodiac, catamaran, large tour boat? Zodiacs are tricky as you can easily get sprayed in transit and they can feel like you are in a rodeo if the captain opens it up to full speed. If you have a lot of folks around you, a large lens is going to be awkward to move around. I have done several our of the dry side of the island of Hawaii on different vessels and did not have great luck on close shots. If I went out again, my preference would be a sailboat or a larger tour boat that did not pack you in. The zodiac sounded fun, but the risk of getting sprayed in transit was a concern as there is very little storage except what fits in the little well beneath your tiney seat cushion/saddle.

Have fun,

--Ken
 
I have gone on a number of humpback whale watching boat trips from the Big Island. Flexibilty in focal length is important in my experience. I'd also consider taking two bodies along, so that you can have two different lenses available without needing to change lenses. You never know what you are going to get and when the action starts there is usually not a lot of time to change gear. At times, whales have been so close to the boat that I have used the wider end of a mid-range zoom (e.g., 24-70 on full frame). At other times, they were far away and small using a 500 mm PF and in my binocs. The last time I went (January 2020) we watched a mother humpback teaching her calf how to breach. Both were serial breachers that day -- amazing. I had a D500 and the 70-300 mm AF-P FX lens with me and Z 24-70 mm f4 zoom on a Z7. Mostly used the 70-300. Could have used more focal length for some of the shots. And I was so excited that I forgot to zoom all the way to 300 mm for the first few shots.

With the boats I have gone on -- medium-sized catamarans for day trips -- I've always shot hand held. And there are other people on board and the whales can appear in any direction. So the abitliy to move and manuvere is nice.

I'm shooting mirrorless now. If I went today, I'd take one body with the Z 100-400 mm lens (and maybe a Z 1.4x TC) and a second body with the Z 24-120 mm.

Depending on the boat, a 600 mm f4 might be hard to use. Not sure if your 500 and 300 mm are the PF versions or larger f4 and f2.8 versions. Smaller and lighter has generally been nice on the trips I have taken.
 
Last time I went out whale watching, I took my 70-200 and my 500PF and a 1.4TC, which I used sparingly. Was on a larger boat and with less active whales than humpbacks, so experiences may differ. I'm usually shooting fin and grey whales, along with coastal dolphins in SoCal. But I found that range was a good combination for me. And the lenses were small and maneuverable enough to not be cumbersome when trying to get a spot at the rail among the crowd. On previous trips, before I had the 500PF, I shot just the 70-200mm and had good success. Especially for dolphins that came to ride the bow waves. Now that I have a 600mm f4 in the kit, I still don't think I'd take it on a large, crowded boat. It would have been impossible to handle it in a big group.

Other suggestions... I stick to a fairly small aperture, usually around f/8, to get enough depth of field. And kept the shutter speed fairly high to accommodate boat motion. Then stick it in auto ISO. My most recent trip was my first time with a mirrorless out there and it was an interesting adjustment. On my DSLR, I would use either single point or group focus and had really good results. But with the Z9 in Wide-AF with subject detection mode, I ended up with problems with focus acquisition. Lessons learned: don't use mirrorless subject/eye detection for whales. Next trip, I'll be going back to a more DSLR-style focus approach, probably just single point AF.

Good luck and have fun! I'll be back on the Big Island in March and hoping there's still some whales around then to see.
 
Going to HI and hope to spot some whales from a cruise I am taking. Any suggestions are appreciated
I have all Nikon 600, 500, 300, 70-200 (Z and FX) and 2x converters
As the saying goes "It Depends". I shot these breaching whales from a small boat. I used a 300mm /w D4s. If you are going for the breaching whales there isn't much time. Maybe 3 seconds, to spot the whale breaching, find it in the viewfinder focus, and shoot. I saw many breaching whales, but was only able to capture a few. You have no idea where they are going to come up, simply scan the ocean, then when one pops up try to get on it before it's gone. Of course this is done from a small boat that is always moving. In my case a longer lens would have been impossible.

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As the saying goes "It Depends". I shot these breaching whales from a small boat. I used a 300mm /w D4s. If you are going for the breaching whales there isn't much time. Maybe 3 seconds, to spot the whale breaching, find it in the viewfinder focus, and shoot. I saw many breaching whales, but was only able to capture a few. You have no idea where they are going to come up, simply scan the ocean, then when one pops up try to get on it before it's gone. Of course this is done from a small boat that is always moving. In my case a longer lens would have been impossible
Nice shots! I would say even less than 3 seconds! There are some whales that breach several times in a row, which makes it much, much easier to get a shot off. However often it is one and done. In Hawaii, they are not feeding, so it is shooting tail flukes or breaches. Sometimes you can even shoot breeching whales in Maui from the shore, not as well as a boat, but possible with a long lens. But on a small boat, I would agree with you, the 300mm f/4 or the 70-300mm are my go to lenses.
 
Long focal length isn't as much an issue as the physical size, though more FL on a bouncing boat is going to make it harder to get on and stay on a whale. I don't have any experience in the Pacific but a few hundred trips on the Gulf of Maine. Mostly on 100' boats. Because this area isn't a breeding ground, we are allowed to get closer than the legal distance in a breeding ground. That's not to say they can't come close to you....
I found a 80-400, 200-500 to be the most useful. I tried the 2 camera thing and found more often than not, one of them was banging on the boat rail, so I just travel with a single body/lens.
 
So here is what I am thinking 300 2.8 is just going to be too rude.
Idea one D6 with 70-200 TC in the bag just in case. A couple of shooters have told me DLSRs have worked better focusing
than Mirrorless with whales???
Idea two Z9 with 70-200 and the D6 with 500pf

Thanks for your input
 
we were in a small boat off Greenland. Z6 with z70-200. Alas it was too bumpy to safely attach the 2x but yiu can see 400mm would have been good

we came across a pod of whales “fishing” , so while it was something special, it was quite dangerous to move the boat closer.


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So here is what I am thinking 300 2.8 is just going to be too rude.
Idea one D6 with 70-200 TC in the bag just in case. A couple of shooters have told me DLSRs have worked better focusing
than Mirrorless with whales???
Idea two Z9 with 70-200 and the D6 with 500pf

Thanks for your input
I've never shot mirrorless on a whale watch, only dslr. Any af system is going to struggle with a humpback, it's just a matter of how much. Dark, shiny whale with white waves/water. My D5 and D6 seemed to do the best, the D850's/D500 next.
 
So here is what I am thinking 300 2.8 is just going to be too rude.
Idea one D6 with 70-200 TC in the bag just in case. A couple of shooters have told me DLSRs have worked better focusing
than Mirrorless with whales???
Idea two Z9 with 70-200 and the D6 with 500pf

Thanks for your input
The 300 f2.8 was a bit cumbersome. I was spending several months in Alaska, took a DX, FX body, 300 F2.8, and TC 1.4. That gave me a lot of options. If I were doing it now I would take the 70-200 f2.8 /w TC 1.4, and 400 f4.5 (because that is what I have). Along with two high resolution bodies. Typically I would carry a Think Tank glass Limo switching the Camera/Lens combo as needed. Rather than trying to keep both on a strap, as mentioned earlier in a post the extra camera lens swinging around on a strap is problematic. Of course everyones experience is different. I had a group of whales bubble feeding come up right next to the boat, unfortunately having the 300 it was impossible for me to get a shot.
 
I wouldn’t worry what others think of the lens you carry. I would regret not have the best tool for the job with me and missing shots. The only time I went Whale Watching in Maui was in March of 2019 and I used a D850 and the 200-400 f4 zoom. Most of the images were at 400 and cropped. The Humpbacks do come closer and I did have a second body, a D5 with a 70-200 on it. If I did it over again, I would have used the D5 with the 200-400 for faster focus. Frames per second would not hurt either. Now I have the 180-400 with TC that would work even better.



In the Salish Sea I’ve used both the 180-400 TC and the 600 TC with success. The biggest challenge is holding it and my arms start to ache. I’m testing a couple options to take some of the strain off my arms. If I had a sherpa I would love to bring both but sometimes it is better to settle on one and get what you can with it. There are always compromises. If they swim right up to the boat, time to pull out the iPhone.



https://bcgforums.com/index.php?threads/humpbacks-feeding.20011/


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More details needed. What island and what kind of boat - sailboat, zodiac, catamaran, large tour boat? Zodiacs are tricky as you can easily get sprayed in transit and they can feel like you are in a rodeo if the captain opens it up to full speed. If you have a lot of folks around you, a large lens is going to be awkward to move around. I have done several our of the dry side of the island of Hawaii on different vessels and did not have great luck on close shots. If I went out again, my preference would be a sailboat or a larger tour boat that did not pack you in. The zodiac sounded fun, but the risk of getting sprayed in transit was a concern as there is very little storage except what fits in the little well beneath your tiney seat cushion/saddle.

Have fun,

--Ken

I love the smaller Zodiacs'. Much more nimble and quick to get you to where the action is, less jostling for position since you stay seated most the time and I also prefer the lower angle perspective. There are larger Zodiacs I'll consider next trip. My wife won't go unless there is a restroom. :)
 
I love the smaller Zodiacs'. Much more nimble and quick to get you to where the action is, less jostling for position since you stay seated most the time and I also prefer the lower angle perspective. There are larger Zodiacs I'll consider next trip. My wife won't go unless there is a restroom. :)
Yes, they are more nimble and there is a lot less jockeying among the passengers, but I nearly bounced out of the boat on our way out to the whales. I had the front seat for shooting, but that added to the bouncing. I later moved to the back of the boat just in front of the captain and the wheel and that was better.

It was also impossible to wear a hat for sun protection when in transit as almost everything not stowed was blowing around. I had a wind shell on to help cover me and I still got fried on a cloudy morning in less than 2 hours. My preference is they can get you near the whales is a sailboat.

--Ken
 
I love the smaller Zodiacs'. Much more nimble and quick to get you to where the action is, less jostling for position since you stay seated most the time and I also prefer the lower angle perspective. There are larger Zodiacs I'll consider next trip. My wife won't go unless there is a restroom. :)
I’ve done it on a 70 foot yacht off Fraser Island...only 10 aboard. Awesome when near 60’ of whale is alongside.
 
I've only been a couple of times but I had a 100-400 and would take the same lens back again. A fast aperture wasn't so important as I couldn't find any boats that went out that early or late. There were shots that I would have loved another 100 to 200 mm, but there were also shots where I used the lens at 100mm and I think the 100-400 is a great comprise while being fairly small and easy to maneuver. I absolutely recommend carrying a second body or something with a wider lens. On one outing a mother and calf came up to the boat (the boat had long since stopped moving and then shut the engines off). I could have used a 24-70 in this situation which I did not have.
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I have gone on a number of humpback boat trips from the Big Island. Flexibilty in focal length is important in my experience. I'd also consider taking two bodies along, so that you can have two different lenses available without needing to change lenses. You never know what you are going to get and when the action starts there is usually not a lot of time to change gear. At times, whales have been so close to the boat that I have used the wider end of a mid-range zoom (e.g., 24-70 on full frame). At other times, they were far away and small using a 500 mm PF and in my binocs. The last time I went (January 2020) we watched a mother humpback teaching her calf how to breach. Both were serial breachers that day -- amazing. I had a D500 and the 70-300 mm AF-P FX lens with me and Z 24-70 mm f4 zoom on a Z7. Mostly used the 70-300. Could have used more focal length for some of the shots. And I was so excited that I forgot to zoom all the way to 300 mm for the first few shots.

With the boats I have gone on -- medium-sized catamarans for day trips -- I've always shot hand held. And there are other people on board and the whales can appear in any direction. So the abitliy to move and manuvere is nice.

I'm shooting mirrorless now. If I went today, I'd take one body with the Z 100-400 mm lens (and maybe a Z 1.4x TC) and a second body with the Z 24-120 mm.

Depending on the boat, a 600 mm f4 might be hard to use. Not sure if your 500 and 300 mm are the PF versions or larger f4 and f2.8 versions. Smaller and lighter has generally been nice on the trips I have taken.

When photographing whales, how crucial is stabilization in capturing clear shots, especially with the varying distances they might be from the boat? Need advice for my upcoming whale watching tours
 
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When photographing whales, how crucial is stabilization in capturing clear shots, especially with the varying distances they might be from the boat?
It would probably be more helpful to your ability to see your subject in the VF than it would be to help the image if you are shooting at high shutter speeds. At slower shutter speeds, it will also be helpful to the image.

--Ken
 
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