I am off to New Zealand in a few months and amongst the many places we are visiting will be Kaikora for the whale watching. I am curious how long a lens is needed to do this justice. I will be bringing Nikon 70-200 II but if required will bring a 200-400, but this is likely to be mainly for the whale watching if necessary. Is this likely to be too long and will a 70-200 (possibly with 1.4 or 1.7 converter, or even the new 2.0 converter if they ever get to the shops)be enough?
Anyone have any suggestions?
Many thanks
Richard
I think you must have got the impression by now, Richard, that there's no recommended focal length for whales.
The tourism rules may assert that a tourist ship should not approach whales closer than a certain distance. However, such rules do not apply to the whales, who may be very curious as to the nature of another huge beast in the water, and who may sometimes come right along-side the tourist vessel.
I would recommend hanging two cameras around your neck. One with telephoto capability, such as a Canon 100-400 on a cropped format body, and the other a wide angle to medium telephoto, such as a 24-105.
Here's an example of how close an inquisitive whale can come to a boat. This shot was taken with a Canon D60 about 6 years ago from my own vessel, but later the same whales came along-side the ship that I was on, and I was unable to photograph them because I was stuck with the Canon 100-400. There's no time to change lenses in such situations.
Best of luck, and happy shooting!
[attachment=22917:Whales.jpg]
Oops! Forgot to mention. My experience is in Australia, Harvey Bay, north of Brisbane, but I suspect that whale behaviour is pretty similar in New Zealand .