What Lenses Should I Take for Whale Watching via Sailboat?

ddessert wrote:

I just came back from a 5-day Lindblad Baja California Sur, México whale watching expedition using my X-T5 for stills with the XF70-300, my X-H2s for video with the XF 18-120, and a GoPro 10.

I brought two cameras with their own lenses because there was no way I wanted to change lenses on a small boat in the ocean. I brought a waterproof bag for the quick rides out and took out the cameras once we were slowed down. Even then, splashes or whale breath could saturate the camera with salty water. I rinsed my water resistant gear with water after each trip. I had a water bottle with me just in case it needed rinsing before then.

As far stills captures, I used a high shutter speed (1/1000 or faster) to freeze the motion. The extreme downside to this is a much smaller aperture and depth of field. I was relying on autofocus to capture the whales. What usually happened instead is that the high-contrast ocean waves nearby caught the autofocus attention instead of the non-contrasty whale skin. A LOT of shots had great definition on the waves with the whale being out of focus. The low end of 70mm was still too much magnification for how close we got to whales (touching them).

I think I’d try to force the ISO higher and increase the depth of field next time for more leeway in stills.

Also predicting where the whales will surface can be difficult. On a sunny day you can see their “glow” just below the surface if the sun is behind you. But many boat operators don’t consider sun position for photographers. We were able to get our Panga drivers to put the sun behind us after day 1. I also used the Pre-shot capabilty that fills a 1 sec buffer of pictures before you fully press the shutter and start taking shots. It captures me swinging the camera to where the whales are surfacing but also captures more of the fleeting times while the whale is above the surface.

Video captures with the X-H2s worked better because the lower shutter speed meant a much larger depth of field. However the IS was not up to the task of a rocking 15-ft Panga boat even in a bay. At least the 6K video on the X-H2s let me shoot wider and crop in and IS in post. However, I think I’d shoot at an even higher shutter speed than the 1/120s I used for my 6K60P videos. Even at 1/120s I ran out of f/stops in the sunlight. Bring a polarizer and ND filter(s). But a faster shutter speed would help freeze the motions even more, making IS in post more successful. I hardly ever used the XF18-120 at the 120mm end. Mostly at the 18-30mm end, but we’re were really close to these whales.

By far the most versatile piece of gear I had was the GoPro 10. Its depth of field is 1ft to infinity so there were no focusing issues. I had it on an extendable selfie-stick that I could raise up above everyone’s heads for no line-of-sight issues. The wide field of view meant that I could incidentally capture whales surfacing much more often. Its 5.6K60P means I can still crop it for tighter views. Its image stabilization straight out of camera was better than anything else I had. Salt water was not an issue. And to top it all off, I could dunk it in the water to capture the whales right under our Panga.

Bottom lines: shoot a deep depth of field, shoot wider than you think you’ll need and crop in, and bring a polarizer.

Wow! OP here. Thank you for giving me/us all the pointers. Frankly, it has been so long since I shot from a boat I pretty much forgot the "do and don'ts"!

I guess I should lens up both my XH-1 and XPro3 with my telephotos, and make a post sailing appointment with a masseuse. 

If I might ask. Did you ever use the electronic shutter vs. the mechanical one?