Lens selection for Alaska

This topic is becoming a frequent one, but I have to ask my own so please excuse me. I have booked an Alaska cruise with time spent mostly on the ship and some shore excursions. I intend to travel really light and just take along my X-T3 with 16-55 for general photography and 27 as a backup, leaving behind the Zeiss Touit 12 and the Fujis 35 1.4, 56 1.2, 90 2.0 and 18-135. This is my first time in Alaska so I am unsure if I am doing right.

I understand you may not have it, but I'm imagining a 55-200 would be a nice combo with the 16-55 for times when a tele is needed during the cruise.

I'd bring the 18-135...just because. 

I would bring the 35mm instead the the 27mm for some bokehlicious shots. It's still pretty small and has 2 more stops than the 27mm.

As others have said, you may appreciate the 55-200 as well for telephoto landscapes.

Given you lens selection I would go with:  Zeiss 12, 16-55, and the 18-135.

Sadiq Majid wrote:

This topic is becoming a frequent one, but I have to ask my own so please excuse me. I have booked an Alaska cruise with time spent mostly on the ship and some shore excursions. I intend to travel really light and just take along my X-T3 with 16-55 for general photography and 27 as a backup, leaving behind the Zeiss Touit 12 and the Fujis 35 1.4, 56 1.2, 90 2.0 and 18-135. This is my first time in Alaska so I am unsure if I am doing right.

If it were me, I'd bring along my 16-55 and Zeiss Touit 12 for wide landscapes.  If you're not into wildlife, that should get the job done.  However, you may well miss some opportunities to catch some closer in wildlife, in which case you might wish you had something a bit longer with you (the 18-135 might help, but it's realistically still pretty short for most wildlife).  If that's not a concern, then I'd stick with the two I recommended.  BTW, I own and frequently use both lenses, so I do have a fair amount of experience with them.

I went on an Alaskan cruise in July 2018 (Vancouver to Seward) and took all my lenses.  I figured I could leave the big camera bag on the ship, and take my small bag on excursions or on walks around the ship, using lenses that were selected to match anticipated activities.  My widest lens is the Fuji 27mm, any my longest is a Minolta 300mm.

The Alaskan coast is famously rainy.  Oddly, we had record-breaking dry/hot weather, and didn't see a drop of rain until getting off the ship in Seward.  (Ketchikan has a giant rain gauge sculpture with a salmon mounted 150 inches high to indicate the average annual rainfall.  It's wet!)  I don't have a single moisture resistant lens, and lucked out.  You have several, and I recommend you take them.

Wildlife shooting can vary a lot.  The 300mm was handy for some things, but your 18-135 would have covered most of it.  I don't have many zooms, so whale shots were done using 50mm, 100mm and 200mm primes, with occasional frantic swaps.   A zoom would have been much more handy.  And there can be unexpected opportunities; while on a small wood bridge at a national park, a black bear walked below, and I got close up shots using the 27mm.

If you're doing an inland passage cruise, the shoreline can be pretty close to the ship in spots, and your 12mm would be helpful where the wide end of your zoom lens isn't wide enough.

Have fun!

Thank you all for excellent advice and benefit of your experience. Really appreciated.

I'd take

• X-H1
• 16-55 f/2.8
• 100-400 f/4.5-5.6

Why?

• The 16-55 for almost everything
• The 100-400 for wildlife and shore scenes and reach when the ship can't get close enough. Fill the frame.
• The X-H1 for lower light situations where IBIS will make a difference. (evening, indoors, northern lights, etc.)

You don't say exactly how you will be traveling -- driving on your own, on a cruise, traveling with a guided group, etc.  Since you don't have a long lens in your inventory, I infer that you are not going to emphasize wildlife.
I just did two weeks in Alaska, and used the 16-55 quite a bit, but primarily shot with the 100-400.  I was, however, on a wildlife trip.  But if you are on a boat, the moose, bear, and birds you see on the shore or on an island will need long glass if you want the critters to fill your frame.  The 16-55 is a terrific all-around travel lens, although significantly bigger and heavier than a prime.

You might consider renting some long glass for the trip; then you don't have to buy.

Finally, remember it can be very wet in Alaska.  I don't recommend going out with anything except weather resistant lenses and camera bodies when I'm in an environment with rainy or windy weather.

Alaska is great; enjoy your trip

He indicated he was taking a cruise. But all your points are worthy of consideration.

Small cruise ships will get close to shore. Large cruise ships stay out further, but have excursion craft to get into some of tight areas which can include wildlife.