TheOldBear

Last September, the ship's tour seemed to be quite short - less than an hour in Winchester after leaving the Cathedral. Lunch was still being served in the main dining room when we returned [about 1:30].

Is there a way to keep focus on the object you are trying to take a picture of? I keep losing focus to what is behind or even in front of it. I'm using the 70-300mm 1:4.5.6.3G ED on the NikonD3400.

Often a 'half press' of the shutter release, or a 'back button' near your right thumb is or can be configured to focus the lens - then you reframe / recompose and shoot.

This is either for stationary subjects, or where you can focus on a fixed target where you anticipate the subject will enter the picture [e.g. birds at a feeder, bees at a flower or a basketball hoop]. Sometimes you will need to focus manually [say the camera keeps focusing on a smear on the window, not the bird visible through the window.]

Some continuous auto focus systems [like my 1994 vintage Canon Elan] will attempt to follow a moving subject and anticipate just where the subject & focus will travel while the SLR mirror is flipping. Some mirrorless cameras [e.g. Sony A9, Olympus M1.2] let you track a moving subject without any viewfinder blackout]

Any British managed ship- Cunard, P&O etc abides by the European law of no indoor smoking at all, although I believe that QM2 has a cigar room. I think this should be the same with any EU managed ship, but don't have the facts.

I recall from one of the on board lectures contrasting the original Queen Mary with today's QM2 something like " Today on the QM2 there are only two spaces permitting smoking [Churchill's & the 'Pig and Whistle' - the crew's pub on deck 1]. On the original there were only two spaces where smoking was prohibited [Operating Theater & Chapel]"

Ok! Lots of great input here.

 

My local camera shop has a pre-owned 6500 with the 18-105 G lens for $1200. It seems like a decent deal. How much will I regret not getting the new kit with the 18-135??

The focal lengths for either kit lens seem optimized for 'people shots' - moderate wide angle for groups of people to short telephoto 'head shot' portraits.

The wide angle end will also be useful for landscapes, but the long end of the range is not all that long [will not bring distant detail in to fill the frame].

If you go for the Sony, you may want to consider renting a long lens - LensRentals has an 'E' mount 70-300 lens renting for $74 / 7days

Cunard - QM2 [and likely QV & QE as well]

Hmmmmm. Now I’ve been reading a bunch and I sort of like the idea of the Mirrorless. I’d like to spend around $1,000ish for the camera and a lens for Alaska. Not as married to the Canon this morning.

If you are no adverse to refurbished equipment, Olympus often sells the OMD M10 mark 2 body for about $300, and their 'travel lens kit' for $700 - this provides a long zoom lens, a faster fixed focal length wide angle [similar field of view to a phone camera], and lens hoods for each. The zoom range [14-150] is equivalent to a full frame 28-300 range for comparison purposes.

Checking the Olympus web site, some bodies and lenses are on special sale when combined - so a travel kit [OMD10.2 body + 14-150 Zoom] could be assembled for less than 700 dollars.

I still think that a bridge camera can add more 'bang for the buck' - checking Panasonic and several other retailer sites shows the FZ-1000 currently priced at about $600. This would yield a greater zoom range and a brighter lens than comparably priced interchangeable lens alternatives - and you will always have the right lens mounted on the camera.

You may want to take a look at some of the buying guides over on dpreview - such as the 'travel camera buying guide' https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/buying-guide-best-cameras-for-travel

The iPhone camera is fair to middling for wide angle shots, and it has the advantage of being a familiar tool.

I have not yet booked my Alaska cruise [sometime in 2020 is planned] but from discussions the experienced photographers place a premium on long lenses, up to 600 mm focal length for a full frame camera. [the Sigma 'bigma' lens is a favorite with some of my friends] Lenses in the long zoom category are be large, expensive, heavy and require lots of practice to get the best results.

I would recommend a so called 'bridge', fixed lens camera such as the Panasonic FZ1000 & FZ2500, or Sony's RX10 series - the lens is the key. A set of similar capability lenses for an interchangeable lens camera would easily cost more than double the price of even the Sony RX10V.

These cameras have fairly large sensors, advanced multiple axis image stabilization, and both intelligent exposure modes & manual overrides. And you always have the right lens on the camera.

On the other hand, if you have your heart set on an interchangeable lens camera, I would suggest looking at the mirrorless options [Olympus, Panasonic, Sony, Fuji] - All have image stabilization features, implemented in lens, in body or combined body and lens. [i have reasonable hand held shots of over one second exposure on non moving subjects]

I have one of Olympus' entry level cameras [OMD M10 mark II] and I have been pleased by its capabilities, even when just using some of the less expensive lens options. For Alaska, I am planning on having/renting some fancier gear, but still part of the same system, plus bringing one of the Panasonic FZ cameras.

When embarking we have always been dropped off by the car service around 11:00. Security and check-in have been quick, then we have waited in the Grills/Platinum/Diamond lounge. Boarding has always started at 12:00.

 

Last year we were in transit from Québec to Southampton. We were allowed to re-board shortly after 11:00. Embarking passengers were delayed slightly. It was after 12:00 before they started boarding.

That seems to be the normal, expected timing - but sometimes threre are delays.

Last September, we arrived and dropped of luggage just after noon, but needed to wait most of an hour before the terminal doors opened and the first batch of passengers was admitted to security screening.

I would really like to take a cruise from USA to British Isles and then back again. Does this cruise even exist? I've been searching with no luck but I thought a more seasoned traveler might have a definite answer for me. If it does not exist do you have any suggestions for back to back cruises that would get to some stops on the British Isles and then back? Thanks for your help. PS. I live in NH so the further north I can sail from the better.

Cunard does frequent transatlantic crossings between New York and Southampton.

Some are sold as round trips, with a variable number of stops at either end of the crossing.

For example, our next cruise will be a round trip transatlantic from NYC [brooklyn] stoping at Southampton, Hamburg, back to Southampton, LeHavre [Normandy] then back to NYC.

I did take a look at the Canon sx540 but the reviews for it were a bit less stellar than the Lumix or Nikon. It seems that the Lumix may be the better choice as it will allow my son more options when he is using it. Forgive my lack of knowledge but is there a huge difference between the 40x and 60x zoom? And/or the difference in the shutter speed (1/4000s vs 1/2000s)? In regards to the quality of the pictures we may take?

Not terribly much difference - if any

The zoom range is more about marketing than results when the numbers get that big. And the shutter speed difference is actually trivial - under ideal conditions either will 'stop' motion in the picture.

I would also cast a vote for the FZ-80. It has a viewfinder, better video capability & an accessory shoe for adding an external flash [perhaps not useful for Alaska landscapes, but may be useful later].

The camera has both 'Intelligent Automatic' and 'scene' modes [and manual override 'PASM' modes as well]. I would recommend leaving the camera in the IA mode 99% of the time.

About the only accessories I would recommend would be a spare battery and additional memory cards.

For folks with a bigger budget, I would recommend either the FZ1000 [large sensor, fancier Panasonic] or the Nikon P900 [ludicrously long zoom range] - but they each currently are about double the price of the FZ-80.

I've not seen evening entertainment advertised in advance the same way the Insight speakers are.

I think the exception would be for the Jazz themed cruise, or when the National Symphony is featured.

i

I hope I explain this ok.

 

We board in Southampton on 10th August.. going to Hamburg, Oslo, Elsinore, Hamburg 9 nights. We didn't realise there are multiple cruises going on ie some passengers embark in America and stay on. Some get on in Hamburg, some get on for a couple of days, and when going back to Hamburg there will be others joining for two days.... etc etc. There are many multiples.

 

How do they arrange all the musters. Obviously we don't have to attend each one... so how do they do it?

 

Thanks.. just curious

This may not be typical, but we had one Muster [in NY Harbor] after boarding, then no drills for the next two segments [sOU to Le Havre; Le Havre to NYC]. Passengers boarding at either port did need to Muster.

First, let me thank Pierces, et. al. for their help back in April when I was trying to come up with an all-in-one lens to pair with the A6000/6300 for my wife's use on our September Vancouver to Hawaii cruise. I ended up going with the Sony 18-135 for her, but I like it so much that I'll probably acquire or rent another for my use!

 

Now I think it's time to further expand my skills and begin to understand the benefits of post-processing. Probably 99% of all my photos are used just the way the camera captured the image. Although I have in the past used Google's Picaasa, it was limited to simple cropping and using the "I'm Feeling Lucky" option for corrections.

 

I dont need to be able to do professional level stuff but would like to do the basics. . .color correction, the ability to remove that tree branch growing out of Uncle Tony's left ear because I didn't pay attention when framing, removing the person who decided to photobomb my landscape. . .

 

So here in 2018 what should I be looking at? How are Adobe's Lightroom and Photoshop different. Is Adobe's $10/month creative cloud subscription the way to go? How steep is the learning curve? Are there other non-Adobe options? I've probably got 50 other questions so you can see this is truly a "For Dummies" request.

 

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There are a couple of complementary categories of software:

• Digital Asset Managers or "DAM"
  
• Photo Editors
  

Lightroom is a DAM, is is Apple Aperture, Phase One's Capture One, Corel Aftershot, and even the open source Darktable project. Google and Apple each have a 'photos' project that is a lightweight DAM system.

The DAM products usually have additional features, like raw file 'developers', image adjustments [crop, rotate, color correction] and can tag and track files by photo metadata [time and place, keywords]. Some can do spot editing [e.g. removing a troublesome tree or utility lines] without needing an external editor.

Mostly the DAM based workflows are 'non-destructive' storing the image adjustments and the source files separately, using the stored image adjustments to produce on screen views, exports and prints].

Photo editors [Photoshop, Pixelmator, Paintshop, Acorn [many choices, including the open source GIMP project]] concentrate on dot by dot editing of image files. Some [e.g. Photoshop] have some image & outline recognition and/or canned recipes for common photo fixes and transformation.

Washrooms and refreshments

I do not recall seeing any - there may be a restroom between customs and the exit door, but if there is the sign is not prominent.

For stargazing - take a look at Cunard's enrichment speaker schedule - when there is a speaker from the Royal Astronomical Society featured, there is a [weather permitting] stargazing session - often with some telescopes. The enrichment schedule only goes through the end of 2018, so I don't know if that will be a feature of our next cruise.

We got to see backstage for free on our last voyage by joining the ship's choir. We were accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra with Anthony Inglis conductor and choir-master.

Don't forget - Captain Philpott also conducted a couple of pieces :-)

Thank you. Theses are the “snippets” I’ve been looking for. Anything to help our enjoyment.

 

 

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The behind the scenes tour mentioned that the the room service galley is on deck 10 - so room service orders may be a bit fresher than on other decks ;-)

After following this thread, I decided to ask for chip and pin cards. But no luck. My Venture One (Capital One mastercard) does not have a chip and pin card....I went all the way to a supervisor. My Delta Sky Miles American Express card does not offer chip and pin cards either. Both are chip and signature. So I guess it is what it is.

 

I will see if either of them can be used via Apple pay.

 

Last year in Paris, London, Iceland, Norway we had no issues using our chip and signature.

The Barclaycard [Visa] Apple uses for their special financing is a chip & pin card. It needs to be used *once* with a signature to enable the PIN feature.

I’m looking at booking my first Cunard cruise and since it’s the Norwegian Fjords, I’m looking at balconies for the first time.

 

On QM2 It looks like all the balconies on Deck 8 have obstructed views, so I’m guessing that’s due to the lifeboats.

 

Other cabins have the sheltered balconies. I’ve found a few pictures of that style and they look fine BUT I have one question:

Will I be able to get a good view and be able to see over the rail while seated OR will I have to stand at the rail?

 

Anyone have any specific recommendations of cabin or type??

Traveling with my mother who is 90. I want her to have a good view but not have to stand. Well, I want that for me, too.

 

Also interested in recommendations on the Victoria since she also has that itinerary.

 

TIA

Most of the deck 8 balconies have some degree of obstruction [on the deck plans they are categories DB, DC & DF. We has cabin 8.003 right next to the library [category BF] which was not obstructed. Aft of the lifeboats the rooms are Category BC - also not obstructed.

We usually book a 'sheltered balcony' and yes, the bottom of the port [the hole in the hull] is higher than height of eye when seated [need to stand to look straight out]. When seated, the view is just sky.

Please excuse my ignorance but what does Tad stand for?

There are only so many TLA's [Three Letter Acronyms] ;) - but I doubt it is Temporary Active Duty

Does anyone know if you have the same cabin for B2B cruises, if you are allowed to not fully disembark in between sailings? ie leave your luggage in the cabin.

If the B2B was one booking, you might use the came card for the entire trip [less work for the Purser's staff].

You may want to see if there are tours [ship's or DIY] on the layover day - often all hands are involved in getting luggage on and off the ship so shipboard activities are curtailed [no dining room lunch, room service; spa may be more concerned with sales than service].

You would think the USA would not be so far behind with there technology

 

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But the old hardware is paid for, still works - and the checkout folks know how to use it.

I think quite a bit of the delay can be attributed to the payment card service vendors [e.g. Chase's "Paymentech" service] My local supermarket had chip compatible hardware for years before the chip was enabled.

Contactless payment is so widespread that you really don't need cash in the UK anymore.

Whenever I visit the US I am always bewildered by the fact that most places still have machines that require you to swipe the magnetic strip on your card. It's like going back in time 10 years!

 

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The PCI requirement was for universal support of the chips in 2014 - needless to say this is not complete 4 years after the deadline.

We did our first [and second] transatlantic crossings last year as a round trip cruise [only two port days, in Southampton & Le Havre]. We liked it so much, that our next cruise will also be a TA round trip.

As far as weather goes, on the westbound leg QM2 was sailing through a tropical storm remnant, with force 11 winds. Despite this there were folks in the deck 8 pool and hot tubs, and even walking the promenade. [all the deck 7 promenade access doors were roped off, the 'observation deck' below the bridge was closed, the 'lookout' on top of the superstructure was closed]