Photography, Large Groups and Newbie to River Cruising

[Canal archive]

cbb is absolutely right I have come across very few places in Europe where photography is banned completely if it is it usually in places that out of courtesy you would not use your camera in any case, some places do request no flash but that is no problem these days. On my first river cruise I only took my Cannon Ixus which is fantastic for a point and shoot and has excellent movie capability but kicked myself for leaving the DSLR kit at home. Next cruise took the lot even the paparazzi lens and did not regret it, this year may even take the monopod, although might have a fight about that one. You will defiantly need as much card space as you can possibly get it will save you having to sort card space if you run out and you can have a fun time on your return weeding out the rejects and the odd photographic whoops. Do remember your chargers even though I have a battery pack on the DSLR I still needed to charge them and the Ixus uses a different battery size. I did not take the external flash and did not miss it once.

Happy shooting and cruising.

P.S. I have never been anywhere in the world that requires you to deposit your camera.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Canal archive

[Got2Cruise]

St Petersburg Russia makes you pay some sort of camera fee.

[Canal archive]

I actually don't mind paying as long as it's reasonable the first time I came across that was some years ago in Singapore. It is a way of getting a bit more income as otherwise we may buy images in their shop. I can also understand some places banning flash photography altogether the quality of lighting in museums and art galleries for instance is in many cases critical.

[Turtles06]

Which attractions forbid photography or require you to deposit your cameras and phones?

 

Any comments on taking videos versus still images? As I am the main photographer in my family, I think I'll be taking the video camera and my iPhone 5S, but not sure if I should also take the DSLR with the 18-200 mm lens. If the attractions don't allow photography then I don't want to check in three things every time.

 

I also have an iPhone 5s, and while it takes amazingly good photos, I would NOT want that to be my only still "camera" on any trip. It's zoom capabilities, for one thing, are pretty poor. I agree with the advice above to take your DSLR; I too have an 18-200mm lens, and it's a great walking around lens for the type of trip you'll be on. I think you would truly regret not bringing that gear.

 

I also wanted to echo the question above -- do you really need a dedicated video camera? Does your DSLR not take video?

 

Finally, I wanted to suggest that you not put your whole trip on one or two memory cards, but use different cards on different days, or at least every couple of days. That way, if something happens to your camera or a card, you haven't lost your whole trip. Memory cards are relatively cheap now.

 

Have a great trip!