# Camera settings from a moving River Cruise boat???



## cnardo (May 23, 2014)

Looking for advice on camera settings for taking pictures from a moving river ship. Taking a River Cruise from Amsterdam to Basel along the Rhine. Traveling during the day, golden hours and at night.... Will have 5D3 plus 16-35L, 24-105L and 70-300L. I have other lenses if folks recommend better lens combinations. I have tried before with a T4i and Tamron 18-270 and then with a 5D2 + Tamron 28-300.....without any impressive keepers. Hope to do better this time. (I decided to take Tamron lenses for weight/size considerations ... But will NOT wimp out this time). Thanks in advanced.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (May 24, 2014)

cnardo said:


> Looking for advice on camera settings for taking pictures from a moving river ship. Taking a River Cruise from Amsterdam to Basel along the Rhine. Traveling during the day, golden hours and at night.... Will have 5D3 plus 16-35L, 24-105L and 70-300L. I have other lenses if folks recommend better lens combinations. I have tried before with a T4i and Tamron 18-270 and then with a 5D2 + Tamron 28-300.....without any impressive keepers. Hope to do better this time. (I decided to take Tamron lenses for weight/size considerations ... But will NOT wimp out this time). Thanks in advanced.



Fast shutter speeds are needed, since IS will not be a big help due to the moving subject in addition to rocking of the boat. This usually means that a fast prime is best, because you can use it at wide apertures which allows for a high shutter speed as it gets dark. The high ISO capability will help.



Since you took the trip before, you can review focal lengths and multiply by 1.6 to get the FF equivalent. If 10mm gave you the image you like, a 16mm will provide the same field of view on full frame.

Use lenses f/2.8 and faster, in order to keep ISO levels as low as possible. Rent or borrow a 70-200mm f/2.8, or if you have primes, bring them.


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## IMG_0001 (May 24, 2014)

The dutch canals should be a slow and smooth ride so I don't think there would be much problem for daytime pictures. For lower lights, bring up the iso and adjust aperture for desired depth of field I'd say.

since you've already done the cruise, I'd day review your itinerary and past pictures. Try to pinpoint what you don't like about your images and on thinking beforehand of what you could do to improve. Would compression from a telephoto give nicer result or more dramatic perpective from wide angle bee better and so on. Plan your images.

Also, do you want pictures from aboard or of landscapes. Possibly mixing pictures from life on the boat to those from the scenary could make for a nicer series of images that tell a story. If you unboard from time to time, pictures from the landing zone may also be interesting.

Well, to sum up, just try to find what you don't like in your previous work and build from there.

And have a nice cruise.

Edit- to add to MtSpokane answer, you may want to think about depth of field if you mainly intend to shoot the landscape. Large apertures a good for speed, but may not give you enough dof for landscape in low light. Always tradeoffs...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (May 24, 2014)

IMG_0001 said:


> Edit- to add to MtSpokane answer, you may want to think about depth of field if you mainly intend to shoot the landscape. Large apertures a good for speed, but may not give you enough dof for landscape in low light. Always tradeoffs...


 
My comment specifically referred to night shooting, I think that just getting a good shot at night will be a issue, depth of field will be secondary.


Here is a shot I took just as dark was setting in from a tour boat of Seattle as we approached the shore. I used my 135mm L at f/2 and 1/60 sec. ISO 3200 with a 5D MK II. The shutter speed was not fast enough to stop motion blur. Depth of field was not something that I could control, but I don't see that its as big of a issue as the motion blur. The boat was going over waves, so I tried to time my shots for the instant when it was at the top of a wave, but 1/60 sec was too slow. Even if the boat is rock solid, the movement of the scenery requires as fast of a shutter speed as you can afford to do.


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## IMG_0001 (May 25, 2014)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> IMG_0001 said:
> 
> 
> > Edit- to add to MtSpokane answer, you may want to think about depth of field if you mainly intend to shoot the landscape. Large apertures a good for speed, but may not give you enough dof for landscape in low light. Always tradeoffs...
> ...



So did my comment. It was not meant to take anything away from your suggestion. I just wanted to remind the op that the speed comes with a side effect, shallow dof, which can also pose problem in itself. As I said, its always tradoffs. You choose want you need and what you're ready to sacrifice.

Taking night pictures from a moving boat is surely a challenge. However, I'd expect a river cruise to be less bumpy than an open water one. I've seen the dutch canals and they are very 'quiet' and if I recall correctly, there is not much white water on the Rhine either.


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## wickidwombat (May 25, 2014)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> cnardo said:
> 
> 
> > Looking for advice on camera settings for taking pictures from a moving river ship. Taking a River Cruise from Amsterdam to Basel along the Rhine. Traveling during the day, golden hours and at night.... Will have 5D3 plus 16-35L, 24-105L and 70-300L. I have other lenses if folks recommend better lens combinations. I have tried before with a T4i and Tamron 18-270 and then with a 5D2 + Tamron 28-300.....without any impressive keepers. Hope to do better this time. (I decided to take Tamron lenses for weight/size considerations ... But will NOT wimp out this time). Thanks in advanced.
> ...



yep really needs to be 1/200 sec or faster once the light gets bad 1.4 primes will be best, the canon 135 f2L is also an excellent option for the longer end (i'd take this over the 70-200 for that reason, however you are on the boat so ability to move around is limited so the versitility of the 70-200 might be better if you can handle the extra stop of ISO you will need


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