Lew wrote:
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For whale pictures you need the longest zoom you can get that is
stabilized for hand holding. Tripods are not very useful on a boat. I
have not seen whales from the three cruise ships I have been on, but
did get good pictures from a whale watching boat during a port call
on a Hawaii cruise. I was using a Panasonic FZ-40 with 420mm
equivalent, and wished for still more length. Lighting is usually
sufficient for noise to not be a problem.

While I've not done whale pictures myself, I have found that the 420mm
zoom on the Panasonic FZ20 and FZ5 which my wife and I own performs very
well. Their Leica lenses have excellent image quality. Yes, you may like
more zoom, but perhaps the most important thing (my wife says) is timing
both in spotting the whales and in getting the peak of the action!

Cheers,
David