Is taking a camera worth the hassle?

[Ashley Schoeller]

So I’ve been debating back and forth and i can’t seem to make up my mind. I want to take my camera to capture amazing photos but... I don’t know if it’s worth the hassle of taking it on rides and carrying it around then bringing my MacBook or iPad to upload. I recently just bought “phone lenses” wide angle, fisheye, and a macro. Should I bring my camera? What do you do with it when you get on rides?

Thanks for any advice!!

 

[King Racoon 77]

It really depends what you are wanting to do with any pictures you take. If it is just to post on social media then a phone will probably suffice. If you want to do anything more with them then a camera will capture far more information to use.

 

[drizgirl]

Nobody here can answer that for you. It's worth it to me. It might not be worth it to you. Do you enjoy using the photos after your trip? (By viewing, posting, making books, etc?) Will you regret if you don't take it? Will you regret if you do take it and have to carry it around? It's really all a personal decision based on what you enjoy and find important.

You could take it along and only take it into the parks a couple days, or take it one day and then decide if you want to take it the next.

And you don't have to take a laptop or tablet. Just bring enough memory cards to get you through and deal with downloading when you get home.

 

[sporadic]

Why bring your tablet and laptop? I'd leave those at home along with the gimmick phone lenses. If you delve deeper into digital photography, you'll be shooting raw and post processing which is better left until after your trip is over. If you're just wanting snapshots or to document things as they go along for posting to social media, I'd just use your phone. As for bags and cameras on rides, Disney caters nicely to that. I can't think of a single ride I've been on at WDW that I couldn't take my camera bag on.

 

[thomas998]

Nobody here can answer that for you. It's worth it to me. It might not be worth it to you. Do you enjoy using the photos after your trip? (By viewing, posting, making books, etc?) Will you regret if you don't take it? Will you regret if you do take it and have to carry it around? It's really all a personal decision based on what you enjoy and find important.

You could take it along and only take it into the parks a couple days, or take it one day and then decide if you want to take it the next.

And you don't have to take a laptop or tablet. Just bring enough memory cards to get you through and deal with downloading when you get home.

Yes... memory cards are cheap. And after having hard drives die and take a chunk of photos with them I now keep the memory cards and treat them like negatives. I will download the photos as usual when I get a chance but will keep the memory cards in a fireproof lockbox as they seem to hold up better long term than hard drives.

 

[drizgirl]

Yes... memory cards are cheap. And after having hard drives die and take a chunk of photos with them I now keep the memory cards and treat them like negatives. I will download the photos as usual when I get a chance but will keep the memory cards in a fireproof lockbox as they seem to hold up better long term than hard drives.

You must not take as many shots as I do. Nowhere cheap enough for me to do that yet.

I do keep 3 separate external sets of hard drives though. One on the computer I work from, and 2 in different locations that I back from time to time.

 

[thomas998]

You must not take as many shots as I do. Nowhere cheap enough for me to do that yet.

I do keep 3 separate external sets of hard drives though. One on the computer I work from, and 2 in different locations that I back from time to time.

It isn't cheap. But I try to keep costs down by buying lots of SD cards whenever I find them on sale. I applaud you having 3 set of hard drives... I wish I had done that when I lost my last big hard drive because I only had one back up drive and it decided to also die halfway through the restore process for the one that died first. I think that's why I have such a distrust of hard drives.

 

[officialtom]

I used to bring my dslr, but then I realized that I was spending a ton of time looking through the camera and staring at the screen rather than just enjoying my time at WDW. For the last couple of trips, I've just used my phone to get a few decent shots ... most of them are just going on instagram anyway! We leave again in 11 days and won't be bringing the camera because we want to be "in the moment" as much as possible without tech distracting us.

 

[drizgirl]

It isn't cheap. But I try to keep costs down by buying lots of SD cards whenever I find them on sale. I applaud you having 3 set of hard drives... I wish I had done that when I lost my last big hard drive because I only had one back up drive and it decided to also die halfway through the restore process for the one that died first. I think that's why I have such a distrust of hard drives.

Ugh, what a heartbreak that would be! I only ended up finally having 3 sets of externals because I upgraded when the higher capacity ones came down in price. Hopefully that will get the job done for me.

 

[BigRedDad]

It all depends on what you want to do. My last trip, I ditched my DSLR after Day 1. I was sick of the weight and bulk. I used a small P&S and relied on Photopass. It was much easier. However, I did lose a lot more shots that I normally would. I thought long and hard and took a deep look into my needs for a camera. I went with a mirrorless that is less than half the size of my DSLR, takes much better pictures, and is easier to take around.

There are a ton of extremely nice P&S cameras that will rival DSLRs for family and travel pictures. They are by no means cheap ($400-$1000), but they fill a huge need base for casual users. Others opt for their phones as a camera. That is ok if you want to look at pictures on the phone or social media. If you want prints, those are useless.

 

[Pixieish]

What kind of phone do you have? A friend of mine is a professional photographer and he's really impressed with the new iPhone camera. It's still lacking for low light (they still come out grainy), but for general pics, they're really not bad.

I just got my first DSLR before our last trip last year, and I'm head over heels for the thing...I have an iPhone 7 that I use for candids, but for anything where I want top-notch quality, I use my camera. I've not yet encountered any issues bringing my camera on the rides and I use a padded shoulder bag. (Just keep an eye on your lens cap, lol...hubby lost mine in MuppetVision 3D because he was trying to get pics that I knew weren't going to come out anyway - he tries to use it as a point-and-shoot.)

 

[thomas998]

I used to bring my dslr, but then I realized that I was spending a ton of time looking through the camera and staring at the screen rather than just enjoying my time at WDW. For the last couple of trips, I've just used my phone to get a few decent shots ... most of them are just going on instagram anyway! We leave again in 11 days and won't be bringing the camera because we want to be "in the moment" as much as possible without tech distracting us.

Very true. I've been trying to gradually cut back on the number of photos I take at Disney... I realized I've taken photos of everything that is really of any interest to me and found a good number of the photos I was taking were just re-shots of the same photos from previous trips... I haven't gotten to the point of leaving the camera at home but have gotten to the level of just taking a point and shoot in my pocket for about 1/3 of the trip.

 

[RScottyL]

Ashley, IMO, it will depend on how often you think you will get to go! If you don't go that often, then pictures and videos would be more important! If you have the luxury of going at least once per year, then you may not need pictures all of the time!