Tips on bringing DSLR cameras to the Disney Parks

[zeebs758]

In my upcoming trip, I plan on bringing my big and bulky Canon T3i DSLR camera. I'd like to take a lot of nice photos while I am there. I don't want to just have photos of my girlfriend and I standing in front of the castle. I want to use my artistic ability with a camera and take photos of all the different sceneries and landscapes at Disney World.

Do any of you have experience walking through the parks with a DSLR camera? I want to know the best ways about lugging it every day. I figured bringing one lens would do the trick so I wouldn't have to carry so much equipment. I will also bring a small tripod for the fireworks at night. Any tips would be very helpful. Thanks!

 

[habuma]

On my last trip (last December), I carried a Nikon D3000 with 18-55mm lens and a 55-200mm in the bag in case I needed it (I rarely did, but it did come in handy because I was there on the first day that Rapunzel's tower was up and I got some zoomed in pics of it). I also carried a small Sony Handicam for capturing stuff in motion. All of this was in a rather small camera backpack (Targus brand, about 14" tall and 10" wide).

I'm headed to DLR in just over a week and will be carrying all of the above *plus* a 50mm prime lens, a handful of filters, a lens hood (stupid me forgot it last time), and a very compact monopod (Manfrotto MMC3-01). My backpack is a bit more full than last time, but it's still not all that heavy. And I take the opportunity to set it to my side whenever I'm sitting to rest or for lunch so that my back gets a chance to rest. I'll be carrying to same mix of stuff again in December when I go back to WDW.

You probably already know most of this, but just in case anyone can benefit from it, let me share lessons learned from my last WDW outing:

• I forgot my lens hood. Lots of pics have odd glare on one side of them. Don't forget your lens hood.
• I forgot to put on my circular polarizer. This was really stupid. Most of the pics were kinda washed out. Be sure to have a circular polarizer on for outside daytime shots. Be sure to take it off for indoor or nighttime shots.
• I *did* shoot in RAW. This gave me wiggle room for post-editing to make up for the aforementioned mistakes.
• I had nothing to stabilize my camera in darkness, so I got very few decent darkride photos. The monopod is going to help me with this next time (I'll just extend it enough to reach the bottom of the ride vehicle and it will give the camera more stability.)
• I didn't carry the fast prime lens last time. This also had negative impact on my darkride photos. Will choose lens wisely this next time.
• For dark rides especially, shoot in burst mode. Shooting one frame at a time in such poor lighting conditions, it's a crap shoot on whether it will be good or not. Shooting 4-5 in one press of the button, you're bound to get at least one that looks decent.
• *PLEASE* turn off your flash. It has negligible (or often, negative) effect for most things you'd photograph at Disney, and it just annoys the crap out of anyone around you.
• Take *LOTS* of photos and take *LOTS* of memory cards (I'm carrying 6 with me at all times). Be ready to offload pics from those cards to your computer at night to free up space for the next day.

Most of all, have fun!

 

[joanna71985]

I used to use multiple lenses (18-55, and 55-200). However, I traded them in for a 18-270. When I had the 2, I usually kept the 18-55 on the camera, and the 55-200 stayed in the camera bag until I needed it

 

[fractal]

Buy a mirrorless.

 

[zeebs758]

On my last trip (last December), I carried a Nikon D3000 with 18-55mm lens and a 55-200mm in the bag in case I needed it (I rarely did, but it did come in handy because I was there on the first day that Rapunzel's tower was up and I got some zoomed in pics of it). I also carried a small Sony Handicam for capturing stuff in motion. All of this was in a rather small camera backpack (Targus brand, about 14" tall and 10" wide).

I'm headed to DLR in just over a week and will be carrying all of the above *plus* a 50mm prime lens, a handful of filters, a lens hood (stupid me forgot it last time), and a very compact monopod (Manfrotto MMC3-01). My backpack is a bit more full than last time, but it's still not all that heavy. And I take the opportunity to set it to my side whenever I'm sitting to rest or for lunch so that my back gets a chance to rest. I'll be carrying to same mix of stuff again in December when I go back to WDW.

You probably already know most of this, but just in case anyone can benefit from it, let me share lessons learned from my last WDW outing:

• I forgot my lens hood. Lots of pics have odd glare on one side of them. Don't forget your lens hood.
• I forgot to put on my circular polarizer. This was really stupid. Most of the pics were kinda washed out. Be sure to have a circular polarizer on for outside daytime shots. Be sure to take it off for indoor or nighttime shots.
• I *did* shoot in RAW. This gave me wiggle room for post-editing to make up for the aforementioned mistakes.
• I had nothing to stabilize my camera in darkness, so I got very few decent darkride photos. The monopod is going to help me with this next time (I'll just extend it enough to reach the bottom of the ride vehicle and it will give the camera more stability.)
• I didn't carry the fast prime lens last time. This also had negative impact on my darkride photos. Will choose lens wisely this next time.
• For dark rides especially, shoot in burst mode. Shooting one frame at a time in such poor lighting conditions, it's a crap shoot on whether it will be good or not. Shooting 4-5 in one press of the button, you're bound to get at least one that looks decent.
• *PLEASE* turn off your flash. It has negligible (or often, negative) effect for most things you'd photograph at Disney, and it just annoys the crap out of anyone around you.
• Take *LOTS* of photos and take *LOTS* of memory cards (I'm carrying 6 with me at all times). Be ready to offload pics from those cards to your computer at night to free up space for the next day.

Most of all, have fun!

Thanks for the great tips! I didn't think of bringing the monopod or lens hood with me. I'm not sure if I will shoot in raw but we'll see. I have two 32gb sd cards that I will bring with me. That is about 8000 photos I can hold, I don't want to bring my laptop on the trip. I want to take video as well so thankfully my Canon has the option of doing that instead of bringing a separate camera. Thanks again!

 

[Lord_Vader]

My typical plan...

I carry the DSLR (just upgraded to the Canon 70D,) Canon 24-105 as walkabout lens, Tamron 10-24 for wide angle shots and Canon 75-300 for long range only when needed with at least 256Gb of memory cards and Manfroto travel tripod for night shots. Get a good comforable bag that is weather resistant.

If you plan on taking shots of fireworks, I highly recommend a wired/wireless remote to eliminate any/all movement of the camera body during long exposure shots.

As @habuma stated, use your no flash setting or all manual with no flash as much as possible and never on any ride as it seriously disrupts everyone else's ride.

Have fun!