Lens packing/carrying advice

Be careful. A few years ago on my Disney trip, my dad left all of his gear in the bathroom. He set it down to wash his hands. Realized he left it about 10mins later. When he went back it was gone. Camera body, speedlights, multiple lenses and other accessories. smh. He's still sad til this day :(
 
I would take a cheap point and shoot but thinking about it I would never set foot in theses places, its not a place for prize wining photography so point and shoot would be perfect
 
Okay, multiple thoughts...

1. What you take depends upon what you like to shoot. Since you'll have family, I think swapping lens at Disney (unless you are a photographer and not a parent) isn't realistic.
2. Leave the speed light at home (unless you're talking photos back at the hotel or outside a restaurant at night). Not even for fill-flash...use your popup for that. Here's the deal...if Disney takes you for a pro (or if you're shooting commercial work or stock photography) someone will likely intervene. So tripods and speed lights are often the signal for someone to step in and say "excuse me, can I ask what these are for? Are you aware of photography policy within the park?"
3. As for me, I'd probably take the big zoom. You can attach that and leave it on.
4. Yes, some rides and locations will be dark. So you aren't going to get shots in those. But there will be a few places where you need to zoom in (b/c of a barrecade/wall) and someone where you want a shot in the distance. But mostly it's going to be a ton of people in bright light so a wide angle will be critical (unless you want to do a lot of post-production cropping).
5. Get thee a polarizing filter and do bring your lens hood. Also bring cleaning equipment (b/c it will be humid and probably hot so you'll sweat. Also bring a large ziplock bag in case you get caught out in the rain with an impromptu thunderstorm.
6. As someone else noted, these places are not noted for great artistic shots. Still....you can get a clamp that your body will screw in and then shot long exposures on rides that will produce some interesting shots...and the clamp is relatively cheap and not that big/heavy to schlep around.
7. As to the original question about padding...a towel is fine. I have a large fanny pack that holds 2 water bottles outside of the fannypack. I put some padding from a Timbuktu kit in there and it will hold a DSLR body and zoom (as long as it's not an f2.8 bazooka) plus other equipment quite well. And being in Florida, you'll want to use something like that to hold water bottles, a bag of wipes, sunscreen. Personally, I'm not big on backpacks (b/c you can't wear them in the car or on most rides--they'll have to come off--and then it's easy to forget them). But if you go with the backpack and just the one big zoom, then cushioning should be easy. A towel, a spare polo or t-shirt will do fine as long as it's in a pocket where it won't bang around or get water/juice dumped on top of it.
 
So bottom line is the pixel peepers say take the good stuff. The pragmatists in the group say take what's practical; the super zoom. If you think about it, you are probably no better off making this decision than you were before you asked! LOL!

Oh, and take the super zoom and capture your memories. Leave everything at the hotel. :)
 
My initial thought was to use the 50mm on dark rides since it gets down to 1.8.
You might be disappointed with the results in trying to take photographs in dark rides. Even if f/1.8 will allow hand-held shots, the shallow DOF could be a problem.[/QUOTE]
 
Just remembered that all I took to Animal Kingdom was the 70-300.
 
Lol it's a family vacation not a photo shoot. Take something small that will fit in your pocket. You don't want to be carrying a big bulky camera while dealing with crowds, and kids.

Memories are what is important not the image quality.
 
I would take a cheap point and shoot but thinking about it I would never set foot in theses places, its not a place for prize wining photography so point and shoot would be perfect

Exactly.
 
Lol it's a family vacation not a photo shoot. Take something small that will fit in your pocket. You don't want to be carrying a big bulky camera while dealing with crowds, and kids.

Memories are what is important not the image quality.
Sounds like a good point to me.
 
Whatever you take should fit in no more than a very small sling type bag that you can wear on the front, back or side. If it is easier to grab your cell phone you will end up with just cell phone shots (everyone in the family but me is perfectly happy with that).
 
Okay, multiple thoughts...

2. Leave the speed light at home (unless you're talking photos back at the hotel or outside a restaurant at night). Not even for fill-flash...use your popup for that. Here's the deal...if Disney takes you for a pro (or if you're shooting commercial work or stock photography) someone will likely intervene. So tripods and speed lights are often the signal for someone to step in and say "excuse me, can I ask what these are for? Are you aware of photography policy within the park?"

For the most part, Disney has no restrictions on cameras. They have a restriction on tripods & monopods based on size.

They restrict:
  • Tripod stands or monopod stands that cannot fit inside a standard backpack
But there are apparently no restrictions on camera, camera size, how professional the camera seems to be, etc.

They do have a restriction on what you may intend to do with the images:

Professional photographers with professional cameras or recording equipment, who are visiting Walt Disney World Resort with the intent to take photographs or recordings of people, Walt Disney World Resort properties or icons for professional purposes must make prior arrangements with Walt Disney World Resort Media Relations.

3. As for me, I'd probably take the big zoom. You can attach that and leave it on.

Hmm... that might run afoul of this restriction:
  • Weapons of any kind
Is that lens large enough to be used as a weapon? ;-)

I have an advanced point & shoot (A Canon G1 X) that I use specifically for taking to places where it might not be a good idea to take a DSLR (for any reason.)

I'm a bit disappointed by those of you who claim that you'll never get "award winning" photography in a Disney theme park. How can you people say that -- it's the happiest place on Earth?
 
All of the photographs that are used in the happy kingdom's advertising are taken by professionals with full access and cooperation from the park. The casual visitor is fortunate to get some half-way decent snapshots.
 
My husband and I frequent DISNEY a out 3 times a year. I brought my camera and tripod to downtown Disney for the first time last year. I was hanging around by the House of Blues and starting to take photos of the water tower on the tripod and DIsney Security approached us. She was nice but firm...what were we doing and why? She made sure we weren't professional photographers. I was a bit taken back but I guess this is the way of the world for them with so many people selling their images.
 

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