hey guys I go about once a year and the fun for me is taking the camera. For those of you planning on taking a DSLR and planning on shooting allot. (I average between 2500-5000 shots per trip it would be 4 times that but I have to take into consideration my wife is on vacation too) So what are you going to take? Well that depends on how long your going to be there and who is going with you. For me its usually just me and my wife and we go for 10 days with 8 days in the park and this is what I carried last time.
D3000 with kit lens.
35mm F1.8
55-200mm VR.
Flash Sb-600
gary fong light diffuser
Manfrotto tripod 785b
memory cards filters and cleaning gear for the camera.
tamarack aero 80 back pack
Sounds like allot of gear at first to some but with a backpack I can easily pack all my gear in the lower compartment and the top is free for the wife to stuff with things she buys or things she is sick of carrying with in reason. You have to make sure the people with you understand your not a pack mule because you have on a backpack.
You can get hot with a backpack on if you go in the summer so that is something else to think about. (I go in the fall when its cooler)
The backpack has one other great feature it doesn't look like a camera bag we all like to think that nobody would ever do something nasty at disney but it has happened and making your expensive camera bag look like an everyday backpack is good insurance. That being said my camera never leaves my side if going on a ride I find a place for it or if a cast member wants to take it I make sure I get their name and know exactly where they are going to put it.
One other thing that will help you is think about where you are going and when you will be done in the park, if you will be done taking pictures before its dark for whatever reason leave the tripod and flash in the room. The same goes for lenses the light diffuser filters anything other than your DSLR and primary lens.
For my next trip I will be taking the following.
D7000 with kit lens 18-105mm.
35mm prime F1.8
50mm prime F1.8
55-200mm VR.
Flash Sb-600
gary fong light diffuser
Manfrotto tripod 055XPROB with 496RC2 Ballhead a couple pounds heavier than my old tripod but allot more stable.
memory cards filters and cleaning gear for the camera.
tamarack aero 80 back pack
Blackrapid camera strap (a must have for long camera wear in my opinion I love this thing if you get a DSLR this should be the very next purchase I have done 10 days with my camera around my neck with the nikon strap and will never go back to it)
First off I will cut the list down depending on what I am shooting some days I may just take the camera and one lens and leave the rest at the room. When I am just walking around the park I plan to take the 18-105, 55-200 and 35mm prime lens.
Gear tips:
A lens with a low f-stop like 1.8 will allow you to take better pictures indoors or at night because they allow more light into the camera(this is whats referred to as fast glass), when you buy a Prime lens it is only that one focal length so if you want to zoom you have to move. The lens wont do it for you its fixed, but a lens with a 2.8 f-stop that will zoom costs anywhere from 1100-2500 or more while my 35mm prime cost me 200.00 and my 50mm I got on sale for 149.00 for that kind of savings I will do the shuffle lol. I know what your thinking what if I cant shuffle say at a dinner show well try to get there early and pick your seat and if you only get one good shot thats better than 10 crappy ones with a different lens.
That brings me to the next thing you see I upgraded my camera, the D7000 is far and away a better camera in low light situations than my old D3000. Does that mean you need a D7000 nope for that matter do you need a DSLR to take vacation photos? nope the only thing you need to have is fun its a vacation. I really enjoy taking photos so I invest in that part of my vacation there is nothing wrong with your point and shoot photos. I have two large gallery wrapped canvases in my home of shots I took at Epcot with a Canon S110 point and shoot camera and people love them when they see them so dont think you have to run out and buy the best this or that. There are other reasons for wanting the D7000 HDR photography among other things that made sense for me to upgrade not just low light photography.
Have fun with what you can afford and if you decide photography is your thing do your research and then decide what camera and lenses you would like and slowly build your set up from there. One word of caution well a couple first off when I got into DSLR's and photography as a hobby I was drawn to telephoto lenses like most are when they get into the hobby, but for disney I think if you only had one other lens to take besides the kit lens that comes with your camera I would take a super wide angle something like the Tonkina 11-16mm. Why such a wide angle well think of the park if you shoot at 12 or 13mm ( you never shoot at the full extreme of the lens's focal length or f-stop as this will result in slightly soft focus ) you get a nice wide view of the park you can get a entire stage in the frame while watching a show or the entire fireworks display etc. I have a 70-300mm zoom it makes a nice paperweight but thats about it. I made another mistake when first getting into DSLR's I at first bought a D40 then a week later the D3000 came out I convinced Best Buy to let me return the D40 and switch to the D3000 then I read the reviews you know all the ones saying stick with your D40 so do your research first newer isn't always better.
Hope this helps people who are debating taking a DSLR to the park or any camera for that matter.
