Going to Walt Disney World

[mblanton]

I am going to WDW with my family the 2nd week in June. I am definately taking my camera (10D), but I am trying to decide what lens to take. I'll take the whole bag to the resort, but I figure I will limited to the body and one lens out in the parks because of the excessive weight. I have three lens choices:

1. 17-40 L

2. 28-135 IS

3. 50 mkII 1.8

What do you think???

Mike

[defordphoto]

28-135.

[tommykjensen]

If You only want to bring one then number 2 would be my choice because of the longer reach.

I am going myself in April and I will bring my 20D + 17-40L + 70-200 f4L + 50 mk II 1.8 + 1,4x extender + my new Sony DSC T3 on the trip. Depending on where I will go I will take different lenses. For example at the big shows I will use the 70-200 and perhaps the extender.

[Scottes]

28-135 will certainly be the most useful there. While there's certainly some use for 17mm I don't think it would be used often. 28mm should be wide enough for most things, and the 135mm will come in very handy.

[boBquincy]

28-135 should cover most subjects but since the 50 is so light it might be worth carrying. You will need the f1.8 if you want to take photos inside some of the rides (of course you wouldn't use a flash).
A very light monopod helps a lot for nightime photos.

boB, who spends too much time at WDW ;)
www.mindspring.com/~bobquincy

[Motorsports Photo]

My personal advice is......

SKip Disney world and head another hour down the interstate to Busch Gardens.

MUCH more enjoyable.

Oh yeah, use any lens you want. Youll still have great pictures. (-:

-Pete

[ducdubbq]

the 28-135 is a great travel lens.i have it and its been great. But i also carry a couple fast prime lenses as well. small, light. and fairly cheap. so I'd bring the 50/1.8 as well. put it in a bag or a pocket.

[ed2150]

I agree with the other guys; my 28 -135 IS is my mainstay lens. Very versatile for general photography.

[markubig]

i say 28-135. i was there in february and used my tamron 28-75 the entire weekend. i would also bring the 50mm to shoot in some theaters, as they all don't allow flash.

TIP: a lot of the theater rides (mostly 3D stuff) spray water at the audience and. it usually comes from the seat in front of you, so have a shirt/jacket handy to throw over your camera real quick.

[Vegas Poboy]

I take alot of trips to parks & yes I have a 7 year old to keep up with. I'll pack jsut about 80% of my gear to the hotel. Then streamlining from there. Camera without the battery grip, one extra battery, 28-135 IS and I pack into the Tamrac Velocity 7 also include a disposable poncho & Polarizer filter. But I still carry 2+ gigs of CF cards.

[nbn22385]

If you have time, you should go over to epcot at night; the dome/sphere looks awesome lit up.

[JoeTampa]

I'd go with the 28-135 as well. You won't really need the 50mm 1.8 - I'd bring it just 'cause it can practically go in a pocket. There's not much you'll need the extra stops for that you wouldn't want more reach. About the only exception would be, say, shots of the Epcot ball all lit up, but you can shoot that at f/3.5 with no problems. I usually bring the 28-200 f/3.5-5.6 and have no problems. The 200mm is nice for the shows and to capture the family on rides.

BTW, as an aside, don't even think about buying Cf cards at Disney - they are easily 4x the price outside the park.

I also suggest Busch Gardens as well - and at almost all times, you can buy a pass that allows you to come back all year for about the same (is it the same?) price of your one-time admission. There's a nice "safari" ride you can take that will yield awesome animal shots - especially if you time it to the ride that's 2 hours or so before sunset. For animal shots at Disney, go to the Africa section of the Animal Kingdom - the safari ride there is also nice. Africa, in general, is nice photographically, although it feels a lot like "cheating". :)


- Joe (who is in Europe this month!)

[jon.s]

deffo take the 28-135mm IS I went in december and that lens stayed on for the 2 weeks more or less, also took the Canon 70-200 2.8 IS too and the 550EX flash and got some great results,
Enjoy your trip.

Regards,
Jon.S

[mblanton]

Well, my trip is quickly approaching and I have been getting lots of practice with the 10D. I like the 17-40 because of the wide angle and the fact that its L series, but I also like the 28-135 IS (I use this lens the most). I have been really frustrated lately because I can't seem to get the exposure just right and have to do alot of tweaking in ps. Today I went out and shot on fully automatic with both my lenses and my 420EX. I got amazing results. I think that I may have been trying to take in to much information at one time....BRAIN MELTDOWN! I'm going to backup and punt, so to speak and work with the fully automatic setting for a while and then switch over to AV or TV when I have time to really work a location and maybe do some bracketing.

When I get to disney I plan to remove the battery pack and I got a chest type harness from a sporting goods store. I have it on my camera now and it distributes the weight much better than the neck strap. I will probably take both the 17-40 and the 28-135 out at seperate times along with the 420EX in the daytime. I was wondering if the 10D (no battery pack) and either of my two lenses would be to top heavy for a table top tripod for night shots. If you know anything about this please let me know.

I bought two extra batteries so now I have 4 total, but I still have only 1 (1GB) CF card. I hope to buy another before we go, but if I can't I was wondering...does disney have anywhere to transfer my images to disc so I can erase my cf card and keep shooting. Let me know what you think?

Mike

[JoeTampa]

I don't believe so, and have never seen it offered, but then I've never sought it out. There are a few "camera stores" there that sell film, CF cards, albums, etc. You would be almost certainly better served finding a similar service off-property, especially from a price perspective. Alternatively, consider a digital wallet - you can dump the photos anywhere in the park and keep going. Even if the photo shops in Disney do offer that service, you'd have to go off and find one (there's perhaps one per park) in the middle of the fun.


- Joe

[ducdubbq]

they shouldn't be too heavy for a table top tripod. there are lots of garbage cans and eatery tables to use. World showcase has a retaining wall all around the lake so just get there early enough and plop it on top of the wall (one place i liked was in front of Germany, another was on the bridge crossing from China to the "outpost" coke place) the 17-40 should do real well.

MK is a bit harder to get a good table and may be worth going to walmart and picking up a 20$ tripod, especially if you're driving down and space isn't an issue. then again its probably better not to carry the extra weight and just go and have fun.

[ducdubbq]

I don't believe so, and have never seen it offered, but then I've never sought it out. There are a few "camera stores" there that sell film, CF cards, albums, etc. You would be almost certainly better served finding a similar service off-property, especially from a price perspective. Alternatively, consider a digital wallet - you can dump the photos anywhere in the park and keep going. Even if the photo shops in Disney do offer that service, you'd have to go off and find one (there's perhaps one per park) in the middle of the fun.


- Joe

1. avoid all camera shops in and around disney. they are a rip off of the highest degree.

2. to download your card to a cd is about 12$ and theres a few places to do it in the magic kingdom, epcot and even the studios.

3. i have an ipod to use to download to but the 20d doesn't work with it.

[mblanton]

Thanks for all the info. I think I am going to buy at least one more cf card before I go. That will give my 2gb to play with. I am also going to get the little table top trip. I can't wait to come back and post some of the pictures.

MIke