Pirates of the f1.8

[rtphokie]

All are shot last week in Pirates of the Caribbean in WDW at f/1.8, ISO 1600 (unless otherwise noted) with a Canon 50mm fixed lens and a Canon Rebel XT. Pirates is a fun challenge due to the extremely low lighting conditions.

Our first glimpse of Captain Jack. 0.125s (1/8)

We wants the redhead. 0.02s (1/50)

love the tattooed parrot 0.05s (1/20)

I was naughty and used a flash there at the end. f/4.5 0.0166s (1/60)

He looks much more plastic in a still photo with a telephoto lens. Okay I used a flash twice. We were the only ones in the boat.
Canon 200-300mm USM f5.6

The show Jack Sparrow puts on outside the attraction is not to be missed. f/5.6, 0.01s (1/100), ISO 200

 

[mikamah]

YOU USED A FLASH!!!!! Daring aren't ya?
Great pictures. I'm happy to see what that lens will do. I just got it too, but haven't done too much with it yet.

 

[Golf4food]

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to see it does it make a sound?

If a flash goes off in an empty Pirates of the Caribbean and there is nobody else around, does it really matter?

Nah.

Nice shots.

 

[boBQuincy]

Is it ok to break the rules if we think no one is looking?
No flash means no flash. Newbies look up to the people on this board and it doesn't look good when we post photos of us breaking the rules.

 

[rtphokie]

Is it ok to break the rules if we think no one is looking?
No flash means no flash. Newbies look up to the people on this board and it doesn't look good when we post photos of us breaking the rules.

Lighten up Francis.

 

[Gdad]

Your camera figured out the white balance better than mine. That ride drives me nutz.

 

[Colleen27]

Wow, those are some great shots inside the ride! And great timing to see what the large aperture lens can do, as I'm sitting here debating ordering a 50mm f1.7 for my Sony A100.

 

[Gdad]

Lighten up Francis.

Okey-dokey Sergeant Hulka.

 

[rtphokie]

Your camera figured out the white balance better than mine. That ride drives me nutz.

Have any luck with Haunted Mansion? Take the red cast to everything in Pirates and replace it with blue on the Haunted Mansion:

I was surprised how 2D her face looks, especially since guests are passing this effect by 90+ degrees. I figured this figure was done the same way as the singing busts (moving images projected on a smooth but 3D surface).

This is the only shot I had from the Haunted Mansion that came out worth a @#$%^&

 

[Gdad]

Yes- I took quite a few of her. I agree the rest of the ride is tuff- especially with a 3yo who has a death grip on your right arm.

Have any luck with Haunted Mansion? Take the red cast to everything in Pirates and replace it with blue on the Haunted Mansion:

I was surprised how 2D her face looks, especially since guests are passing this effect by 90+ degrees. I figured this figure was done the same way as the singing busts (moving images projected on a smooth but 3D surface).

This is the only shot I had from the Haunted Mansion that came out worth a @#$%^&

 

[Code]

Yes- I took quite a few of her. I agree the rest of the ride is tuff- especially with a 3yo who has a death grip on your right arm.

Wow Gdad, that is a really great shot, and you too rtphokie (I agree about the 2D face). I only had 1 shot at her and didn't do very well. We were there on re-opening day and waited at the Fantasyland rope drop and were in the 2nd group on, but we still didn't have time for a second ride as we had an ADR to catch then our flight home. I didn't do nearly as well as yours, I regretted not getting one axe drawn. Next time

 

[Code]

Oh and here are my 3 attempts at Pirates even remotely worth salvaging. Pretty sure I can do better on this ride next time, too. These were taken on day 2 of owning my 30mm f1.4 and I was still getting the hang of dealing with razor thin DoF.

 

[MICKEY88]

Wow, those are some great shots inside the ride! And great timing to see what the large aperture lens can do, as I'm sitting here debating ordering a 50mm f1.7 for my Sony A100.

you should be able to find a Minolta 50mm 1.7 for under 100

 

[Groucho]

For comparison, here's the bride from Disneyland's HM... looks a bit different. This was ISO 3200 and didn't grab focus terribly well... I'm thinking that continuous focus might work better on a ride than regular AF.

As for flash, there's always boats in front and behind you...... it'd be tough to find a time when you're not going to distract someone. I admit that I'm a stickler on this - in fact, I emailed one of the websites recently (AllEarsNet? MousePlanet?) after they posted a bunch of flash photos from HM after it reopened. Besides, the photos with flash usually look bad as the animatronics aren't designed to be seen under such harsh lighting.

Code, how are you liking the Sigma 30mm F1.4? I wouldn't mind one of those some day, although I'd leaning towards saving up for the Pentax 31mm F1.8 although it costs at least twice as much... decisions decisions.

 

[Gdad]

Code, how are you liking the Sigma 30mm F1.4?

I have been looking at that lens also. Seems like a good value.

 

[Code]

I'm thinking that continuous focus might work better on a ride than regular AF.

I was thinking the same. Here's what I am going to try next time: continuous shutter, C-AF with release priority off (will not fire without focus lock), and shutter priority set to the slowest I think I can get away with to get mostly blur-free shots (if aperture is maxed, underexposed > blurry, right?). Maybe even go a little beyond that and just pray to the gods of image stabilization Then I can just concentrate on a focus point, hold the button, and the camera will rapid fire shots whenever focus lock triggers.

Sound OK?

I hadn't previously tried C-AF very much, but when I did I didn't have much luck because the kit lenses couldn't really keep up (too slow initiating focus moves, too slow actually moving, too many false focus locks). The Sigma 30mm is HSM, though, and I did a test today shooting as described above while approaching the subject at a brisk walk and it kept up very well with very few false locks. Wish I had thought of this at Disney.. oh well, next time!

Code, how are you liking the Sigma 30mm F1.4? I wouldn't mind one of those some day, although I'd leaning towards saving up for the Pentax 31mm F1.8 although it costs at least twice as much... decisions decisions.

I have been looking at that lens also. Seems like a good value.

I'm not speaking from any experience with primes besides this one, but I like it. It's my first high speed focusing lens, which is fun, and my first real experience with large aperture/thin DoF. I'm using a 4/3rds camera so the 35mm equiv is 60mm, which in terms of shooting at WDW with it as my only night/indoor lens worked out reasonably well, and for its main purpose at home (indoor candids, and portraits) it is perfect. It is definitely a little soft wide open, but that is to be expected.

 

[Code]

I wouldn't mind one of those some day, although I'd leaning towards saving up for the Pentax 31mm F1.8 although it costs at least twice as much... decisions decisions.

Oh and I was in the same boat pretty much, there is a Panasonic Leica 25mm f1.4 for 4/3rds that is apparently superb, but at twice the price I had to go for value to fill the need of the moment.

 

[JR6ooo4]

YOU USED A FLASH!!!!! Daring aren't ya?

The daring part is admitting here that you used flash in a dark ride...

Mikeeee

 

[Gdad]

It is definitely a little soft wide open, but that is to be expected.

Why do you say that? The sample images I saw did not look soft to me...

 

[Code]

Why do you say that? The sample images I saw did not look soft to me...

At the pixel-peeping level, the difference in sharpness between f1.4 and say f2.0 or f2.8 is (if just barely) apparent, but at normal print or screen size the overall reduction in sharpness isn't noticable to me.. I can post an example later tonight if you want. I only included the info in my thoughts about the lens because it seems like every review I have read of a fast prime lens talked about sharpness wide open vs not.. and very few (any?) perform as well wide open as they do 1 or 2 stops down.