DisneySuiteFreak's Summer Nightastic Photo Intensive Trip Report; updated 3-17-2010!

[Disneygrl36]

Loved the jellyfish pictures. I think jellyfish are so beautiful & fascinating.
Knotts Berry Farm looks fun.......wow they do have some crazy rides!!!!

 

[seacrestpromo]

Thank you DSF! I used Windows Movie Maker and it compressed the file to about 165 megs. Viddler does not compress your files or time limit. You are only limited by file size, so with a little tweaking on your rendering, you can get the most use of video time.

Yea, P&S, you do have to deal with the momentary horizontal and vertical lines, but that is the trade off I can deal with.

For me, it is fun to experiment with this technology and see how far I can push it. It is also enjoyable to see the results and share them with others.

I would love to see some of your p&s videos.

Thanks! Sea

Whoa Seacrest, that was an awesome video! At 14+ minutes how did you manage to keep it under 500MB? I've never seen that site before but I like that it doesn't limit you on time like YouTube does. I guess the trade off is the limit of 500mb. Does it automatically compress the file to keep it under 500mbs?
I recently took some video with my Panasonic TS1 which is AVCHD lite video. Each file is still over 1GB so I am having a tough time figuring out how to upload it and where to upload it too without having to do too much editing. It's kind of a PITA, but it took pretty impressive video for a P&S, much like yours. The only downside to video from the p&S is that when there is bright light, you can see the straight line going up and down vertically through the video. Other than that, it's pretty darn good and convenient to boot! DH doesn't mind carrying it around and videoing for me with the P&S!

You will LOVE the D90! It has made a world of difference in my photography. I am now able to capture things I was never able to before with a P&S and with my older and still very good D80. The new-ish sensor in the D90 has made a world of difference.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Loved the jellyfish pictures. I think jellyfish are so beautiful & fascinating.
Knotts Berry Farm looks fun.......wow they do have some crazy rides!!!!

Thank you Melanie, I loved the Jellyfish too! We stayed there in that area for quite awhile. It's so relaxing to watch, and, I agree, very fascinating.
Knotts was a blast! We would've enjoyed it more if we weren't so tired out from being at the Aquarium all day, though. It's a really great park for families of all ages. I really enjoyed wandering around and checking out those old ghost town buildings. There was a whole other couple of rides in another area that we never made it to. We were going to go over because it was like a tall water ride, but saw that it was also crazy, so we passed. There was even another ride that you could go up in and see the whole area. It kind of circled around so you could get a 360* view. That one looked cool, but I think, like Sea World San Diego, they charge a nominal fee to go up on this ride. So we passed as there was plenty of other free stuff to do in the park.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Thank you DSF! I used Windows Movie Maker and it compressed the file to about 165 megs. Viddler does not compress your files or time limit. You are only limited by file size, so with a little tweaking on your rendering, you can get the most use of video time.

Yea, P&S, you do have to deal with the momentary horizontal and vertical lines, but that is the trade off I can deal with.

For me, it is fun to experiment with this technology and see how far I can push it. It is also enjoyable to see the results and share them with others.

I would love to see some of your p&s videos.

Thanks! Sea

OMG Sea, I can't believe I missed your post. Thanks for the info about WMM and Viddler. I think I need to look into that. I agree about the vertical lines - I can live with it too for the convenience! I totally feel the same way about how fun it is to experiment with the technology that's available to us. It's absolutely crazy the things we can do with a little point and shoot camera. I still have an old Dinosaur Camcorder that weighed about 3 lbs not including the battery and tape! It worked and was cutting edge technology at that time! I'm still trying to figure out how I can edit down my video I took w/ my Panasonic Point and Shoot. It's AVCHD lite. It's very bizarre. There is software to upload to Youtube, but it compresses the video too much. I've seen examples where people have uploaded directly from their file to Youtube vs using the upload option included in their software. My problem is that even w/ AVCHD lite, the file sizes are still too large to put in Viddler and Vimeo. The videos are too long, so I must edit them down for time for YouTube and for size for viddler or vimeo. Not sure which way I want to go...I don't have any compression software, so it looks like I'll be editing for time and see if that effects the size of the file enough to upload to Vimeo or Viddler.

 

[disneynerd420]

Beautiful Pictures! I really want to check out the Aquarium now. That looks amazing! Though I think you scared me out of Knotts for a while with the pictures of those coasters

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Beautiful Pictures! I really want to check out the Aquarium now. That looks amazing! Though I think you scared me out of Knotts for a while with the pictures of those coasters

The Aquarium was lots of interactive fun. Those Manta rays just loved us and kept coming around and trying to work it's way out of the top of the tank. He just loved to be petted.
Whaaaattt? How did that scare you? I thought you and Chris loved Screaming? These rides can't be that much more crazy than Screaming...Okay well, yeah they are probably more nuts than screaming! That one tower ride that shoots you up and down is about twice as tall as the Maliboomer! You and Chris should go on that! That'll get you over your fear of the Maliboomer right quick!
Thanks for the compliment! You guys should really check out Knotts on one trip, especially if you like daring rides. My son 20 had a blast!
Thanks for the compliment, I appreciate it and all your comments!

BTW, we got tickets to go to Knotts for $29 each because another nice Dis'er had the coupons to give. She mentions them from time to time on the Theme Park boards, so if you see it, follow up quickly and do exactly as she says and she'll send them to you. Her screen name is Perlster. We had admission for up to 5 people at that price. It was so nice to get out of the crazy busy DLR on that day and go to Knotts instead.

 

[MAKHayes-DisneyDiva]

Thanks so much for sharing your trip report! I am a total DL/Knotts Berry newbie, and my family and I will be there for a few days after Christmas!
Why is Pirates better at DL?
Do you know if Star Tours is exactly the same at DL and WDW?
Is Soarin' different at DL, compared to WDW?
The train robbery tide at KBF - is it a moving train, or more of a show?
And now for the biggest dumb newbie question: On the map, it looks like you can easily walk between the two DL parks. Is this true? Or is it more like WDW, where you have to drive or use public transportation to get from park to park?

If I'm waaaay off topic here, please move this.
Thanks!!

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

We want more!! There's more, right??!!

I really enjoyed your Knott's, Sea World, and aquarium pictures!! I haven't been to Knott's or Sea World since I was little. DBF wants to go to Knott's one day. I told him only if we're going to DLR too. I'd cry if I was that close to DLR and we didn't go!

 

[Robert TG]

Thanks so much for sharing your trip report! I am a total DL/Knotts Berry newbie, and my family and I will be there for a few days after Christmas!
Why is Pirates better at DL?
Do you know if Star Tours is exactly the same at DL and WDW?
Is Soarin' different at DL, compared to WDW?
The train robbery tide at KBF - is it a moving train, or more of a show?
And now for the biggest dumb newbie question: On the map, it looks like you can easily walk between the two DL parks. Is this true? Or is it more like WDW, where you have to drive or use public transportation to get from park to park?

If I'm waaaay off topic here, please move this.
Thanks!!

I'll give you some quick answers to your questions.
Star Tours is exactly the same.
Soarin' is exactly the same.
Pirates of the Caribbean is better at Disneyland, perhaps because of the Blue Bayou and two drops at the beginning, the order of the scenes and the ride seems a bit longer.
Yes, believe your eyes, Disney's California Adventure entrance is a 30 second walk from the Disneyland entrance. With a Park hopper pass it is like one Giant park.
I hope this helps

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Thanks so much for sharing your trip report! I am a total DL/Knotts Berry newbie, and my family and I will be there for a few days after Christmas!
Why is Pirates better at DL?
Do you know if Star Tours is exactly the same at DL and WDW?
Is Soarin' different at DL, compared to WDW?
The train robbery tide at KBF - is it a moving train, or more of a show?
And now for the biggest dumb newbie question: On the map, it looks like you can easily walk between the two DL parks. Is this true? Or is it more like WDW, where you have to drive or use public transportation to get from park to park?
If I'm waaaay off topic here, please move this.
Thanks!!

Thank you for reading and responding to it! Pirates is longer and it seemed to me that the drops were more significant in the DL version, especially the first drop, vs. the WDW version. Also the animatronics used in the ride just look a little bit different than the WDW version, and I am used to the DL version.
The train ride at Knotts Berry Farm is a show and it moves.
And yes DCA is literally right across the esplanade -- about a 30 second walk from DL to DCA!

We want more!! There's more, right??!!

I really enjoyed your Knott's, Sea World, and aquarium pictures!! I haven't been to Knott's or Sea World since I was little. DBF wants to go to Knott's one day. I told him only if we're going to DLR too. I'd cry if I was that close to DLR and we didn't go!

Thanks PPB! Yes there is more. I haven't finished yet, but hope to soon. I'm with you -- I would cry if we were that close to DL and didn't get to go. We really enjoyed Knotts and Sea World too though. They are nice to visit to changed things up a bit.

I'll give you some quick answers to your questions.
Star Tours is exactly the same.
Soarin' is exactly the same.
Pirates of the Caribbean is better at Disneyland, perhaps because of the Blue Bayou and two drops at the beginning, the order of the scenes and the ride seems a bit longer.
Yes, believe your eyes, Disney's California Adventure entrance is a 30 second walk from the Disneyland entrance. With a Park hopper pass it is like one Giant park.
I hope this helps

Thanks for answering RobertTG, I got busy offline and haven't been on for a while. I agree with everything you said!

 

[UmmGooD]

Your photos are amazing!

After seeing your thread I almost went out and bought a $1200 dollar camera. Shame on you! haha

I finally came to my senses. I really want to be able to take night shots like yours. A couple years ago I tried using a tripod in Epcot to do the same thing but I was not as satisfied with my results.

Part of it is I am not that great with a camera yet. The other part is I think having an image stabilization lens would help tremendously. I have the original Canon Digital Rebel which I bought when my first daughter was born. It still takes decent photos but has issues now like the clock doesn't remember the date every time I change the battery and I forget to change it so all my photos were taken in 1980. Second the CF card release is broke so I have to pry the card out of it.

I'll probably be getting a new camera soon. I so like the Nikon but I already have 2 lenses for my Canon so I am tempted by the 50d.

Anyway thanks for your great photos! I'll definitely be practicing more now and buy the camera when I have learned the tricks.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Thank you so much for posting UmmGood. I've had some issues going on, so I haven't had a chance to come on and respond to your post. Sorry it's taken so long. You know, the Canons are just as good as the Nikons. They all have their pluses and minuses. The 50D is a great camera. A friend of mine just upgraded his rebel to a 50D and he couldn't be happier. I think if you could swing a lens with Image stabilization, that would help a lot with hand held shots. Usually we turn off VR or IS when our cameras are mounted on a tripod. It has something to do with the camera wanting to hunt for vibration and thereby causing movement; that's why most people turn it off when it's tripod mounted. What kind of tripod did you use in your photos? Also, did you use a shutter release cable/remote or did you just push the shutter button? If you just pushed the shutter button that could have caused the movement in your photos. In that situation, it would have been better to use the camera timer and set it for say 2 seconds. Hit the shutter and that gives the camera an extra 2 seconds to stabilize itself before the shot is fired. HTH! I'm still learning about photography myself, so I'm no expert by any means! Good luck with your photography!
ETA: Let me know if you have any specific questions, I'd be glad to help with what I know.

 

[UmmGooD]

Thanks for responding! I do want an image stabilization lens. I just bought a really fast portrait lens to try out for awhile so I'll have to wait on the stabilization lens for awhile. Thanks for the timer point you are probably right. I currently do not have a remote and probably won't buy one for this camera as I don't think it is compatible with the 50d or whatever I purchase in the future.

My tripod is really cheap. Its stability could be part of the problem but I like it because it is easy to pack in my suitcase. I'll take my tripod to DL when I go in 3 weeks and see how I do again. I think the fast lens will help me out during the day and it is really sharp so hopefully that will help. At night I think my zoom will do. It was a cheapy and I plan on purchasing one similar to yours in the future but I want to be sure I'll be doing this for awhile before I drop the money on a semi-professional camera body. (As my photos get better my wife will be a little more supportive as the purchases get more expensive. She already questions me having 3 lenses.)

I think my next major purchase will be a flash.

Here is a photo of my cat I took with the new portrait lens.

Another question about lenses. I have a 70 to 300 lens as well and am thinking of selling it and eventually getting the 18-200 IS lens that canon offers. Do you use your 70-300 VR a lot even though you almost have the same range with the 200?

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Thanks for responding! I do want an image stabilization lens. I just bought a really fast portrait lens to try out for awhile so I'll have to wait on the stabilization lens for awhile. Thanks for the timer point you are probably right. I currently do not have a remote and probably won't buy one for this camera as I don't think it is compatible with the 50d or whatever I purchase in the future.

My tripod is really cheap. Its stability could be part of the problem but I like it because it is easy to pack in my suitcase. I'll take my tripod to DL when I go in 3 weeks and see how I do again. I think the fast lens will help me out during the day and it is really sharp so hopefully that will help. At night I think my zoom will do. It was a cheapy and I plan on purchasing one similar to yours in the future but I want to be sure I'll be doing this for awhile before I drop the money on a semi-professional camera body. (As my photos get better my wife will be a little more supportive as the purchases get more expensive. She already questions me having 3 lenses.)

I think my next major purchase will be a flash.

Another question about lenses. I have a 70 to 300 lens as well and am thinking of selling it and eventually getting the 18-200 IS lens that canon offers. Do you use your 70-300 VR a lot even though you almost have the same range with the 200?

You're welcome! Regarding tripods, lightweight isn't necessarily bad. I have a lightweight tripod I use for travel and another slightly heavier Carbon Fiber tripod. They each weight about 2lbs. The CF tripod is a little more table than the travel tripod, but of course heavier. I think my CFtripod was about $250 when I got it on Amazon and is now under $200. My travel tripod was $150 new, but I bought mine used for $60. I can get you the tripod names if you want to do a search for it and compare to similer. Let me know...
That's a really nice photos of your cat! What lens did you use for it?
Honestly, I have to say that although I used my 18-200VR lens for a lot of the photos in this trip report, I have found myself gravitating more toward faster glass and fixed apertures (like the 30mm 1.4 or 50mm 1.8) and my Sigma 18-50 2.8 lens. I have found that with the faster glass, I get sharper photos and because I have more leeway with shutter speed, less blurred or out of focus photos. The flash would be good if you intend to use it for portraits, but for landscape type photos not so much except as a fill to light up things in the foreground. I have an SB800 that I bought when i first got my previous camera (D80) and I hardly use it as I am a fan of natural light photos. I have been using it more frequently lately, but seriously I didn't really touch it for almost 2 years as I was more interested in getting faster glass and learning ow to use my camera. I couldn't afford the more expensive Nikon glass, so I tried the Sigmas and I haven't been disappointed yet. I waffled on it long and hard because of all the negative reports of people with front focusing or back focusing issues, but I've had none of that.
The longer lenses have some compromise I guess because of the convenience of the zoom. I have found in recent months that shooting with my 18-50 2.8 lens or the 30mm or 50mm gives me better photos and makes me think more about angles and composition. The downside is I have to zoom with my feet which is not always great to do when you're with family at a themepark.
Regarding the 70-300VR lens I use, I have found that I can get really good shots of Fantasmic with it due to the high ISO and 300mm. The extra 100mm makes a difference when you're shooting things far away and it is a much sharper lens than the 18-200 when fully zoomed out for some reason. But to be honest, when I'm at the park all day, that lens sits in the locker until right before I go to get set up for F! because it's heavier to carry around than my 18-200 or any of my other lenses and I'm lazy. lmao: I have used it for whale watching an even for concerts, but rarely for close photos. At 300mm though you should get one with IS because you can't handhold something zoomed that far out without some stabilization.
Anyway, I have to run out the door. I hope that helps and let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[UmmGooD]

Thanks for the tripod info! I'll definitely be getting a better one I think. Mine is a cheepy one I got at a black friday sale.

The cat photo was taken with the Canon 50mm 1.8 lens. I think the aperture was 2.2. I didn't use a flash at night indoors and it still takes an awesome sharp photo. The lens is really cheap ~100 dollars. They also have a 50mm 1.4 USM lens that cost 3x as much but the reviews basically give me no reason to buy the more expensive lens except for the focus motor noise and the build quality is not as good on the lens I bought.

I too like the natural light photos but I have two young kids and we have a lot of indoor events where I'll need a flash. The camera flash washes out the photos or I cannot get a good focus using it so I am hoping to get a better flash. I would prefer to get photos like the cat photo but my kids don't stay still long enough for me to get a good photo at a slow shutter speed.

I found the Canon speedlite 430ex II on amazon for 250 and I think that will be more than enough flash for me.

Thanks for the zoom info. The noise on my camera at ISO 1600 is pretty bad so I really can't use that. It is one of the first digital processors on an SLR developed by Canon so I'll have to get a new camera to fix that issue. I'll probably get a kit that has the IS zoom lens when I get my next body if that makes financial sense and take care of that. Then sell the 70-300 lens I have now since it lacks the IS.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Not sure if anyone is still interested, but I thought I should at least attempt to finish up this TR so I can move on to September 2009's TR.
Again, as before, the majority of photos are straight of out the camera as I have no time to post process and don't really know what I'm doing anyway. I promised RobertTG more POTC pics, so they will be posted here. I hope he sees this.) Anyway, on with the TR....

June 16 2009 Day 6

Today was supposed to be our last day in the parks, but OMG the crowds were huge! I should have known. We walked up before regular park opening time, saw the huge lines of people and foolishly thought that it was just busy because it was summer and all these people standing in line were tourists. Right. The line was past the halfway mark between DL and DCA when we got there, and by the time they started letting people in, it was almost to DCA. Nuts!

Lots of people waiting and that’s not including the ones who were already in the park!

People behind me:

And people in front of me:

And the park had just opened to the general public…
‘Scuse me as I try to take some photos of things above people’s heads…

First glimpse of ROA on this day…not a crazy amount of people…yet.

And straight onto our all time favorite ride, POTC:

In one of my favorite parts of DL – NOS…

There were a couple of workers setting up inside BB:

This guy is hard to get a decent shot of:

Can you see the skull illuminated in the waterfall?

Sorry if this is a repeat for some of you, but I just really love this ride…and every time I go on it I try different shutter speeds, EC, etc. to get a better feel for what works and what doesn’t. The rides were moving fast on this day so I had my shutter speed twice as fast as the previous time I rode it, hence the darker photos.

More to come in just a bit...

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

More Pirates:

Capt. Jack…

The donkey was missing…probably being rehabbed.

The dirty foot pirate was there:

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

More Pirates...

Capt. Jack’s eyes look weird in these photos…

From there we went immediately to get in line for Haunted Mansion!

To be continued...

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

The line for HM wasn’t bad at all. The park wasn’t a zoo yet. That would come later in the day…

What I love about trying to photograph the rides without flash is that every time I ride them they’re different. Angles change, perspectives change, sometimes it’s faster, sometimes slower. Such a challenge!

There really wasn’t much of a line at this point, so I rode it again.

Sorry these are slightly out of focus...it’ll be better on the next trip…

The Piano playing ghost:

The bride…this one never looks quite as evil as the WDW version of the bride…

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

This guy is hard to get because he moves constantly while you’re moving in the ride vehicle!

These guys are hard to get because they require a different exposure. As you can see I need to practice...

And here’s a self portrait of me and DS…

I forgot to add that we did FP Space Mtn as soon as we entered the park, and Indy shortly thereafter. Later in the day the line for Indy was nuts and the both Indy and Space shut down several times during the day. CMs told us that during the summer when rides are at capacity, they just can't handle it and shut down. They have to go through all kinds of safety measures before they can be put back in service and that takes time. Bummer...

This day was an all day and night Disney day, so lots more to come...