Digital or Regular?

[Madi100]

I really don't want to take both cameras, but I probably will. I really like my digital camera, and I always take pictures with it, but I've yet to find a place that develops them well. Right now my only place has been Wal-Mart, and I'm not happy with the quality of Wal-Mart pictures. The paper just seems thinner, and the color not so bright. Besides that, my camera is about ready for the graveyard. My daughter dropped it on the floor. It quit working til I dropped it on the floor again. It works most of the time now, but sometimes I have to beat it around a bit. Time for a new one.

I love the ease of uploading pictures with my digital, but I still have to have the hard copy. For those of you who are strictly digital, do you get hard copies of your pictures?

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I usually get hard copies of the digital ones that I really like at CVS pharmacy or Target.

Another thing you could do, is get a bunch of disposable cameras. I like that as well and have never had aproblem with picture quality.

 

[Madi100]

I have a nice 35mm camera. I'm just not sure if I need to take both. I didnt know Target did digital. I want to do good quality for my Disney prints. I don't care the price. I have disposables for my kids, but I don't much care for them. We took them for our first trip and the quality wasn't bad, but you can't zoom, and I think zoom is a requirement.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

I have them printed at WalMart.

 

[kdibattista]

I invested in an HP printer (~$175) and it was the best money I have spent. I love printing my own pictures and the quality is superb!!!!

 

[FloridaCat]

Originally posted by kdibattista
I invested in an HP printer (~$175) and it was the best money I have spent. I love printing my own pictures and the quality is superb!!!!

Ditto, I buy Kodak paper, plus a simple photo editor lets you tweak and crop.

 

[ncbyrne]

We own several cameras...my favorite being a big old clunky SLR, but the camera bag, lenses, etc. are just too much to lug around WDW. DH carries and uses the digital on vacations. What I like to do is buy several of the quality disposables. I also bring along some prepaid photo devoloping envelopes and have checks made out ahead for each one. I drop them in the mail as the camera is used up. We always have several waiting for us back home when we pick up the mail. Oh, and btw...I use CVS for digital prints.

 

[andrabell]

I find the quality of the prints from my digital camera is far superior to prints from any 35mm I've ever seen. The best place to go for photo developing is Costco Wholesale (digital or otherwise). Costco makes digital prints in a variety of sizes starting with 4x6 at 19 cents each. They come out gorgeous on thick, glossy, high quality paper. They also did an 11x17 for me, for around $3.00 and it came out sensational!
I have used snapfish.com in the past. Thier prints come out nice too, but the paper is not as thick as that which Costco uses. The convenience snapfish offers of uploading and ordering directly from my computer is very nice though.
But if you're going for the best quality for digital prints, get yourself a Costco membership, it's so worth it!

---Andra
Mistress of the original Photo Phrenzy

 

[Goofmeister]

Digital.

You can review your photos immediately. You can edit the image later. You can get a variety of hardcopies how you want them.

We brought a couple of disposables for my daughter to use to take her own pictures. She thought having her own camera was great.

 

[bigsky]

Actually, I'm bringing our digital, 35mm and small video camera.
Love the quality of our 35 mm..and they're so cheap to develop at Costco. I like the digital to have some pics. right away and I can share with others right away when we get home.
The video, well you can't beat watching it over and over. All the memories. Luckily all of them are small. A little work, but I know I'd regreat it when I get home if I didn't have some video to remember our trip. But that's just me.

Have fun!


Laura

 

[Forever a Princess]

Both,

We use the digital for most of the pics but take the 35 mm with high speed film to get the fast action shots for the action packed stage shows like the Lion King and Tarzan Rocks.

Renee

 

[safetymom]

I love my Epson photo printers. I am spoiled because I hardly ever print at 4x6 anymore when I can print my own. Cost is comparable to store brand. Also Epson has a scrapbook paper now that the prints will last for 200 plus years which is much longer than traditional prints.

I upload them to my computer, burn 2 CD's, then I start to print.

 

[hdmichael]

Hi,
I have a digital Canon 10D SLR (which has ISO speed comparable to 100-1600 film speed) and a film SLR- both with at least 300mm zoom capabilities, plus a Kodak DX 4900 and a Nikon Coolpix 5000-- AND I have used all of them at Disney. When thinking about whether to take digital, film, or both, a lot of your decision might rest on what kind of pictures you like to take and what capabilities your cameras have.

First, you can get great prints made for your digital pictures-- and some online services do both matte and glossy prints (I have tried several, right now I like photoaccess.com (?) )-- so don't worry about the printing-- everyone has given you great ideas, especially Costco and Target. And the Epson Stylus Photo printers have great archival, long lasting ink.

Second, although I have used both my Kodak and Nikon digitals at Disney, I personally have found them frustrating-- neither had enough zoom for me or a quick enough response time-- but for many people they work great-- I loved them for scenery shots and shots that could be staged, but when my son turned around to spontaneously run back and hug the characters or did something in quick succession, I often missed the "defining" moment because of the camera "scan" lag. So I used to depend on my film SLR for those moments. So think about what kind of pictures and moments you want to capture and the ability of each of your cameras-- quickness of response/ shutter delay, film speed, flash capability, optical zoom-- that will most likely make the decision as to whether to go digital or film or both.

However, as an aside, I take a lot of pictures when we are at Disney (think in excess of $500 for developing for each trip-- even using cost effective developing places)-- and not all are definitely "keepers." (What's the old saying about 2 per 24 pictures turn out to be keepers even for professionals?) So I was finding film to be very cost inefficient and frustrating, not to mention a pain with airport security (I usually have them handcheck all film because I know people whose pictures have been ruined by the xray machines who had 400 speed film). Therefore, on our last trip two weeks ago, I basically just used the Canon 10D digital SLR-- I could check my pictures immediately, reshoot what I missed, and only print the keepers (0f course, I did not delete the others.) I will never go back to film for taking tons of pictures of my vacation-- the Canon took phenomenal pictures-- and would snap five or six in a row without hesitation. Diane

 

[tn4mickey]

If you don't want to print your own I would go to Target. We were not happy with WalMart either (they use Fuji paper). Target uses Kodak and it's the same price, 29 cents per print.

 

[kilee]

I personally prefer my digital. I also print my own pics. We invested in a really nice photo printer (it ran close to $200.00-- but well worth it!!) I figure I was spending $100-125.00 on film processing for my 35mm on Disney photos-- now I spend about $85.00 for the paper & Ink----

On our trip next week I will bring both. I will have my 35mm on hand just in case something (knocking on wood) were to happen to my digital. The 35mm is almost new and does a great job too. I just really like being able to arrange my photos into digital collages and stuff for my album.

I too burn the CD's to save on computer memory once I'm done working w/ them.

 

[kitkatsmom]

I love the digital pictures.
I don't print them out myself though. With the cost of ink and the amount of ink they eat through it's much cheaper to upload them to a site like clubphoto.com or ofoto.com etc.

I personally use clubphoto and their price is about 25 cents a print. However they offer specials quite often for pictures at 19 cents a print. Much cheaper and easier then printing out my own.

I simply edit them before uploading so I can crop or edit out red eyes etc.

However digital cameras aren't so great for fast action shots.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

I love my digital! I get a CD burned of all of them and pictures printed of most of them ! I have used Walmart because I like controlling what I get. I insert the card and choose how many copies and which ones I want prints of, and they are ready in an hour. You can even edit on their machine. That said, the pictures are matte, and I would like to try a place that uses glossy paper. I have seen that Target here will develop them, but it looks like I would have to hand them the card. Will ask when I am there today! I also have a photo printer I use if I decide I need another one or for emergencies. It is just quicker and I feel "safer" to have them done at a store(not positve how long our printer paper and ink will hold up-though I get the best).
On our last WDW trip we took both cameras but ONLY used the 35mm camera as a "second" for each character at the character meals we went too. I would take pics with the digital and DH would do the camcorder and 35mm. The digital prints turned out the best , and we enjoyed watching the slide show on TV at the resort each night.

 

[Madi100]

Thanks for all of your pointers. I've never fully relied on my digital camera before, and I'd hate to start doing it on a Disney vacation. Maybe if I get a new one before then, I will. Otherwise, I think I will take both. My new hobby is making slide shows. I'm going to put together a slide show for a family reunion, and I have started playing with other small projects so, the reunion will be nice. The other pluses I have found to using the digital over the 35 mm is the ease of uploading and deleting pictures I do not need. I still have a few months before I have to decide what I'm taking. Maybe Santa will bring me a new digital and make my decision easier.

 

[FatCow]

As much as I like 35mm, they are too expensive to print.

I tend to use my 4MP camera, and by the end of each day I'll select which images I can discard. At the end of the trip, I'll download everything to my PC, do auto colour and level balance on Photoshop 7.0, choose the ones for prints and take them to Costco.

In Canada, Costco prints for digital images, 4"x6" is equivalent to about 21 cents US.

 

[SharonS]

I only use my digital camera now. I have a Sony DSCS-85. I always have prints made. Before taking them to get printed, I edit them in Adobe Photoshop Elements. This way, I can remove red-eye, adjust color balance, etc. Also, the size of the image my camera takes is 2272 x 1704, which translates into a different ratio than a 4x6 print. I had some problems with taking pictures to get them printed originally, where the image would be cropped. Now, as part of my editting, I make sure and crop the image to the appropriate ratio, then I make the decision on which portions of the image will be cropped.