Disney World with Canon DSLR in July

[Jules54]

I have a question about carrying a DSLR/LENS combination around the parks in July. I know it will be hot and we will be doing a ton of walking. My current thoughts are to take my Canon 7D and Canon 24-105 4L. For those of you that have done this before;
1) Do you think that will be to heavy to carry around all day
2) Do you think the lens will be fast enough?
3) Can I realistically keep my camera dry while on rides?

I am thinking bright sunshine most of the day so it should suffice. I will probably take a 50MM also for night shots.

My other thought is to take a point and shoot and leave the DSLR at home or in the room.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[havoc315]

I have a question about carrying a DSLR/LENS combination around the parks in July. I know it will be hot and we will be doing a ton of walking. My current thoughts are to take my Canon 7D and Canon 24-105 4L. For those of you that have done this before;
1) Do you think that will be to heavy to carry around all day
2) Do you think the lens will be fast enough?
3) Can I realistically keep my camera dry while on rides?

I am thinking bright sunshine most of the day so it should suffice. I will probably take a 50MM also for night shots.

My other thought is to take a point and shoot and leave the DSLR at home or in the room.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

You'll be fine with a comfortable strap, but it may start to feel heavy at times. I've done both compact and dSLR, and there is something freeing about not lugging around the dSLR.

Definitely fast enough except for dark rides. You can use your nifty fifty if you really want dark ride pics.

I never had trouble keeping my camera dry, but bring a ziplock bag big enough to fit the camera, or bring a waterproof camera case, just in case. A few drops of water are not going to realistically hurt the camera. And Disney does not exactly have a ton of water rides.
The only real issue would be the River Rapids, where you can use a locker.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

For me, the key is the strap. My first trip with a DSLR and what I thought was a good neck strap was nearly disastrous and it was in Nov/Dec. The next trip I added 2.8 lenses and vertical/battery grips. I could not have done it without the Black Rapid strap. I would highly recommend a cross body strap. It seems to balance the camera weight better and takes the strain off your neck, especially with heavier lenses.

 

[MICKEY88]

I prefer the optech dual harness since I carry 2 cameras, I will never use any strap that attaches to the tripod mount, i've seen photos of what can happen, the tripod mount is not designed to support the full weight of the camera and lens upside down

 

[photo_chick]

I agree that the strap is important. A good strap can make carrying a heavy camera bearable. There's a few options out there. I love my Crumpler Industry Disgrace. It can go cross body, over the shoulder or around the neck.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

I prefer the optech dual harness since I carry 2 cameras, I will never use any strap that attaches to the tripod mount, i've seen photos of what can happen, the tripod mount is not designed to support the full weight of the camera and lens upside down

Some prefer the Optech system, others BR and there are several other good systems. There has been anecdotal evidence of BR/tripod connection failures, however I have only seen one actual photo attributed to that. I carry two cameras quite often (like almost every weekend) using the BR system with cameras utilizing vertical battery grips and have yet to have a failure. There is a metal plate lining the entire bottom of the vertical battery grip. For there to be a failure the entire bottom of the grip would have to fail. Highly unlikely. Also, my camera's (Pentax K5) body is made of magnesium alloy. Again extremely unlikely that it would fail. And there is always insurance to help defray the cost should there ever be a failure. The only time my camera has fallen while attached, is when it has been attached to the lens tripod connection and through operator error the body became detached from the lens (in the heat of shooting actions shots and switching cameras, I had hit the lens release button!). Fortunately, no damage.

 

[bob100]

I have a question about carrying a DSLR/LENS combination around the parks in July. I know it will be hot and we will be doing a ton of walking. My current thoughts are to take my Canon 7D and Canon 24-105 4L. For those of you that have done this before;
1) Do you think that will be to heavy to carry around all day
2) Do you think the lens will be fast enough?
3) Can I realistically keep my camera dry while on rides?

I am thinking bright sunshine most of the day so it should suffice. I will probably take a 50MM also for night shots.

My other thought is to take a point and shoot and leave the DSLR at home or in the room.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Take the DSLR for one day for some nice pics then the P&S the rest of the time for the ordinary pics. 50mm 1.8 or 30mm 1.4 will be much better for the darker rides.

 

[Jules54]

We just returned from a week at Disney. I took my DSLR and a point and shoot. I carried the DSLR 6 of the 7 days and on the one day I didn't take it, i wish I had taken it. I found carrying the camera to not be much of a problem. I got a quality strap (Crumpler Industry Disgrace, love it) and it was fine.

We also bought photo pass + so we could all be in some of the pictures. I found that combination to be perfect.

 

[cobright]

Think about all the places you have taken your DSLR.

Think about all the photos you took there.

Take a moment to enjoy the memory recall brought on by those photos.

Now STOP. How many times during this did you think, that would have been so much better with a coolpix.

Just sayin'.

(and yes, there is definitely a time and place for point and shoot cameras. If you have ever snuck into a strangers hows for the purpose of obtaining photographic evidence of a felony ... those coolpix P&S are actually pretty good)

 

[winthropf]

I agree with the strap comments. I use a Bushnell binocular harness for the camera. It spreads the weight across both shoulders and back. Doesn't put any of the weight on the neck.

 

[ratlenhum]

For me, the key is the strap. My first trip with a DSLR and what I thought was a good neck strap was nearly disastrous and it was in Nov/Dec. The next trip I added 2.8 lenses and vertical/battery grips. I could not have done it without the Black Rapid strap. I would highly recommend a cross body strap. It seems to balance the camera weight better and takes the strain off your neck, especially with heavier lenses.

ITA with the Black Rapid Strap. I carry around my Nikon with the 18-200mm lens all day. It's heavy with that lens but with the black rapid I forget the camera is there!

 

[Skywise]

What works for me (as a male) is a mid-size "messenger" bag (with shoulder harness). It's a canvas type with enough space to comfortably carry both my Canon T4i with one lens and my alternate lens plus spare batteries/cards, etc.

It's a little bulkier than just carrying the DSLR around but the bag offers some protection and I'm always nervous slinging just the camera off my shoulder while walking through crowds and bumping into people/things.

 

[photo_chick]

What works for me (as a male) is a mid-size "messenger" bag (with shoulder harness). It's a canvas type with enough space to comfortably carry both my Canon T4i with one lens and my alternate lens plus spare batteries/cards, etc.

It's a little bulkier than just carrying the DSLR around but the bag offers some protection and I'm always nervous slinging just the camera off my shoulder while walking through crowds and bumping into people/things.

This is why I have a Lenscoat Bodybag on my camera. I keep the camera on me (usually cross body) and the Bodybag protects it from being knocked about too much.

 

[DoDaLeCa]

Went to Disney in May for 5 very sunny days and carried the following in a ThinkTank SpeedRacer V2
- Canon 5D3 with 24-70 F/2.8 lens mounted
- Canon 7D body
- Sigma 70-200 F/2.8 OS lens
- Canon 16-35 mm F/2.8 lens
- Canon 24 mm F/1.4 lens
- Sigma 1.4x converter
- Canon 600EX RT speedlight

The bag weighed over 20 pounds loaded! I survived as the bag has a very comfortable shoulder strap plus it has a padded waist belt strap which takes a lot of load off the shoulder strap. Not having a backpack meant I didn't get hot with a sweaty back plus the waist belt keeps the bag from flopping around and I didn't worry about the bag slipping off my shoulder!

I carried the 5D3 around my neck or rested it on the bag when slung around in front of me or off to one side; I also put a Crumpler Industry Disgrace strap on it which greatly aided comfort over the stock Canon strap.