Disneyland is attempting to ban some cameras

[NostalgicDad]

How about we all just crawl into a hole and never come out? Today's society is becoming way to sensitive to every single thing in life. If I'm out enjoying myself in a public place, then I simply realize that my "visable" privacy is automatically in jeopardy. People can take pictures of me all day long. I'm fine with that. If I do something stupid, like moon the photographer, then that's my bad.......not the photographer's.

Good lord.......

 

[mystic_path]

Well if Disney starts doing it then every other theme park will have to start doing so as well... and there are A LOT of theme parks. I can see the pros and the cons of this, but there is a line thats gonna be completely crossed by everyone at some point.

 

[Disney Dreams]

The rule about professional photographic equipment has always been there.

Very interesting experience you had. Btw, did you end up taking your camera into the Park?

 

[Vala]

If I break one of the point and click cameras there'll be glass shattering as well. Boyfriend has already successfully managed to do that.

I only have my Canon as I said, and the choice between those two lenses.
I took it to Disneyland the last two years without a problem, and I am 99 percent sure that this note about "professional cameras" was on the website back then already. Nobody ever said a word.

I know I'd be more than unhappy to be suddenly told when entering the park that I couldn't take my camera.

If they are working with this new policy now, 1) an advance message on at least the website would help and 2) a list of what's allowed and what not would be helpful too. It's really making me feel uncomfortable to know that they seem to be pretty much doing guesswork now.

Now I'm still at home and I can try and borrow another camera.
My budget simply wouldn't allow me to go to Walmart and buy another one in Anaheim, or even get one here. I know there's still those film camera things with 36 pictures that they sell, but we're there for a week and I love taking photos. So this isn't exactly an option either.

I tried calling Guest Services and check with them, but of course the office is closed until Monday. I'll give them another call right away when they open.

 

[DesertBell]

OP, what kind of zoom was it?

 

[disneyscootergal]

Vala, you do NOT want to go the disposable point and shoot option. After our 1st trip in 2003, when I took my older Canon Rebel (with a zoom lens) and got great pictures but very tired of lugging it around, I opted to buy nice lightweight disposable cameras for our 2005 trip. I bought them at home to save money, and I bought about 6 so as to have plenty of pictures. After getting the pictures developed, I was so disappointed in most of the pictures. The posed ones (with characters, etc.) were okay--not great--but none of the ones I attempted to get of my kids on rides turned out worth a darn. I just don't see how they can continue to enforce this rule; as another poster said, so many (angry) people will arrive for a dream vacation experience only to have a huge part of it denied to them.

 

[perlster]

So far, only one person has reported an issue at security, and I've not seen anything about this issue at other Disney boards.

The "privacy" rationale is easily shot down. Mid-range (non SLR) digital cameras can have optical zooms of 12x or 14x.

I also don't believe this is an issue of glass breakage. Lenses can be quite expensive, so the owners are naturally careful with them

Especially in Britt's case, do you really think he's going to let anything happen to this lens?

 

[tiki23]

Maybe photopass picture sales have been sagging?

 

[ramkam]

I am glad to see the response to this post. To answer some questions:

1. This occurred on the evening of September 27, 2008. I was at Disneyland a week earlier on September 19 with the same camera and I had no problem.

2. The camera was a Nikon D300 with a 18-200mm AF-S DX VR Zoom lens attached. For those not who do not know this lens, it is not some huge lens you would see at a sporting event. A 200mm lens is a reasonable length zoom that is not much different in power than the 10x optical zoom on my Kodak point and shoot.

3. Based on my conversation at security it seems that the camera would be no problem if I had a 50mm non zoom lens attached. So the issue at the check point seemed to be the lens more than the camera. They said nothing about "professional cameras" what ever that means.

4. The guest services folks in the park had no idea about the rule and could not explain how it was applied. The Guest Servies folks made a phone call to find out what was going on and returned to tell me that this was a new rule. They suggested I review the rules on the web page.

5. The only rule on the web page I could find was the rule quoted about professional cameras. The url for the Disneyland page is http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/help/detail?name=ThemeParksFAQPage#qa11

The rule concerning professional cameras is completely arbitrary. What is a professional camera and what is a non professional camera? Security did not care about the camera anyway. It was the lens they were concerned about.

I can just see it now, some family travels thousands of miles and spends thousands of dollars on their Disney vacation. They reach the gate and are told you cannot bring in your camera to take your vacation photos because your camera/lens is too nice. Way to go Disney, apparently dreams do not come true at Disneyland and celebrations may only be photographed with inexpensive cameras.

 

[DoomBugger]

I wouldn't worry about it, just detach the zoom lens and pack it under the camera in the bag and have them in the little black bags. If they did catch it just go to another security and try again.

 

[Davids-Coco]

Last year we took our D80 (with whatever lens it came with) and had no problems. I really hope that they don't give us problems this year. Nikon's page describes it as "Outstanding performance for every aspiring photographer" so not exactly professional!

I can see where photopass may be the problem. They were using D40s or 50s last year when we were there. We had a few comments about how our camera was nicer than what they were given. We still bought our photopass pictures though.

 

[Vala]

Vala, you do NOT want to go the disposable point and shoot option. After our 1st trip in 2003, when I took my older Canon Rebel (with a zoom lens) and got great pictures but very tired of lugging it around, I opted to buy nice lightweight disposable cameras for our 2005 trip. I bought them at home to save money, and I bought about 6 so as to have plenty of pictures. After getting the pictures developed, I was so disappointed in most of the pictures. The posed ones (with characters, etc.) were okay--not great--but none of the ones I attempted to get of my kids on rides turned out worth a darn. I just don't see how they can continue to enforce this rule; as another poster said, so many (angry) people will arrive for a dream vacation experience only to have a huge part of it denied to them.

That's happened to a member of my party before, and this is another one of the reasons why I certainly will not be going that route. Thanks for confirming that this is a general problem with those things, the poor soul who had decided on this severely doubted his photography skills.

2. The camera was a Nikon D300 with a 18-200mm AF-S DX VR Zoom lens attached. For those not who do not know this lens, it is not some huge lens you would see at a sporting event. A 200mm lens is a reasonable length zoom that is not much different in power than the 10x optical zoom on my Kodak point and shoot.

I did have a 200mm lens with my previous camera and can only say you are completely right with that. Another friend of mine does have a Panasonic camera (can't remember the model right now) and her zoom is almost as good as this lens was. And her camera is about as big as mine was with the 200mm lens.

3. Based on my conversation at security it seems that the camera would be no problem if I had a 50mm non zoom lens attached. So the issue at the check point seemed to be the lens more than the camera. They said nothing about "professional cameras" what ever that means.

Thank you, that makes me a little more calm now. Still means hauling around a lens I wasn't really intending to bring, but at least it sounds like I don't have to beg one of my friends for their point & click camera.

I'm still going to call Guest Services about this tomorrow.

Maybe photopass picture sales have been sagging?

Actually this is just what my boyfriend said 5 minutes ago.

 

[KimAshton]

Photopass is sales is probably sagging. But I was going use photopass cause I am going alone and want pics of me in the park.

 

[CrazyDuck]

I could see where security would have a hard time differentiating between "Professional" and "Prosumer" cameras. Obviously a $5000 "Professional" camera like the Nikon D3 has no place in the park as the only reason that camera is there would be to make money by shooting someone!

The "Prosumer" cameras like the D300 would be a tough call... While most people with them use them to get great shots of little Jimmy or the park itself, there are people that could use this to get great photos of Gweneth Paltro riding Dumbo with Apple! And since they these "Prosumer" cameras are relatively cheap they wouldn't have a problem if Kanye West destroyed their camera by throwing it to the ground on Main St.

I wouldn't want to have to draw that line.....

 

[audrabolster]

I think some of this could maybe be with paparazzi entering the parks? I know I read about Lindsey Lohan and Samantha Ronson visiting the parks and a whole slew of paparazzi followed them a caused a bit of a scene in the parks. If they restrict those crazy lenses, they might deter them a bit more?

 

[ParkHoppa]

Yet again another issue rolls back to economy. With the attendance low, they found out a way to make a few extra bucks through (the extreamely overpriced) photo pass and the in park bought disposables.



If they would have been more sly it could have worked.




Hide your camera/lens in a jacket and stuff it in your bag, they wont see, and if you get caught go to another gate and try again!

 

[jlmarr]

I think some of this could maybe be with paparazzi entering the parks? I know I read about Lindsey Lohan and Samantha Ronson visiting the parks and a whole slew of paparazzi followed them a caused a bit of a scene in the parks. If they restrict those crazy lenses, they might deter them a bit more?

Sounds very plausible vs some of the other speculation...

 

[jemilah]

Ok I have a camera store and some customers who buy "pro" gear are not pro's they just want the best or newest gadgets. I myself don't have the energy to carry my SLR though the parks , I take a small pentax point and shoot digital. I once walked away for a second from my "good" camera and it was gone , wish they had left me my film at least.
My sister ran into the same problem at the AZ cardinals stadium , the smaller lens was no problem , but the big zoom had to stay in her bag .

 

[EnnEss]

zoom lens = detachable lens.

what do you need to zoom is so close to photograph anyways?

umm.

No it doesn't.

zoom != detachable lense actually by any sense of the definiton. I dont know why you commented on this to be honest, but an example would be the birds on the rocks at Nemo. You need zoom to get a decent picture of that.

I wish I had a DSLR, I have used them, and compared to my Canon, still around 400 dollars, that isnt an SLR, the pictures are amazing. Also, some lenses should EXTREMELY well in the dark with NO flash, high aperture lenses. These are amazing for ride pictures, absolutely stunning.

 

[EnnEss]

Disney always have a reason on why things are done. Im sure there is a good reason why they are doing it.

Personally, i rather not see super big lense for a few reasons, i believe it invades many people's privacy. I know, it sounds stupid but i hate it when people take like really really close pictures of me and then i find it out on the internet. It really sucks.

Now for the why a tripod and not zooming lense, Zooming lense contains glass which Disney is afraid that if it breaks, it can be a very dangerous hazard. Remember, Disney stops people from bring glass bottles fearing that if someone drops it, it may shatter and hurt someone.

Cheap camera vs. Professional Camera. Perhaps, people are blaming Disney for breakage of their good high quality camera?

Who are you that people are taking really really close pictures of you and then you find it on the internet?

You're correct, it is a silly worry to have, its unwarranted and i doubt highly its the reason they're banning them. Photopass, money, as always. Dangerous glass in the lens? I dont know how to respond to that. Its not an issue, i'll say that without a doubt of it being incorrect.