Help choosing a camera for night time WDW parades and shows

[patches07]

My Hubby and I are Going to WDW in September, and we have a digital camera that takes good pictures during the day, but at night the Spectromagic parade and the Fantasmic show come out very blurry. What is a good camera to get so i can get great clear picturs.




2003 Off Sight
2005 POP
2007 POR

 

[ukcatfan]

They were blurry b/c of one or two things happened. The camera either chose a shutter speed that was too long and the subject moved while it was still capturing and/or your hand caused the camera to move during a long shutter speed.

If your camera has a manual mode, you might not need to upgrade. It might just be a matter of knowing the best settings. If you must upgrade, then I suggest the Canon S2 or S3. The S4 might be out by the time your trip comes around, but nobody knows yet. They will not be as good as a DSLR, but they do pretty well. There are supposed to be some Fujis that do pretty well with low light, but I do not know about them. It is not every Fuji though, so you would need to research it.

Kevin

 

[handicap18]

I read about the Fuji Finepix F30. Its a compact PnS that is getting outstanding reviews for low light. Supposidly gets very good results at ISO 800. It has a bigger sensor than other PnS camera's, though not as big as a dSLR sensor. Something to look into. From what I've read its daytime performance is average, but low light is where it shines.

 

[allie5]

There are very few cameras (even an expensive DSLR) that will take good shots of night subjects without a tripod.

Obviously a camera with manual settings and good performance in low light will help, but the key is keeping the camera steady. I have used walls and railings to good effect for fireworks and parades. Here is an example from Illuminations, taken with my small Canon SD800IS, held steady on a wall:

You can buy a mini tripod from Walmart for a few dollars and you will see the difference in your night shots. I have one but forgot it on our last trip to WDW so had to rely on "props"!!

Spectro is difficult to shoot because it is usually moving so its hard to get the exposure just right. Too fast a shutter speed and you simply get dots of light but no detail, too slow and it blurs. Ideally, see the show a few times and experiment with a few settings. Try and place yourself in a spot where the floats stop and it will be easier to get some nice clear pics.

 

[mmessler]

There are very few cameras (even an expensive DSLR) that will take good shots of night subjects without a tripod.

Obviously a camera with manual settings and good performance in low light will help, but the key is keeping the camera steady. I have used walls and railings to good effect for fireworks and parades. Here is an example from Illuminations, taken with my small Canon SD800IS, held steady on a wall:

You can buy a mini tripod from Walmart for a few dollars and you will see the difference in your night shots. I have one but forgot it on our last trip to WDW so had to rely on "props"!!

Spectro is difficult to shoot because it is usually moving so its hard to get the exposure just right. Too fast a shutter speed and you simply get dots of light but no detail, too slow and it blurs. Ideally, see the show a few times and experiment with a few settings. Try and place yourself in a spot where the floats stop and it will be easier to get some nice clear pics.

Awesome, awesome, AWESOME shot! Does the SD800IS have special scene modes, and did you use them for that shot? I'm looking into the A700IS (I think you replied to another thread I started in regards to that.) and if you say yes, I think I might just be completely sold on that one right now. It has special scene mode for fireworks, I have never had good luck with fireworks or light shows or anything like that with any other camera besides my DSLR, which I am intent on not taking next trip.

 

[allie5]

Thanks!

Yes the SD800 has a fireworks mode...! I used it sometimes, and other times I played around with the exposure myself. Im pretty sure this shot was taken with the fireworks mode, however, when I shot Wishes and wanted the castle in the picture, I found the fireworks mode blurred it. For Wishes, I set to manual, focused on the castle then set a slightly longer exposure to get the fireworks. The manual button on this model is pretty lame - only letting you set exposure and ISO pretty much, so if you want more control this might not be the camera for you - but for a P&S thats easy to use its a great little camera worth considering!

 

[Groucho]

Take a look at this thread.

Depending on your level of expectation, you're looking at some serious equipment for Spectromagic and Fantasmic, the two most-difficult-to-photograph things in WDW.

First, you need a big sensor (in order to have a high ISO level - you'll probably have to shoot at 1600 or even higher). This knocks point-n-shoots out of contention, you need a DSLR like a Pentax, Nikon, Canon, or Sony.

Second, you need a "fast" lens, one that lets in a lot of light. This means that the "kit" lens is probably out. I found that a 50mm 1.4 (about as fast as you can get) worked quite well for Spectromagic. Fantasmic requires a lot more zoom if you want any kind of closeup, and a "fast" telephoto lens gets very big and very heavy, and very expensive. I really didn't even bother trying to take shots of it last trip as I didn't have a suitable lens.

Unfortunately, a tripod is not a great cure for Spectro or Fantasmic as the subjects are moving too much. It can help, especially for Fantasmic where you're so far away that the camera will register more shaking, but a tripod only will not cut it.

A tripod (or Gorillapod or similar) is pretty much mandatory for really nice night photos of still objects (castle, etc) or fireworks (where a longer shutter speed is desired.)

Unfortunately, a small, inexpensive, easy-to-use digital camera that can take sharp, clear photos of Spectromagic and Fantasmic just plain doesn't exist, and probably will not any time soon. There's just no way to sugarcoat that fact.

On the other hand - digital pictures don't cost anything, so fire away with whatever camera you have, and you may find that you get some decent results mixed in. You may also consider just taking some short videos with your digital camera.

 

[RBennett]

Has anyone dealt with the Sony H5 very much? I've been looking into it heavily but then I read on here so many people vouching for the Canon S3. So I went to bestbuy and compared the two side by side and to the untrained eye they looked VERY similar except that the H5 has a 7.2 megapixel and the S3 has a 6.0. So what does everyone think????

 

[Groucho]

The H5 and S3 are usually mentioned side by side, and are supposedly both top-notch. The only real knock on the H5 (that I'm aware of) is that is uses Memory Stick memory cards, rather than the more common SD cards.

Fuji has finally started to move to xD and SD slots on their upcoming cameras... now if only they'd put true IS in their long-zoom PnSs, they'd probably top my list if I were buying such a camera! As is, that should help them in the shorter-zoom comparisons. If Sony's H5 had a Memory Stick and an SD card slot, it would probably be even more popular.