Main Street Electrical Parade

[hvanes]

We'll be at MK two nights in the 3rd week of June. I am super-excited to witness what the hype is surrounding the MSEP (I've never been to WDW so I can't get in on the Spectro/MSEP debates). I'm guessing the lights are going to be beautiful!

I got my first DSLR (Canon XSi) last summer and, as a very busy mom of 4 youngsters, have only had time to "play" (no classes, no formal learning) with it. I have a 50mm that I love for portraits and nature shots; I also have a Tamron 28-75mm that is my go-to lens, pretty multi-purpose.

I would love to get some decent pics of the electrical parade. They don't need to be frame-worthy or anything, but I'd like them clear enough to tell what they are later on! I'd love lens and setting suggestions. And if you make a suggestion, REALLY dumb it down for me. I'm a novice and I'll admit it. I'm guessing I may need a tripod -- a super-compact one would be nice as we'll be perusing the parks with 4 kids, the youngest of whom is 3.

Thanks so much!
Heather

 

[mom2rtk]

Here is a thread with info on shooting spectromagic. The advice would be the same:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1992784


Read through it and be sure to post any questions you have back here. Have fun! We saw the MSEP in DL, and have seen Spectro at WDW and like them both. Since we're heading for DL this summer, no nighttime parade for us! Take a few shots for me?

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

Good luck shooting the parade. We will be there June 9-18th and am looking forward to seeing it again. It was THE parade to see when we first started going to WDW in 1987. I was so disappointed by Spectro the first year because we enjoyed MSEP so much. It has such catchy music that I would walk around for days just humming it. I did grow to enjoy Spectro and I swear they made made major improvements since the first year but noone in my family goes along with that theory so it must be me.. I'm hoping that I will enjoy it as much as I remember and not be looking at the past through the proverbial "rose colored glasses"! Have fun and enjoy it.

 

[ukcatfan]

We'll be at MK two nights in the 3rd week of June. I am super-excited to witness what the hype is surrounding the MSEP (I've never been to WDW so I can't get in on the Spectro/MSEP debates). I'm guessing the lights are going to be beautiful!

I got my first DSLR (Canon XSi) last summer and, as a very busy mom of 4 youngsters, have only had time to "play" (no classes, no formal learning) with it. I have a 50mm that I love for portraits and nature shots; I also have a Tamron 28-75mm that is my go-to lens, pretty multi-purpose.

I would love to get some decent pics of the electrical parade. They don't need to be frame-worthy or anything, but I'd like them clear enough to tell what they are later on! I'd love lens and setting suggestions. And if you make a suggestion, REALLY dumb it down for me. I'm a novice and I'll admit it. I'm guessing I may need a tripod -- a super-compact one would be nice as we'll be perusing the parks with 4 kids, the youngest of whom is 3.

Thanks so much!
Heather

Is the lens a f/2.8 throughout the whole focal length range? If so, I would go with that over the 50mm. If not, then go with the 50mm.

Since you need to keep the shutter speeds fast enough to keep the subject from getting blurry, a tripod will not help. I would guess that 1/60 is the slowest you can go but something like 1/125-1/250 would be better. I believe that your camera goes to ISO 1600 and I would go with that.

 

[mom2rtk]

I have the same camera. You can get some acceptable, non-blurry shots with a high ISO. But I would recommend making some test shots early at the high ISO, then dialing it down a bit to see if you can get by at a lower ISO to reduce the noise.

I personally find 50mm to be a little to tight for parades, but it really depends on what your preference is.

If your other lens has a variable aperture, then try to stay toward the wide end where the aperture have the widest possible opening.

 

[ukcatfan]

Oh, I forgot one thing. There is no debate, MSEP is the best ever!!!! Those weird big face guys in Spectro creep me out!

 

[MICKEY88]

Oh, I forgot one thing. There is no debate, MSEP is the best ever!!!! Those weird big face guys in Spectro creep me out!

 

[Master Mason]

Oh, I forgot one thing. There is no debate, MSEP is the best ever!!!! Those weird big face guys in Spectro creep me out!

I've been watching MSEP since the year it was introduced at DL.

I actually like spectro better the first time I was there, the creepy faced guys had the heads that were lit up, when they switched them the second time I was there I didn't like it near as much.

Here is a bunch of pictures of the parade at DCA a few years ago now, all were shot with and XT and a 27-70 f/2.8 at f/2.8 and ISO 1600.

 

[Groucho]

No tripod - unless you are going for a long exposure with lots of intentional blur, which you're probably not.

The lenses are a tough choice. Generally speaking, the extra speed of the 50mm will help... but you can just barely get by with the F2.8. On my last WDW trip, I shot Spectro with a Lensbaby at F2.8 and got mostly good results. I did shoot MSEP in California with my 50mm F1.4 a couple years ago and some shots were at F1.4 and F1.6 at 1/200th, which is plenty, but at least one shot was F3.5 at 1/60th, so you should be OK.

I will be there for both the "passholder preview" and the official beginning next weekend and plan to see MSEP multiple times in our short visit (maybe as many as 4!) - I might even catch Spectro on Friday night. Can't wait to hear Baroque Hoedown in the Magic Kingdom again! I am bummed that apparently the drum still says "Disney's Electrical Parade" like in California instead of "Main Street Electrical Parade"... I'll be curious to hear what the voiceover calls it.

 

[zackiedawg]

It's back! I caught it Sunday night for the official regular premiere. I was shooting around MK, and really didn't plan out a spot to catch the parade - I was wrapping up a full day of shooting, and was headed home after the 9pm parade - I was hot, sweaty, sore feet, and tired - so I even considered skipping it.

I didn't have front-and-center view - it was crowded, hot, muggy, and I was squeezed in against the ice cream shop at the end of Main Street - I actually had to shoot using live view and the flip screen on my DSLR, held above my head and shooting under the portico but over the crowd. Still - even if not the best of shooting conditions...I had to document the return of the classic parade:

 

[10dedfish]

Great shots Justin. What settings were you using? I tried to get spectromagic the trip before last and had no luck what so ever.

Matt

 

[ukcatfan]

Great shots Justin. What settings were you using? I tried to get spectromagic the trip before last and had no luck what so ever.

Matt

What camera do you have and if it is a DSLR, what lenses do you have? The light parades are difficult with a p&s.

 

[10dedfish]

UKCATFAN,

It was before I had my DSLR (Canon XS), but I like to research what works for other people on difficult shots. I have a 50mm f1.8 now, so I am hoping to get some quality shots when I can eventually head back down to the world.

Matt

 

[Master Mason]

UKCATFAN,

It was before I had my DSLR (Canon XS), but I like to research what works for other people on difficult shots. I have a 50mm f1.8 now, so I am hoping to get some quality shots when I can eventually head back down to the world.

Matt

My magic ball says he was using a Sony A550 in apeture priority at f/1.7 or so at 30mm (guessing a sigma 30mm prime)

 

[zackiedawg]

Pretty good magic ball. Your magic ball has EXIF viewing capabilities! Indeed - I was using my A550, and had the Sigma 30mm F1.4 lens, using aperture priority at F1.7, and -.7EV dialed in to avoid too severely blowing the lights out. I was at ISO1600 for all of them. All shots cropped about 50%. Handheld.

I must admit to being very lazy and shooting in JPEG, and no processing on the shots...I could probably work on them in PS and bring up the shadows, then run a little noise reduction, and make them a little nicer - but I had so many other shots from the trip I was working on getting processed and uploaded that I just shortcutted on these last ones and posted them as-is (the cropping was just to get rid of more crowd and the top of the portico of the ice cream shop from the bottom and top of the frame).

Thanks for the comments too! I hadn't seen anyone else post the parade yet, so I figured best to just get these up now to share.

 

[Groucho]

I took a zillion shots from Saturday's night preview performance (the 9pm one)... just gotta process 'em. One thing I did after the first few shots was actually go into manual mode and set the exposure by hand. Before that, I was getting a variety of exposures depending on the number of lights in the frame - understandable but not what I was looking for. FWIW, I ended up with F2.8, 1/50th, ISO 2500.

A quick glance through them indicates that there are definitely some motion blur issues with the moving characters, but the floats themselves are fine and I'm pleased with the exposure level.

Oh, and I was watching a little bit of Sunday's 9pm performance from the bridge near Splash Mountain as my wife and son were riding Big Thunder. My daughter loves the light parades and I have a lot of nostalgia for the music and the parade so it was a good way to pass the time.