Photopass & personal cameras

[clhpam2003]

I am trying to limit what I take into the Parks. I am going next week and will most likely wear my cargo crop pants - they can hold cash, tickets, etc. We are staying at a Disney resort.

If I pre-pay for the Photopass CD, do I still need to bring a personal camera? My personal camera is rather large/cumbersome and it would be nice not to drag it all over the park.

No kids on this trip - it is just DH and myself.

Or, should I just buy a disposable?

Thoughts?
Thanks,
Christine

 

[MolonLabe]

The photopass photographers are great.

They aren't everywhere though. For example if you are doing a character meal, they won't be coming form table to table. In fact, none of the photographers at the meals are part of the photopass program.

Last time my wife and I went we brought a small backpack we kept our camera in. Sometimes a character event would happen spontaneously and there wouldn't be a photpass person there.

If you have a good phone camera, you could get away with having your phone in your pocket for those candid shots and times when a photopass person isn't around.

I have a new S2 and it has an 8mp camera. Won't be good at night but during the day it takes wonderful pictures. If it was just my wife and I, I'd consider just having the phone camera as a backup.

 

[poohfriend77]

Just the thought of being in a park without my camera is enough to give me an anxiety attack! And yes, we always get the photopass CD... but that's just me. I take hundreds of photos each day (scenery, kids, signs, food, etc.) We use photopass mainly as a way to get shots that include me.

Will you be happy with a dozen or so photos? You can get many more than that, if you seek out the photographers, or do the character meet-and-greets. If that's enough, leave the camera at home and enjoy yourself! Otherwise, I would suggest you buy a smaller point-and-shoot digital camera for under $100 that you can carry in a pocket.

Personally, I think the disposable cameras are junk, and buy the time you pay for them and pay for developing, you have already spent $$ and might not even have one decent picture.

 

[eliza61]

Personally I take so many pictures of the surroundings that I can't imagine being in the parks without my camera. So many of the rides have great cues, like TSM and star tours that I'm busy clicking away.

I've got a great strap for my camera so its no issue. My vote is to get a great point and shoot.

 

[minnie mum]

Have to agree with all the PPs here. Either use your phone camera if you're not fussy about quality, or get an inexpensive point and shoot. The photopass photographers are great, but they're mainly going to give you portraits of your party in front of the major park icons, and a few characters.
I don't think it would be physically possible for me to enter a park without my camera! I usually come home with over a thousand photos after a 1 week trip. Last time I think we had about 80 photopass photos before I started editing. We would have missed an awful lot of photo opportunities if we hadn't had our own camera. I wouldn't recommend a disposable at all-- I think they're a huge waste of money.

 

[mindylee847]

I have always brought either a drawstring bag or small backpack with me. It is extremely useful. It's great to hold a camera, but also a bottle of water (you'll be doing a lot of walking and purchasing water often can get pricy) and some snacks are great to hold in there. Plus you can store tums or advil... you know... just anything you might need and at almost every ride you can easily store it by your legs or they provide a spot for you to stuff it on in the car.

If your camera is just annoying to bring, I'd get a smaller point and shoot digital one... there are so many photo opportunites that don't have a photopass person by.

 

[t_catt11]

I love photopass and think it's worth buying the CD... but you will miss many, many pics if you don't bring your own camera.

 

[stargazertechie]

I always take both- Sometimes the PP photos don't turn out well, and sometimes you can have personal camera failure.


Do you have a small point and shoot you can take with?

 

[YankeePrincess]

I always give my camera to the photopass guy to do both just in case one picture comes out bad. I have a large DSLR camera though and just carry a big bag. If you get a small point and shoot it should fit in your pockets.

 

[debrapagliasotti]

I have to agree with the other posters. I take so many pics at WDW, not just at the photopass "spots".

 

[figment_jii]

Just the thought of being in a park without my camera is enough to give me an anxiety attack!

Me too!!!

Photopass seems great to do family photos at the major icons and character meet and greets, but if you don't take your camera with you, you'll miss out on all of the "snap shot" moments. I would either get a small point & shot or take your normal camera with you. According to a variant of Murphy's law, if you don't take a camera with you, that "once in a lifetime" photo moment will happen and you won't be able to take a picture!

 

[jimjenkids]

We LOVE the photo pass but still take our camera for the pictures thatyou cant live without-the camera people arent everywhere....We then upload and do some effects with the disney photo pass CD.....you may want to invest in a small digital camera(under $75) just for a spare small camera to have with you....I know we did

 

[DavidNYC]

If you want photos of scenery, parades, etc. take a camera. But definitely just invest in one that can fit in your pocket. You can get pretty good cameras relatively inexpensively now. We did the photopass CD this trip and it really made it much easier on me for lots of things but there were still lots of places I wanted pictures that weren't photopass.

 

[DisneyDreamingInMI]

The PhotoPass photographers are great. I love having pictures of our family all together because I am usually behind the camera. However, the PhotoPass photographers are not everywhere, and you might miss some photos that are not at the PhotoPass photographers locations - your resort, restaurants, rides, etc. I would bring a small point-and-shoot that you can slip into your pocket or at the very least, a disposable camera. On our last trip, my husband was responsible for our camera - the pockets in his cargo shorts are huge!!!

 

[MolonLabe]

If you don't want to spend the money on a big slr type camera, we have a G11 and in daylight, it did as well or better than the cameras the photopass photographers use. Night time shots can be hit or miss with any point and shoot, not to mention the lack of an external flash.

The G12 is the newer model out, Im not sure if any stores carry the G11 still-
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-G12-Dig...SPRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331068820&sr=8-1

If you know how to tweak the settings, it's an amazing camera in or out of point and shoot mode.

HD videos also turn out pretty well, considering.

 

[kidsgobears]

Our last trip I used the Canon Powershot D10 Waterpoof Digital Camera. It took really good photos for how small it is and it's waterproof. I have great shots of the kids getting slammed on Kali and lots of fun pictures at the waterparks. If you have cargo pants with large leg pockets, it would easily fit.

I agree with the others that say you'll want your own camera.

 

[claryche]

Our last trip I used the Canon Powershot D10 Waterpoof Digital Camera. It took really good photos for how small it is and it's waterproof. I have great shots of the kids getting slammed on Kali and lots of fun pictures at the waterparks. If you have cargo pants with large leg pockets, it would easily fit.

I agree with the others that say you'll want your own camera.

I have that same camera. I agree with everyone else, take your own camera. And if your camera is too big, go buy a smaller one. I actually just bought my ds a camera for this trip. He is turning 6 and I thought it would be cool to get some pictures from his perspective and I don't really like him using my camera that much, it cost too much. So I found him a Kodak Easy Share 12MP and waterproof, for $59 at Wal-Mart.

I really relied on the photopass people our first trip to take great pictures. And even though they typically do okay, I wished that I had taken more pictures. So I changed that our next trip. We got the cd, like we do every trip. But this time I took pics at the character interaction. And fortunately I did, because at the Christmas party, I didn't get one good pic of my DS with Mickey from the Photopass guy. And same thing with Minnie. Every pic had my son's eyes closed. Thankfully, my pics were really good and eyes open. So from that point on, I decided that I would never rely on the photopass people to get that shot I want. Only I can get it. I just use them, like someone else said, to take pics that include me and of course the magic shots. And then sometimes they take pics that are awesome. And that's just a plus.