Talk to me about carrying a DSLR around in parks!

[ZephyrHawk]

What camera bag do you use??

Err....no idea....I'd have to look it up. I don't think it's a name brand or anything. It fits a normal DSLR or one fitted with a fairly good sized zoom (70-300). Now, anything larger than that, I have to start carrying separately. Plus if you want to drag your kit lens AND a zoom, it's not going to fit that. Just whatever's on the camera at the time.

And someone upthread mentioned lensrentals.com. I have also rented form them with good success.

 

[Toddgabweg]

My iPhone 6 plus is my go to camera... so convenient and has basically replaced my regular camera... iMovie is such a great app for the iPhone.

 

[mom2rtk]

You bought your camera to capture beautiful images. You are about to visit one of the most visually stimulating places on Earth. If not now, when?

For water fears, I always keep one of these on hand. It allows me to take shots like this:

Crazy Hair Day at Splash Mountain by mom2rtk, on Flickr

My camera is just part of the fun for me at Disney:

Topsy Turvy by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[Dolphindee]

Really depends! The first time I went I brought my Canon 40D with one standard lens. It was fine, but there were times I had wished that I had left it locked up. For me, I do photography as a profession, and I tend to get carried away for the best shot. That being said, I feel that it sometimes takes away from my time with the family. Now, I am saying that is me, so that definitely does not apply to everyone.

Last trip I kept my camera at home and utilized PhotoPass+(now Memory Maker) and I felt a lot more freedom to go on everything. Plus I really wanted the family shots and ride shots that I could not get as well with my dslr.

This trip, I will probably bring my camera but choose one or two times that I will bring it with me. Not completely sure yet.

I see you are getting great advise on the lens types that would work best.

Good luck!

 

[cgattis]

You bought your camera to capture beautiful images. You are about to visit one of the most visually stimulating places on Earth. If not now, when?

For water fears, I always keep one of these on hand. It allows me to take shots like this:

Crazy Hair Day at Splash Mountain by mom2rtk, on Flickr

My camera is just part of the fun for me at Disney:

Topsy Turvy by mom2rtk, on Flickr

Glad to see the post on the rain sleeve; was looking for one!

Anybody have a sling bag they really like? The Lowepro one just seems too big. Thinking of just finding a bag I like and adding inserts.

 

[sharona]

The Lowepro sling 3 is expandable so you can zip it up to keep it smaller or expand it to carry a jacket, sunscreen (in a plastic bag for seepage safety!), bottled water etc. The cross body strap is very comfortable and helps keep my back and neck from aching at the end of a long day of sight seeing.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...Ae0WTxQdDC0ZBAaAgUJ8P8HAQ&Q=&is=REG&A=details

When we travel I use a Crumpler 5 Million Dollar home that holds 2-3 lenses and a body plus small accessories and room for a few personal items. It can be worn like a messenger bag and the thing I like best about it is that it doesn't scream "camera bag" so when we are traveling in unfamiliar places I feel like it's unobtrusive enough that it won't make us a target for thieves. Also the velcro closures are really LOUD (like don't open me during a wedding loud) so no one would ever be able to pick pocket my bag no matter how good they are! It's always my airplane "personal item" since it fits easily under the seat right in front of me and then I don't have to worry about someone shoving their carry-on into my equipment.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/201292304079?lpid=82&chn=ps

I pack my equipment for travel in the Crumpler and the Passport folds up and fits inside my suitcase for use when we are out and about.

 

[RustManFan]

Search for good camera bags that might work for you. I carried my DSLR with 2 lens in a LowePro. Has mesh pockets on the side and even a built-in rain cover for the entire bag. I used that on Splash Mt to keep everything dry. They also have good size bags at LL Bean. Like the cross body styles which hold alot and can be used as a casual purse too!

I was usually using an auto setting and got great photos (especially at AK) but only carried the second lens on 1 day at each park. Locked up the wide angle on our 2nd day at AK for example.

 

[mom2rtk]

Get the right bag for your trip. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to find the perfect bag for every need you will ever have. Come to the dark side.....start a bag collection like the rest of us.

 

[Tigerlulu]

Caution on the Photopass solely for your pics--I thought it was a great idea too. Until they shot jpgs of my family in tungsten. It was not pretty. :-/

I use a black rapid strap cross body to carry my d700 and I love my Vera backpack for a lens along with a few light items for the parks.

I haul out the big guns only at specific times--parades or night time.

Good luck!

 

[powbob]

I think I'm going to stick with taking the 18-55mm for now, it seems to have the most votes as to which lens will cover my needs. I did order the BlackRapid Curve strap as suggested! Now I just need to find the perfect park bag that's not a backpack.
I have lots of studying and learning to do with the camera before my trip. I know most of you are advanced in the world of DSLR, but is it ok for me to use the Auto mode if I'm not sure about the others yet? It has a great Guide mode that will let me choose what situation I'm in and tell me what settings to adjust also. Which is best for the beginner?

Auto mode is fine if you're intimidated. But, at least try out aperture and shutter priority modes. You set one parameter and the camera does the rest. Choose a fast shutter speed to freeze motion or a slow shutter speed to for instance give moving water texture. (creaminess) Aperture allows you to decide what parts of the photo are in focus letting you isolate your subject.

 

[powbob]

I like Crumpler bags. It's hard to tell someone what bag they will like and a lot depends on how much you're going to carry, but check out the Crumpler Kasher Outpost and Four Million Dollar Home.

 

[Lionsy]

For this trip, I used a Kata backpack. In there were parts of 3 cameras- one of me, my wife, and my 9yo daughter. DD had a point-and-shoot, my wife had a GX7 (mirrorless) with 45/1.8, 40-150, kit zoom, and 20/1.7. I was using my 5DIII, with 24-105, and a 50/1.4 in the bag. Most of the time, all 3 cameras were out, so the spare lenses were the only thing in the bag. Yes, it was heavy, but the photos made it all worth it. With a dslr, you get much better control of your exposures, and being Disney, where photo ops might be right "now" (ie. No time to fiddle with a lot of settings), being able to shoot RAW gives you a lot of scope in post-processing for underexposed photos. At Disney, you have to grab pictures quickly sometimes, and often your subjects will be backlit, and faces will be underexposed. Have fun!

 

[powbob]

For this trip, I used a Kata backpack. In there were parts of 3 cameras- one of me, my wife, and my 9yo daughter. DD had a point-and-shoot, my wife had a GX7 (mirrorless) with 45/1.8, 40-150, kit zoom, and 20/1.7. I was using my 5DIII, with 24-105, and a 50/1.4 in the bag. Most of the time, all 3 cameras were out, so the spare lenses were the only thing in the bag. Yes, it was heavy, but the photos made it all worth it. With a dslr, you get much better control of your exposures, and being Disney, where photo ops might be right "now" (ie. No time to fiddle with a lot of settings), being able to shoot RAW gives you a lot of scope in post-processing for underexposed photos. At Disney, you have to grab pictures quickly sometimes, and often your subjects will be backlit, and faces will be underexposed. Have fun!

This thread is about beginners. A beginner will be very disappointed in a, well, raw, RAW image and have no idea what to do with it.

 

[mom2rtk]

This thread is about beginners. A beginner will be very disappointed in a, well, raw, RAW image and have no idea what to do with it.

You know, it's funny, but when I first started out, I thought shooting in RAW was for advanced photographers. Now that I shoot in RAW, I aspire to be good enough to go back to shooting jpegs again.

 

[powbob]

You know, it's funny, but when I first started out, I thought shooting in RAW was for advanced photographers. Now that I shoot in RAW, I aspire to be good enough to go back to shooting jpegs again.

I know exactly what you mean.

 

[Lionsy]

This thread is about beginners. A beginner will be very disappointed in a, well, raw, RAW image and have no idea what to do with it.

I know what ya sayin'. But OP stated that they were keen to learn. Getting the composition right and shooting RAW rather than jpeg will transform your pics literally. Just because RAW sounds scary, it really isn't. There are lots of helpful sites to get you started, and plenty of software that is less complicated than Photoshop that a beginner can easily learn. I truly believe that shooting RAW is the thing that has rekindled my interest in taking photos, not because its easier to "fix mistakes", but because it allows me to get my photos to look more like the way I intended for them to be when. I took the image.
To the OP, I guarantee you that if you do end up using a dslr, learning to shoot RAW is worth it. Even if you don't know exactly what to do with the images at first, you'll be able to learn when you get home. At least the option is there. The RAW images will always be there for you to do something with, even if its 6 months down the track. have a great trip. I only wish that I lived closer to the House of Mouse.

 

[mom2rtk]

I know what ya sayin'. But OP stated that they were keen to learn. Getting the composition right and shooting RAW rather than jpeg will transform your pics literally. Just because RAW sounds scary, it really isn't. There are lots of helpful sites to get you started, and plenty of software that is less complicated than Photoshop that a beginner can easily learn. I truly believe that shooting RAW is the thing that has rekindled my interest in taking photos, not because its easier to "fix mistakes", but because it allows me to get my photos to look more like the way I intended for them to be when. I took the image.
To the OP, I guarantee you that if you do end up using a dslr, learning to shoot RAW is worth it. Even if you don't know exactly what to do with the images at first, you'll be able to learn when you get home. At least the option is there. The RAW images will always be there for you to do something with, even if its 6 months down the track. have a great trip. I only wish that I lived closer to the House of Mouse.

Another option would be to shoot in RAW + jpeg. This gives the shooter the instant gratification of having usable photos right away, but gives the latitude of being able to manipulate and improve the photos later when they feel comfortable getting more involved in post processing.

I highly recommend Lightroom as easy to use for beginners. They have a free 30 day trial available online.

 

[sharona]

RAW + JPEG is ideal -just make sure you have a lot of SD cards with you!

 

[Skywise]

This thread is about beginners. A beginner will be very disappointed in a, well, raw, RAW image and have no idea what to do with it.

I Disagree entirely - RAW + JPG is the way to go. A beginner that's happy with photos coming off of an iPad isn't going to care about image quality - just that they have a decent memento of the occasion. A beginner wanting to take photos with a DSLR does and even if they don't have the skills to properly utilize the RAW images (let alone the camera settings themselves), it's better to have the RAW images to go back and do the post processing later (even years later) when they do - so long as they have the hard drive storage.

Like me.

I struggled on several family trips trying to get some low-light shots of parks, water fountains, etc; I knew enough of the basics of photography that I was able to get good shots but the colors were off because you're fighting the camera's onboard processing. For instance I had a great room at the Bellagio in Las Vegas of the fountains and got a, pretty much, once-in-a-lifetime perfect shot of the fountains at night from a very high room. I shot RAW+JPG and the JPG looked good but the white balance was off and the JPG made the fountain jets all golden yellow (they're white) and darker areas of the strip were crunched down. Playing with the post processing settings helped but I couldn't really get it the way I remembered seeing it. Didn't know what to do with the RAWs at the time but I knew that I'd at least get some better compression out of the photo than the lossy JPG in the future.

Several years later and I was playing around with Lightroom for the very first time to try to salvage a photo I had taken on a recent shoot. I not only salvaged it I was able to enhance it in such a way that it looked like something that should appear in a glossy magazine. It made me feel like a master photographer! (and I'm not! ) Inspired by that success I started digging through some other recent work and went through enhancing photos that looked perfectly fine but now I was able to shift color settings and lighting in such a way to bring out the details I had missed/hadn't concentrated on while taking the shots - Finally I remembered the Bellagio photo and brought it up too. I was able to not only correct the lighting with a few mouse clicks I did some color saturation enhancement and tweaked the blackness levels to bring out the neon and other lights all around the strip. Now a photo that was a nice but "incorrect" memory (several family members made large prints of it) was enhanced to be something that looked better than it actually did. (Ironically the family members like the yellow jets in the photo better because it makes the picture "warmer"... )

 

[Nana2Callie]

I have a Sony and it's pretty heavy, but it was simple to learn to use and even in auto mode it takes good pics, so it's my go to at Disney. And Powbob's advice about a good strap is right on target; I don't use the straps that come with any of my cameras (even if it's just a point and shoot). And if it's not in active use, I put the strap over one shoulder so that it's out of the way. If I'm carrying an extra lens, I have it in a small messenger bag that I can also put the camera in during rides. Usually the only time I carry an extra lens is in AK.



This is a great idea as well!

What extra lens do you take for AK I'm assuming it is for the safari and how do you carry it?