What do you carry?

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Thanks Ukcatfan for the info.
Handicap18 your photos are beautiful! Thanks for posting!

 

[Groucho]

I've taken photos of my gear for my past couple WDW trips...

January 2007:

April 2008:

We're tentatively planning a mid-January 2009 trip. The gear will probably be identical to the April 2008 trip, except with the Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 replaced with a Pentax 16-50mm F2.8, and maybe a Pentax 60-250mm F4 lens, too (if it's released by then and I can afford it.) That'll give me weather-sealed lenses all the way from 16mm to 250mm.

BTW, the tripod is a Slik Pro 713 CF II, which I chose due to its combination of strength, weight, height, and price. Many CF tripods are still fairly heavy, this one is relatively light at 3.0 lbs w/o a head.

Also, I do bring a laptop and a slack of blank DVDs and burn duplicates of the RAWs each night.

 

[Dcanoli]

Groucho,

I always love when you include your "tic-tac" remote shutter release!

 

[Groucho]

Groucho,

I always love when you include your "tic-tac" remote shutter release!

Thanks! You can see in the second pic that I added a sliding switch for really long exposures, though I have yet to use it. Except accidentally, the other day I had accidentally moved the switch then plugged it into the camera, which began taking photos as fast as it could. Oops!

I also just resoldered the ground in the plug end, which has been a headache a couple times. One of these days I may just put a whole new plug on it... or find an old cell phone headset with wires that I can solder to inside and use that.

 

[Dcanoli]

You just have too much time on your hands! BUT...glad to see you got that thing put back together! I remember last year....

 

[Groucho]

You just have too much time on your hands! BUT...glad to see you got that thing put back together! I remember last year....

Yeah, too much time on my hands, that's me... I wish. I feel like I'm busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest!

 

[WillCAD]

I have no manequin, and I find it difficult to take pictures of myself (I can't afford to keep replacing the broken lenses), so I just put all my crap, er, equipment on my computer chair for these photos.

Front View:

1. Mickey Photographer pin
2. Spare CF card
3. Spare camera battery
4. Remote shutter release
5. Mickey lens cloth
6. Sunglasses on neck cord
7. Mini LED flashlight (one each side)
8. ID/KTTW/FP lanyard
9. Spare CF card
10. Patriot Mickey Head pin
11. Business cards
12. Canon Digital Rebel 300D
13. Sigma 18-125 w/ petal hood
14. 2" web belt
15. SPF 50 (in summer months)
16. Cell phone

Back View:

17. LGMH
18. Brita Fill and Go filtered sports bottle
19. Rolled WalMart poncho (Mickey finally retired after 3 years)
20. Tabletop tripod

No spare lenses, no camera bags (no bags of any kind), no full-size tripod. I travel light in the parks - well, as light as a 275lb guy can travel - and don't even stop for those bag check lines at the entrances.

 

[bnorm27]

Groucho has a hidden Mickey in his second photo of his camera gear. The filters at the bottom of the shot.

Do you really lug all that gear around the parks all day, or do you leave some back in the hotel room?

 

[WillCAD]

Groucho has a hidden Mickey in his second photo of his camera gear. The filters at the bottom of the shot.

Do you really lug all that gear around the parks all day, or do you leave some back in the hotel room?

I spotted that, too. There is also a Mickey shape on the camera bag in that pic, but I can't tell if it's a single pin or a coupld of pins artfully arranged.

I've never met Groucho, but I've seen a few people in the parks with big camera backpacks full of that much gear. My back hurts just looking at them!

I saw a pic of Mark Barbieri once that looked like he was going to war with all the camera gear he had. He must have been packing 100lbs or stuff!

 

[bnorm27]

I saw that pic of Mark too. But I think he did that for a MNSSHP, and was dressed as a photographer. My wife cringes when I take out the tripod or monopod to take pictures. She would absolutely die if I carried that much stuff anywhere, let alone to Disney!

 

[Softrider]

I'm a Disney newb, having made my first trip in May. I took the following equipment:

D3
D50
50mm f1.4 (never used it)
17-55 f2.8
70-200 f2.8
SB-600
Digital Camcorder

What I learned:
Lugging this stuff around became very unpleasant after a few hours. (I carried everything the first day @ AK, after that, the D50 & 17-55 covered the other days just fine)

Next trip will only take one camera body and an 18-200 lens.

 

[YesDear]

I agree with Softrider completely about one thing. Take what you think you will need. I always take cameras to Disney, but there are times and trips I concentrate on photography and I carry the big guns.

Going on my first Disney Cruise in September. I will be loaded for bear.

I also agree the 18-200 is a marvelous all around lens for Disney.

 

[Groucho]

Groucho has a hidden Mickey in his second photo of his camera gear. The filters at the bottom of the shot.

Do you really lug all that gear around the parks all day, or do you leave some back in the hotel room?

There's actually four Mickeys in the second photo, if you look closely enough.

It's really not as bad as it looks. The camcorder goes in the wife's bag (or is left behind, we really almost never use it and will probably just bring her Fuji F40 for taking video next trip), and she uses the K100D, kit lens, and 50-200mm lens. I only use one of the lens pouches and that holds 1-2 lenses at any given time, depending on size of the lens. The tripod goes in the bottom of our stroller, everything else fits into the camera bag in the background. It's an old Tamrac bag and I can cram all sorts of stuff into it. It's got an Op/Tech SOS strap which helps with comfort, plus it gets hung from the stroller while we're pushing it around (the stroller, not the bag!)

I spotted that, too. There is also a Mickey shape on the camera bag in that pic, but I can't tell if it's a single pin or a coupld of pins artfully arranged.

I've never met Groucho, but I've seen a few people in the parks with big camera backpacks full of that much gear. My back hurts just looking at them!

I saw a pic of Mark Barbieri once that looked like he was going to war with all the camera gear he had. He must have been packing 100lbs or stuff

The pin on the camera bag is a tachometer (and two smaller gauges) Mickey pin that my wife bought me on a recent trip. (Cars are one of my big passions.) It now has a Lotus pin on it, too; I need a third pin to balance out the Lotus one. I guess I'll have to keep an eye out next WDW trip.

No backpack for me (too hard to get in and out of), and the camera bag really isn't all that big. Two lenses deep, three lenses wide. Height-wise, you'd actually have a hard time fitting a 70-200mm F2.8 in it. I haven't looked too hard at newer bags as I doubt I'd find one that would hold more stuff in a smaller bag. The only thing I don't like is that the bottom is not rigid, so it sags if there's a lot of weight in the middle.

As for Mark... his lens pouches looked big enough to swallow my entire camera bag.