What else would you recommend?

[Coachymom]

Hey all! I just got a Nikon d3100 and I am excited to bring it on our trip for late September. I have the stock lens and I purchased a 55-300 nikkor lens. I have the three lens filters (CPL UV FLD). I just got a quick carry strap and I have a bag. What else would you recommend getting before the trip?

I am still in auot mode for shooting most of the time...need to learn other modes before the trip!!!

 

[2Tiggies]

What is indispensable to one person is often something the next one can live without so I wouldn't tell you that you need anything.

I took my first DSLR with me just with a kit lens, a bag and a cpl filter. I got by okay with that and didn't really miss anything - I didn't know to miss anything.

One thing that I could not live without now is my external flash. I have never been a fan of flash, never seemed to get it right and even now, only use it if I feel I really need to, most of the time, oddly enough, is outdoors in bright sunlight to help counter the harsh shadows. But getting a separate flash and an inexpensive diffuser changed my views on it and I am not near as reluctant to attach it to my camera now. That is one of THE most important accessories in my camera bag. Oh and I do like my CPL filter

 

[mom2rtk]

1) spare battery
2) a good bag
3) remote shutter release and tripod if you shoot fireworks
4) twice as much memory as you think you'll need. It's cheap to buy online at home ahead of time, not so cheap once you're at Disney.
5) computer for backing up files
6) a fast lens for dark rides
7) a sherpa to carry it all


How much more can I spend?

 

[2Tiggies]

How much more can I spen?

Well don't stop now that you're on a roll Besides, it's so much more fun spending money when it's not yours

Spare battery and lots of memory are very important! Also very important is to make sure when you back up your photos every night (and you WILL back them up ) always remember to take the memory card out of the laptop and put it back in the camera. Especially when it's the one day you decide to get to the Magic Kingdom without the full camera bag (which has ALL the spare cards in) .... No idea who would do something so profoundly stupid

Also, buy some good, high speed memory cards. You'll be glad you did. As with so many things, you really do get what you pay for.

 

[Coachymom]

Thank you all so much for the suggestions!

 

[ThurlFan]

Practice, practice, practice! Take tons of pictures of things that are of no consequence to you, but might help you learn how to use your settings. Take pictures of traffic moving through an intersection at night (tripod needed). Take pictures of anything moving, really, in different levels of light. And work on adjusting aperture to make things stand out with a focused foreground and pleasantly blurry background.

 

[photo_chick]

An extra battery and memory cards would be my priority. I'd hold off on other accessories until you really know what you need.


2Tiggies... I did that at Epcot. Got to the park and realized the card was in the reader in the room. D'OH!

 

[2Tiggies]

An extra battery and memory cards would be my priority. I'd hold off on other accessories until you really know what you need.


2Tiggies... I did that at Epcot. Got to the park and realized the card was in the reader in the room. D'OH!

Not my finest moment. It was the only night I went out without the full camera bag. I decided in the name of time to run into the Photo Center on Main St and buy one but they wanted $18.95 plus tax for a little 2G class 1 - when I had 3 16G Sandisk Extreme III cards sitting in the bag. I actually went back to the resort, lost an hour in doing so and then realized I had left the spare batteries for the flash behind when I'd collected the card.

 

[Coachymom]

Thank you all. These arebawesome responces and I appreciate it!!!


Posted from Disney Forums Reader for Android

 

[wbeem]

I am still in auot mode for shooting most of the time...need to learn other modes before the trip!!!

The best way to learn the other modes you need is to learn how to create a manual exposure. That gets you thinking about the thing that's important for your photo in a given situation (e.g., action, low light, bright light, depth of field, etc.).

Once you understand how to create an exposure in Manual mode, then you know when to use Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority mode. As for the rest of those modes, forget 'em. You don't really know what they're doing, so you're just hoping they'll give you the right exposure.

Manual mode is much easier than most people think. You need to understand the relationship between ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed. You need to understand how to read your Light Meter - and then realize how you can change those first three variables to get a correct exposure that is also appropriate for your subject.

 

[OKW Lover]

In addition to the suggestions about learning the various modes of the camera also take the time to figure out how to turn off the automatic flash. There will be lots of situations where you don't want the flash to go off, but the camera will try to do it anyway.

 

[Cafeen]

Pick up the book "Understanding Exposure" by... um... Bryan Peterson (--Amazon Link--). It's invaluable to help learn about how to make an exposure. As mentioned already, once you understand what goes into making an exposure, every mode on the camera makes that much more sense and you'll be able to shoot what best fits what you want the result to be.

The book is also available on Kindle, which means that it's available for the Kindle apps as well, which may make it a handy reference guide for those with smartphones and/or tablets. (Remind me to download mine to my Fire, it was a bit small on the Thunderbolt )

 

[Coachymom]

Thanks so much all. It means a lot!


Posted from Disney Forums Reader for Android

 

[Luvscrappin]

How long until adjusting the settings becomes like second nature? I feel like I am always fumbling and it makes me want to just stay in auto. I really want to not feel like I am going to "miss the moment"

 

[ThurlFan]

How long until adjusting the settings becomes like second nature? I feel like I am always fumbling and it makes me want to just stay in auto. I really want to not feel like I am going to "miss the moment"

I would probably number it in the hundreds if not thousands of exposures. You don't want to wear out the mechanical parts of course, but nothing teaches like experience. Go outside on a sunny day and take some pictures, then go back inside and take more, back outside, etc. If you have willing subjects you can drag back and forth to practice on so much the better. Good practice for Disney when you're going in and out of places a lot!

 

[mom2rtk]

How long until adjusting the settings becomes like second nature? I feel like I am always fumbling and it makes me want to just stay in auto. I really want to not feel like I am going to "miss the moment"

I shot in auto for so long I STILL sometimes forget to make changes to my settings. This is after almost 3 years of moving off of auto! I guess I'm just a slow learner!

Here's what happened with me. I shot in auto for years and years. When I decided to start taking control of the camera, my first trip to Disney, my shots were actually WORSE than the pior trip. But it's a learning curve. If you don't do it, you'll never get where you want to be. They next trip they got better, and the next time better still.

If you have little kids, you really don't WANT to spend all your time focused on your camera settings. Some people here are taking trips where they just focus on their photography. You have to decide what your trip is and what your priorities are. Mine are somewhere in between. I now shoot mostly in the semi-auto modes, but occasionally just throw the camera into Program mode, or throw it into auto ISO for a bit when I just want to be in the moment with the family.

The single greatest thing you need to do is to TRAIN yourself to adjust the ISO when going from indoors to outdoors or vice versa. I still mess that up sometimes. (Like maybe last week?????? ) But at least it's not as often! Going hand in hand with that is the most important part...... training your eye to pay attention to the exposure meter in the viewfinder of your camera. If you forgot to change your ISO after a dark ride, it will definitely be flashing. After years of shooting on auto, that's the hardest.

 

[Coachymom]

This is a great point! I will be traveling with a 19 month old and a fast moving almost 9 year old. I am not going to have time to adjust settings in manuel! I want to learn...but I don't want to be stressed out about getting that perfect shot! Maybe next time I go!!! Thanks so much!

I shot in auto for so long I STILL sometimes forget to make changes to my settings. This is after almost 3 years of moving off of auto! I guess I'm just a slow learner!

Here's what happened with me. I shot in auto for years and years. When I decided to start taking control of the camera, my first trip to Disney, my shots were actually WORSE than the pior trip. But it's a learning curve. If you don't do it, you'll never get where you want to be. They next trip they got better, and the next time better still.

If you have little kids, you really don't WANT to spend all your time focused on your camera settings. Some people here are taking trips where they just focus on their photography. You have to decide what your trip is and what your priorities are. Mine are somewhere in between. I now shoot mostly in the semi-auto modes, but occasionally just throw the camera into Program mode, or throw it into auto ISO for a bit when I just want to be in the moment with the family.

The single greatest thing you need to do is to TRAIN yourself to adjust the ISO when going from indoors to outdoors or vice versa. I still mess that up sometimes. (Like maybe last week?????? ) But at least it's not as often! Going hand in hand with that is the most important part...... training your eye to pay attention to the exposure meter in the viewfinder of your camera. If you forgot to change your ISO after a dark ride, it will definitely be flashing. After years of shooting on auto, that's the hardest.

 

[Coachymom]

Thank you for all the sugestions. I have made a wish list and a need list. We won't be able to do a laptop for the trip this year (spending all money on Disney, lol). I will invest in extra memory and batteries.

 

[2Tiggies]

Thank you for all the sugestions. I have made a wish list and a need list. We won't be able to do a laptop for the trip this year (spending all money on Disney, lol). I will invest in extra memory and batteries.

This may not be very cost effective and I don't know how long you are staying for your vacation, but if you can't back up, it may be better to have several slightly smaller memory cards, say 4G or less and just make sure you change it every night so you don't accidentally delete any photos, lose anything due to a corrupt card and if you happen to lose it for any reason, it's one day of pictures, not an entire trip. There have been a few cries for help on the Theme Parks board in the last couple of weeks with devastated people having lost all their pictures. It could happen to anyone, but even if you can't back up every day while away, there are things you can do to lessen the risk.

And one extra battery will do just fine. With little ones you aren't likely to be stacking up back to back 18 hour days away from your hotel so having one charge overnight and switching them over each morning should do just fine.

 

[Coachymom]

Thank you for answering. This a great point. I was thinking of the smaller memory cards, maybe one for each park.

This may not be very cost effective and I don't know how long you are staying for your vacation, but if you can't back up, it may be better to have several slightly smaller memory cards, say 4G or less and just make sure you change it every night so you don't accidentally delete any photos, lose anything due to a corrupt card and if you happen to lose it for any reason, it's one day of pictures, not an entire trip. There have been a few cries for help on the Theme Parks board in the last couple of weeks with devastated people having lost all their pictures. It could happen to anyone, but even if you can't back up every day while away, there are things you can do to lessen the risk.

And one extra battery will do just fine. With little ones you aren't likely to be stacking up back to back 18 hour days away from your hotel so having one charge overnight and switching them over each morning should do just fine.