What time for Wishes FP?

[mom2rtk]

Thank you!

1) Correct. The West side entrance is near Crystal Palace. East side entrance is toward Tomorrowland Terrace. After the fireworks, they both exit toward the Castle. No access along Main Street or along Plaza/Casey's side.

2) Yes, Wishes was at 10 that night. I could have probably entered at or after 9 and still would have been fine. People usually try to get spots closer to the front anyway. There were a couple folks there early with tripods to get spots in the front.

3) I shoot Celebrate the Magic on a tripod. That show is like my prep for Wishes. Equipment is set the same for both, just change camera settings for each show. No need for a mad scramble right after Celebrate the Magic to set up for Wishes. Everything is set manually since you are taking photos of video, the exposure doesn't change. I used a 50 mm f/1.4 at f/2, for a bit of sharpness. Shutter speed was at 1/30 second. You don't want to go slower than that shutter speed, or you will get blurring from multiple video frames. You also don't want to go too much faster (1/60 or 1/120 will still work), or you will get weird banding effects. My ISO was at 1600, but you can adjust it to match your aperture and shutter speed. Don't forget to lock your focus. Since I use a remote for Wishes, I'll use it here too. You can also use burst mode here. Some video sequences move quickly.

4) My tripod is 64 inches with a 5 inch ball head. I have a battery grip on the camera, so that's another inch and a half. Though, I didn't fully extend it this time. Maybe just 3-4 inches from max.

Crowd level of 9? Ouch, good luck!

Thanks so much Franklin! That's all really helpful.

Do you actually focus on the castle then lock it, or do you set it to infinity (and back off a bit)? I missed focus a bit last time I did this and want to pay particular attention to that.

 

[Pixel Dust]

Thanks so much Franklin! That's all really helpful.

Do you actually focus on the castle then lock it, or do you set it to infinity (and back off a bit)? I missed focus a bit last time I did this and want to pay particular attention to that.

I focus on the castle then lock it. If it still looks off I will use live view, zoom in on the screen preview, and focus manually. But the castle method is pretty solid.

 

[mom2rtk]

I focus on the castle then lock it. If it still looks off I will use live view, zoom in on the screen preview, and focus manually. But the castle method is pretty solid.

Do you do the same for both Celebrate the Magic and Wishes?

 

[Pixel Dust]

Do you do the same for both Celebrate the Magic and Wishes?

Yes, same focusing technique for both. I would still do it if I shot Celebrate the Magic handheld. Nothing moves, so no need to change focus.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yes, same focusing technique for both. I would still do it if I shot Celebrate the Magic handheld. Nothing moves, so no need to change focus.

Thanks Franklin.

 

[Wood Nymph]

The viewing area opens to guests at 8 p.m. and people will start to trickle in around that time. Sitting in the back of the garden actually provided a better view than all the people crowding up near the front of the garden. A CM came around and told everyone to stand for CTM and Wishes. But I staged a "sit-in" and never stood up. They never said a thing to me and I enjoyed my night immensely.

We were there just before you, on April 19th. We stayed in the back of the fp viewing area, too. It was a great view. We had enough space that we didn't have anyone in front of us. It looks like your view on the west side might have been better, though.

We got to the fp area around 9:40pm for a 10pm Wishes. The whole point of the fp was so that we didn't have to stake out a spot early. We used the east entrance close to Tomorrowland Terrace. There was plenty of room in the back and some people were sitting. When it was time to exit we got out of there really fast by using the back route behind Main Street. It was great and I would do exactly the same thing again.