Going to Disney World? DSLR?
For my 15th birthday I got a nice DSLR camera. I've had it for about a year and this will be my first Disney trip that I have my Nikon. I've been to Disney World two other times and just had a simple point and shoot.
Now that I have this nice camera do you recommend taking it into Disney World? We'll be going to all the parks and even Universal. I still have a P&S that I was going to take, but I just wanted some opinions.
Yes. You may want to take some pictures of the rollercoasters, meeting characters, the statues, the castle, and epcot.
I'm going to disney world in april. You are going to love Disney World
It depends on how comfortable you are with carrying your dslr with you the entire trip. When we went to Disney World a couple of summers ago, I would have missed so many great images if I'd just brought my p&s camera. I was able to capture the lighting from the parades, as well as the light shows over the lakes. Rides that zoomed by were frozen, and not seen as blurs. With my zoom lens, I was able to zoom back for great wide angle views, as well as zoom in to capture the tops of castles or pirateships. When we went on rides where we might get wet (or drenched in the Florida rainstorms) I either kept my camera in it's case, inside an oversized ziplock bag, or used an inexpensive rain sleeve, available at most camera shops.
Funny thing is, even though others will look at you for taking pictures while they're just enjoying the parks, those will be the first ones who want copies!
If you have more than one lens, practice changing lenses quickly, as you don't want dust to get to your sensor. Practice taking shots in low-light, as that's where some of the best shots are. Bring an extra battery and extra memory cards, as you don't want to run out of space before the trip is over. Finally, take more shots than you want to keep, because for every "eyes were closed" or "something/someone got cut off" shot, you'll have a keeper.
No. I was recently at Universal and I didn't use mine once. You can't bring it on rides and I wouldn't trust putting it in the lockers. It is just a waste of space. If you don't go on rides, then don't do it. But what you can do is bring it and then go at nights to take pictures.
Are you more interested in riding or taking pictures? For me, the answer is easy. I don't ride anything that I couldn't take my camera with me. But if you want to do all the thrill rides, then I would leave the camera in the hotel room and take the P&S.
If you have someone in your party who won't be riding, and they are willing to camera sit while you ride, then take it to the park. It will be worth having around for the better high ISO performance if nothing else.