Disney World - What to Bring??

Been there, done that, will be doing it again in 2 weeks. Take everything with you, (unless you are flying, then maynot)

Leave the 70-200 and 100/2 (LOCKED in the hotel) You will NOT need the 100/2 at all..

Take the 24-70. If you HAD a 24-120 IS, I would say take that and leave everything else..

24-70 is wide enough for ALMOST everything *this is where the 17-40.  The 70-200 2.8 is to heavy.. I have a 70-200 F4 for travel..

a TINY monopod would not a bad, but I never used one..

In Disney, you do not want to HAVE to keep switching lenses. TRUST ME.. I took my fish eye, and hated trying to change to it..

I would almost say just take the Fuji, but there was a few shots that I really wanted VERY high quality.  Do not ever burden yourself, Disney is not big deal, go for fun, not to document every second of the trip. You will regret it later. I left my camera behind one day and enjoyed the park more. My wife still had her P&S, but the 1st day, I hated having to store my camera when I went on rides and such. There are some things you cant safely bring a big camera onto.. (the rides, etc)

Let me know if you have anymore questions

Thanks for the thoughtful.  Some questions/comments below...

We are flying.  I don't think I want to bring everything.

Sounds like I won't need either then?  I was thinking if I bring the 35/2 that the 100/2 is light enough and small enough that I may as well throw it in the bag too.

I'm not too concerned about the difference in quality between the 5D3 and X100s.  I don't think I'll be printing anything huge.  Given that, what do you think about the Fuji?  Seems to me it is the best IQ in the smallest package.  I'm not too concerned either with only having a 35mm lens.  I have owned one before and happily shot entire family weekend trips with only that.

Good point.

My wife is a big sissy and won't be going on any of the major rides, so she will be the official stuff holder.  (She cried on the teacups at a local park.)

So, any further thoughts?

I am going to the Disney World (this will be my 4th time) in May and I am going to bring Canon 6D /w 24-105 f4 L and my trusty P&S Sony RX100.

We go yearly. I would take the DSLR and likely only the 24-70, plus the P&S. I took too much when I went the first time after moving to DSLR. Of course you have the advantage of having someone to hold your equipment when you ride the faster and/or wetter rides and I don't have that.

The last several times I took only my 60D with 17-55 and my S95. I've never found the need for long lenses there. This last time the only park I took the DSLR into in the daytime was Epcot and and the only other park it went to was in the evening to Magic Kingdom to get the lights parade and fireworks. Rest of the time it was the S95. Now I have the 5D3 and this Fall I will likely take it with the 24-105 and 50 1.4 (or only a 24-70 if I have one by then) and the S95. For me the advantage of the DSLR is night shots and portraits with different backgrounds than I could get elsewhere plus the shots with the kids posing with the Disney Characters (your 24-70 2.8 should excel at these so I'd go ahead and let the spouse schlep it around).

YMMV and you can go ahead a take a larger assortment of equipment and then you will find out what is important to you at this type of venue.

Let me add to my prior response.  Depending how important it is to you the Jungle Safari in Animal Kingdom and some of the animals and birds elsewhere around the park would benefit from your having a longer lens than the 24-70.

I've done it twice, once with a lot of hardware and once with a high-end P&S. It was way more fun with a little camera and nothing to worry about.

The Fuji X100 isn't flexible enough.Here's the list of what I'd consider.

Sony RX100 - the best choice

Canon GX1- pretty good.

Olympus OMD with a panasonic 14-42X - but that's getting a little too big.

Also, take a waterproof camera for the waterparks.

Have fun.

Tom

Take one small cameras

www.kachadurian.com
Call me crazy. I happen to like photos of cats.

Go light... you will be taking snapshots 99% of the time. Take what you think is appropriate for snapshots of your family. Last thing you want is not to be able to go on a ride or not be able to keep up because you are toting a big DSLR and an extra lens.

I would pack the fuji and DSLR plus 24-70 and leave everything else at home... maybe one more lens if you can leave it at the hotel.

I am surprised no one has mentioned the most important thing to ever bring to Disney World.

HAND SANITIZER! Gallons of it. Disney Land and World are just absolutely snot coated in child spread pathogens. Taking a little bit of oil of oregano helps too.

The last time I went to Disney World was 2003.  We plan to go again in April.

What photo gear to take depends on what else you have to carry.  Can  your kids carry their own stuffs such as water bottles, rain gears, new toys you just bought for them, etc?  Would these be a heavy load for your waiting wife.  It may be long walks from the entrances to the exits of most rides.

I will leave the big 70-200 locked in the hotel or the car trunk.  You will only need it in Animal Kingdom.  BTW, some rides are very bumpy on purpose.  The road is smooth but the car goes up and down on purpose.  IS lens helps.

24-35mm is the most useful range in Disney unless you want to shoot stage shows or across the lake in Epcot.

This is a family vacation and not a photo walk.  The ultra-wide end of the 17-40 would not be useful.  I once carried a 10-22 in a Disney park and never put it on, because I didn't have the time to look for proper foreground.  We just hurried from ride to ride, taking the most direct route.  I think the 24-70 is much more useful, unless you want to carry less weight.

Staying at a Disney hotel has the advantage of early entrance.  Plan your trip and route ahead of time.

Here is my gallery.

http://www.pbase.com/peterkwok/disneyworld

Hong Kong Disneyland

--
Peter Kwok
Click here for my PBase gallery
WYSIWYG - If you don't like what you get, try to see differently.

Go light... you will be taking snapshots 99% of the time. Take what you think is appropriate for snapshots of your family. Last thing you want is not to be able to go on a ride or not be able to keep up because you are toting a big DSLR and an extra lens.

Much better not to take it, and then afterwards have an improved immune system.

I would take the fuji and leave the weight at home, have fun

5d3, 40mm pancake, 270ex that's it.  Better than any point and shoot.  Light.  Family won't get annoyed. Pack on rides easily.

PS, I meant if you had a 24-105 F4.. I keep thinking about the Nikon 24-120 LOL..

Since you are flying, just take the Fuji, the 24-70 and 5D3. At night you will want the 5DIII

overall, the best all in one, and light travel lens is the 24-105. That is the ONLY reason I own one, for traveling light.

Prime are useless, because in most cases you can not move around much. There are people everywhere, and even going forward or back 10feet is hard sometimes.

When exactly are you going? The date? I wonder if it is the same time as we are

The X100s is $1300 and limits you to a 35 / 3 FF equivalent lens. Sounds too expensive and limiting to me.

How about the 5D3 + 40 / 2.8 pancake + 100 / 2 along with a compact, like the Sony RX100? The 40 / 2.8 pancake + RX100 together cost less than the X100s and weigh about the same.

bring kids.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/customminds/
fun photos
http://www.customminds.com

Everyone threshold is different, so I can only give my preference. My setup is 24-70 II, 70-200 II and 35L. I'd bring all those, using a sling-bag and a BlackRapid RS7. With your listed lenses, I'd probably take the 24-70 and 70-200. That's a weight I'd be willing to carry around (the RS7 makes it easy IMHO). YMMV.

--
Regards. Anders

My obvious answer would be the 24-70.

However if you are not there for a specific shot

why bother?

But since I shoot professionally, maybe I don't understand these things. Most of my personal shots, I really don't shoot that much outside work, are usually made with my Iphone (some of my most cherished photographs  are in fact some old Polaroids)

Memories don't care about pixels.

I'm going to be going there this fall with my daughter, son-in-law and three grandkids ages 4-9.  I decided to leave my DSLRs at home and bought a Fuji FZ200 which shoots RAW and has a 25-600mm equivalent f2.8 lens.  It fits in a small case and allows me to shoot without needing to worry about changing lenses or dropping $6000 of camera equipment on Space Mountain.