Disney indoor characters - what Canon lens

r1flyguy

r1flyguy

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Hi all

Hope this is the right section for this question.

Took our 3 year old boy to Disney last year and it was a task to have photos with as many characters as we could find, We are going again soon and want opinions advice on using the right lens.

Reason - Last year I found my flash 430 EXII didn't recycle quick enough as you really don't get much time with the characters due to queues etc so getting the 'right' shot was difficult.

As some of you know carrying DSLR's around a theme park & big lenses can become tiring and thus I have a choice of taking my 650D which is light(ish) and have, nifty 50, 10-22, 24-104f4 or 70-200 2.8 lenses, or my 5D3 with the lenses listed that fit.

I used the 650 with 24-105 last year and indoors with f4 & truthfully I struggled a lot with exposure, most likely due to lack of experience

I've learnt a lot from this forum and very grateful thus I'm here to seek your help again.

Those who may have been through the same situation or similar, what did you use, setting, lens, etc if you can recall
I'd be most appreciative with you advice & recommendation

Cheers
 
A 35mm f/2 would be a good choice, a used mk1 can be had for a very reasonably price.

On a side note, the 430ex should be able to cycle very quickly. This depends on the batteries used. I always use a high MH rated set of rechargeables. Low rated or cheap batteries are often unable to discharge quickly enough for a decent recycle rate.
 
I did a Disney breakfast some years ago with the grandchildren I used my 550d and nissin 622 flash and it cycled ok for me I have just got the 430 mk2 and I use Sanyo enaloops and I find that cycles fine so it maybe worth a look at the batteries
 
Big question is Florida or Paris?
Florida tends to have the better weather, brighter (even indoors) and the queues for the characters seem to be better handled. When we went to Disney Paris, it was more like a scrum with people pushing in and around everywhere.

So 650d I'd use the 10-22 due to the lack of room. 5d mk3 I'd use the 24-105
However, realistically I'd use neither. I bought a tough, waterproof compact and used that for theme parks, beach, water parks etc. These aren't high quality brochure shots, these are for family memories and carrying around a large camera is a pain, especially if you want to go on rides. Small compacts will produce great shots, small, light, go in the pocket and give you many more opportunities by being able to use in all situations, especially water. There's some great cameras available in the £150-300 range.

If you do get one, get it a reasonable time before so you are used to it.
 
Oh and flash recycling time is no issue with a 580 ex2 and godox external battery pack, but I wouldn't carry that around a theme park. Ok if you're doing breakfast meets and can leave the dslr camera in the room. Otherwise the 430 works well with fresh Duracell batteries. I usually use manual mode, f8, 1/125 shutter and let the flash sort out the lighting. It could be your settings are causing the flash to use too much power so needs longer to recycle
 
Thanks all,

Firstly, it's Florida not Paris (never been to the Paris one) :) sorry I forgot to mention that one.

Secondly, the batteries were brand new at the time, Duracell, not sure if they were a specific type of Duracell though I can't recall. Though truthfully I never even thought or considered this 'may' have been the issue as you have pointed out :)
Reference the cycling rate, given you get just a few seconds to take the photo, the first shot would be ok, the next 3-4 would be totally under exposed, the 5th one would be ok again, I'm thinking a flash cycle rate of 3-4 seconds! Does that seem normal?

I do have a Panasonic TZ10, I've had for some years now, it's the GPS version with has the Leica lens but believe there's an updated version of it too. It produces rather nice images, maybe I should take that too just for the parks. Good thinking guys.

I'll have a quick nose at the 35 f2. I have been considering a 16-35 2.8 but at the moment not sure it will be used as much as my 24-105 which is my general everyday lens

Thanks for the base settings.
 
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I would get rechargeable ones that are rated 2000mah or above. You will see a major difference
 
I would use the fastest lens I have (like you, an f/1.8 50mm) to get the flash power down as far as possible. Up the ISO as well, again, to reduce the flash's power. The less power that goes through the flash, the quicker the recycle time. Lithium cells might also speed the recycle time up a bit. There are some pretty good video lights around these days, might be enough to do the lighting for what are essentially holiday snaps.
 
Cheers all, I appreciate the time you all take to answer my questions and advise.

So, given the above, I'm thinking

5D3, 24-105
F8/125, with Arx430 & AA 2400mah rechargeables

With my TZ10 as a back up.

I have a lightweight bag, so I think the weight might be ok :)
 
Why f/8? Outdoors is fine but here I wouldn't stop down. You'd need more power from the flash and you're restricting the amount of light hitting the sensor from an already dim scene.

Set it wide open!

Keep it simple - aperture priority, wide open, set the ISO so it matches your desired shutter speed. Easy. Use the flash on TTL settings and if the flash too bright or too dim just dial it up or down on the back of the flash.
 
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odd jim said:
Why f/8? Outdoors is fine but here I wouldn't stop down. You'd need more power from the flash and you're restricting the amount of light hitting the sensor from an already dim scene.

Set it wide open!

Keep it simple - aperture priority, wide open, set the ISO so it matches your desired shutter speed. Easy. Use the flash on TTL settings and if the flash too bright or too dim just dial it up or down on the back of the flash.
Click to expand...


Like my original thread states, there's not much time in the varying locations, varying lighting etc to try sample shots etc, I'm looking for a base setting to work from.

The indoor locations aren't usually dimly lit, they are 'colourful' shall we say but obviously not as bright as outdoors

Will a wide open aperture give me sharp ficus across the focal width a the point where my son will be with the characters as there's no point if just my boy is in focus and the characters aren't?
 
I took my dslr and compact to Florida. Compact does the parks, dslr elsewhere and locked in the room when not used.

Just tested, 5d mk3, 430 flash on top, indoor shooting at 6 feet, flash recycles every 1-1.5 secs with new Duracell batteries in today's light from one window, so overcast but bright-ish. You should be able to get 4-5 images at the character meet and greet if indoors.

Manual settings f8 and 1/125th means the flash does the exposure work allowing you to concentrate on the focus and composition with some leeway for depth of field. If you're shooting with the 24-105 at 6 feet, then you've got a depth of field from 4.5 feet to 9 feet at 24mm. That allows the child and character to be in focus if you focus on the child ( which you're likely to do) or vice versa. ISO 400 should be fine without getting grainy.
 
The 5D3 should be capable of relatively noise free shots at ISO 1600 which would reduce the flash power and hence recharge times considerably. Not sure it would be able to keep up with continuous shooting at 4 FPS but should be able to get a few shots in! I would suggest the OP has a play and see what settings give the fastest recharge cycles. If necessary, change batteries between each character. Not sure if a better flash will allow a higher frame rate - if so, maybe rent one for the trip.
 
r1flyguy said:
Like my original thread states, there's not much time in the varying locations, varying lighting etc to try sample shots etc, I'm looking for a base setting to work from.

The indoor locations aren't usually dimly lit, they are 'colourful' shall we say but obviously not as bright as outdoors

Will a wide open aperture give me sharp ficus across the focal width a the point where my son will be with the characters as there's no point if just my boy is in focus and the characters aren't?
Click to expand...
Ah I see, I misunderstood - I thought you wanted a fast lens to compensate for the light as you were using a flash (and the recycle times were causing an issue).
 
I think I misunderstood as well.

If possible, replicate the conditions at home and play with aperture settings until you get the required DoF. While you're experimenting, see how high you can take the ISO before noise rears its ugly head - an extra stop of DoF could be more important than a little noise that only shows up in huge prints or when pixel peeping. Make sure the shutter speed stays slower than the synch speed of the camera, hopefully there won't be too much ambient light to overcome.
 
Thanks all, really appreciated.

All great advice and something for me to work with.

I'll try a few shots at home but think I won't be able to replicate it too well due to the spotlights, colours, etc at the locations.

May pop to my local maplins and see what range of rechargeable batteries they have.
 
r1flyguy said:
Thanks all, really appreciated.

All great advice and something for me to work with.

I'll try a few shots at home but think I won't be able to replicate it too well due to the spotlights, colours, etc at the locations.

May pop to my local maplins and see what range of rechargeable batteries they have.
Click to expand...

Why not just order from Amazon, plenty of threads here discussing the best batteries (which would probably be one of the various Eneloop tech batteries available). There was a recent thread if you have a search and a read.
 
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