No professional equipment

N01Chris

N01Chris

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Christian
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I am 15 years old and Im going on a trip next year ( Ill then be 16) to the harry potter studio's in London, on there website it says "no professional photography equipment, what does this mean, i will hopefully have a 7d then is that considered professorial or does it just mean the photos can only be used for personal use/ cannot be sold?
 
Hi Christian, your camera will be fine. I did the tour on 5th Sept and I used my D90 and 55-300 lens.

There were people with all size camera's and lenses.

You will love it :thumbs:
 
Contact them, send them an email and as for clarification, that is your best bet :thumbs: and if they send you a decent answer post that here and print it off and take it with you when you go. It's highly unlikely that anyone here will be able to give you a response that is anything other than speculation :shrug:

Matt
MWHCVT
 
thank you! Can I ask whether there are a lot of glass cases and whether I should buy a polarising filter to help reduce reflections?

I have also sent them a e-mail as advised because I have a white L lens (70-200 f4l) which might attract unwanted attention
 
N01Chris said:
I am 15 years old and Im going on a trip next year ( Ill then be 16) to the harry potter studio's in London, on there website it says "no professional photography equipment, what does this mean, i will hopefully have a 7d then is that considered professorial or does it just mean the photos can only be used for personal use/ cannot be sold?
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I went there earlier this year, lots of people using DSLR (including me), though there were one or two places that photography was not allowed.
I'd have been using the A900 + 24-70 f/2.8, which is reasonably chunky (can't remember if I used the VG, possibly not), no-one looked at all concerned.

I would imaging Tripods and probably monopods would be frowned upon, and you have to put up with people walking in front of you when trying to frame a shot.

The lighting is also rather odd - probably worth taking a grey card and using it for any shots you are concerned about.
 
Faldrax said:
I went there earlier this year, lots of people using DSLR (including me), though there were one or two places that photography was not allowed.
I'd have been using the A900 + 24-70 f/2.8, which is reasonably chunky (can't remember if I used the VG, possibly not), no-one looked at all concerned.

I would imaging Tripods and probably monopods would be frowned upon, and you have to put up with people walking in front of you when trying to frame a shot.

The lighting is also rather odd - probably worth taking a grey card and using it for any shots you are concerned about.
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i know how to set up manual white balance but i shoot raw so can I just do it in pp?
 
N01Chris said:
i know how to set up manual white balance but i shoot raw so can I just do it in pp?
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That's what I did, but found I had to give quite different adjustments to shots in different areas (ranging from 3400 to 10800). If I were going again, I would take a grey card shot first in any given area, so I had an easy reference to set the WB for those shots in pp.
 
Faldrax said:
That's what I did, but found I had to give quite different adjustments to shots in different areas (ranging from 3400 to 10800). If I were going again, I would take a grey card shot first in any given area, so I had an easy reference to set the WB for those shots in pp.
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I don't have a grey card, I just used a white piece of paper last time, where can I get a grey card, assuming that is better?
 
They basically mean no tripods or external flashes. I suspect 1 in 10 had a dslr of some sort when I went.

My tips are shoot raw and high ISO as its dark. I was shooting aperture priority at or around -0.7 to -1ev comp most the time inside. If you shoot to the meter most stuff will probably be over exposed. Or at least that's what I was seeing.

Also I won't spoil the surprise but in the final large room wait for the blue light to cycle off. It ruined some of my best shots and there's only so much you can do to fix it in post.
 
maninsuitcase said:
They basically mean no tripods or external flashes. I suspect 1 in 10 had a dslr of some sort when I went.

My tips are shoot raw and high ISO as its dark. I was shooting aperture priority at or around -0.7 to -1ev comp most the time inside. If you shoot to the meter most stuff will probably be over exposed. Or at least that's what I was seeing.

Also I won't spoil the surprise but in the final large room wait for the blue light to cycle off. It ruined some of my best shots and there's only so much you can do to fix it in post.
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thank you, ill probably be using my 50 1.8 most of the time, maybe bump up the iso and use the 70-200 f4l at some points I have found the noise cleans up quite nicely in pp as long as the photo is over exposed slightly
 
Faldrax said:
That's what I did, but found I had to give quite different adjustments to shots in different areas (ranging from 3400 to 10800). If I were going again, I would take a grey card shot first in any given area, so I had an easy reference to set the WB for those shots in pp.
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Honestly? You would carry a grey card to an amusement park and use it constantly!
Its each to his own i know but i find that a bit excessive
Lets be honest, the images ain't gonna be sold, only cherished.
I understand the reason and procedure with grey cards, i use one myself. But not for something like this, shoot raw, wb auto and enjoy yourself
 
boliston said:
The 7D is one of the cameras listed on Canon's "professional" network site whereas Nikon definitely class the D90 as a "consumer" camera ;)
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I doubt the staff there will either;

A) refer to Canon's list or,
B) know the difference between a 1100d and a 7d.*

I'm sure the OP will be fine but always worth clarifying beforehand.

*...or a Canon, Nikon, Pentax, MFT or a bridge camera for that matter.
 
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Simon photo said:
Honestly? You would carry a grey card to an amusement park and use it constantly!
Its each to his own i know but i find that a bit excessive
Lets be honest, the images ain't gonna be sold, only cherished.
I understand the reason and procedure with grey cards, i use one myself. But not for something like this, shoot raw, wb auto and enjoy yourself
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It's a 'studio tour' rather than an amusement park - but yes, having been there and found it a real pain in pp, I'd take the few seconds to take a shot of the grey card (I have a small card the size of my wallet) when there so that when I get home I have photos to cherish, rather than ones that annoy me from being a pain to get WB even close.
 
KIPAX said:
So you prefer to take a bad picture (wb off) and fix it later on your computer?
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Is that comment meant to be loaded? He will be shooting raw, so (apart from the wb reference value) the data will be exactly the same whether he sets a custom white-balance or uses auto. That doesn't make it a bad picture - it's the same picture either way - it just means that he'll have his work cut out getting the white-balance sorted pp.
 
Could be worth taking a polarizer - especially since you say you'll be using a 50mm f/1.8 lens which will allow plenty of light in even with the what the pol steals. You don't have to use it if there are situations where you wnat or need as much light as possible - just take the case to keep it protected while it's in your pocket.

I've seen 'pro' camera described as one with a lens physically over 6" long - your 50mm will be well under that although the 200 mm and camera body depth could be close - ask someone before dragging that out, maybe. They should be able to give you a definitive answer and they'll appreciate you asking so might give you the benefit of the doubt IF physical size is their criterion for professionalism. Of course, if they say "No", leave it in the bag.

Most of all, have a great day's shooting.
 
Nod said:
Could be worth taking a polarizer - especially since you say you'll be using a 50mm f/1.8 lens which will allow plenty of light in even with the what the pol steals. You don't have to use it if there are situations where you wnat or need as much light as possible - just take the case to keep it protected while it's in your pocket.
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As far as I can remember there was only 3-4 glass cabinets. Only one was a problem regarding reflections. Almost everything is only behind a rope, or in 1 case a cage as example of how it's stored on a live set.
 
Is the item behind the glass which is a problem an item of significant intersest? If so, I would suggest that the polariser is worth taking - it's not as if yje thighs weigh very much or take up much space and it would be a shame to be missing an item to complete a set.
IMO, Chris, yours is one of the most helpful answers in the thred - personal experience of the venue is invaluable.
 
Yeah I emailed them as advised to on the website and got the reply back "sorry, we can't help with this!" idiots.

Didn't take mine which I was a little peeved about because it would've been really good. Lots of people there with video/SLRs of all types, no once cares.

I also don't see the need for a grey card or polariser. It's just not needed, my wife's Fuji F600 P&S managed just fine.
 
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Nod said:
IMO, Chris, yours is one of the most helpful answers in the thred - personal experience of the venue is invaluable.
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Thanks. My biggest single issue was it was chuffing dark and I had to close don the aperture to get some DOF. This lead to ISO800 and shutter speeds in the 1/3 to 1/50 range. To say getting a sharp shot required some thinking was an understatement.

I'd have killed for VR and a camera with a usable ISO3200.

Edit: the 1 cabinate that was an issue was of interest, but the one next to it was more interesting. The problem one was deliberately quite dark in side as it was "baddy" stuff meaning the brighter out doors made reflections a huge problem regardless of angles used. A CPL or a Jumper to hide under would work but I didn't want to block the view of anyone else.
 
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went there with my kit never said a thing to me currently 40D and 24-70 sigma and flash
to be honest there where more then happy to take photos and sometimes stepped out of my way
i sat back of the main hall on my own and no one approached me
 
i got a reply from hp studios: Dear Christian Johnson-Richards,

Thank you very much for your email. We are very happy for you to use your camera equipment and lenses, but we do not allow tripods in the Studio Tour.

Best wishes.
Yours sincerely,
Anne Lean
 
all they really mean is "we reserve the right to kick you out if you are A) clearly trying to make money from the pictures B) being a douchbag and slowing everyone down C) taking more interest in taking pictures rather than looking with your own eyes D) your big lens keeps bashing into people/objects"
 
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