Which camera / lenses for Florida / theme parks?

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Blonkster

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We are going to Florida in Dec 2010 and as I'm new to DSLRs I wondered if I should take mine, and if so which lens/es - or just stick to my Sony DSC P200 P&S?

I have an A200 with 18-70 kit lens, a 70-210 beercan and a 70-300 Minolta, all in a Lowe Pro fastpack 200 rucsack.

I was thinking of ust taking the DLSR and kit lens in the fastpack with netbook and chargers etc as my hand luggage.

I was't sure about using the DSLR when at theme parks (bulky?) or just take it out at night for shots, and use the P&S in the parks.

Any advice from others who have done this, who maybe left the DLSR at home and wished they hadn't - or vice versa?

thanks

Blonks
 
Hi and welcome to TP :wave:

I would say it entirely depends on where you are ging and what types of things you are hoping to do. I LOVED Florida but I am definately more of a Universal / Flex Ticket kinda gal than Disney. Do you have an idea of where you will be going yet? Which camera is a double edged sword - depending on which park you are talking about:

Sea World & Busch Gardens Tampa - DSLR for definate.

Universal Studio's / Islands of Adventure - Great theming but I'm too much of an adrenaline junkie to have a DSLR with me in these parks. You can only use a locker for a set amount of time to queue and ride the ride so you'd spend a lot of time putting your bag in and out of lockers. Compact is probably best on your first visit - maybe take the DSLR if you go a second (or third!) time and to take shots of CityWalk.

Disney - I can only comment on MGM (Hollywood Studios now I think), Animal Kingdom and Blizzard Beach. I wouldn't bother taking a DSLR to any of the water parks for obvious reasons. I probably would to the other Disney Parks - I found there was more theming than substance at AK and you could get some great shots at Lights, Camera, Action at MGM. They do some brilliant firework shows at Epcot but that would mean taking a tripod which brings a whole new level of baggage!

Discovery Cove - DSLR if you are comfortable leaving it in a locker for most of the day OR water proof compact.

Lens wise I'm not much help - I've only just got my 55-200 and have never used a 70-300. I would think you'd be wanting a bit more reach than the kit lens gives you though.

Hope that helped!

EDIT to say - under no circumstances take your DSLR on either of the water rides at Islands of Adventure - you get absolutely drenched.

I wrote a trip report for our 2007 Florida trip which can be found here if you are interested:

http://www.disab.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=9565

The photography is terrible (this was as I was just realising I liked photography but knew nothing) but it gives you an idea of the sort of things you can shoot :)
 
I stayed in Disney for my honeymoon back in August, and I took my Canon 450D plus two lenses (18-55mm and 55-250mm) virtually everywhere with me. Daysleeper is completely right in saying not to take your camera to the water parks or on any of the water rides (especially Universal) as you will come off wet to the bone. Most of the Disney parks have some kind of parade on each day so it'll be worth having the camera for that, as well as the firework shows that are on at 3 of the parks each night (Epcot, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios - Epcot is best by a distance IMO).

Epcot is awesome for pictures, especially the Walk The World section, with each part themed after different countries, from the architecture to the food and shops. Magic Kingdom has Cinderella's Castle which is well worth taking pictures of (and I can give you some ideas on the perfect location as well to take them). At Animal Kingdom you obviously have lots of attractions to do with animals so again worth having the camera for that. Hollywood Studios has two awesome shows worth taking pictures of - The Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, and the Lights, Motor, Action stunt show.

I'm by no means a good photographer but if you want to see some of the pictures I got when I was there I'll be happy to put some online tomorrow to show you :)
 
I took my 350D, 18-55 and Sigma 70-300 which was all I had at the time. My wife is not a great rollercoaster fan so she was able to look after it while I was on the rides with the kid. We had a rucksack with us anyway to carry food/drinks etc and that kit was surprisingly compact. I never regretted taking it.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I'll be taking the DSLR then, apart form water rides, as my wife will be making me ride on the scary ones whilst she holds the bags !

Did any of you find you needed something like a 300mm lens , or was it ok with the kit and shorter ones?
 
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