Dark Ride Pics

H

haunteddoc

Member
Got my Canon 30D for Christmas. Next trip to WDW is in March and I want to take some pics on rides like POTC etc. The fastest lens I got was a 2.8. Will it be enough to set my ISO high, can go up to 3200, or for better pics should I rent a faster lens and go for the lower ISO?
 
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my experience with 20d at mf was with sigma 30mm f1.4, at 1600 iso, and it was still tough, check out my postings for potc in mk pages, and from great movie ride in mgm under i'll get you my pretty
i'll start a gmr thread and post up a couple from the ride
i also have couple posted under mousefest, splash mountain meet
gary
 
all of my dark ride stuff is with f1.8's or faster and iso 3200. you can always noise reduce in photoshop with a plugin. there are 100's of them...
 
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"gary" said:
my experience with 20d at mf was with sigma 30mm f1.4, at 1600 iso, and it was still tough
gary
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I don't mean to go off topic at all - but would you recommend the Sigma 30mm? I am looking for a way to photograph 'dark' attractions and had wondered about this. I had also wondered about the Canon 50mm f1.4 but think this would, with the 1.6 factor, be too close?
 
consider renting both for a week or 2, try them out and see which you prefer, the 50 does get a little close, equals 80mm field of view on crop camera, but does focus pretty fast, i rode great movie ride with tim and used his 50, focus nice and fast, but i liked the sigma a lot
i rented the sigma and a canon 70-300 IS for 2 weeks for mousefest, from this outfit, http://www.lensrentals.com/ and was very pleased, i think it was $134 for both lenses, shipping and insurance, they came well packed and padded and with a peel off and stick shipping label
we are going on the magic, 1st med cruise on 5/26/07 and i'm considering an xti body and the sigm,a for museum/church pics, that plus my 10-22 and my velbon tripod are all i'll take, i may rent the 70-300 again for the trip, when i get my mec sling pod next month i'll be able to judge how much gear i can fit into it for daily travels
all my posted potc, splash mtn, finding nemo, and much of gmr pics were with sigma at 1600 iso, i took a few at 3200, but mostly fantasmic with 70-300 which is f3.5 at widest
hope this helps
gary
 
Very helpful, thanks - I had thought hiring was the domain of big expensive sports lenses; good idea to try this route!
 
Thanks everyone for the thoughts. I think I'll probably rent a couple and see how it goes. Sure is nice that you can rent these lens before buying. Especially because of their price. So, how are Sigma lens compared to Canon? Is there really a significant enough difference for the novice to notice?
 
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i try whenever possible to stick with camera brand lenses whenever possible, i would feel the same way if i used nikon gear.
having said that there are a few exceptions. i currently have a tamron 28-75 xr di f2.8 i use on my 20d, it's my current walk around lens, many of the pics i've posted so far were made with that lens,including almost all my night mk tour pics and all my daytime epcot & mk tour pics
the sigma 30mm f1.4 really impressed me, i thought the focus speed was pretty good, and i thought the colors were nice and warm. sigma seems to have come a long way with their quality control, and i've seen pics inside churches and museums in europe taken with an xti body which is a great match with this lens
some of the past issues with sigma and other non mfg lenses have been autofocus sped and compatibility issues, but that also seemed to be more related to older lenses.
also canon currently does not have a viable prosumer value 30-35mm f1.4 or 1.8 lens, the only choices are the 35 f1.4 L which is heavy and way expensive, and also seems to have some distortion problems according to some, and the cheap 35 f2, aka the plastic fantastic, i had one, it took great photos, but a year or so into things while taking many disney pics it suddenly started to sound like a coffee grinder while focusing and soon quit auto focus totally, and really feels like it's binding up while trying to manual, not worth repairing, just slightly less than new, so for a few dollars more i'd go with the sigma to get a fast normal, or close to it field of view on a crop camera, now if i was a lucky man like a certain forum admin and had a shiny new full frame the clear cut choice there is the 50mm f1.4
gary
 
forgive the stuttering and run on sentences, i really should not be allowed on the net when tired,
gary
 
the canon 50mm f/1.8 costs less than 100 bucks and is considered an awesome lens for the cost.
 
true that!, and for us old dinosaurs of the photo hobby remember when you almost couldn't buy a body only and every camera came with a 50mm f1.4, it was the first lens many learned with, and was the lens on his leica for better than 80% of henri cartier-bresson's photos, for those who are not familiar with his name, he passed away within last couple of years and is considered among the best if not the best ever at street/candid photography
anyone wanting to get a feel for how that's done needs to look at his work, and the work of weegee
gary
 
I just checked and the local Wal Mart has the 50mm f/1.8 for around $75 bucks. Soon as i get some time off work, guess a trip to Wal Mart is in order.
 
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dark rides are really hard because they don't use direct light. they use blacklight which reflects differently than sunlight/lamplight. which means there's even less light available to photograph. plus you're moving which messes everything up.

this is My own opinion of the dark rides (and some others):
with a fast lens (1.8-2.8)
winnie the pooh: shootable
peter pan: kind of shootable (but never got a good shot of the mermaids)
IASW: very shootable even with long lenses like a 70-300 IS.
snow white: not shootable until the end.
haunted mansion: not shootable (but you can get some cool effect shots)
POTC: somewhat shootable but with a harsh red overtone glow to everything.
Tiki Room: if you get a good seat, its pretty shootable.
Splash MTN: definately, both inside and out. its very bright
Space: yeah, right.
Buzz: pretty shootable
 
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Thanks vantonni. I was planning on renting a 50mm 1.2 for the trip. Thought this might be fast enough just about everything I wanted to shoot. I've never tried this before, just got my DSLR, but thought using shutter priority would be best to get the faster shutter speeds necessary.
 
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"vantonni" said:
haunted mansion: not shootable (but you can get some cool effect shots)
POTC: somewhat shootable but with a harsh red overtone glow to everything.
Click to expand...

Disagree on the HM. POTC, well, those things can be corrected post processing. I know that my negatives came out that way...but the HM is definitely shootable.
 
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"vantonni" said:
dark rides are really hard because they don't use direct light. they use blacklight which reflects differently than sunlight/lamplight.
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it is also VERY difficult to focus on blacklighted objects (peter pan anyone? haunted mansion graveyard?) because there is so little contrast to focus on. the camera needs and area of light and dark to lock the focus and with blacklight everything is so gentle and subtle it is very hard to focus.
 
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Ahhh but the graveyard is also dependent on the status of the scrim, and whether or not it's been cleaned lately.

Which reminds me of the original one. I think the lighting was bumped up not just for the Holiday makeover (which has heavy blacklight that is easy to focus on) but because CA has extraordinary safety laws after the Columbia accident. That's why the show is "ruined" by a big ol' EXIT sign in the hallway.
 
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i was able to get more DL graveyard shots in 2 days than i EVER have been able to get in WDW. i know the effects are enhanced a bit but it would be nice is WDW had the same show as DL.
 
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