Did I marry an axe-murderer?

zackiedawg

zackiedawg

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Staff member
Well I now have my first officially visible Haunted Mansion ride shots under my belt. In the past, with the old tired lighting and dust and my P&S, it was well nigh hopeless getting anything but streaky noisy lights.

Then with the ride brightened, cleaned, and refurbished, my chances increased - but my P&S still couldn't pull it off. Finally this trip I had the DSLR with me...while on the ride, I quickly realized I should have put on my F1.7 lens, and pulled it from the bag in the dark and made the lens change without losing any caps. Unfortunately, even at F1.7 and ISO3200, much of that ride isn't very photographable! Need F1.4 and one of those nifty ISO6400 cameras. Still, I managed a few good grabs.

And for some reason, noticed something I hadn't previously noticed on the ride. Maybe because I don't look on that side of the ride as often, or something else distracts me...I've always noticed the glowing bride, but never noticed her transition before.

Here's a grab of her in her normal state:

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And here's the other state:

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Whoops-a-daisy! Hadn't noticed the axe before!

The other problem I encountered was a need for a wider lens in low light...50mm with 1.5 crop was too close for some scenes. I tried to get the ballroom dancers, and just got a snippet:

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Still, I'm glad I was finally able to get at least a few usable shots out of this ride, after having been on it several gazillion times!
 
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Nice work Justin. That's a hard ride to photograph. I still don't have any good shots from in there.
 
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Oh wow. I pulled out my 50mm f/1.8 and I was pretty happy with my results but yours is better. I didnt get the grin! Oh well, another reason to go back!
 
Great Haunted Mansion pics!
This is my favorite attraction at Magic Kingdom and now having my first DSLR, although not as powerful as what most of you are shooting with, I really want to try and get some shots on this ride and other dark rides as well. Any suggestions on settings to get some decent shots?
 
The problem is the 50mm lens won't autofocus. You'll need the new 35/1.8G DX....this is the first Nikon wider angle prime lens that will autofocus on the D40/60 series. But it's only useful on the DX sensor cameras. But the price is right for what I'm reading is a very nice lens for the money.

Because actually I'd consider that your D60 is equivalent to jackiedawg's A300 (I think that's the right one), and he has a 50/1.7 lens. The 35/1.8 will give you around 50mm equivalent to the old 35mm full frame field of view.

I like manual mode for the dark rides but others here use shutter priority mode since the camera will let you underexpose your pictures when you set the slowest shutter speed you would like to use. And ISO 1600/3200 for the Haunted Mansion. Higher than that you'd need the latest class of cameras methinks. Like Tim, who can enjoy taking pics of a black cat in a coal bin at midnight. ;)
 
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"Roger" said:
Like Tim, who can enjoy taking pics of a black cat in a coal bin at midnight. ;)
Click to expand...

Giggity.
 
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Rog's right - your D60 should be around the same as my A300 - we share similar sensors and similar sensor sizes. I don't have as much of an issue with focus matching on lenses, since mine can take any Sony or Minolta AF lens of any vintage and work with it...but if you get an F1.7 or F1.8 lens, crank to ISO1600 at least, and try to keep the shutter speed above 1/40 at the very least, you should be able to get a few shots!
 
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Nice capture. ; DL's Haunted Mansion was down when we were there in January so they could remove the Nightmare before Christmas overlay. ; I hope to get a shot at it with my Nikon D300 in late June. ; As well as, IASW Under New Management
 
"Grumpwurst" said:
I hope to get a shot at it with my Nikon D300 in late June. ;
Click to expand...

Ooh, you'll be the first here to see Remember's successor. ; But everything else should be up and running[nb]Excludes parts of DCA, however, I believe that Mickey's Fun Wheel should be reopened by then.[/nb], including Fantasmic! again.
 
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