I was wondering, when you go to Disney World what do you guys bring with you in terms of camera gear? lenses accessories all of it.
That depends. This trip I'm not bringing my 70-200/2.8, 100 macro or my 24-105. Only the 17-40, 35/1.4, and the rented 85/1.2 and 70-300 DO. And a tripod, remote release, flash, and my new gorillapod SLR zoom.
It depends on what I'm planning to shoot. I always have my 12-24/4 and my 28-70/2.8 and a remote release, tripod and a sensor cleaning kit. If I'm planning to go to AK, then I'll bring my 70-200/2.8 and my 80-400/4.5. If I'm planning to shoot a lot of details that are farther away than the 28-70 can get, or if I'm going to shoot Wishes from the TTC then I'll bring the 70-200. If I'm going to try to get pictures in the dark rides, I'll bring the 50/1.2.
I haven't brought a full setup to WDW yet ... since I didn't have a DSLR last time I went, in 2005. When I go this summer, I'm planning on bringing the following in my bag: 5D 50 f/1.4 24-105 f/4 27-40 f/4 Extra Battery / Extra Card I'll probably also bring: Tripod Speedlite 580EX My HD Camcorder was thinking about bringing my 70-200 ... but it's usefulness is so limited and it's so big, I'll probably leave it at home.
I use two bags. Main bag is large and has my 50, 80-400, and body with the 18-200 on it, Also spare battery, cards, cords, filters, remote, flash, still carry pen and paper form the old days. This is my main bag in every day life. At Disney, this bag stays in the room. At Disney, I move the body and 18-200 and flash into a small bag with a spare card. Sometimes I also throw in the 50, but I am disappointed by this lens focal length on the crop body, and dont use it much, since I thought it would work on rides. Sometimes I dont carry a bag at all. Last June and August I carried the camera and put sodas in the small bag, which were gone by the afternoon rain, so I could stow my camera if needed. In the room a battery is always in the charger.
What are the essentials that you would never leave home without? Meaning photography gear, the stuff that's in your bag no matter where you go or what you plan to shoot. I think that's the question I should have been asking.
I never go anywhere without the camera, 12-24/4, 28-70/2.8, polarizer, neutral density filter, spare memory cards, spare battery, sensor brush, filter cleaner and filter wrenches.
Lol - filter wrenches. Definately a "never forget". I took a trip to Napa and bought a 17-40 especially for landscape shots. Stuck a Circ Poly filter on it one day to draw out the blue skies and BAM - absolutely locked on. Forgot to bring a wrench so that filter was stuck on that lens for the rest of the trip. I bought 4 of the $1 buggers when I got back and stuck them in every bag for the future - just in case.
Filter Wrench Its a tool used to remove filters that are stuck on a lens. Its especially important when you experience extreme temperature changes when going from indoors to outdoors. I put a filter on outside once when it was 20° and forgot to take it off. When I got inside, everything on the lens warmed up and expanded. The filter was stuck so bad that that I couldn't remove it even with a filter wrench, so I had to take it back outside before I could remove it.
I had no idea filter wrenches existed, but I knew what they were the second I read "filter wrench". I've actually been meaning to do a whole product review series based on the contents of my camera pack, and my usual Disney kit beyond the pack itself. I have a fairly standard loadout that doesn't vary much from a trip to the zoo to a trip to Disney World. It's a non photography backpack that I've marginally adapted to my needs. All I did was put a holster bag into the main compartment with a lens case next to it. The holster bag holds my camera and whatever lens is currently attached to it, and the lens case holds the other of my two usual lenses, either the 70-200 or the Tamron 28-75. I keep a spare battery in the front pouch of the holster bag, and normally have a small camcorder tucked underneath the holster bag. When the temperature is above freezing I often have a water bottle in a water bottle pocket of the backpack, if for nothing else than because drinking from a drinking fountain is too slow and inefficient. I can get a lot more drinking done if I use the fountain to fill up the bottle, then drink out of it. In the front compartment of the backpack I usually have my memory wallet, currently holding at least 5, possibly six CF cards (it was only designed for four, I just stick the others in loosely) totaling something like 12 gigabytes of storage (more than I've ever used in any one trip, but now that I'm shooting RAW more frequently I may break that record). Also spare DV tapes for the camcorder, a space pen (you know, one of those pens you get at museums that is supposedly of a similar design used by astronauts in space, this one came from the Air and Space museum in DC), a lens pen (a pen like device with a retractable brush on one side and an interesting lens cleaning tip on the other that I don't know how to explain), a small notepad with a Mickey Mouse picture on the front (I got it at a previous mousefest as a sort of door prize for going on the fireworks cruise), lens paper, lens cleaning solution (sometimes, I take it out for air travel because of the whole liquid restriction and sometimes I don't put it back in because I rarely use it), remote shutter release, small AA powered LED flashlight, microfiber lens cleaning cloth, spare AA batteries if I'm relying on any AA powered devices like a GPS or external flash.. Oh, and two small medicine bottles, one filled with Excedrin Migraine, one filled with a variety of other headache fighters (I used to keep a similar bottle in my car, but stopped after concerns that regular exposure to intense heat might not be good for the drugs). Yes, headaches are my mortal enemy. Although really they haven't been too bad lately. The Excedrin can also double as no-doze, it contains caffeine. Then for Disney trips I have another, smaller lens case that just holds both my kit lens (because it's a bit wider. It's not as high quality, but I like having the option of sacrificing quality for width if I feel the need) and my 50mm F1.8. I never touched either last year, but they're small enough that I'd hate to leave them behind and then wish I'd brought them. As another optional accesory I can attach my tripod to the pack. Since it's not a dedicated photo pack it's not meant to hold tripods, but I can fit two of the three legs into a water bottle pocket and snug it up against the pack with a compression strap. It's off balance that way, on one side, the first time I did that for a long trip it made my back really sore. But I appear to have gotten used to it, it doesn't bother me anymore. I usually leave the bag packed. There was a time where I was able to grab the bag and a tripod and run out the door when that really came in handy (but that's a whole story in itself). If I have a specific event planned I'll get everything charged up but really the gear is always ready at a moment's notice, there's always at least some charge in the batteries.
When I went to DLR and DLRP, I used a Karachi Outpost to haul all my gear to the parks (17-55, 60mm and 70-200 - DLRP only) which acted as a mothership then a $4M Home to go out to the parks - using only one lens at a time.
