Lenses for Magic Kingdom

badwolf1009

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 9, 2020
I have searched and searched and I'm still just as confused as when I first started searching lol. Going to Disney - Magic Kingdom - for one day in a couple months. Haven't been there in like 30 years! I currently own a Canon 6d and my only lenses are 100mm macro, 28-135mm, and 35mm f2. I would like to get pictures of the parades, castle, maybe some rides, fireworks, and most importantly my kids, especially my daughter meeting the princesses. BUT, this trip is costing us too much as it is ( whole family coming and going to other non disney parks) so I need to do it as cheap as possible. Very cheap. What would my best options be? I'm mostly finding lenses for crop which won't work on my full frame. What's a good focal length for all those things there? I barely remember whats it's like there other than crowded and hot!
 
Do you have an external flash? Some of those meet and greets have really awful lighting. I'd probably want a flash before another lens. I use it indoors at some of the meet and greets, and also outdoors for fill when there are shadows.

I have a 6D and I shot 95% with my mid-range zoom, my Tamron 24-70 f/2.8. Your 28-135 will cover most of the range you want. I'm not familiar with it but suspect it's not great in low light, although with the 6D you can certainly crank up the ISO.

The 35mm f/2 will probably do well for meet and greets, dark rides and night shots.

Most days in the MK, I brought that Tamron lens, and one other. One day I brought my 70-200 zoom to use for the stage show. (I used the 24-70 for the parade). Some days I brought the fisheye for some fun different shots. Sometimes I brought a prime.

One thing to keep in mind is that you can shoot at the highest quality and do some pretty severe shots if your lens isn't long enough.
 
Do you have an external flash? Some of those meet and greets have really awful lighting. I'd probably want a flash before another lens. I use it indoors at some of the meet and greets, and also outdoors for fill when there are shadows.

I have a 6D and I shot 95% with my mid-range zoom, my Tamron 24-70 f/2.8. Your 28-135 will cover most of the range you want. I'm not familiar with it but suspect it's not great in low light, although with the 6D you can certainly crank up the ISO.

The 35mm f/2 will probably do well for meet and greets, dark rides and night shots.

Most days in the MK, I brought that Tamron lens, and one other. One day I brought my 70-200 zoom to use for the stage show. (I used the 24-70 for the parade). Some days I brought the fisheye for some fun different shots. Sometimes I brought a prime.

One thing to keep in mind is that you can shoot at the highest quality and do some pretty severe shots if your lens isn't long enough.

I do have a flash. I'll be sure to bring that. I think we're going to get the memory maker too, but I'd really like to take some of my own as well. What I've seen of them doesn't leave me impressed. The 28-135 isn't that great in low light, but I've gotten pretty used to using it. It's a cheap lens, but I've made it work for me :-)
 
So are you saying you'd still like to add one more lens before your trip? What's your top priority?

You can also rent lenses, but generally I find it kind of pricey for my taste.
 


So are you saying you'd still like to add one more lens before your trip? What's your top priority?

You can also rent lenses, but generally I find it kind of pricey for my taste.

Yes, I was thinking about adding another lens. I was also just wondering if the 35 was wide enough for the MK or do I need something wider? I've never actually used the 28-135 at the wide end. I was considering bringing my two point and shoots as well. I have a Sony rx100 m1 and an Olympus TG-5. Mostly, I'm fine with snapshots. Honestly, I just want one good high quality one of my daughter in her rapunzel dress in front of the castle and one of all three of my kids. Image quality that the sony and olympus just don't have. And I'd like some decent pics of the scenery, rides, parades, etc. But I also don't really want to be bogged down by a lot of equipment either. I think I want to bring a lens that doesn't exist and if it did it would be out of my price range :-)
 
Honestly, the 35 on a full frame should be pretty decent. I just checked shots from my recent trip and most of what I took up by the castle I shot with 33-44mm.

Here's my recommendation for nice photos in front of the castle. Get there when the rope drops, which is around 8 on 9 AM open days. Go linger around the partners statue and wait for the initial wave of crowds to pass. Be patient and wait for people right behind you to pass. Then get your shots on your camera. Also get some on Photopass. Give Photopass your camera and get in some yourself.

Don't forget to visit Rapunzel in Fairytale Hall while your daughter is in her costume.
 
To me, that's a simple decision. Go with the zoom. If you bring only the 100mm, you won't be able to take shots with context. Virtually everything will be a close-up. The zoom should cover most of your needs. It'll let you down on dark rides. The 35mm would be handy for low light situations, but I think most people would be content with the 28-135 and wouldn't think the benefits of the 35mm f/2 would be worth the trouble of carrying two lenses. The 35mm alone is too wide for a lot of shots where you are trying to isolate details or zoom in on the kids.

All that said, one of my favorite types of shots with kids is to zoom wide and then get very close to them. That allows them to occupy a significant portion of the frame but still show the context of where they are. If you just stand back and zoom in, they fill the frame but they could be anywhere. If you go wide and don't get close, they get lost in the picture. Here's an example taken at 28mm f/4.5:
475126

Here's another example shooting back at my son's on Everest. It was taken at 24mm and f/14. The narrow aperture was to help get a low shutter speed (1/50s) to get some motion blur to capture a sense of speed.
475129

One other thing to consider is that you have a cell phone. It is probably wider than 28mm, although maybe not by much. The 6D is an amazing camera and much better than a cell phone camera, but if you need a shot wider than you have the glass for and your phone will do it, use your phone. This may be especially true if you are on well lit rides and want to take a picture of the child sitting with you. This shot is at 17mm, but it doesn't need to be quite that wide. But 28mm might not be quite wide enough. You'll know after one ride.
475127
 


I currently own a Canon 6d and my only lenses are 100mm macro, 28-135mm, and 35mm f2. I would like to get pictures of the parades, castle, maybe some rides, fireworks, and most importantly my kids, especially my daughter meeting the princesses. BUT, this trip is costing us too much as it is ( whole family coming and going to other non disney parks) so I need to do it as cheap as possible. Very cheap. What would my best options be?
Take a breath. It's okay. you're 90% there already. Remember, you've got 20MP to play with. Get close to what you want with your lens and then compose your shot in post production with the crop tool. Even of you want a huge print, you've got plenty of frame to play with. A 13 x 19in print at 240 dpi is only 14MP. I Blow 6 MP images up that big without complaint.

So a 35 f2 is a great choice. Probably your 100mm as well. If you can get it, a 50mm f1.4 is reasonable price and f1.5 can be had for about $100. Or rent a 50mm F1.2.
 

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