advice for digital photo's on fast and or dark rides About This Page:

[travelinsara]

Hello Digital Fans!

I would like to know the best way to actually capture photo's on rides like Peter Pan, Snow White, Pooh etc with my digital camera. I use a Canon IS 2S. I attempted getting these shots previously and did not get any decent photos. Back in the pre-digital days, I took and got great shots, with film. I know it is because of the lag time, but is there something I can do to the camera to get pictures? TIA for any advice!
Sara

[KMB733]

I'm no expert and have tried several times to get good pictures on those rides with my digital camera. Once trick that I learned and it doesn't always work, is to hold the shutter button half way down. It helps the camera focus faster and then when you get to the picture you want, push the button all the way down. But like I said it doesn't always work, especially on fast moving rides.

[Dave Marx]

Some things I'd do include turn off the flash, and go to manual focus. The less your camera has to figure out, the better. Most of the time the lighting conditions change so quickly on dark rides that auto exposure is nearly always changing. When focus and flash get added in, there's no way your camera can react in time. Also, rather than use full auto exposure, try some of the alternate modes, including shutter priority, and if you have it, night mode.

Anticipation (shooting a bit early) is also helpful. So, if you can ride more than once, use the first ride for a rehearsal, and be prepared to anticipate each shot the next time around, you stand a better chance.

[Tonichelle]

Dave gives the best advice...

and seeing as how I've not ridden on the rides mentioned I can't really give you anything more specific. I tend not to bother shooting most of the rides because I'd rather enjoy the ride than work a camera...

[disneygramma]

on my camera I have the option of the "sports" mode which shoots continuously and has helped me get quite a few shots of action that otherwise I would not have gotten, also it gives me a lot of shots so I have more to choose from to find that perfect one,
good luck (mine is a DSLR: canon digital rebel)

[bradk]

unless you have an amazingly fast lens, peter pan is going to be impossible.

really the problem is this. you need enough light to hit the sensor, so the camera compensates by keeping the shutter open longer, particularly in auto mode. in addition, most cameras won't approach their higher ISO levels (light sensitivity) in auto modes, resulting in even longer shutter times.

because you're constantly moving on these rides, if the shutter is open too long, you'll create blur as you pass along whatever you're taking a photo off.

the only way around this completely is to use the flash, which you normally can't do on indoor attractions (and even when you can manage, it often ends up showing things you probably didn't want to see anyway).

outside of that, you need to make manual adjustments to control how long the shutter is open and what your ISO level is. the best you can do in most cases is to set the ISO to 1600 or higher and set the shutter speed to roughly 1/50. this will result in less blur, but often far darker images that will probably require some bit of post processing.

manual focus and pre-focusing won't really help in the sense that while they will allow the camera to react faster, you're taking the chance that whatever you want to be in focus will be (which it probably won't) and you're still subject to motion blur.

[ilovedisney247]

My digital camera has a low light no flash option that has a very quick shutter time. I would try that!

[travelinsara]

thanks for the info everyone, the photo's were 'slightly' better from this last trip.. but we did more outside things ..however the haunted mansion I was able to get a few shots with no flash. Next trip....I will try the DSLR.