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WillCAD.org - Will's Photography Tips

Will's Photography Tips

The Precious

Photographic film is both precious and fragile! Learn how to protect it from the dreaded X-ray demons that live at the airport on this page:

Flying with Film

And the slick

Digital photography is surpassing film photography among consumers. But how does one get one's pictures off the camera and safely home when vacationing at my favorite haunt, Walt Disney World? Click here for the complete lowdown:

Downloading Digital Pictures at WDW

Old School

I got my first camera when I was about ten years old. It was a Kodak Disk 4000. Disk cameras were released by Kodak from 1982-1984 and were easy to use point-and-shoot cameras whose film came in a rotating, disk-shaped cartrige. I didn't use it much, but I still have a few old prints from this camera laying around in a shoe box someplace.

Kodak Disk 4000, 1982 - 1984
Lens: 2,8/12,5mm
Shutter: 1/100, 1/200
Negative: 8x10mm
Battery: Integrated (The manual did not tell how to change it)

* Film for this format was withdrawn from production in 1998, it is no longer manufactured by anyone.

Over the years I also had several 35mm and point-and-shoot cameras, mostly cheap no-name brands which can be found today in any corner drug store or supermarket. It was with these that I shot most of the pictures I took until my first trip to Walt Disney World in 1990.

Something Borrowed

My first Disney trip, in August of 1990, was a milestone for me in more ways than one. But one of the most interesting things was that it was my first exposure (no pun intended) to the world of Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras. I took this trip with my friend Frank Hoehn, a professional wedding and event photographer with over 20 years of experience. For the duration of the trip, he let me use (under his close supervision, naturally) his venerable Canon A1 SLR. I didn't expect to take very good pics with this camera because of it's complexity, my lack of skill and experience, and most importantly, the fact that it was a manual focus camera. But I managed to shoot four rolls of very nice pics with it during the week (two of which were lost by the developer, to my horror and outrage).

Subsequent trips saw me once again using cheap 35mm point-and-shoot cameras and coming home to passably good pictures, but finding the cheap cameras woefully inadequate to the task of capturing the true beauty and Magic of a Walt Disney World vacation.

The New Era

Hard Rock Cafe, Universal Studios Florida After many trips to Walt Disney World, I decided in 1999 to buy myself a nice new camera before my next trip. I shopped around and settled on a Canon EOS Rebel G, an entry-level SLR that accepts a wide variety of Canon lenses and accessories. After I got the camera I started playing with it and shot three rolls of junk. I was beginning to be afraid that I had spent $350 on a camera kit that wouldn't give me any better performance than a cheap point-and-shoot camera because of my skill level. But, nervous though I was, I read the manual some more, listened to more advice from Frank, and in April of 1999 I took my Rebel to Walt Disney World on my first solo trip.

The results were stunning. The eleven rolls of film I shot that week were definitely the best pictures I had ever taken, and even today stand as some of the best I've ever shot.

I originally purchased a Sigma 28-80mm lens with the camera and used it successfully on one Disney trip. The clarity of this lens is nothing short of breathtaking, and when I decided that I wanted to buy a new lens with a longer zoom, I immediately went with another Sigma: the 28-200 Hyperzoom Macro. This new lens delivered just as well as the 28-80mm lens had, and continued to get fabulous shots.

Later I added a AAA battery pack, a remote shutter release, a Speedlight 220EX flash unit, and several pocket-size tripods to my photographic arsenal.

The 21st Century

After four years of incredible photography with my 35mm, I decided in 2003 to buy myself a digital camera. After quite a bit of research, I settled on a Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom, a 3.1-megapixel camera with 6x zoom, which uses both Compact Flash and Smart Media cards. It takes excellent pictures, is lightweight, and is pretty efficient on batteries.

After using this camera or a while, I came across a cheap Sunpak flash unit designed for digital cameras. Since my Canon Speedlight flash was designed for use with Canon EOS camera bodies, I had never been able to use it with my Fuji camera. But this Sunpak flash unit is designed to be used by cameras that don't talk directly to the flash unit, making it perfect for my Fuji camera. I bought the kit on clearance (I love those clearance sales!) at Ritz Camera for $20. With this new flash, I can now take pics with my digital camera is places where the built-in flash is too weak. It can also be used as a 'slave' flash unit, meaning that it can be set up on a tripod at a distance, and be remotely triggered by my camera's built-in flash.




And beyond!

Canon has always had my loyalty. Partly this is because my friend Frank is a Canon loyalist, having bought something like 8 Canon SLR cameras, both 35mm and digital, and more lenses than I can count, but mostly my Canon loyalty has been due to my own wonderful experience with Canon products. So several years ago when Canon released the Digital Rebel 300D, a digital SLR that retailed for under $1000, I made it a priority to get a look at one, and when I did, I immediately fell in love.

But I couldn't afford $1000, so I waited. And after almost two years, I was finally able to afford a factory-refurbished 300D. The camera did not dissapoint me; so far it has taken wonderful images, and works perfectly with my Speedlight 200EX flash unit.

Later I spent $25 on an infrared remote shutter release.

My final addition to this new camera outfit was a new Sigma 18-125 F/3.5-5.6 DC, a terrific new lens that gives my 300D the same range of zoom as my old Sigma 28-200 gave to my Rebel G.

The Pudding

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Well, the pudding in this case is my collection of photos from Walt Disney World, which can be view through the following links to my DotPhoto.com account.

Disney Trips 1990 thru 1998

Disney Trip April 1999

Disney Trip October 2000

Disney Trip September 2001

Disney Trip June 2002

Disney Trip September 2002

Disney Trip December 2003

Disney Trip December 2004


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Last Revision: 2005-10-08