Help with my shopping list for my holiday in Florida

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Davey_Pitch

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I think some help is needed here please :) I'm off to Florida in August 2009 on my honeymoon, staying in Disney. I'm looking to get an extra lens or two before I go to make sure I can maximise my shooting potential when I'm there.

Currently I only have an Canon 450D and the 18-55 IS kit lens. Oh, and a bag. That's it. So, as you can see, some extra gear is essential. Unfortunately, due to saving for the wedding and honeymoon itself, my budget between now and then is limited. Very limited. I reckon about £200-250 or so, to get as much as I can. The reason I'm asking so far in advance is to hopefully take advantage of any sales in January, or throughout the year if something drops a lot in price.

Anyway, I was originally looking at the Canon 55-250 IS lens, which is currently around £190. Then I started looking at maybe getting the Sigma APO 70-300 and a Nifty 50 to go with it. Then I realised that in the glorious Florida sunshine (prime shooting conditions I hope), that I may need a filter or two as well. I'm also looking at picking up a cheap tripod for some night time and firework pictures (possibly a Hama Star variant as I won't be using it much).

My choices are varied and my knowledge is limited, so I'm asking the smart people here for some advice. Obviously any kit I get won't be solely used for the holiday, I'll use it throughout the year, but getting the best pictures I can on holiday is definitely my main concern.

So, fire away with any suggestions you have, they'll all be appreciated :)
 
Since you already have the 18-55 that is quite capable, i would go for the 55-250IS and a couple of filters.
 
I bought myself a few treats from here when I was there last christmas & newyear so might be worth checking out

http://www.ritzcamera.com/

Ritz Camera
The Florida Mall, Room 1172
8001 Orange Blossom Trail
Orlando, FL 32809
Phone: 407-855-4897
 
Any particular filters I should be looking for? I've never used them before so not sure what I need in that department :)
 
+1 for the 55-250, its what I'm going for.

I'd get a circular polarizer and maybe a few different graduated neutral density filters.
Everything is going to be pretty bright - white/cream walls etc so cutting down reflections and darkening down the bright skies will be important I think.


theres a set of pics on my Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hotrods/sets/72157607554519559/) from September this year, only taken with a point & shoot (didnt have my slr then) but will hopefully give you an idea of things (sorry, you'll have to ignore the car stuff! :bonk:)
 
Just thought - get a lens cleaning cloth (or a couple), the reason is that Florida is very humid, after a night in the hotel room the glass on filters/lenses will be nice and cool, as soon as you walk outside the humidity will cause condensation/fogging so a cloth to wipe this away will be useful. Happens to my glasses all the time! Can also happen if you take a bit of a roadtrip in the car.

Don't worry too much about storage, if you run out just about everywhere sell sd/sdhc cards - walmart on sand lake road for one!
 
Beware in Florida - there are a hundred different so-called 'pro camera shops' who exist purely to fleece tourists.... see them out there all the time, especially at the southern tip of Orlando/Irlo Bronson/Celebration areas. As a general rule of thumb, avoid everything except Ritz/Wolf, which are the US equivalent of Jessops.

However, if you're in Orlando, then there's a great and well respected camera superstore called Colonial Photo Hobby - it's just off Colonial in the centre of Orlando; and it's run by helpful people, full of decent kit, and they won't try and sell you cheap tack for inflated prices.

If you're ever in New York, then B+H really is the candy store they say it is... but that's for another thread, methinks...
 
danbroad said:
Beware in Florida - there are a hundred different so-called 'pro camera shops' who exist purely to fleece tourists.... see them out there all the time, especially at the southern tip of Orlando/Irlo Bronson/Celebration areas. As a general rule of thumb, avoid everything except Ritz/Wolf, which are the US equivalent of Jessops.

However, if you're in Orlando, then there's a great and well respected camera superstore called Colonial Photo Hobby - it's just off Colonial in the centre of Orlando; and it's run by helpful people, full of decent kit, and they won't try and sell you cheap tack for inflated prices.

If you're ever in New York, then B+H really is the candy store they say it is... but that's for another thread, methinks...
Click to expand...
I would avoid wolf camera as they are not cheap, colonial camera is a big shop with a lot of gear,
I was there in april but found colonial not so cheap even at
$2-£1 now we have about $1.45-£1 I think uk prices might be better at the moment.
 
Yeah, another good point is that we're at a pound low - the dollars just don't go as far as they did - having said that, August '09 is a way away, and the markets may well have stabilised a little by then.

[Everyone's preaching doom and gloom, but this is just another recession - it's not as though it's never happened before - it's just that this time plenty of companies, including banks who should know better, were 'caught with their pants down', by failing to predict the end of a particularly long growth..]

But anyway, Wolf and Ritz aren't hugely cheap, agreed. Colonial isn't in the business of being a 'tourist megamart' - it supplies the thriving Orlando photography business, but by virtue of the weak dollar it's become something of a mecca for cheaper exchange-rate deals...
 
I would have suggested a Canon or Sigma 70 - 200 but with your budget the Sigma 70 - 300 APO would probably be a better bet. It's not a bad lens for the price and has a 'Macro' facility at the 300 end. Really only a close focus option.
 
Might be worth checking the prices at B&H before you go so that you know what sort of ball park to expect.

In fact I just did a couple of comparisons ( using £/$ at 1.45) and a 1Dslll (Body Only)is about the same price in the UK, compared with B&H prices $6995 = £4620 . Price at Warehouse Express £ 4,572
 
I've never bought a "new" lens, you can get some real bargains on ebay and even here in the classifieds, people upgrade all the time, take advantage of the loss they've made and buy secondhand, then when you decide to upgrade you won't lose much
 
Chappers said:
Might be worth checking the prices at B&H before you go so that you know what sort of ball park to expect.

In fact I just did a couple of comparisons ( using £/$ at 1.45) and a 1Dslll (Body Only)is about the same price in the UK, compared with B&H prices $6995 = £4620 . Price at Warehouse Express £ 4,572
Click to expand...
NY shops are a load cheaper than in florida, I got a internal flight to NY just to get some gear.
 
Craft said:
Just thought - get a lens cleaning cloth (or a couple), the reason is that Florida is very humid, after a night in the hotel room the glass on filters/lenses will be nice and cool, as soon as you walk outside the humidity will cause condensation/fogging so a cloth to wipe this away will be useful. Happens to my glasses all the time! Can also happen if you take a bit of a roadtrip in the car.
Click to expand...

Good tip, thanks. I've been to Florida twice before, but this is the first time with a "proper" camera and I hadn't even thought about the humidity steaming up my lenses. I'll be sure to always keep a couple of cleaning cloths with me :)

danbroad said:
If you're ever in New York, then B+H really is the candy store they say it is... but that's for another thread, methinks...
Click to expand...

I've been in there before, in 2005, before I starting getting into photography, but even then I loved the amount of stuff they had. I could have spent hundreds in there back then, and easily thousands if I went in there now :D
 
I should also point out that virtually all of my pictures will be of the various theme parks - Disney, Sea World, Busch Gardens, Universal, etc. We won't get much time for sight seeing after doing that and also spending a day or two shopping. Picture wise this will mean 3 types of pictures as far as I can tell - scenery/landscape/parades, night time/firework displays, and action shots from various shows (often fast moving stuff like cars and bikes). Not sure whether that info will affect lens recommendations or not :)
 
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