We were at Disney World last weekend, and I noticed the photographers had ditched their D90s for D7100s (they were using D90s at Disneyland as recently as January, 2014). One photographer told me that they are now sponsored by Nikon instead of Kodak, so as part of that they got all new cameras, and all of the former "Kodak Photo Spot" signs are now "Nikon Photo Spot" signs. There may have been new vests involved, too.
...if only the quality was as good as we've had in the past. My gripes, and I can post some examples later:
1. They're 24 MP pictures, but only 2-3 MB JPG files. They compress the heck out of them! (Of course, the public has been conditioned to understand that more pixels = better picture, so there you have it.)
2. One set of our pictures - coincidentally, the ones my wife cared about the MOST - were severely overexposed. Fortunately, we caught it while we were still in the park and were able to get back in time to get new pictures. There are probably some upset people who were in that line that didn't catch the issue before they left the park and now have useless pictures.
3. Another set of pictures, taken out front of Main Street Station, were badly off level. Not just a half degree or something, but several degrees out. It was terrible. And that guy was using a tripod! I'm pretty sure he would have been better off freehand. I can't fathom what he was thinking - probably focusing too much on the subjects and not enough on the rest of the picture. The rotation I did to fix the picture is just going to make the picture quality a bit worse, and the quality wasn't that great to start with (see #1).
4. More generally, there are shots where other people walked into the frame and such. I know this isn't fully the photographer's fault, but it's not something I remember happening from other Photopass experiences. As above, I think they didn't take the moment to look around before firing.
5. There was also one set where we were looking straight into the sun. The expression on my face is horrible.
(Other pictures were ruined by my fatigue - we got up at 3 a.m. one day to fly down there, then I slept really badly the first night in the hotel, so by the end of the second day I was gassed. One Photopass photographer said I looked stiff and should relax; after seeing the pictures, I see exactly what he meant, but it was because I was near the point of exhaustion at that time.)
I had my D7000 with us each day in the park, but since we've had such good experiences with Photopass in the past, I was putting my camera away and just using their pictures - no point in taking the time and energy to duplicate shots, and they have a real flash when they need it (I traveled light and only took my D7000 body and the two zoom lenses). Not any more - for any pictures we truly care about, we'll also use my camera. We'll probably continue to pay for the Photopass, too, but we've learned our lesson!
It's funny - one of the Photopass photographers (who did a good job on her pictures) said she'd be happy to take pictures with my camera as a backup, and I said, "We've never had a problem so far." D'oh! Way to jinx yourself there, skater.
Side note - the ride pictures automatically getting added to your Photopass is interesting. It apparently reads your wrist bands as you zip past and adds them to your account. (I don't know what cameras they use for this.)
...if only the quality was as good as we've had in the past. My gripes, and I can post some examples later:
1. They're 24 MP pictures, but only 2-3 MB JPG files. They compress the heck out of them! (Of course, the public has been conditioned to understand that more pixels = better picture, so there you have it.)
2. One set of our pictures - coincidentally, the ones my wife cared about the MOST - were severely overexposed. Fortunately, we caught it while we were still in the park and were able to get back in time to get new pictures. There are probably some upset people who were in that line that didn't catch the issue before they left the park and now have useless pictures.
3. Another set of pictures, taken out front of Main Street Station, were badly off level. Not just a half degree or something, but several degrees out. It was terrible. And that guy was using a tripod! I'm pretty sure he would have been better off freehand. I can't fathom what he was thinking - probably focusing too much on the subjects and not enough on the rest of the picture. The rotation I did to fix the picture is just going to make the picture quality a bit worse, and the quality wasn't that great to start with (see #1).
4. More generally, there are shots where other people walked into the frame and such. I know this isn't fully the photographer's fault, but it's not something I remember happening from other Photopass experiences. As above, I think they didn't take the moment to look around before firing.
5. There was also one set where we were looking straight into the sun. The expression on my face is horrible.
(Other pictures were ruined by my fatigue - we got up at 3 a.m. one day to fly down there, then I slept really badly the first night in the hotel, so by the end of the second day I was gassed. One Photopass photographer said I looked stiff and should relax; after seeing the pictures, I see exactly what he meant, but it was because I was near the point of exhaustion at that time.)
I had my D7000 with us each day in the park, but since we've had such good experiences with Photopass in the past, I was putting my camera away and just using their pictures - no point in taking the time and energy to duplicate shots, and they have a real flash when they need it (I traveled light and only took my D7000 body and the two zoom lenses). Not any more - for any pictures we truly care about, we'll also use my camera. We'll probably continue to pay for the Photopass, too, but we've learned our lesson!
It's funny - one of the Photopass photographers (who did a good job on her pictures) said she'd be happy to take pictures with my camera as a backup, and I said, "We've never had a problem so far." D'oh! Way to jinx yourself there, skater.
Side note - the ride pictures automatically getting added to your Photopass is interesting. It apparently reads your wrist bands as you zip past and adds them to your account. (I don't know what cameras they use for this.)
Given the price of accommodations and tickets to the park, food in the park, and souvenirs, it's difficult to argue the Photopass is more overpriced than anything else. And we all spend money on our hobbies.
