Using a Wide Angle Zoom at the Magic Kingdom

Photographic Innoventions by Scott Thomas

A fun lens to use at Walt Disney World is an Ultra Wide Angle (UWA) Zoom Lens. For a Full frame camera, it means a lens starting at around 16mm. For a cropped sensor camera, 10mm or 11mm is a good starting focal length. Currently, I use a Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR Lens on my full-frame Nikon D750 camera. In the past, I used a Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens on Nikon cropped sensored cameras. Canon, SONY, Sigma and Tamron have similar lenses in the UWA focal range for Full and Cropped Sensored cameras.

Using an UWA, it pays to get in close as I did below when photographing the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel in Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom. This allowed the flowers surrounding the attraction to act as a bottom frame and the top of the carousel as the top frame to the colorful ride. With the sky being overcast, this eliminated a lot of blown out sky in the photo.

Guests riding the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel in Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida

Wide Angle photo of the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel in Fantasyland.
Nikon D750/16-35VR, 1/125s, f/4, ISO 220, EV 0, 16mm Focal Length.

In the Enchanted Tales with Belle in Fantasyland, I wanted to show the expansive library where Belle and Lumiere meet guests with the show’s lighting nicely framing Belle in her yellow dress. The lens set at 16mm did the job beautifully.

Enchanted Tales with Belle in Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida

Wide Angle photo of the Enchanted Tales with Belle in Fantasyland.
Nikon D750/16-35VR, 1/60s, f/4, ISO 4000, EV 0, 16mm Focal Length.

An UWA Zoom lens is very versatile. Here, I zoomed in to again cut down on the amount of overcast sky in the frame as I wanted to include Cinderella Castle in the background as guests rode on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Fantasyland. I used a fast shutter speed to freeze the ride vehicles and the people in them.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida

Wide Angle photo of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Fantasyland.
Nikon D750/16-35VR, 1/500s, f/4, ISO 400, EV 0, 28mm Focal Length, Skylum Intensify CK.

This is a good lens to rent for a trip to Walt Disney World if you do not own one. It will give you a different perspective of the resort.





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Scott's "Photographic Innoventions" blog focuses on intermediate to advanced photography concepts and techniques relevant for Point and Shoot and Digital SLR cameras.

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