Camera Spotting Results from Disney World

Just thought it might be interesting to try to be cognizant of types of cameras seen at the parks over the past 5 days while up there - not actually counting the brands seen themselves, but more seeing how many of various 'types' of cameras I was seeing. ; Nothing scientific, and there's no way I could keep track of everything I saw, but it was interesting looking for certain types of cameras to gauge if they're beginning to make more of a showing at the parks, and how the more 'traditional' camera types common in the past are faring as times change.

The first obvious point - camera phones easily outnumber all other forms of camera. ; Sadly. ; Though a rare few camera phones are just starting to get into P&S quality levels, many others are still far from it, and controls are still few and far between. ; The majority of these users are clearly not photo enthusiasts or skilled photographers, and just using the phones to grab an occasional shot that will likely be e-mailed or posted on facebook and not much more.

Second obvious point - P&S cameras are still outnumbering DSLRs, though the numbers aren't as far apart as they used to be. ; DSLRs really aren't suffering much from camera phones, but P&S cameras clearly are - as phones grow in use, P&S cameras decline, while DSLRs and the like tend to stay fairly steady. ; DSLRs are still predominantly APS-C with predominantly kit lenses, and most often without bags or extra lenses - just body and kit lens. ; I still feel like I see more Canon than Nikon by a hair, with Sony a distant third (counting their SLTs along with DSLRs), and the occasional rare Pentax spotted (I recall seeing 3). ; Guessing roughly, I probably saw 1 Sony for every 10 Canon or Nikon...and Canon & Nikon probably near 50/50...I saw 1 Pentax for every 10 Sonys (or 1 Pentax per 100 Canon/Nikon).

I did see a dozen or so full frame DSLRs.

I actually saw a Ricoh. ; First time I can recall seeing one in person! ; Of course, more known as a Euro brand, and who knows what will occur between Ricoh & Pentax branding as they go forward...needless to say the person with the Ricoh was from Europe.

Mirrorless cameras are beginning to appear with some regularity. ; They're still far behind DSLRs overall, but even compared to last year when I felt like the only person with a NEX in the parks, and never spotted another mirrorless, this trip I was seeing them pretty regularly. ; I counted 12 NEX cameras, and spotted 3 Olympus Pens and 1 Panasonic mirrorless. ; I also spotted 1 Nikon One series. ; So they're starting to pop up more around the parks.

I brought my DSLR and 5 lenses, and my NEX with 5 lenses. ; Original intent was to likely use the NEX a little more, mostly because I was with a friend and wanted to let him run the schedule, not bogging down the trip with me lugging tripods and stopping constantly for photos. ; I ended up the entire trip just using the NEX and the DSLR never came out of the bag. ; I certainly still prefer the DSLR for certain types of shooting, and it still gets most wildlife and sports action, and for low light I really SHOULD have used it, but in the end, the convenience and lightweight package won out. ; If it had been just me running solo, I likely would have brought the DSLR to AK and MK...but when traveling with family or friends, I feel a little guilty with the big camera that my focus is too much on the photography and not enough on them...so the mirrorless was perfect in letting me travel light, still go on all the rides, stick to their schedule, yet still manage some good high quality shots on the fly. ; I mostly stuck with the 3 dedicated eMount lenses - 16mm prime (with 12mm UWA adapter), 18-55mm kit, and 55-210mm zoom. ; Some days it was just the kit and 16mm, so I didn't even need a bag. ; That meant the 16mm F2.8, or the kit lens' F3.5, was my only choice for dark rides - not exactly ideal - but I still enjoyed shooting POTC and Haunted Mansion even with those poor lens choices - I just cranked the ISO.

One last spotting trend I saw which I admit I found rather humorous...I saw at least 3 iPads being used to take photos. ; Now I'm used to seeing phones lofted in the air everywhere, LCDs glowing, snapping pics...but it still strikes me as funny when I see that great big rectangle held out at arms length taking a photo. ; It just looks so huge and unwieldy that it just makes me chuckle!

 

Someday I suppose it may look normal - but still looks a little weird to me. ; Then again, when people first started shooting with cellphones, that looked strange to me, and now it's more commonplace than actual cameras!

 

I'm with you, Justin, it's just plain weird. ; I don't think Apple intended them to be used that way. ; But then, I think the Apple I was a big mistake.