I just got back from Disneyland and after taking hundreds of ride shots there over the past 2 years, I think I’ve finally got it down to a science. Although it is possible that you can take great shots on your DSLR with your kit lens, I’m really going to suggest you buy a new one.
- If you shoot Canon, you want this one: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Lens
- If you shoot Nikon, you want this one: Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF
- If you shoot something else, what you are looking for is a 50mm prime lens. A prime lens does not have any zoom at all, it only shoots at 50mm. This enables it to shoot far faster than the zoom lens that came with your camera. Make sure that it’s minimum f-stop is f/1.8 or smaller.
I’ve had one of these lenses for my Canon for a little more than a year now, and I probably shoot with it about 25% of the time when I’m just out shooting. It’s great for shooting indoors where the light isn’t great, and the depth of field at f/1.8 is beautiful. You can literally get an inch of your subject in focus and have the rest blurry with beautiful bokeh.
That being said, I shoot probably 90% of my shots at Disneyland with this lens. It’s great because I don’t have to switch lenses before I shoot every ride, and it’s incredibly light, so it doesn’t weigh down my camera all day. It also takes very, very sharp pictures and is fairly cheap to replace if I accidentilly bash it against something or drop it.
Finally, if you don’t want to drop the cash on a new lens, you can probably make do with the lenses you have. Check and see which of your lenses have the lowest f-stop. In a kit lens, this is probably going to be about f/3.5 on your 18-55 mm lens. Unfortunately, you are only going to get f/3.5 when you have it zoomed all the way out to 18 mm, which means all of your shots are going to be at a very wide angle. There are a couple rides that you might be able to get away with going to a higher f-stop, but in general you want the smallest f-stop possible.
So know tha that you know what you need, here is how to use it:
- Set your camera to manual mode (usually the M on the dial.) Don’t worry if you have no idea how to shoot in manual, this is going to be really easy.
- Set your shutter speed to 1/50 of a second. Any slower than than and the subjects of your photo are going to be blurry due to the movement of the rides and the anamitronics.
- If your max ISO on your camera is 1600, set it to 800. If it’s higher than that, you may have to experiment a bit, but generally you are good up to 3200-6400.)
- Set your f-stop to 2.5.
Now get in line and start shooting. As you go through the ride, make sure to review your shots as you take them. If they are coming out to dark, start by increasing your ISO then decreasing your f-stop. If you are getting blown out highlights, decrease your f-stop until you aren’t loosing detail in the hightlights. Because different part of each ride are going to have different light levels, you are probably going to have to make the above adjustments multiple times throughout each ride. Before you go, make sure that you can change your f-stop and ISO in manual mode in the dark, practice in this case does make perfect.
Once you are off the ride, take a look at the pictures you just shot. Most cameras have a feature where you can look at the image you shot along with the details (shutter speed, f-stop, ISO, etc.) See which settings worked and which ones didn’t so that next time you ride that ride you will be prepared with your camera set to the right settings before you get there. Delete anything that is blurry or very over or underexposed, you’ll want the space later in the day.
Finally, make sure to reset your camera to the mode you normally shoot in outdoors and set your ISO back down to 100. Nothing is worse that realizing that all the shots you took of your family in front of the castle are grainy and overexposed because you are still shooting with your ride settings. Trust me, I know. 
