Subsonic Radio

theBIGyowski wrote:

Wizzard419 wrote:Part of it seems like a bit of a con, if I recall you can save money by buying the packages prior to your arrival, but as the normal customers do not anticipate the quality/number of photos they may actually want, they probably would have had the same level of satisfaction if they had just had a tourist take the photos for them on a camera.

Oh...it's ALWAYS cheaper to do it yourself. You are simply paying for convenience with Photopass.

I have a good friend who has 3 little girls...and the Photopass+ was perfect for them as they were going to several character meals and princess meet & greets. It's kind of like the DDP...for some families it works out being perfect and saving them money...but for others it is a huge waste.

Good to know with all the cons for purchasing it that your friend liked the Photopass+ with the little ones. I have a DSLR that will be coming with us on our next trip, so I know I'll have some at least semi-printable shots (and if not, I have no one to blame but myself! lol) but with doing that I rarely have myself in the photo and even fewer of the entire family together. I've asked other tourists to take pictures for me, but never come out quite as I like them. I've been debating whether we should purchase the package before we go down for this reason. Definitely plan on at least one or more character meal and a few meet and greets with the kids, so for me, that's definitely in the reason to purchase it category of the pro and con list.

That DSLR is probably more machine than the average ham-n-egger tourist can figure out, no matter how "auto" you set it. That's one reason I prefer a point n' shoot for vacation - it may not be the best picture, but it won't be unacceptable.

There are an absurd number of parents in OC that have DSLRs and use them like point and shoots for some weird reason. I blame the proliferation of decent quality digital cameras on phones, they somehow feel it is lesser now that it something easy to carry. Even worse when they whip out the DSLR at a restaurant to take a picture of food they ordered.

Not to be contrary, but I think it depends who you get. I had a nice chat with the Photographer at Enchanted Tales with Belle. I noticed all the lighting changes (Minor in Technical Theatre, thank you) and asked him how he compensated. He was the photographer that actually calculated and set all the shutter speeds, f-stops, etc. He said there was something like 14 lighting changes so they ended up with 14 different camera settings. Pretty neat, huh? Seems like sometimes you'll get a real photographer, and sometimes you'll just get a Cast Member that was handed a DSLR set on Auto. But that's just a statement on life and reality, isn't it???

UncleScrooge477 wrote:Not to be contrary, but I think it depends who you get. I had a nice chat with the Photographer at Enchanted Tales with Belle. I noticed all the lighting changes (Minor in Technical Theatre, thank you) and asked him how he compensated. He was the photographer that actually calculated and set all the shutter speeds, f-stops, etc. He said there was something like 14 lighting changes so they ended up with 14 different camera settings. Pretty neat, huh? Seems like sometimes you'll get a real photographer, and sometimes you'll just get a Cast Member that was handed a DSLR set on Auto. But that's just a statement on life and reality, isn't it???

That is probably the absolute truth ~ I imagine some of the PhotoPass photographers know what they are doing and are able to use the camera on manual while other CMs just do the point and shoot. That's great that you were able to chat with one of the ones who obviously knew what he was doing!

We purchased the Memory Maker package this last trip and was surprise at how many blurry pics we got. The other thing that peeved me was the pic we got with the castle and the Walt and Mickey statue in the background. The photographer took the photo with other guests standing right in front of the statue. Ummmmmmm what was the point in even taking the picture. I wanted to complain, but what would have been the point. They should only use qualified photographers at photopass spots.

jderoche5 wrote:We purchased the Memory Maker package this last trip and was surprise at how many blurry pics we got. The other thing that peeved me was the pic we got with the castle and the Walt and Mickey statue in the background. The photographer took the photo with other guests standing right in front of the statue. Ummmmmmm what was the point in even taking the picture. I wanted to complain, but what would have been the point. They should only use qualified photographers at photopass spots.

That's disappointing about the blurry photos ~ no excuse for that. A quick check of the picture should take care of that ~ qualified photographer or not. Probably hard to get a photo without people by the statue, but it does seem like they could try.

I just came back and once again did the memory maker. Today I had a lengthy call with Photo Guest Services to sort out various issues ranging from missing pictures, missing magic in a magic shot, issues with software, and addressing poor pictures.

Ultimately, the quality of the pictures all comes down to who is taking the photos. I do wish Disney would do a better job in choosing who they hand a camera too. I equate having someone who lacks photography skills on the photo pass role to someone who can't dance performing on a stage show. This time overall I found it to be an improvement over my prior experiences. When all is said and done, one total picture lost (drop photo from Mine Train) due to a camera that faulted and was out of service for about 4 hours. A couple of bad pictures is unfortunately expected and the missing magic was corrected.

Now my way of telling if someone is a good photographer or not: I hand them my SLR and see their reaction. If they take a liking to it, I know they will be decent

Len90 wrote:Ultimately, the quality of the pictures all comes down to who is taking the photos. I do wish Disney would do a better job in choosing who they hand a camera too. I equate having someone who lacks photography skills on the photo pass role to someone who can't dance performing on a stage show.

Absolutely, 100% true. Unfortunately, when they only pay $9 an hour or so, they aren't going to get the best photographers unless they're old enough or young enough to not be in the regular photog business anymore. The old adage, "You get what you pay for," holds true for the Disney companies.

I can also be someone who has a passion for photography and it is one of their hobbies. I'm not saying hire all professional photographers because ultimately you can't achieve that with the wages or expect people to pay the prices that would cost, but you can better match the worker to the role.

No, but someone who has a passion for it or is a better amateur hobbyist would not be satisfied (for long) at $9 an hour, either. Unless they wanted that job to fund their very expensive photography habit.

I find what Len listed to be pretty much standard with every photopass/magic memories trip experience I've had. From the first trip I ordered photo pass I noticed a good number of the pictures seem very amateur like and had all the same issues Len mentioned, however there were also some very nice photos. Overall it's good enough where I keep using it, as it's nice to have photos of the whole family together instead of everyone but me because I'm taking the photos. One of my biggest beefs is that there is not enough variety of photo locations or enough photographers. It seems that each trip I go on seems to have less and less opportunities. The last trip I literally did not see a photographer in an area that wasn't the castle view or spaceship earth view. I mean how many pictures in front of the castle can I have taken in one trip. How about a photographer in the Swis Family Treehouse or in the gardens of Japan?