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Disney World Family Vacation and the Sony Nex-6 – Epcot

Disney Vacation - 2013, Epcot

As I said in the previous post on my Disney World Family Vacation – Magic Kingdom, I’m using my Sony Nex-6, the 18-55mm kit lens, and the 55-210mm telephoto zoom lens. The Sony Nex-6 did the job very well and the two lenses gave me the necessary range for the photos I wanted to capture at the parks.
I also told you my intentions were to have a good time with the family and also capture a few moments here and there without the camera or photography for that matter, being a burden on things. Mind you, I’m constantly testing and reviewing gear, so this is a welcomed change to my normal picture taking habits.

I’m usually am looking for specific things to shoot in order to see how the given camera or lens performs in a certain situation. On this vacation I planned to forget all that crap, and just focusing on having fun, while also catching a few snaps here and there to help remember the good times 😉

Epcot

I used the Nex-6 and the SEL1855 kit lens for all of these photos. I also shot in Raw quality, average metering, area focus, auto ISO, Auto WB, and used Aperture Priority mode (A). I used a fairly large 16gig sandisk memory card to ensure I had enough room for plenty of photos and some video clips. Killer deals on sandisk Memory cards over at Amazon (click Here) I Also had an extra battery in my pocket, and it’s one of the really cheap whasabi’s you can find on Amazon (Click Here). It’s not as good as the OEM battery, but works about 75% as good so far after about 6 months of use. Not bad for the money in my opinion.

I developed the Sony Nex-6 .ARW raw files in Adobe Lightroom 4, which is my preferred application for this task. I have many detailed tutorials on Lightroom (Click Here),  if you would like to learn how to use the program to enhance your images and/or develop your raw files. I also included the exif data below each image so you know what the focal length was ect..

Starting from the parking lot we headed into Epcot being greeted by the massive golf ball that Epcot is so famous for. We had are picture taken by the kind park photographer, and he also was nice enough to take a photo with the Nex-6 for me 🙂 I brightened up the shadows significantly on this raw file as we were quite dark in the original image do to the average metering mode and the huge white ball in the scene. The lens of the park photographers camera is in the lower right corner if your wondering what that is.

Be sure to click on these photos for the larger versions!!

A closer look at the giant geodesic globe:.

Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 21mm, f/4, 1/1250sec, ISO 100
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 55mm, f/5.6, 1/2000sec, ISO 100

A friendly face puffer fish over at by the Nemo and Crush attractions. They were awesome by the way, especially the interactive Turtle Talk with Crush! Basically, it’s a live interactive animated Crush from the movie Finding Nemo. He talks to the crowd and interacts live somehow. It’s really incredible how well it works and looks ect.. Plus it was funny.

Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 42mm, f/5.6, 1/80sec, ISO 1600
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 42mm, f/5.6, 1/80sec, ISO 1600
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 26mm, f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 1250
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 26mm, f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 1250

Layla couldn’t help but smell the flowers.

Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 18mm, f/3.5, 1/100sec, ISO 100
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 18mm, f/3.5, 1/100sec, ISO 100

Looking back at the Epcot ball.

Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 35mm, f/4.5, 1/250sec, ISO 100
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 35mm, f/4.5, 1/250sec, ISO 100

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A very large, yet intricate hand blown flower garden.

Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 55mm, f/5.6, 1/100sec, ISO 500
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 55mm, f/5.6, 1/100sec, ISO 500

This cute little rabbit was actually in the same garden just to the right of the flower above.

Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 55mm, f/5.6, 1/100sec, ISO 2500
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 55mm, f/5.6, 1/100sec, ISO 2500

A few more randoms from Epcot.

Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 49mm, f/5, 1/200sec, ISO 100
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 49mm, f/5, 1/200sec, ISO 100
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 20mm, f/4.5, 1/60sec, ISO 500
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 20mm, f/4.5, 1/60sec, ISO 500
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 18mm, f/4.5, 1/60sec, ISO 400
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 18mm, f/4.5, 1/60sec, ISO 400
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 18mm, f/4.5, 1/60sec, ISO 2500
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 18mm, f/4.5, 1/60sec, ISO 2500

The Sun is starting to go down and I grabbed a quick Pano of the huge lake area in www.baccaratsiteleri.net the center of all the represented countries.

Auto Pano Mode - Wide
Auto Pano Mode – Wide

Night time.

Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 52mm, f/5, 1/80sec, ISO 1600
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 52mm, f/5, 1/80sec, ISO 1600

Killer pastries and chocolate in the back of this place!!

Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 18mm, f/4.5, 1/15sec, ISO 3200
Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens @ 18mm, f/4.5, 1/15sec, ISO 3200

Closing Remarks

That is it for the Epcot park, but I have a bunch more photos from the Animal Kingdom and Sea World that I will mostly likely combine into one article. I also used the SEL55210 for those  parks, and have a bunch of video I want to do something with when I get time.

Thanks again for checking out SonyAlphaLab, and be sure to Subscribe (click Here) if you want to be notified about new articles as they become available 😉 Comments always and questions always welcome, and I will be sure to respond to all of them as soon as I can!
Jay

  1. I bought an NEX 6 a couple months ago after checking out all your reviews. You mentioned how nice it was to have a great camera in the compact size for travel. The exact reason I also liked the NEX line.
    My wife and I are traveling to Iceland this summer and I am planning to carry the same setup as you did for you vacation. Can you recommend any camera bags for that setup. I was thinking about a holster style to place on the hip strap of by backpack. Any thoughts/tips/suggestions are greatly appreciated.
    Your site is awesome and I enjoy reading all the reviews and tips.
    Thanks

    1. Hi Mark and thanks for the comments 🙂
      I actually did not use a bag, but just the Toma wrist strap for the park itself. I did have my Tenba shootout backpack at the room though which can hold a ton of gear. I used to use the Tenba for all my pro gear, so it’s a huge backpack that also holds my laptop. I still use this bag for everyday purposes, because it holds the laptop safely and has plenty of room for my gear, plus any gear I may be reviewing etc..
      For my next vacation type trip however, I do want to have a smaller bag of some kind for the parks. Perhaps a shoulder bag or the holster style, but I just don’t like how that looks to be honest. I have to do some re-search on this to give you a good answer, but a small shoulder style bag and/or something that can be opened and accessed without taking it off would be perfect. Big enough for the Nex and a few lenses/ accessories would do the job for me. I’ll get back to you with some actual models, or I’ll write an article on the subject as it is a great topic to cover anyway 😉
      Thanks again for the kind words about the site Mark and your trip sounds like it should be a blast! Please feel free to share some pics on the forum if you like as well.
      Jay

  2. Hello, very nice pictures and writting, thanks for it. I have a question, I’m trying to decide wheater a sony a6000 with this SEL55210 is a good set up to shoot in bodybuilding shows (my wife competes) and a family camera. How is yours experience with mid-low light situations and this lens? Thanks.

    1. Hello Carlos and great question.
      The lens is not the best in low light due to the slower aperture speeds when zoomed in (f/6.3). A better option would be the 50mm f/1.8 OSS lens due to the much faster aperture, but it does not have near the range. The 18-105mm is f/4, but I’m not sure if 105mm is enough reach for you? The option is the huge 70-200mm f/4 OSS lens of course. The A6000 is the best camera for the money by far right now so I would totally go for that.
      I hope that helps,
      Jay

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