As every exceptional photographer knows, Nikon is the gold standard. The Coca-Cola of cameras, if you will. Sony is second-best, and widely considered to be the Pepsi of photography. Canon is the Beverly of cameras at this point; something that maybe was once good, but now tastes stale. Fujifilm is Mr. Pibb. Leica is Zeiva. No, I will not be taking any questions.
In actuality, none of this is agreed-upon. But photographers love a good camera war, and I’m happy to oblige and poke fun. About the only thing everyone will agree on is that Leica is Zeiva. Us non-Leica shooters will either say “what’s that?!” or “hahaha, it’s fitting” and Leica lovers will miss the joke. But I digress.
There’s real news to report, and not just a long-winded joke that 99% of you won’t understand. Walt Disney World and Disneyland just made a massive, unequivocal upgrade to their PhotoPass equipment. During a recent press event intended to quickly show off new MagicShots for the 2025 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival, I spent almost the entirety of my time talking shop with spokespeople from PhotoPass. (They didn’t even see me coming!) From these conversations, I learned a lot about the new equipment and software glow-up that’s worth sharing…
Walt Disney World has a long legacy of corporate alliances with camera companies. The original Journey into Imagination was sponsored by Kodak, and the whole reason that Figment is purple is because Kodak executives were concerned with the mascot being green and white, resembling the trade dress of its main competitor, Mr. Pibb–I mean, Fujifilm. (If you’ve ever wondered why Figment’s sweater is yellow and red, this is also your answer!)
As you’re no doubt aware, Kodak went the way of Dinoland and Walt Disney World landed a sponsorship deal with Nikon a little over a decade ago. That partnership not only included Nikon branding in the theme parks, but it also upgraded camera equipment that Disney used for its PhotoPass service. With this, Disney got a brand-new batch of DSLRs.
The Nikon partnership came to an unceremonious end almost 5 years ago. Nikon branding was removed from the theme parks, Cast Member costumes, and beyond. As is often the case, no new corporate alliance was forged. The Nikon branding is long gone, but the old Nikon D7500 DSLRs and lenses utilized by PhotoPass remained stuck in its last life cycle with no upgrades in the last 8 years, until mid-2025.
While photographers may not be able to agree on which brand is best, there will be consensus on one thing: 8 years is a ridiculously long time to go between camera upgrades. Photographers famously have GAS (not to be confused with gas, lowercase), which stands for Gear Acquisition Syndrome. I’m one of millions plagued by this affliction.
Part of this is technology moving fast, and camera companies mostly moving on from DSLRs to mirrorless. But it’s doubly true in the case of PhotoPass because that equipment is getting daily use. I’m sure Disney had technicians servicing the gear or sent it off to Nikon, but that only can do so much. Even as someone who uses pro-grade photography equipment, I’ve had to replace lenses and bodies in less time than 8 years due to normal wear and tear.
The big news is that PhotoPass at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland have upgraded to the Sony a7 IV Full-frame Mirrorless Camera across all parks. The rollout began earlier this summer and was recently completed, with upgrades to more than 500 cameras across Walt Disney World.
Along with the Sony a7 IV, PhotoPass is utilizing the Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G-series lens paired with a Sony flash as its primary set-up. There are a few locations where specialized lenses are used; for example, you might spot a Sony ultra-wide by the fountain in front of Spaceship Earth or an f/1.8 prime for portraiture.
Just so we’re completely clear, the Sony a7 IV is a massive upgrade from the Nikon D7500. Even most diehard Nikonian wouldn’t dispute that. Especially ~8 year old cameras that have been punished day in and day out. It’s an upgrade to move from crop sensor to full frame, and likewise from older technology to newer. The electronic viewfinder is brighter and easier to see in the sun, and there are several ‘quality of life’ features that exist today with mirrorless cameras that just didn’t with DSLRs.
The most underrated upgrade of all (although aside from me, I doubt there’s much “rating” of this upgrade going on) is in the glass. I’ve shot with that Sony 24-105mm, and it is tremendous as a workhorse lens. Both Sony and Nikon have made major strides with the quality of their glass in the mirrorless era, arguably more so than the cameras themselves. (This is what I actually believe is underrated among photogs.)
Another major improvement from the upgrade is low light performance. Not to get too in the weeds here, but nighttime photo quality has been hit or miss with PhotoPass when using the old Nikon DSLRs. This is partially a matter of settings, and partially tech limitations. That should improve noticeably with the Sony a7 IV.
It won’t be perfect–again, the wrong settings could lead to noisy images–but it’ll be a lot better. There should even be circumstances when more dynamic shooting without a tripod yields great results. Part of that comes down to whether Disney is willing to let the shutter speed dip down a bit, which they should given superior image stabilization.
Autofocus technology has likewise made tremendous strides in the last several years, and Sony’s facial recognition eye-focus tracking is second-to-none. So if you’ve ever received PhotoPass images where the background is in focus but your family’s faces are blurry (illustrative file photo above), that shouldn’t happen again. And if it does, be impressed–it’ll take some serious “talent” to overcome the tech and somehow focus on the background with the Sony a7 IV!
Beyond everything else, simply not using equipment well past the end of its usable life is a massive win. While most PhotoPass images we’ve had taken in the last few years have been fine, we’ve also had plenty of duds. Photos with an unacceptable level of noise, or more commonly, shot with glass that clearly needed servicing (or outright replacement).
This instantly addresses both issues. All of this amounts to a major win for the guest experience, and photo quality should be noticeably better, especially in suboptimal circumstances (if you visited in the last couple of months and have night photos from both EPCOT and Magic Kingdom, you should be able to spot the difference.)
During my conversation with the PhotoPass spokespeople, they revealed that the team went into the process of choosing a new camera ecosystem with an eye on Cast Member comfort first and foremost.
The PhotoPass team tested 16 different cameras from Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, and other manufacturers to see what worked best. Once they narrowed down their choices, Disney entered negotiations and tried to find an agreement that would work best for their unique needs.
The goal was not finding a new corporate alliance–and they didn’t. There is no sponsorship with Sony, which is probably why there was no announcement of this deal. Disney likely doesn’t want to provide “free publicity” to Sony, even if this is a guest-friendly upgrade that should be lauded.
In addition to extended warranties, one of the things that Sony offered was customized software for PhotoPass purposes. An example of this is a programmable function button that allows photographers to switch from landscape to portrait mode without moving the camera. This may not seem like a bit deal to a casual photographer, but keep in mind that PhotoPass Cast Members are taking thousands of shots per day, and that repetitive motion probably wasn’t the greatest for their wrists.
The PhotoPass spokespeople were pretty proud of this new solution, and understandably so. My understanding is that it’s (necessarily) software-based, meaning that when the photographer hits the function button, the electronic viewfinder blacks out the sides on the landscape orientation to produce a portrait.
I’d assume it’s simply losing however many megapixels, but that doesn’t really matter. Again, probably getting too in the weeds here. The bottom line is that this is a good thing. My hope and assumption is that this also helps a bit with composition. Less camera movement should, in theory, mean that the photographers are less hurried and have time to level the camera. Here’s hoping that the virtual horizon is activated for the EVF, but new tech can only do so much to help with composition.
The PhotoPass reps also informed me that they’re using new PDAs built for the Florida heat, and that with this newer technology should come slightly faster downloads. I didn’t press on the PDAs beyond that; I’m more of an iPhone guy, so not really my area of expertise.
Oh, and here’s a sneak peek at the PhotoPass Magic Shots for the 2025 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival:
Ultimately, it’s great to see Walt Disney World and Disneyland make a major investment in PhotoPass equipment again. Finally. Even as a Nikon guy who has tried Sony twice, I love this upgrade. For all of my joking, Sony arguably is the gold standard at this point; I’m just a dinosaur who couldn’t overcome muscle memory or clunky menus. These newer, lighter cameras will be great for Cast comfort, and excellent for guest image output.
The total retail cost of the equipment here is over $4,500. While you might be inclined to assume that Disney got a bulk order discount, my guess is that they paid more than retail between the extended warranty, customized software, and who knows what else. Because, again, this is not a corporate alliance where Disney is advertising the Sony brand in exchange for the product.
It would not surprise me in the least if Disney dropped over $3 million on this upgrade. Maybe it’s less than that, but I wouldn’t bank on it. That’s undeniably a lot of money, although with the way Disney spends like a drunken sailor, perhaps not. So I guess what I’m saying is: don’t be surprised when Memory Maker prices increase in October!
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Your Thoughts
What are your thoughts about this news? Pleased to see Walt Disney World and Disneyland invest in new PhotoPass gear? If photography were a Pepsi vs. Coke debate, which brand would be which? Agree or disagree with our assessment of the news? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!