The Opera and my camera

If you're referring to the Vienna Opera house, their policy is like many theaters.

From their website:

"For reasons of copyright, it is not allowed to make photographic, audio or video recordings of performances.
You may of course take pictures for private purposes in the lounge rooms and bars as well as before and after the performance."

I took my phone to the Vienna Opera (and other Opera houses in Europe). I was able to take a photo of the interior well before the ballet began and kept it in my purse the rest of the time.

Have a great time! I love experiencing these events in Europe, too.

It is not a problem for you to take your camera into the Opera. Just don't use it.

You may leave the camera in the coatroom during the performance.

If it is a big camera, they may ask you to coat check it. If it is smaller and can be tucked in your purse, I would do that. They ere adamant that all jackets and bigger bags be coat checked when I was there in December

When we did the Opera mid-day tour, everyone was taking photos.

In 2015, I took a ton of pictures with my phone/camera before the opera started, like just about everybody else. I was impressed that NOBODY took pictures during the performance. During the curtain calls, however, it was Katy bar the door!

I guess it depends on the size of your camera - will it fit in your bag?

It has its own bag.

Most venues don’t mind photos at non performance times. They even encourage it because they want the social media exposure. But cell phones are different than my semi professional camera.

Again, it will be fine with your semi-professional camera. Needless worry.

Just to clarify my comment... when I did the tour in the afternoon, people had cameras, cell phones etc and were taking pictures no problem. When I went in the evening for a performance, you could take pictures before the performance started but they wanted all coats and bigger bags coat checked as the start time got closer.