General Cycling Discussion - Riding with a camera

So my big thing in life is photography. Sometimes I'll want to go for a ride and will want to take my camera with me. When I'm going by train or walking somewhere, I prety much always have it with me. I'm a little wary of having a $1,200 piece of kit on a strap as I'm going 25mph through the city streets. I have these horrific visions of my lens turning to millions of tiny shards, my motor drive disintegrating, etc. So here's the question for any of you who may ride with a camera. How do you do it? Do you put it in something for protection? Do you just hope you don't crash or get hit by a car? Any novel solutions to this problem?

FWIW, my walk-around cameras are a Nikon F3P w/motor drive and a Mamiya 645.

If you can foot it, buy a cheap 3.0 megapixel waterproofed beater cam to have for biking -- its your best bet.

When I carry a camera while biking, it's my cheap 3mp digicam that gets tossed into my jersey pocket. My serious equipment stays home.
If you must carry your 35 & medium format stuff on your bike, most rear panniers are large enough to handle small hard shell camera cases.

i dont really carry my camera but when i do i take my canon s230 digi because it is small. usuallly i will put it in my seat pack and put my tubes,etc. in my jersey pockets. even though it is a lot more convinient to put it in my pocket im afraid of taking a fall and rolling on it. if i could only come up with a plan to take my slr with me.....

I use a very compact camera (Minolta DiMage X). It's got good enough resolution even at 2MP and the lens is fairly decent for a point-and-shoot (also has optical zoom). The nice thing is that it's light enough and compact enough (nothing protrudes) that I can operate it one-handed while riding. I can pull it out of my back pocket, turn it on, point and shoot, turn it off and drop it back into the back pocket all in one smooth quick-draw motion. I have actually dropped it before when I was wearing a number as part of an organised ride. The number was pinned to my back pockets and when I went to slip the camera back I mistook the number for my pocket and let the camera fall right through. I immediately realised what happened, braked and went back to retrieve it. Aside from a few superficial cosmetic scratches on the aluminum housing, there was no other damage. I wouldn't dream of carrying something like an SLR around my neck while riding.

BTW, you can find many of my cycling pictures on my gallery page (http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/gallery/cycling). I shoot most of my pictures at only 640x480 resolution because I'm just generally sticking them up on webpages anyways.

Insurance- when I invested in my SLR, I took out a 2 year warranty with the store I bought it from, and then I got renters insurance for my apartment, so that also covers my camera. The warranty states that they will fix or replace my camera no matter what, so that's good for if I drop it accidentally or if I fall on it while riding in traffic. The renters insurance is for if it gets stolen, or if I stupidly leave it behind somehow or something along those ends.

Besides that, I have a camera bag that is VERY strong- I'm confident that the camera bag will stay put around my shoulders as I'm riding through the streets. I wouldn't just ride around with my camera outside of the case merrily bouncing around held just by the strap, no way.

Koffee

This gives me an idea for a setup with a rack and a small Pelican case...

Since I shoot for a living, I NEVER take my camera with me. I ride to get away from my gear. Besides, an RB-67 is way too freakin heavy to carry on a bike.

I carry a small digital camera in a Crumpler bag. I think the bag is worth more than the camera. I also like the cheap disposables, they take decent pictures and if you fall on it no big loss.

When on bike tours..I solely take throw aways.. No worry.. ONly loss might be some great shots..Always put them on a cd for emailing photos..Does all I want.

Since I shoot for a living, I NEVER take my camera with me. I ride to get away from my gear. Besides, an RB-67 is way too freakin heavy to carry on a bike.

You should have seen me going to a shoot one day on my mtb wearing a big LowePro backpack with my 8x10 in it and my Ries tripod across the handlebars. :)

I just feel weird without a camera, no matter how much I've been shooting and no matter how sh*tty dealings with clients have been.

Hey Sipper, where are ya? We're doing a little photo equipment talk here....

FWIW, my walk-around cameras are a Nikon F3P w/motor drive and a Mamiya 645.

My gosh! I would think if you're going to carry that kind of equipment, you might as well get a touring bike with panniers! :)

I, too, have been trying to figure out how to carry a camera with me on my bike rides. I shoot mainly with rangefinders (Leica M's), but I' afraid that if I carry one of those a rough ride will knock the rangefinder alignment off. So my plan is to either get an old Canonet QL17 or an ancient Leica III with a collapsible lens -- something small that would fit in one of my back pockets and I won't have to grieve too much if the camera drops out and hits the pavement. I can't imagine myself hauling a big SLR (with a motordrive to boot!) or a medium format camera on my road bike. :)

I've seen some folks use a handlebar bag. That's big enough for a small SLR and a couple of lenses. I think as long as the bag has good padding, the camera should be OK.

Please let us know how you solve the problem!

-Kevin

One of my main criteria in shopping for a digicam was jersey-pocket fit. I bought a Nikon Coolpix 3100. I've been very happy with it.

I'd be more concerned about vibrations than a crash.

I used a a rack trunk to carry a SLR with a 300/4 and a 28-105. The bag has already some padding (for insulation) but I added more by cutting in a closed-cell pad. Make sure the equipment doesn't move in the bag. Most rack trunk have small pockets which are handy for filters, film and other gizmos.

I also used a Lowepro Orion Trekker strapped to the rack with two bungee cords on my Gaspésie tour (http://community.webshots.com/photo/93885586/93885871hrwrIg). I also had a tripod. I used the backpack because I had some hiking planned during that trip, otherwise I would've used a rack trunk again.

When on bike tours..I solely take throw aways.. No worry.. ONly loss might be some great shots..

You can get those on a throw away? ;)

I carried a Hasselblad in my panniers with no ill effects.
My OM-2 lived in a bar bag (Carradice) without any problems. These days I use a Ricoh GR-1. It can fit into the smallest of under-seat bags, and the results are every bit as good as my SLR(no, they are better!!), with a 28mm lens.
Personally, I think a Nikon F3+motor-drive is overkill for a carry camera. My thumb works well enough as a winder.

Hey Sipper, where are ya? We're doing a little photo equipment talk here....

I'm right here... I had to do a little shooting of my own this morning... damn sandals again

my guess would be a small camera bag... but then it depends on which camera you are hauling around... I usually just carry my Sony digicam, or my Lomo LC-A in my back jersey pocket..

if you are carrying around an F3 (doesn't that weigh like 10 lbs. ?) I small bag mounted to a rack over the back wheel might work...

Ya wanna try and haul my Pentax 6x7 ? I know that weighs as much as my bike !

:-)

jeff

Personally, I think a Nikon F3+motor-drive is overkill for a carry camera. My thumb works well enough as a winder.

Fits the way I work. Besides - I'm left eye-dominant. Thumb-wind cameras are the bane of left eye people. I like not having to think about winding, and not poking myself in the eye with my thumb between frames is quite the bonus.

As for the Pentax 6x7 - that wouldn't be too bad, really. Certainly no worse than an RB with a 250mm lens! Oh, the things we photographers do to ourselves...

Fits the way I work. Besides - I'm left eye-dominant. Thumb-wind cameras are the bane of left eye people. I like not having to think about winding, and not poking myself in the eye with my thumb between frames is quite the bonus.

As for the Pentax 6x7 - that wouldn't be too bad, really. Certainly no worse than an RB with a 250mm lens! Oh, the things we photographers do to ourselves...


yeah we photographers are masochists... When you go on vacation, does your camera bag routinely weigh more than your regular luggage ? :-)

yeah.. the RB with a 250mm is a tank too...

take a Holga.. it's lightweight, and if you break it, it;s only like $13

Jeff

p.s. I looked at yer website... nice pics :-)

Let me put it this way. About a month ago I went back to Athens to visit some friends there. I was there for 4 days. I took 2 pair of jeans, 2 shirts, 3 pair underwear and socks, 1 pair shoes, and 30 rolls of film.

So my big thing in life is photography. Sometimes I'll want to go for a ride and will want to take my camera with me. When I'm going by train or walking somewhere, I prety much always have it with me. I'm a little wary of having a $1,200 piece of kit on a strap as I'm going 25mph through the city streets. I have these horrific visions of my lens turning to millions of tiny shards, my motor drive disintegrating, etc. So here's the question for any of you who may ride with a camera. How do you do it? Do you put it in something for protection? Do you just hope you don't crash or get hit by a car? Any novel solutions to this problem?

FWIW, my walk-around cameras are a Nikon F3P w/motor drive and a Mamiya 645.

I have been to afraid to stick my nice digital camera in the seatpack. Your thread reminded me that I have a POS that I paid $85 for at Walmart a couple years ago. It is worthless indoors but i think it will make a nice new tool for my seatpack. i'll just leave it in there and yank it out when needed. Thanks. ;)

Today, my tiny Canon digicam in my jersey pocket....... 35 years ago it was my tiny Minolta 16 that my dad bought me which I hauled around in my shirt pocket while riding.....