tigat

I'm looking for advice on what camera to carry on longer group or organized rides, and how to approach picture taking.

When my wife and I were touring Ireland on a supported group ride, I carried my full SLR setup, and took pictures we'll treasure forever. But that was all about the journey, not the destination, and there was never a question about riding ahead to find a spot to take pictures of the group approaching, or staying behind to take some landscape shots and catching up at the next pub stop.

Here, I've tried using my cell phone--great landscapes, not so good with people, or a higher end, waterproof Coolpix, which is just the opposite. At the end of the day, I settle for a few ordinary shots at rest stops and call it good. There was one scene last year, on a winding section of the Colorado River ride, that I still regret not capturing.

I've seen a host of wonderful pictures here, of places and people on the move. I'd love some advice on what to use, and how to approach gathering images that capture the richness of the day.

Doug64

My wife and I spend a lot of time bike touring. We are presently taking a rest day in a small town in Poland to take a breather, edit pictures, and as it turns out take a few more.

Photography is always a big part of our tours. I've taken right at 2000 photos in the first month of this trip. We both have good DSLR's and a nice assortment of lenses--at home!

For bike trips we have gone to mirrorless, almost full sized sensor cameras. They will do anything our DSLR will do and in some situations even more. We both use the Sony a6000. My previous "bike" camera gave up the ghost on a tour earlier this summer. I was so impressed with the results of my wife's Sony that I got one to replace my beloved Canon G12. After using the Sony for a month, I'm still amazed at the results. It is between a point and shoot and my DSLR in size and fits nicely in my bar bag.

The mirrorless systems are worth looking at.

Biker395 

I agree. Cellphone pix are OK for landscapes (though I would not say great), but have some very serious limitations otherwise. They are a modern equivalent to a snapshot camera.

I'm not so enamored with DSLRs. You can get great results with them, but at very high cost. The bodies are reasonably priced, but the lenses are not. And unlike the case 30 years ago, buying a lens from a camera manufacturer (Nikon, Canon, Olympus, etc.) does not guarantee good image quality. Some of them actually kinda suck.

So I've gravitated to smaller cameras. I use (and love) my Canon G15. The image quality excellent, and except for the interchangeable lenses, it's as versatile as a DSLR ... at least for my purposes. But that Canon is too heavy for putting in a jersey pocket, so I got something else for the bike.

My requirements were:

* Reasonable optical zoom (10x or so)
* Full exposure mode control (M, Av, Tv, P)
* AA battery power (I use rechargeables, but AA batteries are available almost anywhere in a pinch)
* Very good optical and sensor quality at for daylight photography (low ISOs)
* Ability to under/over expose every shot (I typically underexpose by 2/3 of a stop to keep from blowing out highlights)
* Good image stabilization.
* Jersey pocketable and reasonably light
* Cheap, because eventually, I'm going to drop it.

My don't cares (or "I'm willing to give up") were:

* Automatic (set everything) modes.
* Miniscule size (all that matters is that it is pocketable in a jersey)
* Strong Flash
* Movie modes
* Wifi - GPS ... all that stuff.
* Low light capability (noise, etc).

I ended up with a Canon PowerShot SX150 IS ... still available for about $100, and meets all my requirements.

Amazon.com: Buying Choices: Canon PowerShot SX150 IS 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide-Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 3.0-Inch LCD (Red) (OLD MODEL)

Lastly, I'm sure you know this, but in addition to purchasing a camera, get good photo processing software. I like Corel Paint Shop Pro because it works and it's inexpensive.

BobbyG

Depending on how Spartan your touring is, is consider a camera that takes AA or AAA batteries which you can easily find. You can always use rechargeable batteries when electricity is easily available. many new cameras have built in WiFi to share photos with your phone easily..and by extension anybody online.

scrming

Absolutely am amazed with the results I can get from my Canon G16... are hardly drag out my DSLR (5D II and L lenses) anymore.... that being said I don't carry the G16 on the bike... I typically just use my iphone 5 and then edit the pictures a bit right on the phone... I get what I would call acceptable results...

1nterceptor

I have a bunch of equipment to choose from when taking pics/vids of a ride;
ContourGPS sportscam, Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom cellphone, Fujifilm XP50 compact camera, etc.

On this particular group/club ride; I was using a Fujifilm XP50 point and shoot that I kept in my jersey pocket:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mQz...6zPoymgKaIoDLA

donheff

I go on a bike tour at least once a year and almost always ride with a Cannon G11 slung over my neck. It will also fit nicely in a bar or trunk bag although that is a little less convenient for a fleeting shot. I like the G11 because it is one of the few non-SLRs that has an optical viewfinder in addition to the screen. I find screens hard to see in bright daylight.

JanMM

Got a couple of basic and cheap handlebar camera mounts for <$4 each direct from China via Amazon. My very compact Canon Elph HS 100 often rides on the bar so all I have to do is press the shutter button and hope for a shot! This was the club ride before the recent Indy Criterium, not the race! Ha! Ha!
The Elph is light enough to sometimes hang on a neckstrap as I ride, too. Since I'm reclined on recumbent seats, it rests on my chest.

Gyro

I carry a Panasonic Lumix DMC-Fz200 super zoom in a Welcome to the Ripoffs division of US Armor holster on a belt.
[h=1][/h]

qcpmsame 

A Canon Powershot A480, and my phone's camera function. I am a lousy photographer, and I cannot get the large picture imbed action to work here for love nor money. I am not a big time picture guy, and I mortally hate having my picture taken. Fortunately, I am ugly as home made sin, so very few would want to take my pic anyway.

Bill

David Bierbaum

Since I'm always in fundsarelow-land, I just went cheap, and bought an old Canon A590IS, with all the features I wanted:
* Full manual mode
* Raw/DNG support (via the CHDK firmware hack. Great utility for Canon Powershot cameras)
* AA Batteries
* Image Stabilization, for good pics when I'm out of breath, and a good shot comes along!
+ Edit: Also, it has the viewfinder, so I can see what I'm taking a pic of, when the sun makes the screen unviewable. This was IMPORTANT to me, so I don't know why I missed adding this to my list!

In the same vein, I use Rawtherapee to process the DNG raw files, and the Gimp (with the G'Mic plugin) to fiddle with the resulting jpgs. Paint.net is also good, and Krita is really coming along with it's Windows support. I also have recently fiddled with making "Ken Burns Effect" photo slideshow videos, using Blender. You just can't beat free!

Then for posting the pics, I like Flickr for the sole reason that they offered the most photo storage space for free! Most sites like Flickr have "share" functions that generate all the BBCode for you, so you can just copy/paste to post pics in the forums.

h2oxtc

Mostly cell phone pics for me - decent enough quality in good lighting conditions, and almost always have it with me. Occasionally use a Canon Elph P&S that results in better photos and still fits in the jersey pocket.

Cellphone pic

Biker395 

I had a Lumix DMC-TZ. It was a great camera, but had a fatal flaw. It had a great lens (a 14X Leica lens that went from wide angle to super zoom), all the exposure modes I wanted, and a lot of other stuff. About the only thing I didn't like was the weak flash.

Then the fatal flaw appeared. Apparently, such a long zoom in such a small camera meant that the lens literally sucked dust into the array after repeated use. I cleaned it myself 4-5 times, and the problem just kept reappearing. A damn shame.

Lol ... I'll have to remember that one!

That reminds me of a great quote:

"Yes, beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone."


That is a great camera ... I had an A540 and A560 and they were great as well. Please ... Tell me of this CHDK firmware hack of which you speak.

I agree about the viewfinder, BTW. That is also a nice feature when you are running low on battery power, as so much of the power is used up by the display. Simply turn off the LCD display, and your batteries will go a lot longer distance.

Gyro

Haven't seen that with mine or seen any post at Panasonic Compact Camera Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review about it. Something that was taken care of? Mine zooms to 24x and I have a Nikon Tc-E17ed tele converter for it. But that's a bit much on the bike.

Biker395 

I misspoke ... the model is the DMC-ZR1 ... similar looking.

Google "lumix dust problem" and you'll see a lot of discussion about it. There are even some videos showing how to clean the sensor ... some of them quite good.

1nterceptor

Been experimenting with my cellphone, too.
While most smartphones have a built in camera;
the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is more like a camera -
with a built in phone. 10X optical zoom, manual controls, etc.

2015 FEB, NYC by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

David Bierbaum

CHDK is the Canon Hack Development Kit, which is a nifty little utility for powershot cameras. It gives RAW format ability for these cameras, though using it makes the cheapo powershots slow as dirt, and offers lots of other features too, such as USB remote and the like. You can even play Tetris on your camera!

Gyro

ahhhh.... It's six years old, long ago fixed.

Barrettscv 

I'll carry a pocket sized Canon PowerShot A2500 for still photography and I've installed a Garmin Virb sport camera on the handlebar of the bike while at events. Neither camera is especially exspensive, not every image is worth saving. However, I can edit and save enough media to preserve the moment and share.

I upload my stills to Photobucket and my videos to YouTube.

TheManShow

Cameras like any tool it depend upon who is using it. I earned my living for 25 years as a snapper, I used the old EOS 1 System with film. About the time digital came it it was over as a career for me. Today I use an I-phone for taking pictures, it does a good job, it tke good enought photos, and my years of experience.

fietsbob

As friend, a Professional Photographer said,
Digital sensors are a lot more easily damaged by dust contamination, than Film cameras , so stick to fixed lens cameras ..

Now there is a Digital zoom , smaller portion of central image spread to fill frame , and Optical zoom .
so big extra lenses are less needed .

capejohn

I carry a good camera in my bag for those photos when we are stopped somewhere. I also do a lot of photography on group rides and use a Cannon A810 point and shoot, to take on the fly. I rode ahead of this guy, turned in my saddle to face back and took the shot. When I post this, a firestorm began with the "ride like I ride bike police".


No hands, no helmet, listening to music, talking on the phone, riding down a hill.

lphilpot

I'm usually so focused (no pun intended) on surviving my ride that I don't stop to take pictures with my cellphone. I'll often think, "that would be a nice shot", but I'm usually more interested in getting the ride done, at least at the moment. I need to stop more often, I guess.

BluesDawg

I take most of my pictures while riding the bike with a Canon ELPH300HS point and shoot that I carry either in my jersey pocket or the little bag on top of my top tube. I'll sometimes use my phone for photos, but I have to stop to do that safely.

Over the years I've gotten pretty good at seeing a shot I want, quickly grabbing the camera, turning it on and pointing it in the general direction of the shot I want and snapping it. I'm even pretty decent at shooting over my shoulder for pictures of riders behind me.

I don't worry much about zooming in or framing the shot perfectly. As long as what I'm after is within the image, I can edit the image on my computer to get the rotation, cropping and color correction the way I want it. I don't usually save the images at a very high resolution, so I can crop a lot of extra stuff out of the image and still get a good enough photo for posting on a forum or Facebook.

Most of my photos get uploaded to Flickr or Photobucket where I can easily access them for posting on a forum.

train near Griswoldville by Benny Watson, on Flickr

Fox1 by Benny Watson, on Flickr

icyclist 

I think the Panasonic ZS50 is an excellent choice for people who cycle. It's a very small digicam with a field of view equal to a 24-720mm zoom lens on a full-frame camera. The camera has an electronic viewfinder, which is a fantastic feature when the light is bright outside, which is most of the day.

Issues: tiny sensor, so cropping isn't that easy. Also, tiny sensor = noisy photos at higher ISOs. This camera "only" has 12 megapixels, though, which mean you actually can shoot about ISO 400 for fairly noiseless photos, and of course you can go higher with noise reduction software. You can't really handhold a camera at 720mm and expect sharp photos (but you can't with a full-on DSLR, either). You're stuck with a lot of depth of field (i.e., everything tends to be in focus). Finally, f/stops aren't particularly large as you leave the wide-angle range.

If you can find one, the discontinued Panasonic LF1 is a fantastic camera for a cyclist, too. It's what I've used on some of my trips. The camera features a larger sensor and an f/2 lens at the wide end, plus it has that all-important optical viewfinder. Field of view: like that of a 28-200mm lens. There's a great pano feature, too. I hope Panasonic comes up with an updated model. This is the camera I took to Italy last year for my bike rides. You can see all my shots I posted last year on BF: https://www.bikeforums.net/fifty-plus...it-summer.html







As per someone else's comment, I also own and like the A6000. I own a lot of lenses for the camera. too. If I had to use the camera with one lens, it would be either the 10-18mm or the 16mm. Ordinarily I pair my 10-18mm lens with the small 55-210 (I don't care much about "normal" focal lengths). It's a pain changing lenses, but worth it for the best photos.

The camera has many awesome features. Among them: the camera will take four photos and blend them together. You set the ISO as high as you want - e.g. 28,000 - and the camera will figure out what's reality and what's random noise and remove the latter. So you can shoot under very low light conditions and come back with winners.

The camera body the 10-18 into my waist pack. A second lens can go in my jersey pocket or the extra pocket on my waist pack.

Here are some images from a recent trip to NYC, all made from or next to my bike during evening hours:







As for how to make good photos, that's the subject of books and classes. Here are two of the things I do: I shoot early and late in the day for the best light. No matter what the light, I think about what I want out of a photo. And I move around a bit to see if I've got the best background.