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Old 03-24-08, 01:00 PM
  #16  
sean000
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Bellingham, WA
Posts: 403

Bikes: Rivendell Atlantis, Kogswell P58, 1988 Pinarello, Rivendell Wilbury (my wife's bike)

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Nice!

Nice bag conversion!

I too like to carry a fair amount of camera gear on the bicycle. For my every day commute it's just a small point & shoot tucked into my handlebar bag. Other times I like to carry a DSLR kit when I plan to bike to a location specifically to take photos.

Normally I'm a pannier kind of person, but with camera gear I kind of worry about subjecting it to the bumps and vibrations my panniers seem to take. It might be a completely unwarranted concern, but for this reason I've usually carried my camera kit in a Crumpler messenger bag that has a padded photo bucket insert. The only problem with this approach is having a heavy messenger bag strapped to your back. It can hold a fairly good sized lens like my 80-200mm f/2.8 or 300mm f/4 if I stand the lens up vertically and put the camera body in the next compartment with a smaller lens attached... but it does get heavy.

Sometimes I will carry my smaller DSLR body and a couple of primes or a small zoom in my handlebar bag. Since it hangs from the bars it seems to absorb the bumps better, but not completely.

I do carry my tripod either strapped to the rear rack or sticking up out of my Arkel Utility Bag pannier. I could probably just put the padded Crumpler camera insert down into the same pannier without any problems, but I'm chicken.

I doubt the bumps and vibrations are a major issue, and you obviously don't have any problems. I know professional photographers often subject their gear to far worse than a few bumps in the road, so maybe I just need to get over it. Most of the time I really don't mind the messenger bag, but a pannier sure would be nice for carrying the heavier lenses long distances.

Sean
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