Droid X smart phone at 6mp. Has 8mp setting I rarely use :

I found a Nikon Coopix S630 on the freeway. That's right, it fell off or out of someone's car at 65 MPH and survived. I keep it in the right jersey pocket, put my hand in through the strap and pull it out for pictures while riding.

It is a little dangerous, but I can't help it.

iPhone 4 takes ok snap shots and they stay on the phone unless you want to store them on the cloud or email them right away. This photo isn’t the best taken shortly after sunrise. It’s a thumbnail clicking on it will take you to a page that has a full size button on the right if you want a feel for resolution. Even then I don’t know if the host site stores them at full.

The best camera is the one you have with you.

My biased opinion on characteristics of a good camera for bike riding:

Takes good quality pictures. *#1;
One that you will use. Not so expensive that it is babied, and not used as a tool,i.e., afraid to get it wet;
Has a strap that can go around your neck. Handy for taking pictures while actually riding, and secure when manhandling your bike up a curb or.....;
Optical view finder. Good for action shots, bright light, candid pictures, and shooting while riding;
Easy and fast to manipulate controls. Easy to change settings without going through 3 menu options;
Durable;and
Replaceable battery-carry 2.

This photo illustrates 2 points. The picture was taken one handed while riding next to my wife. It is much easier to do with an optical viewfinder. My wife's Nikon is in her "shoot mode". When taking a lot of pictures the camera is much more accessible and secure on a neck strap. We shot over 9,000 pictures on a 3 month bike trip, so the cameras were not stashed away very often.


Shot while riding behind my wife. A neck strap offers security, and I don't have to fumble around getting the camera out or putting it away. Just tuck it into the front of my jersey.

Doug64, I like the idea of the neckstrap. But I have not found the lack of a viewfinder to be the least bit of a problem for shooting while riding. I just make sure that the subject I'm after is in the field of view somewhere and I crop it later to get the best composition.

Viewfinders are nice for when it is harder to view the screen, bright cross lighting, etc. Some viewfinders have a wider field of view than the camera lens, allowing you to anticipate what is coming into frame. Originally put on digital cameras because they were not immediately updating views on the screen at the time, and running the viewscreen runs down the battery faster .

I often don't even look at the view screen. I just aim the camera by feel and shoot.

^^^This. I destroyed the LCD viewfinder on a Canon several years ago just by carrying it in my back jersey pocket on a hot summer ride.

Unfortunately, this is what happens when I try this

Excellent- sort of reminds me of the ground-breaking surrealistic works of the photographers from the sixties and early seventies.

Ha! I've taken a few of those, too. But I have become pretty adept at the over the shoulder shot. Practice makes peferct and taking multiple shots compensates for imperfection.

On the road bike I use a Canon Powershot G11, and I keep it in a jersey pocket. Has many of the functions of a DSLR, including shooting in RAW. I've put a hand strap (NOT a wrist strap) on it to make it a little more secure when I hold it, and easier to get in an out of the jersey. I have a padded rack trunk on my mountain bike for toting my DSLR at times.

I've gotten some pretty good results shooting blind. Plenty of throwaways, of course, but some real keepers have come from it.


Ft. Worth Ride of Silence by Yo Spiff, on Flickr


Tour de Fort Worth 5-9-12 by Yo Spiff, on Flickr


Tour De Fort Worth 3-21-12 by Yo Spiff, on Flickr