Camera for the road
 

Being a professional writer and photographer, I've been looking for something lighter than my digital SLR or medium format film cameras to take on the road. I just ordered a new Canon G1X from Amazon.

Does anyone else pack a camera when you ride? If so, what?

I typically carry a Panasonic Lumix ZS25. It's a far cry from my SLR, but better than my iPhone.

Are you talking a camera to constantly carry with you or occasionally? For the occasion I have a very comfortable & waterproof Lowepro backpack that's good for a dslr and a lens or three.

I've a friend who has a Sony NEX6 as his backup and finds himself shooting with more and more. Lens can be a little bulky though. I've a Canon P&S of aprox the physical size of your G1X but find it too large to carry in my underseat bag along with a tube, tools and a cell phone.

BTW: The G1X looks to be a NICE backup. ASP-C sensor too so it won't get too noisy in low light.

I'm a fan of Panasonic Lumix cameras. Because I like to play off near and far views (tiny riders against big mountains), I've usually owned super-zoom models. The past few years, I've gone with the LX cameras, with 24-90mm zooms, and the optional optical viewfinder.

Pictures from my BF posts:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...Navajo-Country

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...d-No-Road-Rage

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...eaning-of-Life

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ve-Los-Angeles

The goal is something that takes shots worthy of publication. I have DSLRs with thousands of dollars worth of lenses. The thing is that I don't want a camera with a shutter in a bag on a back rack vibrating around on the road. I needed something lightweight and preferred a fixed lens to minimize the possibility of dust contamination. I have cleaned sensors so many times to remove foreign matter and I don't plan to change a lens on a ride. The short lens on a G1X seems perfect for that. The Sony is attractive, too. I actually saw one at a Walmart and they had it displayed without the lens. There were fingerprints on the sensor... sad. The camera is so tiny and light without the lens. I was tempted to see if I could find one. I found Amazon selling the Canon $100 less than anyone else.

Excellent work. I enjoyed the images. Have you tried getting some of those published?

I publish a digital slr magazine and also a music magazine. I would think that a cycling pub (Bicycle Times, for example) would make use of some of these.

I don't know of any cameras without a shutter.

Almost all digital point & shoot cameras have no shutter. They have a "charged array" that is electronically prepared to capture an image on the sensor for a set period of time (a shutter speed, if you will), but, they don't have an actual shutter. They have no moving parts except those associated with the zoom on a lens. Digital SLRs actually have shutters, like their film-bodied siblings. That is why they are really far superior for sports photography.

Hi, Mickey. Thanks for your kind words. I am in fact a sometime professional photographer (and writer). It's difficult to combine cycling and photography.

I did not know that about the P&S cameras. Thanks for enlightening me.

KB

I've always carry a camera... its an old Canon A1100 point and shoot. Takes great photos. I wear the camera on the strap of my Camelbak. Just recently I took a very bad spill and landed on my chest - hard. The camera is OK but for 2 months I had a large hematoma on my chest in the exact outline and size of the camera (it was ugly). I now have to find somewhere to wear it....:(

Note I am looking to buy a newer camera - Consumer Reports rated the Nikon Coolpix (forgot the exact model) number one in everything for point and shoots. Never thought about a Coolpix; have always had Canons and Nikons but will give it a try...

I really enjoyed the photos.

There was a contest a few years ago that Giant Bicycles sponsored in which the subject must be a Giant mountain bike overlooking a scenic vista somewhere in nature's playground. That would be just one example of the merger of bike and photography.

Cycling shots along vineyards, farm land, little villages, old bridges and famous landmarks would be great for cycling pubs and possible commercial use. There are lots of opportunities to combine written works with photos.

I think the bad news is there isn't the camera we want yet. I have a fuji f100 that's small and reasonable, but certainly not pro quality.
I bought a Panasonic Lumix LX-5 for the f2.0 lens, and it's wide angle and RAW ability. It's a fine camera, but just a hair too big for the jersey pocket.

I have had Adventure Cycling use my Fuji camera images in their catalogs, so they don't suck, but I can tell they aren't DSLR quality. I try to use low ISOs and shoot with the realization that the dynamic range isn't as great as I'd like.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5163/5...188347d1_z.jpg
Tricia and the Adventure Cycling catalog by ccorlew, on Flickr

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4116/4...c3afec41_z.jpg
Cycle Montana_tent reading by ccorlew, on Flickr

My 35 year old Pentax SP1000 died and I drowned a 2010 Canon SX20 in a canoeing incident.
Replaced the pentax with a Canon 7D and the SX20 with a G1X. To save the G1X from moisture and dust, I put it in Canon's WP-DC44 waterproof case. It rolls around in the bilge of the canoe and comes along on backpacking trips with no worries, but it is bulky. Very happy with picture quality, but I'm no pro, so my standards are low.

Panasonic Lumix Fz200 (25-600mm) in this holster http://www.ripoffholstersonline.com/ripoffs-co--17.html on a belt

While not as small as a point and shoot, some of the mirror less cameras are pretty compact, as are some of the zoom lenses available for them. Both Panasonic and Olympus use the m4/3 format and have a pretty wide variety of lens options. The m4/3 has a 2:1 crop factor so if you traveled with a 14-42 zoom that would give you the equivalent of a 28-84 on a full frame 35mm sensor. They also can shoot some pretty impressive HD video.

Not being a pro, my A590-IS is just fine for me, and it does raws with the CHDK hack. As of the 1.2 version (edit: 1.2 version of CHDK, that is), it does DNG Raw format a bit faster than the 1.1 version did the CR2 raw (sensor data dump, really). I'm happy with a good camera that I can pull out of my shirt pocket to take pictures with to post online, and which only cost me $48 (US)

I tend to use Program-AE mode the most, and generally always keep the ISO at 80 or 100. Of course, when I use the CHDK raws, the lens distortion isn't corrected or cropped as it is in the jpeg image... Still, this ain't half bad...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7294/9...1f86b844_b.jpg
CRW_0491 by goofus_maximus, on Flickr

Very excellent photos in those links. Nice work.

Admittedly tangential to this thread... I've been riding with a GoPro on my handlebars lately doing timelapse --with mixed results. Timelapse from a moving base creates choppy viewing. At least I have 10,000 stills to comb through (if I want).

My 13 m pix phone. The best camera is the one you have with you.

Here's a question for you, Mickey: In the film world, if you wanted to see exactly the same thing that the film was going to see, you need an SLR. In digital land, you can have a camera that lets you see the digital image through the viewfinder (as with my Canon Dimage Z1), so why do you need a DSLR?

Has anyone tried some kind of harness so that a larger camera would stay strapped to your chest, not flop around, yet be easily accessible?

Something like one of these:

http://www.porters.com/media/catalog.../080312_15.jpg


http://outside-blog.away.com/.a/6a00...73b5970c-450wi

Here's a DIY version:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/~/med...in%20photo.jpg
http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/c...#axzz2c3CbO6zd

http://www.ortlieb.com/p-liste.php?p...tasche&lang=en

NB: the 'Aqua- Zoom, or 'Protect' + the 'carrying system for camera bags'..


But Cyclists seem to find the handlebar bag better than hanging the camera under their sternum..


I modified one of their discontinued versions of the camera bag Aqua -Cam
to be one of my handlebar Bags

As jdon said, the best camera is the one you have with you. It took me years and many lost opportunities to learn that hard lesson. To that, I'll add this ... cameras are like bikes ... they're only as good as the person using them.

I've used a Canon A540, Lumix ZS5, and I'm now using a Canon SX150IS. I've got a Canon G15, but that's way too heavy for a jersey pocket for my taste. I also have a Canon DSLR (forgot the model).

My thoughts:

Loved the ZS5 for it's size and image quality until the sensor started picking up dust and debris. That's a non-starter for me. After cleaning it for the third time, I gave up on it and my wife now uses it for snapshots. Much as I liked the Leica lens, it'll be a long time before I go back to a Lumix, as I consider that problem to be an inexcusable design flaw in a pocket camera.

The image quality of the A540 and the SX150IS wasn't quite as good, but close enough. I like those cameras for their use of AA batteries ... handy on the road.

DSLRs? Frankly, I don't understand their popularity. They're not very portable or convenient, and the kit lenses they come with (and the less expensive lenses you can buy for them) are junk ... you'll get better image quality with most pocket cameras. And while they do offer great image quality if you're willing to plink down $1000 or more for a lens, I'm not in the demographic that wants to do that ... and I'm frankly very surprised so many people do.

cccorlew ... your wife and I have something in common ... we've both been in the AC touring mag. Sweet!

The issue I've found with the harness is that it holds the camera right where many drops of sweat will hit it.

My guess is that many of the people who "plink down $1000 or more for a lens" also would be surprised at how many people around here "plink down $1000 or more" (sometimes much more) for a bike