I agree that stopping (regardless of camera type) is safer & produces better photos but a person can take decent photos while riding safely. one can use almost any type of popular camera. but I like my Polaroid sport cams because they have a wide angle lens & one easy button. I keep one on my helmet for videos & one in my feed bag for stills. some pics are good, others, not so much. but it's easy, quick & safe to operate

Admittedly, I'm talking through my hat because I don't care enough about pictures to rig up something, but I think the analogy to drinking water is dead-on here. We take it for granted that water drinking is ok because we have rigged our bikes in such a way as to make it easy to get the bottle, drink from it, and return it to storage without dividing our attention much. Even so, there are situations where one would probably be an idiot to take a drink--super bumpy road, really complicated traffic pattern, that sort of thing. You also might be an idiot if your water bottle has a twist-off cap and is buried in your backpack.


If you've rigged your camera for easy access and you don't have to look through a viewfinder or stare at a screen, it doesn't strike me that it does take any more attention than drinking from the water bottle. I wouldn't recommend trying it while negotiating a left hand turn at a Boston 5-way intersection, but I wouldn't pull my water bottle out at that place either unless I was waiting out a long light.

Yeah, I know Walgreen's will print photos from digital media (you can even do it online and have them sent to your nearest store) but I didn't know if anyone still handled film these days.

All the photos I posted above were taken by looking at a screen, but it's not like I am stared at it for a long time trying to get the perfect composition. I have had a water bottle in front of my face for longer. And the camera I used was easy to turn on and off and snap a pic with just one finger.

Ironically, that camera slipped out of my sweaty hands when I stopped on a bridge to take a shot. It hit the walkway railing and bounced away from me. Reached for it but was too slow. It's now at the bottom of the Delaware River.

Pro tip: When you find yourself in such a situation, always use the wrist strap.

The only time I can remember nearly injuring myself trying to get a photo was when I slammed on the brakes so I could get my current camera out of its case and document this little guy. Nearly fell to the ground in the process.

Yep. They still process film.

https://photo.walgreens.com/store/film-processing

There are a lot of Luddites still out there. Sometimes when I tour in rural America I see VHS tapes for rent at small stores. I'm coming up on my two-year anniversary of getting a smart phone, and I have never downloaded an App. Not certain I would even have it if my employer didn't give it to me and weren't paying the bill.

You assume correctly.

Let me see if I have this right. You are on a smooth MUP or empty road with great sight lines and no people, cyclists or motor vehicles in sight and you still stop to take a drink?

Blanket statements are wrong. There, I said it.

I'm with bobwysiwyg, taking a good picture is much easier to take when stopped. I'm not saying it's impossible to take a good picture while rolling, but you're far more likely to get a snapshot (I'm old enough to think "Brownie camera") like that.

And I'm also with woodcraft, when I'm coming up to a congested intersection in heavy traffic, that's no time to be drinking out of a water bottle.

And indyfabz is right too, if there's one other cyclist and nobody else on the road, there's not much need to worry about traffic.

Picked up a couple of bar-mount camera holders a few years ago when my stoker suggested I shouldn't take pictures while captaining our tandem by holding the camera in my hand. (Easily accessed as it was hanging from neck strap.) Small Canon Powershot Elph now stays in place pointed forward during our rides. Takes one finger to to turn it on and one finger to push the shutter butter. Sometimes I get a usable shot. Easily unscrews from the mount for use while stopped. A friend tried one of these cheap Amazon/Chinese camera mounts and it broke under the weight of his somewhat larger camera.
Reaching around behind me for a water bottle from its cage on the back of my seat frame is more distracting than taking a picture with my setup.



Slow start of a club ride preceding the Indy Crit a couple of years ago.

Just like the person who texts while driving and lives to tell about it, it seems to some that doing these things is ok. Right up until she crosses the median and kills a few people.

At least your photos tend to show that you're only endangering yourself; if that's the case, I would encourage you to continue.

No cyclists were harmed in the making of this photo.

Nor this one.

The cheapo point-and-shoot cameras are great for getting some quick shots and don't add a ton of extra weight.

Some of my riding pals are very skilled at taking phone pictures while riding (this is of course done on road/gravel rides way out in the country...not in urban rush hour traffic!) The bonus of a small camera is that they're usually much cheaper than a modern phone, so if something goes wrong, it's less of a loss.

I had a friend that always carried a small point and shoot on a lanyard around her neck when motorcycling. She took some great photos that way. I tried it once and it felt very wrong. Never did it again. Feel the same on a bike.

I like to take pics when out on rides, but I stop and shoot. I figure If it's not worth stopping, it's not worth shooting.

I can absolutely accept that there is a difference between looking at a screen and staring at it. My eyes probably can't do it because there's so much difficulty shifting between near and distant vision, but that doesn't mean it's unreasonable for you to do it.

The texting comparison that others in this thread are making doesn't seem to me to fit very well. Photography is generally going to require you to keep aware of your surroundings and to literally watch where you're going. I assume there aren't a lot of cyclists trying to shoot things that are behind them. Texting, on the other hand, clearly detaches and distracts you from your surroundings.

There are, of course, some things that absolutely never be done on a bike. One should never juggle sharp knives on a bike, for example. I just don't think photography belongs in that category as long as the photographer remains situationally aware.

BTW, bicycling inherently requires divided attention. We are attending to steering the vehicle as well as providing the motive power ourselves and maintaining balance. I noticed there's a certain mental tiredness I get after a long bike ride that I don''t experience after a long drive, and I think it's the result of constantly having to scan the ground ahead for potholes and other small obstacles.

Please don't fall under my car while you're doing this.

How am I endangering myself more than I am when I take a drink from a bottle?

I wouldn't be caught dead under your car. See what I did there?

Put me down for "putting a smiley face on that doesn't make it any less of a crappy thing to say. " Wishing someone harm really isn't funny.

You acknowledged that you're looking at the rear LCD on your camera while you compose your photo. So your primary attention isn't on the road in front of you.

But carry on. If it's only a 10% chance of disaster, you might slide through over time....

His activity is absolutely safe. Just ask him. So how can I be "wishing him harm" by encouraging him to continue this absolutely safe activity?

And when I drink water my primary attention is not on the road in front of me. (Same is the case when I turn my head to or look directly down at the ground.

So I ask my question again....

How am I endangering myself more than I am when I take a drink from a bottle?

BTW....I guess you missed my comment explaining that I don't stare at the screen for a long period in order to get a great composition. Some drinks of water last longer.

Look at the pictures he's posted, and tell me if he'd have any trouble seeing what's ahead of him while framing those pictures. They're literally pictures of WHAT'S IN FRONT OF HIM. You'll also maybe notice they're not exactly in fast-moving traffic contexts.

Lame.

As I noted, he's only endangering himself. Well, and the person immediately in front of him.

When not paying attention to what's happening in front of the bike, one is increasing the chances that something bad will happen. Some of his photos showed him to be only a few feet behind the guy in front of him; if something goes wrong with that guy, there will be a collision..

It's silly, to the extreme, to pretend that this isn't distracted cycling. Reasonable people can differ about how dangerous a particular incarnation of "taking a photo while cycling" is, but no reasonable person can pretend that it's not distracted cycling.

Look, I like you in this forum; your posts generally are fun and informative. I don't want to fight with you. So I'll be exiting this silly thread now.