Anyone Take Their RF Mountain Biking?

When I was more into riding I would bring my Nikon FM2 and 20mm 2.8 with me a lot. That's an almost RF-size kit.
This was freeriding on the North Shore so the fast wide was really handy for exaggerating our boulder-dropping escapades!
There are hydration backpacks on the market that can accommodate RF or small SLR bodies and one or two lenses, if properly wrapped.
 
mtbbrian said:
I am headed to Southern Utah to do some mountain biking and am thinking I'd want to take my R2A with me.
Anyone ever take their RF mountain biking?
Brian
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Depends on how you ride down there.

When in Moab biking, as you may know, the trails are tough on you, the bike and would certainy wreak havok on your RF if not careful. Pelican cases seem to be a must, but I can't imagine landing on one of those in my pack.

I end up taking a P/S as I've found serious biking and photography are hard to do at the same time.
 
heninger said:
Depends on how you ride down there.

When in Moab biking, as you may know, the trails are tough on you, the bike and would certainy wreak havok on your RF if not careful. Pelican cases seem to be a must, but I can't imagine landing on one of those in my pack.

I end up taking a P/S as I've found serious biking and photography are hard to do at the same time.
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I "just ride", I don't huck or anything "extreme."
I have taken SLR's out before and put it in my CamelBak.
I know doing both is a challenge, that's why I rarley did it.
Could a big jolt mis align things on my RF?
Brian
 
When I do mountain biking in the swiss alps I carry often a Bessa L with 15mm in one of the shirt's back pockets - envelopped in a small plastic bag not to make it wet (by sweat or rain). But a heavier or bigger camerabody (M6, R-D1) might disturb me.
Didier
 
mtbbrian said:
I "just ride", I don't huck or anything "extreme."
I have taken SLR's out before and put it in my CamelBak.
I know doing both is a challenge, that's why I rarley did it.
Could a big jolt mis align things on my RF?
Brian
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Yes, a big jolt will misalign the RF. More so with the Voightlanders than an M, but it happens there too. Done it. It sucks.

A pelican case would probably protect it.

Riding in Moab, at least on any of the fun trails, is pretty brutal on equipment. I'm not nutbar on a bike, but I've hurt myself pretty good and I'm no huckster either.
 
Heck yeah, I bring mine on mountain bike rides and hikes all the time. I carry it in a Lowepro waterPROOF and well padded backpack, though. It is totally safe from harm.

I don't worry about vibrations or all that because the kind that would do harm to the camera are deadened by the backpack/packing, and the larger bumps are softened as well.

And my bike has really cushy shocks (Cannondale Gemini 900)
 
I would be concerned about the delicate rangefinder mechanism going out of adjustment. The Rollei 35 (scale focus) would be my choice for mountain biking. If space is not a problem, a manual focus SLR might be more practical than a rangefinder.

Richard
 
I bought an Olly XA2 from ebay for peanuts just for these kinds of outings. Its a very robust TINY camera but has a half decent 35mm lens.
I'm finding that I carry it everywhere these days and its rewarded me with some great shots.
 
Boy, I would sure avoid putting a big hunk of something solid on my back for any kind of biking. In the event that you fall and land on your back, it could break your spine. I read a story of a Russian motorcyclist who had a minor accident that would have amounted to no more than road rash, (nasty as that is) except that he landed on a can of Coke in his backpack. He was paralyzed from the waist down as a result. When biking, don't put anything solid in a backpack; you're tempting fate. (I'm a motorcyclist)

Consider one of those lightweight rear fender thingies that doubles as a small rack. Bungee or bungee net the camera & case to that, and you won't even be limited as to the size you can bring.

A Rollei 35, Olympus XA or similar that could be carried reasonably in a belt pouch would also work well.
 
richard_l said:
I would be concerned about the delicate rangefinder mechanism going out of adjustment. The Rollei 35 (scale focus) would be my choice for mountain biking. If space is not a problem, a manual focus SLR might be more practical than a rangefinder.

Richard
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I'm 90% sure the XA2 is scale focusing; it was a cost-saving measure from the original XA, which was range-finding. (correct me if I'm wrong)
 
I usually carry something small in my Camelback - small digital or an Olympus XA. I would hate to take a fall on one of my RFs. Plus, as Jeremyz said before, having a big chunk of metal josling on my back when mtn. biking, doesn't sound fun.
 
Jeremy Z said:
I'm 90% sure the XA2 is scale focusing; it was a cost-saving measure from the original XA, which was range-finding. (correct me if I'm wrong)
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Yep, 3 positions - Half body, normal and infinity. The lens resets to normal when you close the clamshell so its ready to shoot. All you need to be aware of is the meter sees a lot of sky - so just adjust the film speed to compensate when shooting landscapes or backlit subjects.

The later versions had a backlight button to save you having to do this.
 
Jeremy Z said:
Boy, I would sure avoid putting a big hunk of something solid on my back for any kind of biking. In the event that you fall and land on your back, it could break your spine.

A Rollei 35, Olympus XA or similar that could be carried reasonably in a belt pouch would also work well.
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I have to agree with this. I've sometimes carried my M2 in a jacket pocket skiing, but it's really not that comfortable because of the weight. I'm always worried about catching an edge and falling on the brick...that could easily break ribs or worse as mentioned above. I now usually carry an Olympus Stylus, about the same size as XA but P&S. Biking, the camera goes in a waist pouch but carried on one side or the other (though in reality it often slips to the front).
 
It's hard to mix riding and shooting, especially when you're covering any kind of distance. To shoot, you have to stop, unpack everything while you're still sweaty as hell because the wind has stopped, take whatever pictures you wanted to, pack everything back in, start up again, etc. I found that I just left the camera in the bag for most of the ride since I didn't feel like going to all the trouble.

Oh, and riding during ideal light for photos can be a bad idea if you're riding into the sun, unless you don't like being able to see what's on the trail ahead of you.

I'm planning on going to Utah this summer or fall, but I probably won't bring my MTB since it's not setup very well right now and I don't feel like replacing a lot of parts. I mostly ride BMX now.

Hiking is a lot more conducive to shooting, and you can use a monopod as a hiking stick if you want 😛
 
Jeremy Z said:
I'm 90% sure the XA2 is scale focusing; it was a cost-saving measure from the original XA, which was range-finding. (correct me if I'm wrong)
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The XA has a rangefinder, but I found it a bit hard to use, so I normally scale focussed, which became a necessity after the camera was about 8 years old, because the rangefinder patch became too dim to use.

Richard
 
richard_l said:
The XA has a rangefinder, but I found it a bit hard to use, so I normally scale focussed, which became a necessity after the camera was about 8 years old, because the rangefinder patch became too dim to use.

Richard
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This is interesting. All the people who whine about having to scale focus Rollei 35s or Petri 35s... Those cameras are old enough that they likely woudln't "range-find" anyhow.

Until I came here, I didn't realize rangefinders were such sensitive beasts. Accuracy getting out of whack, yellow patch going out of whack...
 
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