Cycling with a camera

[Richard G]

I ride with a camera carefully in the summer. I like the IIIf best but have used the M6 with a 35. Can't be bothered with a bag. For longer more serious rides I have the camera immersed in clothing in a pannier bag. A risk of course. NB The 2 lug M5 is no good for cycling....

 

[dourbalistar]

NB The 2 lug M5 is no good for cycling....

Yes, that brutalist M5 is much too ugly for cycling, and will totally destroy your fashionable hipster street cred. 😉

OP, if you're looking for a small on-body bag, consider the Peak Design Everyday Sling 5L. Or the Topo Designs Quick Pack or Mini Quick Pack. All three options are available in all black.

 

[retinax]

...

4) Don't worry about vibration. It isn't an issue that can be managed by placing a camera on your body vs. on the frame. When you travel by bike, you are essentially a giant sack of water sitting a metal frame. When your wheels hit a pothole, where do you think the impact of that event goes? Right into you and everything connected to you. Just buy a used Oly for $150 and smile when you touch that shutter button.

Potholes, sure, vibration, no. Inertia prevents an adult human body from being accelerated like that. Sack of water is exactly the right metaphor, it would make for a decent camera suspension system, I don't understand how you arrive at the wrong conclusion from it. Try transporting a carbonated drink on the frame and compare to one from the backpack.
Your solution of using an affordable camera on the bike I fully support.

 

[JoeLopez]

I ride with a camera often.

I use a Ape Case ACPRO 650 strapped to the handlebars using two velco straps and some old camera bag strap plastic clips. I fasten the back to the fork tube with another velcro strap. Works great and easy access!

I can also put a camera in the rear rack bag above the rear tire if I carry more items.

 

[Out to Lunch]

I move around Ho Chi Minh City on a motorbike but I'm not hanging my gear on the bike...too much vibration. A good friend cycled from Bangkok to Jinghong, China, stored his Sony and Zeiss Batis 85mm lens in a photo bag hanging from the handlebars only to find halfway the trip that his Zeiss Batis 85mm lens had died. He sent it to Germany for repairs and their verdict...vibrations. Now, I am aware that the plural of anecdote is not 'data' but just to be sure, I'm using a shoulder bag to carry my gear, not in the least since it is cushioned by a moderate beer belly. Cheers, Peter

 

[Muggins]

Don't try it with an Argus C3! I had my Matchmatic in my mac pocket one damp day, my foot slipped on a wet pedal, and I drove the camera hard into the handlebars with my chest.

One corner of the camera was hard enough to draw blood on my ribs.

Not a mark on the brick... actually, maybe if you value your camera more than your ribs, maybe the C3 is a good idea?

Adrian

 

[piffey]

If you wreck no amount of padding is going to save that camera and lens. I've had cameras in my messenger bag before and go down on a rainy day -- that's the end of that. Now I just sling it over my chest when I ride, set to 1/1000 and hyperfocused so I can ride and photograph at the same time. Worked for Bill Cunningham, works for me.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Yeah I wouldn't carry my Leica on my bike unless I was doing a long tour out on lonely country roads. In the city, get a point and shoot with a zoom lens and have fun. You won't cry nearly as much that way.
Phil Forrest

 

[Ted Striker]

It's surprising how hard it is to cycle with a camera. One would have thought that combining these two hobbies would be a natural fit. I find that I rarely ever have a camera with me because I'm either cycling, or driving my other hobby: A Lotus Elise, which has no storage space at all for a delicate camera.

 

[Dan Daniel]

It's surprising how hard it is to cycle with a camera. One would have thought that combining these two hobbies would be a natural fit. I find that I rarely ever have a camera with me because I'm either cycling, or driving my other hobby: A Lotus Elise, which has no storage space at all for a delicate camera.

Cycling take attention. In a city, it's like playing a video game with potential death coming from every direction. On a more open road, it's about movement. Either way, the kind of contemplation and attention that I would have while walking around to take photos is very different than the attention I have to the road and to movement when cycling. I can carry a camera for days and weks and never stop my bike to take a photo.



And face it, cycling is about going forward. Stopping means you aren't cycling any more!

 

[Ted Striker]

Cycling take attention. In a city, it's like playing a video game with potential death coming from every direction. On a more open road, it's about movement. Either way, the kind of contemplation and attention that I would have while walking around to take photos is very different than the attention I have to the road and to movement when cycling. I can carry a camera for days and weks and never stop my bike to take a photo.



And face it, cycling is about going forward. Stopping means you aren't cycling any more!

Well said!

 

[davidnewtonguitars]

If I carry my camera on a ride, I change my head from "go fast" to "go slow". I only "carry" 10 or 20 percent of my rides, so when I carry, the point of the ride is to shoot film. Being a one-camera-guy, I'm wearing the M2 on a strong strap, over my shoulder. I probably will transition to carrying a Zorki & 35mm when I gain confidence in that camera. I am fortunate to live in a town with enough cycle traffic that auto drivers, for the most part, respect the cycler.

 

[Ste_S]

Damn, thanks for all the info. I’ll be riding a track bike through the city and the outskirts as well. I have a really twitchy build with very tight geometry so it’ll definitely be a bag I wear. I would not feel comfortable at all slinging the leica around my shoulder like it’s a bag but that does sound amazing. I’m very experienced but still, that sounds so risky. Just something small, black, light, with quick access to my camera. You see, there are so many times I’ll be driving around, see something amazing out the window, and not be able to shoot it. I just like the idea of hopping off the bike for a minute to get the shot instead of missing the shot trying to park. I mostly shoot street but have grown pretty tired of the downtown area here and would like to start shooting up in the numbers where things and people start to get pretty strange. Areas like this are too spread out to park and walk. It looks like I’ll just look for something on b&h. I definitely don’t want the bag to look camera specific but even if there are logos I can just black em out.

You don't sound too dissimilar to me really, I ride a vintage track or road bike to go and shoot around my city. If I'm on my road bike then any standard camera bag will do (or just the camera itself over my shoulder), fixed wheel then It'll be a backpack so it doesn't swing around. I use a small Rapha backpack with the insert from my camera bag inside it.

If I'm out cycling on long rides and I don't want to take a bag, then to be honest my phone in a jersey pocket is fine. If film then folders or clamshells are great - Voigtlander Vito II, Olympus XA or mju series etc, all of those fit in a jersey pocket. Heck, I can fit a Zeiss Nettar in a jersey pocket should I want to shoot medium format on long rides.