Taking an SLR camera biking with you

jeffdoran

Anyone had any experience of taking out an SLR camera with them. I'm talking about a bit of XC not xtreme DH...

if so, did you take any special precautions when packing it in your backpack or did you have any problems with vibrations / falls etc?

Would love to take mine out but a bit nervous.

J

.blitz

jeffdoran wrote:

Anyone had any experience of taking out an SLR camera with them. I'm talking about a bit of XC not xtreme DH...

I've got a Minolta 35mm SLR that has seen a lot of action but I never had a problem with it. It lives in a Lowepro bag in my rucksack but it's a bit of a brick to take MTBing. These new-fangled digital compacts are much more convenient =]

J55TTC

Ive got a canon 5D that if I took it out Id only take it in my lowepro rucksack.

If you can afford to Id take a compact with you, the little sony cybershots can take some pretty good quality photos.

If ive got my camelbak on Ill take my sony compact and a little lowepro wallet type bag, they give great padding and I think would survive a fall.

Dont get the little olympus waterproof, drop proof camera, its rubbish!

Raymondavalon

I carry one in a camera bag indise a rucksack on some rides, usually scenic rides that warrant taking a camera along
I have two mates who also lug cameras, one carries his (frame with standard lens) in a rucksack, the other has a carrier and carries his SLR and various lenses in a camera bag on the carrier on his Giant HT - he never carries the cameras when riding his FX XC bike

Most modern rucksacks are fairly water resistant as are the camera bags. I always carry a waterproof rucksack cover in case the heavens open up when lugging a camera around.


Oh, +1 on the compact camera , they're a lot less hassle to remove, use and repack..

jeffdoran

Yeah I hear what you are saying about the compact and am thinking that might be the way forwards. Would love to get some great action shots of my friends with my SLR though as the results are much more impressive

bomberesque

another idea is that you can strap the camera bag across your chest, either separately from your rucksack (with a long strap back around your shoulders and crossed across your back in a figure 8 stylee) or clipped to the rucksack straps at 4 points. It's really quite stable once you get the strap length right and while I wouldn't claim that it has no effect on riding, it is surprisingly out of the way yet available when you want that snap.

delcol

i take my nikon d60 out in my back pack in a lowpro for added protection...

i have a ccouple of compacts,, easier to carry but not to good at action photography, even if you put mine on it's fastest settings it still has a delay from pressing the button to taking the pic,,
makes action photography kinda hard, it's a guessing game,..

i had my nikon in my pack for xc riding and big mountain terrain (downhill) while in whistler.

TimesLikeThese

Cool - been debating the same with my canon 20D.
Check your insurance as even house insurance may cover you if you take a fall.
I was planning on taking a minimum amount of glass at first to see how I get on and just use my regular hiking setup.

The following inside a regular rucksack.
small camera bag
flash
bits and pieces - memory, spare batteries, etc
A towel to dry the camera and wrap it up for a little padding
(all of the above inside a plastic bag to save from rain and sweat)
pack of baby wipes for cleaning hands of mud and sweat
tripod

We should really start a thread with our SLR shots!

Chaz.Harding

TimesLikeThese wrote:

Check your insurance as even house insurance may cover you if you take a fall.

Especially since you fell in the house with it, and it broke on the kitchen floor...

TimesLikeThese

bigchazrocks wrote:

TimesLikeThese wrote:

Check your insurance as even house insurance may cover you if you take a fall.

Especially since you fell in the house with it, and it broke on the kitchen floor...

seriously - my house insurance covers me for stuff I take outside of the house...

Skonk

I sold my DSLR, Lenses, Flash units etc.... to pay for my bikes (switched hobbies).

Now I just take a Canon G9 with me; It's lived through several crashes without a scratch (cant say the same about myself though).

Initially I started biking to get fit and to get me out and about in beautiful countryside where I could do some photography, but the cycling took over and I found was having too much fun to stop and take pictures.

Most modern SLR's can take some abuse but I'd want it in some sort of hard case in my backpack incase I fell ontop of it (which I have done several times with the G9 but since I have it in a small hard case it's not damaged it).