staehpj1

I'd like to take more pictures while out on my daily trail rides, but hate to beat up expensive camera gear. I have been pretty satisfied with taking some scenic shots with my phone which I carry in a pocket in my bibs (in the small of my back), but having more options especially lens wise would be nice. In days long gone by I carried 35mm SLRs in a fanny pack and didn't shake them to pieces too bad. I am guessing carrying on the bike would be pretty brutal for trail riding on singletrack every day. My gear is pro level Olympus micro 4/3 stuff so it is a fairly big investment that I don't want to beat up. On the other hand it is a tool to be used.

What are others doing wrt carrying camera stuff on rough trails?

obrentharris 

I carry a Sony NEX 6 in a padded LowePro case in my backpack. Most of the shock is absorbed by my body and the backpack. For many years I carried a Voigtlander Bessa R rangefinder film camera and a couple extra lenses in a small Pelican case in my backpack.
Brent

Rick_D

You are clearly an erudite individual of impeccable taste. :-)

My experience is a rucksack, sling bag, or fanny pack is adequate for camera gear. Some folks will use a bike bag (bar or rack) but I'm leery of transmitting vibration and impact to the kit. My present go-to combo is an OM-1+12-100, not a small setup but famously versatile. The 12-45 makes a much smaller package when I wish to go lighter. Fanny pack gives fastest access because it can spin around to the front, quickly, but one needs a fairly large one to accommodate a sizeable camera-lens kit. Sling bag with side access, e.g., Lowepro Slingshot, can also work well. With a rucksack, I'll wrap the camera in a towel or jacket for extra padding.

Have never fallen while carrying something hard, which I suppose is some kind of possibility for trail warriors. I'm not one.


OM-1

staehpj1

I think I may wind up with more than one answer, but either will probably involve carrying gear on my body rather than on the bike.

If I were to go out with the specific purpose of the trip being photography I mught carry a number of lenses and a couple bodies along with other stuff. For that my Lowepro sling bag might work out. It carries a lot of micro 4/3 gear and access to gear is quick. I'll have to try riding with it to be sure it is okay for riding. I don't see this as the primary useage. I am probably more likely to hike or canoe when I take all that gear.

For my everyday riding I would not consider that big of a bag or that much gear. A single body with a versatile zoom would be the order of the day. A fanny pack would probably be the way to go I guess. It can be pulled around to the front for access and some padding could be improvised. I used one quite a bit back in the day and found that I generally fell on my side when I crashed so I never crashed hard on it. That was decades ago. My riding is a little more conservative these days so maybe that helps.