fietsbob

Ortlieb Aqua Zoom and their carry harness, and you can wear the camera
on your chest.

cbike

I find that my DSLR can operate quite a long time on one set of batteries. Maybe it's just that I don't shoot enough photos. I would just get one spare battery and take the charger along. From what I hear it's not worth struggling with solar chargers.

Seattle Forrest

FYI. This is part of what camping means to me. ( And on that note, expect more questions from me about camping by bike. ) I would find it frustrating to bring a camera, but be unable to shoot this kind of stuff:











( All of these came from camping trips by car. )

garagegirl

I'm not saying the lenses are big, I've handled a g1 and an oly pen and they are quite small for an interchangeable lens camera- it's just that in order to get the same range as my lx5 with an f2.0 it will still be more than I want to carry (and spend).
Travelling I'm happier w/ an all in one solution. And if I'm carrying a larger camera I want an optical viewfinder, and the shallower dof of a larger sensor. And affordable wide angle lenses. My Oly 420 is okay, but it's not a very good fit for me. All of the things that bug me about it have been carried over to micro 4/3.

Everyone's needs are different, and what they're willing to carry is different too. I'm coming from film photography, and back then I carried my yashica t4 with me everwhere. My slr, although not that big, never got taken on vacation. For the OP, I agree that micro 4/3 would likely be a good alternative.

Altair 4

Nice shots, Seattle Forrest!

I have a small all metal tripod that I bought in San Francisco about 20 years ago. Total length is about 6 or 7 inches when compressed - it's small enough to fit in a fanny pack, maybe 10 inches when expanded. . Probably not suitable for a a heavy SLR, but more than enough for a small Point n Shoot like my Canon Powershot A630. Not the most flexible thing given it's short height, but it let me capture shots that would otherwise have been impossible. I'll be taking it down the GAP with me this summer.

garagegirl

@ Seattle Forrest- Nice shots! I agree, tripod/ mini tripod type devices are an absolute necessity.

AdamDZ

The 40D with a lens is quite big. It might be too big and too heavy for the handlebar bag, but I haven't actually tried with my new Ortlieb bag. Although, there may not be much room left for other things I'd like to have handy.

I have to use what I have, can't afford buying a new, smaller DSLR. I wish, I could.

True. With 3 batteries I can probably shoot around 1000 images, including viewing and deleting images. That's more than enough for a two week trip IMHO. Then yeah, it might become a problem for longer trips if you're a trigger happy type

OK, so I'll need a tripod too? Why not! What the heck? I'll be riding a Big Dummy, who cares about extra 10 lbs Nice shots, BTW!

On my last tours my load was about 60lbs, if not more, including the camera and I didn't care much, but the bike did

cyccommute 

All could have been shot with a clamp pod or by setting the camera on a table or other solid object.

These were taken without a tripod at dawn on the rim of the Grand Canyon. I placed a rock under the lens to steady it and hit the shutter. If I'd had my SLR, I could have used my remote to trigger it.







I don't take a lot of night pictures because I'm usually knackered by the time I've made camp, cooked, done laundry, etc. I'd rather sleep

Seattle Forrest

When I had a D60, and, later, when I had a working 5D, I got about 1,500 shots per battery charge out of both of them, on average. Fewer if I used IS a lot, or did a boat load of focus tracking. How old are your batteries? You can get a knockoff BP-511 for about $10, if yours are dying.

Thanks! You don't need a tripod for 99.99 % of the shots people take, but then those 0.01 % look pretty unique. Tripods are useful pretty much all the time, though, and they say a tripod is your sharpest lens, to boot. I wouldn't bring a camera out without a tripod unless portraits or wildlife were the only things I was going to shoot (or unless I was shooting from my tripod), which is why I asked. Other people can do as they like.

By the way, I've been dragging a 10 pound tripod up and down mountain trails for years, and finally got a 3 pound carbon 'pod. It came right after my 5D died.

This isn't a camping photo - it's from a park at the edge of Downtown Seattle, so the only people who camp here are homeless. But it's a 45 minute exposure ( with a shorter one layered over the top to catch the moon ).



Speaking of night photos from my city ... this is my BF profile image. The bridge links a bike trail, one of the best rides in the city, with the road grid. This one is about two miles north of the last one.

RedRider2009

I plan to take my DSLR on my next tour. I'm not sure what type of gear setup you use for carrying other gear, which might make this suggestion seem useless. I pull a trailer when on a tour, with a handlebar bag. For scooting around town with the DSLR I used the Topeak Dynapack. The camera fits inside it well, and is long enough for my 18-200 zoom. There is enough room for the camera, and a bit of padding, perhaps my rain cover and remote for the camera.

https://www.amazon.com/Topeak-DynaPac.../dp/B000ZKCL4I

If you are interested, I can post pics of the Dynapack with my Canon T1i in it when I have more time later.

Erick L

It was stable with the help of the rear panniers. Any bag is stable when the panniers are in place. I put on my wider front rack after and it worked better. In that picture, the photo gear is in the non-photo compartment of a Lowepro Orion Trekker so it isn't ideal. Now, I use a Tamrac Aero 70, which works better for a few reasons:

- It opens like a handlebar bag when flat on the rack.
- There are lashing points underneath for tripod straps. I run a nylon strap with buckle to attach the bag to the rack.
- The mesh side pockets are great to stuff the shoulder straps so they stay away from the wheel, not to mention they're useful to carry water on hikes.

As for the CF tripod, I don't worry. Should I?

A quick pic without the lashing strap. The closed-cell foam acts as a wide fender and extra padding, and can be used as a seat in camp.

Erick L

Speaking of tripod, they are useful even in daytime. I tour solo so there's no way of getting these shots without a tripod. These are VERY time consuming but they're ususally my favorite.

RedRider2009

I really like that last photo you posted Erick! Your website is loaded with nice photos too, excellent work!

Erick L

Thanks! There's a little story behind that photograph, and one I'm most proud of because it was "planned". I just came back from a three day hike, it began raining just after I got off the trail and was taking it easy in town while doing the laundry. I could've stayed there but the weather called for a clearing the next day and that meant dramatic light. That little stretch of road is only 15km to a dead-end so I took off in the rain and camped just so I could take this photo the next day.

RedRider2009

At that cost, it better be a damn good photo! Congrats!

Cycle For Water

I'm carrying a Canon 5D Mark II with me on my trip from Alaska to Argentina (just reached Colombia this morning). My Body + 24-105 lens are in my handlebar 95% of the time. The other 5% is the body + 70-200 f4. I have four lenses with me, the three that are not on the body are stashed away in my (front) panniers. Yes, it is a heavy load but I can take great pics

aprhockey

A note on tripods. Last summer I took two small trips and didn't have a tripod at that time. I brought a small ziplock bag of rice, which most of you who camp already have with you on tours. Place the bag on any rock or stump or whatever and then set the camera on top. You can shift the camera to whatever angle you need and it's really sturdy. Downside is when there isn't anything to set the bag on, but what I would do is put my helmet on the ground and the bag on top, so that I could at least be able to look through the viewfinder without my face being on the ground.

ErickL: For some reason I had never thought of that setup. I think the camera bag I have would work great with that setup. Thanks for the idea.

sth

First for the Kudos...Erik and Seattle Forrest: Wow, great shots, both of you!

Last big tour across the country I had a decent point and shoot. 2000 or so jpg pics fit on 4 2gb cards. This time I am going to take my D90 and a couple lens' when I head up to the Yukon. I am trying to decide on what type of storage: multiple SD cards or a portable hard drive. I am leaning toward Iomega 64gb solid state drive rather than the portable hard disk I already have. Anyone use one of these SSD's? Any other thoughts?

Erick L

I carry two 16Gb, one 8Gb and two of each 2Gb and 1Gb SD cards. They fit neatly in a film canister. One of the 16Gb or the 8Gb is used for the P&S camera which also does video. I prefer capacity over speed. I carry the smaller cards because I had them. I shoot RAW + Jpeg and upload some of the full-size jpeg to my site when I can.

I did a 18-day trip with a single 512Mb card. I shot jpeg only with a 6MP camera and deleted any "meh" photo.