Camera on the bike

[ladyjai]

I think it was denise who had the setup with her DSLR on a rack on the back of her bike friday?

Anyway, I'm looking at a similar setup. I like the fact that being on a rack puts it in a little safer place than on the cyclist body and I dont have to worry about weight positioning, but i'm concerned about the road jostles. sometimes the road just rattles and rottles. I know that things on my body tend to be protected from much of the jostling, but does that make a big deal? I'm looking at getting a Nikon D50 for taking photos. It's work related, and the camera will be riding my bike for long saturdays. easily getting 50-100 miles a saturday. I'd rather not shorten camera life because of racking. so please, talk to me and let me know how you have things working?
I never thought the rattle was so rough on things until i've had a certain rear light come off and be run over about 3 times by cars. but if i keep it on my body, it never falls off. obviously, the rack wont' come off, but there are electronic innerparts.

am I worrying for naught?

[Velobambina]

LadyJai--Where U been? Have seen ya over at BJ but not here at TE for awhile! Sorry can't help w/your camera issue. Good to see you post.

[ladyjai]

awww.. thanks

I was spending too much time on forums, so i backed off most of them. since I log miles on BJ, i ended up occassionally getting sucked into something. and then, of course, Howard challenged me... and ive woafully managed to spend too much time again! I guess it's a good thing I don't watch TV too

though I always did love that smiley. it's the bestest.

[DeniseGoldberg]

You're right, it was me...

I thought about keeping the camera on me, but I didn't think about it too long. All I could think about was falling and landing on the camera. I wasn't concerned so much about the camera in that scenario as I was about breaking ribs!

I have been very happy carrying my camera in an Arkel TailRider. The bag has padding on the bottom, top, and sides, and it has an internal divider that velcros to the sides. I moved the divider so that I can carry my camera in a stable position (as in, it doesn't move within the bag). There is plenty of room in the bag to carry additional lenses if you'd like. Here's a picture of my camera in the TailRider:


And here's a link to the page in my "Panniers or Trailer, Both?" article where I talk about my decision on how to carry the camera on my bike: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?page_id=32883.

My camera has traveled with me on my bike for quite a few miles this year, and it has weathered the riding just fine.

--- Denise

[ladyjai]

thanks.. i hadn't thought about broken ribs, though that would be much worse. this summer, I had a clipless issue with a camera in my hand and it didn't survive the fall. i was so mad.