Carrying photography gear on a ride

Will have to wait until Spring, but having the camera gear on one side will make for some interesting balance issues I am guessing - 2 bodies and 4-5 lenses including a large telephoto I use for Bird Photography
 
I lugged around a very large amount of phot/video gear much of my life. I hauled a full-size 4x5 with 2 lenses and 2 35mm bodies with 3 lenses all over New Zealand. Thank god my wife was willing to pack some of it. I’m done with it! My iPhone is just going to have to do though id be willing to drag my old 5D mk2 and a lens or two if it was a special place I was riding to/through.
 
Lots of cleaver ideas for transporting camera gear. No doubt carrying gear in a backpack, fannypack or strapped to your chest isolates the gear from vibration. Personally, I prefer to have valuables in a handlebar bag where I can see that everything is ok (I have a habit of reaching or looking behind me to be sure everything is ok when I carry valuables in my trunk bag).

I retired a couple of years ago from my job as a university photographer. For me commuting by bike always seemed to interfere with my job, and vice versa. Aside from having to leave much earlier in the morning and bring a change of clothes, it seemed like every time I rode my bike to work I'd end up with a photo assignment after work or across town and I'd have to make an unscheduled ride home at lunch to swap the bike for my car.

Now that I'm retired I'm still shooting a fair amount of freelance work and I occasionally shooting photos for fun. After an entire career of living my life around and in between photography assignments; photography=work and riding=fun. I really enjoy eBiking, but riding with photography gear just doesn't appeal to me. Shooting snapshots with my phone while enjoying the ride suits me just fine. :)
 
Jimfastcar said:
Was about to post a thread about this, and presto ! There it was listed below (a feature I have never seen in other Forums BTW)
Anyway, last response almost 2 years ago - any new experiences to relate ?
I am leaning towards Peak Design camera cubes inside an Ortlieb pannier, both of which I already own.
Thanks
Click to expand...
@Jimfastcar, you probably read my post from July 2019. I still use my Ortlieb panniers which I customized with padding from a laptop case and from Thinktank's Glass Taxi backpack. The padding can be bought separately from the laptop case and the backpack.

The setup has served me well even as my equipment evolves. I switched to Sony from Nikon, and can carry two Sony bodies, a small 28-60mm zoom lens, and either a 100-400mm or a 200-500mm telephoto zoom. The camera bodies have the lenses attached. I avoid changing lenses in the field due to time and dust considerations. There is also room for a Leica Monochrom with one lens (usually the 28-35-50mm Tri Elmar), a Peak Design travel tripod, and a gimbal. I can also clip a monopod to the pannier while its bottom rests inside an Ortlieb water bottle holder attached to the rear of the pannier.

The thing I like about my setup is that I can quickly take out my camera with its big telephoto zoom and start taking pictures within a few seconds after spotting a bird.

I am looking forward to getting the new Sony A1, which has bird-eye autofocus!

Good luck with your setup!
 
PDoz said:
Consider how you'd feel if the bike fell over on all those expensive toys, or you caught the pannier on passing traffic.

Have you considered a custom built frame bag? I know they're not cheap, but I guess they are when compared with camera bags......the good ones are built for the bikepacking enthusiasts , so tend to be waterproof, well thought out, and priced to match . This is the only one I could find that fitted my triangle....I'm still procrastinating about spending the $

https://www.ovejanegrabikepacking.com/products/superwedgie-frame-bag
Click to expand...
I use a triangle bag like this one, but I don't think I would trust it for expensive and heavy gear since the attachments are just velcro. But it's cheaper and you could rig a cargo net over it and the top tube. Holds a lot and it's out of the way.
 
If I were carrying a load of expensive gear on my ebike, my opinion would be to go with a proven professional shipping case such as a Porta Brace that is made for very rough treatment. Then I’d adapt it to my rack and make sure I strapped it down also.
I realize this case below is a bit much but I like that it has buckles on the sides as well as the front.
www.portabrace.com

PB-FX6DK | Portabrace

The Portabrace PB-FX6DK is a watertight case with one inch thick foam padded interior walls to to protect and cushion your gear while being transported. There is also a padded zipper pocket inside the lid of the case. The case is made of unbreakable, TTX01 high-strength plastic resin for video...
www.portabrace.com www.portabrace.com
 

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seinberg said:
Hi all,

I consider myself a "serious hobbyist" photographer -- not professional, but have been exhibited a few times and try to carry a "real" camera with me more or less everywhere I go. Phones have come an amazingly long way, but are still nowhere close to a match for a real camera&lens with someone who knows how to use it :)

Anyway, normally I'd just carry a photo backpack with me on a road bike, but with my fancy new ebike that has a rack that panniers can attach to, I figured I'd let the bike do the carrying instead of getting all sweaty with a bag on. I thought I'd find a huge selection of panniers specifically designed for photography gear, but alas, there's basically nothing (a few token things I found on Amazon all looked like not what I'm looking for). I'm curious what others have done when they wanted to carry nice camera gear with them.

My current solution is as follows:

First, start with a Peak Design Small Camera Cube, which can hold about two smaller lenses and a camera with a small lens mounted on it. Increase the size of one of the lenses and you're left with two lenses and the body. I shoot with a Sony A7R3 and like to go light so only carry a 35mm f/2.8 Zeiss, 55mm f/1.8 Zeiss, and an 85mm f/1.8 Sony lens. Sometimes I keep just the camera and a 24-70mm f/2.8 GM lens and drop the 35 and 55. You could also do e.g. a 70-200mm f/2.8 and body if you wanted to shoot birds or something like that.
View attachment 34966

Second, put the camera cube inside a waterproof Ortlieb Downtown 2 padded laptop pannier. It can easily fit a 15" laptop and the camera gear. I tend to put a 13" work laptop & the camera cube in, along with a few odds and ends.
View attachment 34967

Third and lastly, attach the bag to the bike :) It works really well to carry along on rides. Getting the camera out can take some time, so I tend to leave the camera cube unzipped while latching the Downtown 2 pannier. But once I'm stopped, getting the camera out to take pictures of whatever is around is super easy and knowing everything is secure is really nice.
View attachment 34968

And Bob's your Uncle! You've got a safe, doubly-padded camera travel ebike solution :)
Click to expand...
This is exactly the setup that I have opted to get.
I will need 2 Peak Small Camera cubes as one will not be enough. I will lash my Tripod to the rack with bungees
Thanks all
 
cj3209 said:
I like to be as light as possible when cycling so I carry a trusty compact Leica body w/lens - compact and fits in my slim backpack.
Click to expand...
I'm more and more inclined to just carry my 1" sensor Sony ultra-lightweight camera instead of DSLR even if the image quality is decidedly worse. I understand Jim is focused on top quality of his pictures!
 
Stefan Mikes said:
I'm more and more inclined to just carry my 1" sensor Sony ultra-lightweight camera instead of DSLR even if the image quality is decidedly worse. I understand Jim is focused on top quality of his pictures!
Click to expand...
As always, the key is where/how are you going to publish the images? If you’re printing larger images, sensor size makes a big difference. Then, of course, additional lenses give you the perspective you need.
For me, since I’m just putting them online, my new iPhone 12 Pro is perfectly fine. That said, it prints an 8.5x11” just fine.
 
Last edited:
Well, full frame sensor and appropriate lenses give the pictures that "feel" that is hard to be digitally simulated on the smartphone. I'm very much for using proper gear; cameras and lenses seem heavier and heavier when you get older :)
 
I agree that my Iphone 11Se rivals my cameras for snap shots, which is about all I do these days. I still have more photo gear than I have ebike gear. I have to take off my shoes to count either.

I shoot M43 so my cameras and lenses are small. I usually mount a camera bag on my handle bars, good enough for a body and one 80-300 equivalent zoom.
 
I checked the maximum recommended weight for Ortlieb Panniers and it is 9 Kg (20 lbs approx)
I purchased an additional Pannier to better distribute weight as I carry 2 camera bodies and around 5 lenses, one of which is a telephoto beast .
 
My wife always carries her Canon Powershot 60 hs. Shes been worried about bringing her Nikons. I am looking at a trailer and Pelican case set up she may feel comfy with. Its not like she will be single tracking, mostly gravel and fire roads where her beloved birds gather.
 
Hard cases for biking make great sense to me when carrying expensive and sensitive camera gear.
 
I just joined this forum because of this thread, so thank you all! I am a professional portrait photographer, and my new studio is about a 25 minute bike ride from my house... about half street and half (mostly paved but not all) trail riding. I am considering getting an ebike for the commute (I want to get a workout on the way home, but not sweat on the way there), but I will be carrying very expensive equipment.... a 16" laptop, 1-2mirrorless camera bodies, and 2-4 lenses on most days. I won't need camera access during my rides. I would love opinions on both what kind of ebikes to look into as well as how to carry my equipment with extremely good protection against jostling. I don't want to wear a backback as I want to feel encumbered during my workouts. Thanks in advance!
 
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