Carrying photography gear on a ride

[Bicyclista]

Do you put the holster into the Ortlieb pannier? Or?

Yes, the ThinkTank holsters go inside the Ortlieb panniers, two per pannier, on my mountain ebike. The panniers attach to an Old Man Mountain rear rack. I have been doing this for eleven years. No camera has ever been scratched, even as I have fallen off my bike several times and got bruised.

On my cargo ebike I have baskets, front and rear, to hold the holsters and/or camera tubes. The front basket has a cover that holds everything securely. I used bungie cords to secure things on the rear basket.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Yes, the ThinkTank holsters go inside the Ortlieb panniers, two per pannier, on my mountain ebike. The panniers attach to an Old Man Mountain rear rack. I have been doing this for eleven years. No camera has ever been scratched, even as I have fallen off my bike several times and got bruised.

It looks the ThinkTank holsters are made for a camera and its lens. Any idea for a bag that could securely store say up to three lenses of a very reasonable size?

 

[Bicyclista]

It looks the ThinkTank holsters are made for a camera and its lens. Any idea for a bag that could securely store say up to three lenses of a very reasonable size?

ThinkTank has a line of camera cubes called Stash Master. The smallest one (23.5 x 21 x 14 cm) is accessed from the top, so you can leave it inside the pannier when getting your gear out. It seems to be tall enough to stack two extra lenses on top of each other, with a suitable separator, plus a camera with lens attached. I am assuming this is for your Pentax and that the largest lens would be the 135mm. Other brands have similar camera cubes.

The reason I use holsters designed for camera+lens is that I dislike changing lenses out in the field. Inevitably, when I change lenses out in the field, I get dust on the sensor, which is very hard to clean. By taking four cameras with four different lenses I avoid that issue. I have not had to clean sensors in years despite going out to take pictures at least four times a week, and going to foreign destinations such as the Galápagos (though not with my ebike).

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Thank you for the invaluable information!

 

[mschwett]

i have used this type of blackrapid strap to keep a camera at the ready while riding

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...61022_sport_x_extra_comfort_right_handed.html

the camera attaches to a bit that slides around the long part of the strap, while the short padded and curved part attaches the whole thing snugly around your shoulder (not neck)

when riding a road bike the camera sits at the small of your back, and you can reach around and grab it easily. some major drawbacks to this, of course, if you fall the camera has no protection, it bounces around a bit, and dirt and mud (if you don’t have fenders) will get on it a bit. however, i had good luck with this and my nikon z7 with various lenses. haven’t tried it with the slightly heavier and bigger z8.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I would like to greatly thank to all participants of this thread who helped me understand a camera harness was the way to go! (Eventually, I ended up with a CCS G3 Grey Harness for One Camera by the French brand Cotton Carrier EU).

Sitting, my full frame DSLR with a standard lens.

You need to install an adapter on the tripod socket of the camera. It consists of two rings: one is the actual hard plastic adapter and the other is a thick rubber gasket. The brand even provides a hex wrench (and obviously the bolt). The adapter must be installed in a proper orientation. There are two notches on either side of the plastic adapter. You grab the camera by the grip, rotate it so the lens points sidewise and then insert (slide) the adapter into the mount then rotate the camera so the lens points downwards. The camera becomes locked. To remove the camera, you need to rotate it again and slide the adapter out, which is very easy. Of course, you need to have the camera strap on your neck for extra safety.

A small glitch is the camera's gravity centre is not along the lens, so the adapter might be rotated by the camera at some angle (see the pic above). However, the camera would never rotate as much as to unlock the adapter.

Impressions:

• Comfortable. I could ride for a whole day without any fatigue
• Secure. I rode in a rough terrain and the camera never unlocked on a long ride
• Secure again. The camera is mounted high: far from the handlebars but low enough not to hit your jaw or teeth in a case of crash
• Fast to remove the camera for action
• A flat pocket for the lens cap is a nice bonus
• Reinserting the camera might be problematic if the e-bike is shaken by rough terrain I often let the camera hang on the strap and I only reinserted the camera into the harness after taking a photo when stationary or during a very short stop.

I rode fast forward, stopped, yanked the camera from the harness mount and had enough time to take this action photo.

I have also found that any lens that is not excessively heavy could be carried mounted on the camera during the ride. It could be, for instance a fast 3x zoom lens or a lightweight telephoto. Obviously, you could not ride with any big lens