Taking photos while riding
Sunday, March 4th, 2007 at 08:56pm
Ever since I got my camera I have had it with me almost all of the time, either in a pocket, in the top of my backpack or in my laptop bag. When I am riding, such as commuting or rides such as this afternoon, I rarely take photos as it is a hassle to stop, release two clips, swing it around, and unzip the top of my backpack in order to get to the camera.
For a few weeks now I have been considering getting another pouch for the camera to attach to the handlebars of my bike, the headstem in particular. This would make the camera readily accessible. Instead of stopping I could even take the riskier path of actually taking the photos without stopping.
As well as taking photos of landmarks or interesting things I have also been thinking about documenting my commute as has been done by others, and they are just some local ones.
What about taking it further?
Some time ago I found an article about building a simple camera mount. There are other homemade solutions as well as options you can buy but for me they all have the same issue. The view is fixed to be ahead of the bike. What if you want to take a photo of something else?
The next step is to consider recording video instead of taking still photos. As well as homemade options there are commercial options targeted as pretty much any action sport. But whatever option you take it seems that the cost is non-trivial which eliminates it as an option for me.
So what is the outcome of all of this? I’m going to look for a suitable pouch or small bag that I can attach to the side of my headstem. This should only set me back at most AU$20…
Tagged with: camera, cycling, photos
For what it’s worth, I’ve been thinking about putting together something like the second DIY camera mount. This would be suitable for me because the camera I take with me on the bike is quite small and light.
It’s true that the view is fixed to where the handlebars are pointing, but for quick snaps that’s not bad. And presuming you’ve stopped to photograph something alongside your route, you can always position the bike and handlebars so that they act as a kind of tripod.
Treadly&Me - March 5th, 2007 at 6:28 am
I’m assuming you are referring to this mount that uses metal loops to attach the camera instead of the tripod mount. If I did have a camera of that size it does look like a good option as I wouldn’t trust the tripod mount to hold over bumps and the lens protection is a good idea. However my camera is tiny and I don’t see how I could securely mount it or make a lens protector…
Stephen - March 5th, 2007 at 10:03 pm