photography and cycling

[GCharles]

A great post and I agree with much of the insight.  During the last two years I carried larger camera gear that in the end did not get used as much as I wanted to because of its size.  Now, I have switched to a smaller setup, realizing that I am sacrificing some quality, but will now have pictures.  After all, the best gear in the world does no good if you don't use it.

Happy New Year

[BrianW]

I used to tote around my Nikon film SLR and then my Nikon DSLR in my handlebar bag, but have found that the new point and shoots are so good that they do the trick for most of what I need when touring.

The challenge is to move beyond the thinking that all shots have to be something different and not "snapshots." I often fall into that thinking. It's good to try and make interesting, artistic photos, but I've found that there isn't anything to be ashamed of when you are taking adequate pics that help record your adventure.

And, I agree about it being a useful device for getting up long climbs: I rode up Alpe d'Huez in the French Alps mainly by stopping at every second or third switchback to "take pictures"!

[Mattie]

Just wondering how people manage their pictures on a long tour, whether pictures are downloaded onto memory sticks and posted home. Some of the little netbooks that people are taking with them these days do not have DVD drives and so I guess the options are to take a separate drive to plug in to the USB or backup pictures onto a memory stick.

Or is there some online backup facility where you can download your pictures while on the road ?

[FredHiltz]

I unload the camera to my netbook every day or three, where I do a quick first pass at discarding the duds and sometimes make a show for friends on the spot. The "keepers" go on a memory stick that lives in a different bag.

There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of on-line storage sites. Many are free for the first gigabyte or so, and you can get more very cheaply. For instance, Google Docs is $5/year for 20 GB. The downside of these is the time needed to upload photos. Uploading on a typical wireless connection takes ten to twenty seconds per megabyte, but you might get lucky and find a faster connection. Check the sizes of your camera's files on a computer and multiply it out. My pix average about 13 megabytes each, which is probably the high end of point-and-shoot files.

If viewing and sorting are not important, but storage is the thing, then I'd buy a few extra memory cards for the camera and keep the full ones safe or mail them home. The popular SD cards cost $2.50 to $10, depending on size and speed.

I would rather have four 2GB cards than one 8GB card. If one gets lost or fails, I have not lost the whole trip.

Fred

[Pat Lamb]

Just wondering how people manage their pictures on a long tour, whether pictures are downloaded onto memory sticks and posted home. Some of the little netbooks that people are taking with them these days do not have DVD drives and so I guess the options are to take a separate drive to plug in to the USB or backup pictures onto a memory stick.

I usually downloaded daily to a netbook, but didn't delete anything off the camera until near the end of the trip.  I think my camera is advertised as 4 Mpixel, average jpg was about 2 Mb.  So with a 2 Mb SD, I could keep close to 1,000 pics.

I did start buying cheap USB drives, backing up all the pictures I'd saved, and mailing them home about once a month.  That way if disaster struck (e.g., bike stolen with camera in handlebar bag and netbook in pannier), I wouldn't lose as much.  And I figured having two cameras on two different bikes, with the netbook in a different sack, I wasn't really likely to lose more than one day's shots at a time.

[mucknort]

.... but you can't buy a point and shoot with a useful wide angle lens on it.  I think someone make a line of point and shoots where it stitches multiple images while you pan with the camera to make a panorama, and that looks interesting, but I don't know what my toy budget will be for next year.  

Not true, there are terrific small cameras with very useful wide angle lenses now. These same cameras also offer very functional Panorama modes that stitch together several shots right in the camera to make on photo. These "compact zoom" cameras also have very good image stabilization so that you don't have to be rock steady while shooting, i.e. shooting one handed while rolling or for a super quick shot can work well.
On my last tour I brought the Sony H55 which has a 25mm - 250mm zoom. I found 25mm to be more than wide enough, but when it wasn't the H55 has a great panorama mode. The Sony H55 is now down to $176: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cyber-shot-DSC-H55-SteadyShot-Stabilization/dp/B0033VKKB2/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1297347621&sr=1-1

If money is tight (or if you don't want to worry about loss or damage to something you paid a lot for) I'd recommend the Olympus 9000 ($300 when it first came out, but now $129 from Amazon.com). It has a 28mm to 280 zoom and a very good panorama setting. My son owns it and it works great for travel.
http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-Stylus-9000-Stabilized-Black/dp/B001P06PXU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297347415&sr=8-1

Another key to photography while cycling for me is ready availabilty of the camera. I keep the camera in a little padded case mounted on handlebars so that I can pull it out in seconds. The kind with a velcro/lid is faster to use than one with zippers:
http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-Neoprene-Soft-Digital-Camera/dp/B000JFH982/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1297348927&sr=1-1

[mucknort]

Just wondering how people manage their pictures on a long tour, whether pictures are downloaded onto memory sticks and posted home. Some of the little netbooks that people are taking with them these days do not have DVD drives and so I guess the options are to take a separate drive to plug in to the USB or backup pictures onto a memory stick.

Many of the netbooks do have an SD card slot built in. The one on my Asus EeePC was so well hidden I didn't discover it until after a few months of owning it. Memory cards are so cheap these days that even after loading the photos onto my netbook while on tour, I'd just buy a new card and tuck the full one away as a backup.

[mucknort]

A couple of Panorama examples from Idaho and Washington:








Another reason for taking photos while on tour: I just look at these photos and instantly I'm transported back to that time and place.

[Mattie]

Thanks for all the suggestions on how to deal with picture files on a long tour - a bit of a plan is coming together.

I think I will use the two expensive Extreme III cards in the camera, which is a Panasonic Lumix G2, to capture video and stills and then download the files onto the Netbook. Then use the same card reader/writer to write backups onto cheaper cards to be mailed home.

The plan is to do a multi month tour of the Americas this year, if I can get away before the start of the summer. Otherwise it will have to be next year.

[GVDave]

I opted for a palmcorder to tell the story of a 5 day  trip from Grass Valley to Eugene (using Amtrak).

The keys are 1.) keep the camera handy (I have a reflective mesh vest with a front pocket that is easy to get to).
                      2.) take lots of short shots of interesting things along the way
                      3.) for gosh (and everyone elses) sakes, edit it and keep it short!
                       4.) pick some music you enjoy.

Here's my trip video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEWoW-8QTJc

[shorecycler]

that video seemed to go on forever and in the best possible way. I enjoyed your trip of Oregon, from the comforts of my home 3 miles from the atlantic ocean in NJ. nicely put together and thanks for the good vibes~

[Mattie]

I opted for a palmcorder to tell the story of a 5 day  trip from Grass Valley to Eugene (using Amtrak).

The keys are 1.) keep the camera handy (I have a reflective mesh vest with a front pocket that is easy to get to).
                      2.) take lots of short shots of interesting things along the way
                      3.) for gosh (and everyone elses) sakes, edit it and keep it short!
                       4.) pick some music you enjoy.

Here's my trip video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEWoW-8QTJc

That was great - big smile on my face after watching that. Still learning video techniques coming from a stills photography background, so will keep your advice in mind. Great can't wait for the trip to Canada/US.

[inspiredcyclist]

What a sensational, informative thread.  To all who shared amazing photos, and links with info, thanks!

[CharlieR]

Stop to take photos? It depends. It only takes a second or to to snap a quick pic set on auto. If you want to tell a story through a photo - that can take a little time. I'm ditching my film cameras and lenses for my tour and bought my first 'real' digital camera that doesn't feel like a toy. I want to be able to take those quick pics, but there will be times when I want to tell a story. This one should be able to handle both well - and it isn't all about the equipment. It is the desire, timing, and knowing how to use the equipment. The beautiful part about digital is if you don't get it the first time you know right away.

[sanuk]

As the origintor of this post - I've been out of touch cycling-wise for quite a while - I just would like to say how blown away I am by the way it took off.  Thanks for all your comments and insights.  If I knew how I'd post a couple of the pix I did last year on the 'Cool Coast.'  Incidentally, I  used my trusted Holga all the way and got some good 'Holgaramas' as I call them.