The bicycle as a camera platfrom

Can we marry up the two, where a bicycle can be used as a camera platform? The short answer is yes, the long answer, well that’s what we are discussing for the final entry for March…..

One of the things we need to be careful of is that cameras are a little fragile, having an expensive camera strapped to you, during an off bike experience, is not good for the camera, it’s not good for what parts of us, get impaled by the shards of plastic most cameras are made of either. In a good camera case, mounted to the bicycle, it works very well, as the case will protect the camera to a large extent.

The big advantage to the bicycle, is that it has a very wide view. Amd your moving at 15-30km/h which means you see more then if your busy driving a car, and it’s possible to see more potential subjects or places to take photographs.

There are some small issues, and one of those is weight, this is much easier these days when cameras are mostly lightweight plastics, rather then the metal and glass of older cameras. The 200mm lens alone from my film gear outweighs my 70-300mm Canon lens, with the T5 attached. Bicycles are also much lighter then they were previously, although your typical Hybrid or All Terrain Bicycle is still going to be fairly heavy.

The ideal method of carrying your gear is the rack and pannier method, the rack fits over a wheel, could be the rear or front. I have a rear mounted on the Norco, and a pair of Panniers to go with it. Although the camera bag gets strapped to the top with a couple of large bungee cords, if the bike crashed the padded case would protect the camera gear. Other things that don’t need such protection, like tripods, can be stored in the panniers, along of course with other stuff you might need, like some food and extra water. A couple of spare tubes, etc.

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I always carry a spare tube and the tools needed to repair a flat, for longer rides I may carry two or even three tubes. I’ll wear my bike shorts, as it prevents chaffing, even under long pants. I tend not to carry a lot of other tools, but it depends on where I am going as well.

This weeks image is the Norco on a trail, somewhere in Toronto, I think it's the trail that runs between York Mills and Lawrence, just East of Leslie.  I did a fair amount of riding along that trail that summer.  

Until Next Time.

W

Preparing the Camera's for SpringE47

This all depends on the type of Camera digital or film.

In the case of digital cameras, a good cleaning, and making sure all of the batteries are charged up may be all you need to do. Some older digital cameras like my elderly 300D may need a sensor cleaning. Use a fully charged battery and put the camera into sensor cleaning mode, use a VERY soft, new artists brush to brush the crap off the sensor. The chance of scratching the sensor is very high, and sending a rare or expensive camera out for a professional cleaning and service, may be recommended. Li-Ion batteries have a limited life span, if you find batteries are not staying charged for very long, they may need to be replaced.

Film cameras need a good assessment, my Konica TC is 40 years old, the light seals are shot, the meter doesn’t work, and if it did it would need to be calibrated and converted to modern (non-mercury) batteries. Probably cost $500 to fix this camera that is worth about $100 now, it is officially retired.

The FC-1 from 1982 (making it 36 this year) is in much better condition, it still works fine, you need to clean the dust off, put fresh batteries in it (LR44’s which are still around), load in fresh film, and off you go. The advantage that film cameras have is that even a 40 year old camera can use the latest film. Although film and processing are both getting a little hard to find now. The best film for being around a long time is Black and White, the chemicals for processing are rather simple and can be readily obtained, you can even mix your own in many cases.

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In either case, you want to make sure that your lenses are clean and working fine, and that you check the function of all of your accessories, be careful of things that use batteries, that you haven’t left old batteries inside. This can be common in things that are not used often like flash units. If batteries were left in, and leaked you need to know the formula. Acid batteries need an alkaline solution to remove corrosion, baking soda is probably the most common. Alkaline batteries need an acid to remove the corrosion and vinegar is one of the most common.

This weeks image is some driftwood from a beech from last year.