Some of you may have noticed, I subscribe more to the quantity over quality philosophy, although I can pull off both occasionally. I've found that taking pictures while cycling (a flickr group!) is an incredible amount of fun. It's re-invigorated both cycling (never really lost) and photography for me. Now while riding I think a lot more about where I am and how it looks and how I can convey it in a photo. Vast majority of my photos are taken while riding, and even the outtakes are pretty cool sometimes! It slows me down a bit on rides, but as a famous person once said, "If you're in a hurry, why are you riding a bike?".
FWIW, I've found the NLA Canon A460 is the perfect camera for cycling. Cheap (~$50 on ebaby), durable, uses rechargeable AA batteries, high resolution 6 mpl, takes movies, good software. I've gone through two so far, and have two still in storage. I usually drop them at least three times at speed, and that's never really causes problems. The sensors are a weak spot and will eventually die on you, but Canon will credit you and give you a deal on a newer camera (rebuilt A480 @ $50 or rebuilt SD1100 @ $100) On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 10:55 AM, Steve Palincsar <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Mon, 2009-11-16 at 09:57 -0800, Patrick in VT wrote: > > On Nov 16, 7:12 am, Steve Palincsar <[email protected]> wrote: > > > In my experience, 30-something's about the right distance for a photo > > > ride. I spend enough time taking pictures that it adds a significant > > > amount of time to the length of a ride. Besides, beyond a certain > point > > > I find my "eye" wants to shut down and isn't interested in seeing photo > > > opportunities any longer. > > > > > Just curious: has anyone here ever tried to organize a "photo ride" as > a > > > group ride? If so, how'd you do it, and how did it go? > > > > that's interesting. > > > > I find that taking photos on a longer, or more strenous ride to be a > > nice distraction, and even re-energizing. taking a nice pic is a > > reminder of why i enjoy cycling so much - i sometimes need that > > reminder during those tough stretches of road ;) > > > > and some moments are just too good to *not* take a picture of, no > > matter the circumstances. earlier this fall, I met up with a group > > doing the 6 gap ride in VT. there was a couple on a tandem and I > > couldn't wait to take pictures of them going up the east side of > > Lincoln Gap - what bicycling magazine calls the "toughest mile in > > America." not something I normally do when ascending that hill, but > > that feat needed to be memorialized! > > > > in any event, i don't find that taking pictures slows me down > > appreciably for casual rides/brevets/etc. - maybe 10-15mins per 100 > > miles? > > Wow. I can burn 5 minutes on one shot. Now to be fair, many of mine > are multi-shot panoramas, so that one shot is made up of anywhere from 2 > or 3 to 8 or 9 individual exposures; and up until now I've been relying > on manual exposure settings (most recently tried AF/AE lock, jury still > out) so it takes a lot longer than it might seem at first. And, playing > off something quoted in a recent obit of a famous photographer ("it's a > matter of knowing where to stand and when to do it") you can spend a > good deal of time finding the right place to stand. > > On this ride > http://www.flickr.com/photos/97916...@n00/sets/72157622461091582/show/ > I spent an hour in one stretch of road that was less than 5 miles long > down and back. Between photo ops, I was riding at around 14 mph, > especially after I noticed how the weather was starting to deteriorate > (in fact, I cut the ride short by around 20 miles, as well as picking up > the pace) but my overall "brevet style" average came out to be under 10. > > > > what do you consider significant and why is the loss of time an issue > > - is it preventing you from riding with the group? > > Certainly. First time you stop, they're gone, and anything over 5 > minutes means you'll certainly never see them again. In fact, chances > are good that after 3 minutes of stopping you'll never regain contact. > > Sometimes, of course, that can be liberating, like here: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/97916...@n00/sets/72157621915320542/show/ > when I decided as long as they'd dropped me, I'd take pictures of the > scenic things they were missing as they zoomed by. > > The first shot's at the crest of a roller, one in a series; the dirt > road and the barn in the next one is at the apex of a diminishing radius > downhill turn that'd I'd been by at least a hundred times before over > the years and never once saw it, too busy minding the turn. The last 6 > were taken at the base of two of the most difficult climbs in the area, > and once the climb begins in earnest nobody has any attention left for > gawking at scenery. So although I'd been up those climbs scores of > times, I never actually saw any of those scenes before that day. > > > i suppose it also depends on how serious you are about the quality of > > photos. > > Well, if you're not even going to stop, just point the camera over your > shoulder and take whatever you get, that won't take much time. > > > > > > > > -- Cheers, David Redlands, CA "Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There is something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym." ~Bill Nye, scientist guy --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
