How to avoid breaking expensive cameras?

I carry mine in a backpack, rather than my trunk or saddlebags. A lot less jarring for the camera.

Almost no reason not to keep a Skylight or UV filter permanently mounted. When shooting action in gravel, better $10 filter than $100 lens.

The best SLRs for motorcycle travel are the smallest you can find. An Olympus Pen or E420 or Panasonic G2 are the smallest you will find and fit in a jacket pocket. Otherwise a super zoom compact is also a great choice for motorcycle travel.

I am acquiring a DMC-FZ35 this week just for my upcoming DS rides. Do not want to fiddle with lenses and dust and weight of my SLR. I have been using a 3MP compact P&S and it was truly handy. But the big open places I ride to, deserts, mountain tops - everything is huge - details and feel are lost in the wide angle shots. They are OK to remind me of the places, but not exciting. Most compact P&S cannot take external filters like a polarizing filter and lack good zoom capability.

So I debated the camera size, looked at x12 P&S compacts and the superzooms, and how I would carry it and use it.

As I am usually riding with a small to large group, there is not a lot of time for stops to get off the bike and unpack a camera from the back. I barely had time to pull one out of my jacket before, snap a few while usually sitting on the bike still, then race off to catch up.

So the options narrowed and left me choosing to go with a high quality Superzoom that would fit in a small tank bag. Right in front of me, easy get at with gloves still on if needed, quick to stash and be on my way and not have to get off the bike, or carry hard objects in my jacket that might hurt me. No fiddling with lenses, it is well protected in the tank bag, has high quality with 486mm effective optical zoom to see that far away detail (animals, cabins, rivers in the valley below, rocks balanced atop very high cliffs). And the creative/manual capabilities to do more when time permits.

Some food for thought. Key take-away: How much time do you really have to pull out your camera and use it? That will tell you something about where is the best place to transport it.

The unofficial motto of the group I most often ride with is "when you ride with us, you ride alone". Everyone knows the destination. How you get there is your choice. There is no rule that says you must stay with the group in drill team precision. That gives everyone the freedom to ride their own ride. Several folks use that freedom to stop and take pics.

Pull ahead if you like. Stop and get ready to take some action pics as the riders pass by. Don't be in such a hurry to catch up. You'll either meet then at the next rest break or at the final destination. That's what I did to get this pic:

<img src="http://www.snafu.org/smbc/riders/2010/0103-duartes/p-20100103-0721-0718.jpg" title="on the way to breakfast">

I left a few minutes early to get ahead of the group, stopped, changed lenses, took some pics of the group as they rode by, swapped lenses again as part of putting the gear back on the bike, then continued on to the known destination. Click on the pic for more.

For on bike pics I use a P&S on a snap-back tether (in case I drop it) in my tank-bag. I don't use the zoom feature. I don't even use the LCD as the way I hold the camera in my left hand has the palm of my hand covering the LCD. I literally point with my palm and shoot.

<img src="http://mwr.snafu.org/2010/0107/p-20100107-1038-1415.jpg" title="point and shoot">

<img src="http://mwr.snafu.org/2010/0107/p-20100107-1445-1433.jpg" title="pointing ahead">

Lots of those shots get thrown away. A surprising number are worth keeping as memories of the ride.

The FZ-35 is a very good choice. You will not see much difference in picture quality comparing to a SLR unless you "pixel peep". The large zoom is very nice. I considered one of its predecessors a few years back.

get insurance on your camera first. that way you dont ever have to care about braking it

until you break it at the beginning of a long trip and get to lug a dead camera around with you.


my solution for carrying my nikon D200 is a waterproof tank bag with a fleece vest or fleece pullover wrapped around it. Disclaimer here is the D200 can take a rain storm. Toss an extra waterproof bag around the camera before wrapping it in a fleece if your camera isn't designed to take some foul weather.

I HATE the foam that comes with pelican cases. It eventually sheds little bits of foam that wind up in your equipment. Had a $500 cleaning bill on a set of Hasselblad gear several years ago.

And, contrary to the previous poster's experience, after 26 years making my living as a commercial/advertising photographer, all I want to carry is a point & shoot.


It's liberating.

ouch to the $500 cleaning bill!

my primary camera now while riding is a Canon D10. Waterproof point+shoot fits the bill for almost all of the pictures I take on the road. If I really want to take some time I bust out the D200 but it just feels overkill for most of the pictures I take while riding.

I've carried my DSLRs around in a Hepco & Becker top case on my 1150GS and 1150R. I found a "stadium seat" that has honeycombed gel, and a section of foam, encased in a nice zippered nylon case that fits the bottom of my top case. I can use a camera case, such as the Tamrac pictured here, which also has padding and can be just pulled out and taken along when hiking or something. Otherwise, the H&B top case is locked when I duck in a restaurant or porta potty.



I recently got a Panasonic Lumix FZ35 which is a larger P&S for the tankbag for quick, on-bike shots. It's got a relatively wide angle to telephoto 18x zoom, takes RAW, AVCHD video and 12 MP photos. I have a small Lowepro bag for it and it goes in the Wolfman tankbag.

Needless to say, I take a lot of photos. I've told my kids, when they put me to pasture at the nursing home, to put my moto photos on endless slide show mode and just wheel me in to watch 'em. Much better than endlessly watching The Sound of Music on the boob tube.

I also have an FZ35 super zoom - the views where I ride are so expansive my small point and shoot could not do justice. The FZ35 is a compact DSLR style and is small enough that it goes into the Wolfman Enduro tank bag for easy on bike access and decent dust/vibration protection.

To protect it from stuff in the bag, I have a neoprene wrap cover. If there are hard items in the tank bag, then a divider or foam block goes in.

See http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/149174-REG/Zing_Designs_501_101_Standard_SLR_Reversible_Camera.html for an example of one.

- Mike