Biking with Camera - Lowepro Micro Trekker / Tamrac Velocity 7 ???

Hello:

I'm purchasing a Pentax *ist DL with the 18-55 & 50-200 DA zooms and
wish to bring this equipment (lens hoods too - along with a Promaster
5750DX flash, when Promaster makes available the new *ist DL module in
a month) with on bike rides.

The trails will be moderate off-road types. The durations between 1.5
hrs and 3 hrs. There will be a mix of sun beating down on the bag and
contents as well as shade. I will not be out in the rain, but the one
side of the bag will likely get damp from perspiration.

From the standpoint of basic protection from the routine jostling of
the ride, are the Lowepro Micro Trekker 100 / 200 models as well as the
Tamrac Velocity 7 appropriate solutions?

I read praise for Lowepro, got to try a 100 but worry about it's
long-term comfort. I'm 6'-2" with a long torso. The waist strap was
just below my ribs. I assume the 200 would be slightly (2") better, but
haven't seen any to try.

I just saw info on the Tamrac, and it appears to have a lot of
potential. However, does the bag shift around with movement causing the
high-strap to cut into your neck? The idea of rotating the bag when
needed seems to resolve peoples' complaints of having to entirely
remove a backpack to access their equipment.

I've seen hip bags but worry that the camera equipment will receive
more shock the closer it is to the bike seat.

I welcome any responses. Are these _the_ solutions? Are there any
others? How is the quality of the Tamrac bag? I think all will fit into
the Lowepros but am not yet certain about the Velocity 7. Anyone with
one care to comment?

What about the effect of perspiration potentially making one side of
the bag damp? These will be humid summer rides and I'll be out with
essentially a sheet of plastic on my back. Is the ride short enough
where this really won't be an issue for the camera equipment? What
degree of moisture _is_ a hazard for digital cameras? The one extreme I
read about was a camera going from a car (a few hours in the winter)
into a humid natatorium. The guy had problems thereafter, but then this
sounded like a severe case.

One final wrinkle. If I opt to carry a monopod, is there any way to do
so on _these_ bags? Any bike frame clips?

Thanks for your time.

Regards,

Corey Motel

I'm purchasing a Pentax *ist DL with the 18-55 & 50-200 DA zooms and
wish to bring this equipment (lens hoods too - along with a Promaster
5750DX flash, when Promaster makes available the new *ist DL module in
a month) with on bike rides.

The trails will be moderate off-road types. The durations between 1.5
hrs and 3 hrs. There will be a mix of sun beating down on the bag and
contents as well as shade. I will not be out in the rain, but the one
side of the bag will likely get damp from perspiration.

From the standpoint of basic protection from the routine jostling of
the ride, are the Lowepro Micro Trekker 100 / 200 models as well as the
Tamrac Velocity 7 appropriate solutions?

I read praise for Lowepro, got to try a 100 but worry about it's
long-term comfort. I'm 6'-2" with a long torso. The waist strap was
just below my ribs. I assume the 200 would be slightly (2") better, but
haven't seen any to try.

I'm 6' (on a good-posture day) and use the Lowepro 100 Micro Trekker... and
it's been great. I deliberately chose the smaller version because it's
shorter, which still allows me to get to my back jersey pockets for my Fuji
F10 for those on-the-go shots.

I just saw info on the Tamrac, and it appears to have a lot of
potential. However, does the bag shift around with movement causing the
high-strap to cut into your neck? The idea of rotating the bag when
needed seems to resolve peoples' complaints of having to entirely
remove a backpack to access their equipment.

I looked into that sort of bag and decided it probably wasn't going to stay
put enough when riding. And that's for road riding; it would be even more of
an issue on a mountain bike ride.

I've seen hip bags but worry that the camera equipment will receive
more shock the closer it is to the bike seat.

Not only that, but it's going to interfere with your breathing, and possibly
impact on the bike when things get gnarly. Not an option, in my humble
opinion.

I welcome any responses. Are these _the_ solutions? Are there any
others? How is the quality of the Tamrac bag? I think all will fit into
the Lowepros but am not yet certain about the Velocity 7. Anyone with
one care to comment?

Haven't actually tried the others; they might be great, but it was the
feature set of the Mirco Trekker that did it for me.

What about the effect of perspiration potentially making one side of
the bag damp? These will be humid summer rides and I'll be out with
essentially a sheet of plastic on my back. Is the ride short enough
where this really won't be an issue for the camera equipment? What
degree of moisture _is_ a hazard for digital cameras? The one extreme I
read about was a camera going from a car (a few hours in the winter)
into a humid natatorium. The guy had problems thereafter, but then this
sounded like a severe case.

I've ridden up some pretty nasty climbs, generating a lot of heat & sweat,
and not seen any moisture issues inside the backpack. On the other hand,
I've often had fogging problems with cameras removed from my jersey pocket
on a cold day; going from the warm pocket to the cold outside air wasn't
kind. No long-lasting effects though, on a multitude of cameras.

One final wrinkle. If I opt to carry a monopod, is there any way to do
so on _these_ bags? Any bike frame clips?

You could possibly carry a tripod on your bike frame using pump clips. In
fact, I'm sure you could if you used the padded velcro type. I don't have my
camera bag handy at the moment, but I believe it's got attachment points for
a tripod as well, but I don't think that would be safe on a bike... if you
crashed, you might get hurt pretty badly.

Thanks for your time.

Regards,

Corey Motel

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

I used the Tamrac Velocity 7 for a week-long cycle trip through France
in September. It worked very well for me. This was all road riding but
I never had any problems with it moving around excessively.

FYI, I was shooting with a Pentax ist-D and a handful of primes. I
took 5 lenses on the trip but only carried two or three of them with
me on any given day. Some photos are on line at
http://www.robertstech.com/temp/loire.htm

--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth

Mike / Mark:

Thank you both for your responses. As it turns out, a local shop offers
both brands. I got to take a brief look at the Velocity 7 & 9. They're
obtaining a Micro Trekker 100 & 200 from their warehouse, and I should
be able to compare all and select one early next week. The Velocity
seems like it will flop around, however there is a waist belt that will
likely solve the problem. I got to the store just before closing time
and didn't get to try it though. The 7 might be a bit too small for the
flash - which I still seem determined to take along.

Mark - very nice photographs. Being one who still believes B&W has a
place, I especially liked those images. (I received my ist-DL a couple
of days ago. Contrary to the users manual, it wouldn't function with
alkaline cells and I feared it was defective, but thus far it seems to
be working fine with NiMH cells.) If you know anything about the
low-end 18-55mm Pentax DA zoom, can you comment about barrel play? Mine
seems loose. The 50-200 doesn't have nearly as much play.

My thanks again.

Corey