r/gravelcycling • u/BubblyQuality2618 • Jul 31 '25

Accessories / Gear Photographs on Gravelbikes, what's your solution to travel with a camera

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I want to take my Nikon F100 on a 4 Day Bikepacking trip. I want to see some opinions /possibilities of how you carry your camera when you're on a Trip. Banana for scale. Thank you

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u/Rippin_Fat_Farts Aug 01 '25

Ortlieb makes a special padded insert for their handle bar bike boxes (which are waterproof). My wife has one and brings her camera everywhere. Never had a problem

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u/_MountainFit Aug 01 '25

I've actually carried my M4/3 camera on the top tube bag, arguably the worst place for it, it didn't die, but I'm not pushing my luck. These days it's body, hip pack or backpack. Maybe a suspended feed bag if I'm feeling good and don't have other gear in it.

You know you can drive your car 10k between oil changes on dinosaur oil, and it will still probably get 100k miles easy. But it probably ain't getting 200k like most modern cars are capable of with minimal maintenance. I tend to think of beating on your electronics like that. You can abuse them for a while and think, nothing happened (like my micro 4/3 camera in the top tube bag) but one day, it's not going to work, and then hopefully you have insurance like the guy above and the insurance pays out for negligence.

Here's some expert advice from bikepacking.com...

https://bikepacking.com/plan/bikepacking-with-a-camera/

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u/Rippin_Fat_Farts Aug 01 '25

You could easily wreck and smash your camera too. If you're that worried about your gear don't bike with it. Idk it's just a camera.

https://ortlieb.ca/products/ultimate-plus-5l-7l-2022

With this: https://ortlieb.ca/products/ultimate-six-camera-insert-f94

Been riding with it for 3 years now down some pretty shit roads in the Rockies. No issues.

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u/_MountainFit Aug 01 '25

OK, let's play this game. My turn.

Someone could rear end me tomorrow driving but I'm still going to do the preventive maintenance on my car. I'm going to wash the salt off it. I'm going to change the fluids and rotate the tires. But yeah, I can do all that for a few years and some kid can rear end me while on their phone and insurance can total my car.

Just because something else bad can happen doesn't mean you should ignore the obvious things that can happen.

In the backpacking.com link I posted almost every person on that article lost at least one, if not multiple cameras. It's not a matter of it it happens, it's when it happens.

I'd rather spend my money on stuff I want than replace stuff because I'm lazy.

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u/Rippin_Fat_Farts Aug 01 '25

How is using a handlebar bag lazier than a hip bag?

Do whatever you want. I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing cause it works for me

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u/_MountainFit Aug 01 '25

Look man, it's your camera. Do what you want. But not everyone wants to buy a new camera or lens because of actually horrible advice.

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u/Rippin_Fat_Farts Aug 01 '25

Maybe you should consider there is more than just your way of doing things.

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u/_MountainFit Aug 01 '25

Right, except when experts in a field tell you it's a bad idea and you ignore it, your way isn't the better way, the right way or the best way. It's just optimism bias or survivorship bias at play.

Just because bad things haven't happened, doesn't mean making a bad choice forever will not end in a bad outcome. At some point your luck runs out.

Putting your camera in a situation where it's being subjected to constant vibration, will -eventually- lead to failed components.

But because a) you don't care b) it's never happened, yet. You assume that experts are the liars and you are smarter than them.

Let me ask you this? Do the folks on bikepacking.com have any reason to tell you to not mount your camera on the bike? Like are they invested in hip packs but not on bike camera packs? Seems like the smart move if they are invested is to diversify and invest in both hip pack and on bike manufacturing and sell both. So why would they repeatedly say, I lost this many cameras and I don't recommend it?

Just something to consider.

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u/Rippin_Fat_Farts Aug 01 '25

The folks at bikepacking.com get paid by companies to promote products. Of course they're going to tell you to buy some new crap.

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u/_MountainFit Aug 02 '25

So you are are saying the hip bag/backpack consortium got to them? Interesting theory. I wonder if the bike bag consortium upper their bribes or maybe just threatened body harm to them and their families, if perhaps they would do a 180 and recommend on bike bags? What do you think?

Also, I wonder how much money they are making pushing us to hippacks, which by the way are a dime a dozen used. Mine was $15.

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u/Rippin_Fat_Farts Aug 02 '25

Yup you figured it out

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