Taking a camera carving with you...

[Skalpel]

Hello all!

I have a question... When you bring a camera with you, when you go carving, how do you protect it? I have the DSLR cameras in mind here... I've recently bought an EOS 30D and I can already see that I'll be able to do some amazing action shots on the slope... but how to protect it against damage when you fall and stuff...

Any ideas? How do you do it?

[tex1230]

Don't Fall

[Skalpel]

Right!! Why didnt I think of that

[b0ardski]

FWIW I made a neopreen sheath for a sony video, sort of wet suit for the camera. Quick access with velcro, snow proof + padding.

[Jack M]

I have the 30D. I shot the ECES this year with it and a 70-200 f/4L IS:

http://jmphotocraft.smugmug.com/gallery/4484815_z4Kur (file names beginning with jm_)

I have the Tamrac Velocity 7, it works very well while snowboarding. With the waist belt, it's very secure and you can still sling it around to the front to whip out the camera without taking the bag off. I bought it before I had the 70-200. With that mounted to the camera, it *just* fits in the bag. I'd go with the Velocity 8 if I were to replace it. But the 7 works well enough that I don't feel I have to.

Bottom line though, you still don't want to crash, regardless of what kind of bag you have. A typical slide on your side won't be an issue, but going over the bars would be very bad.

[carvedog]

I use a tamarac bag ( the long tele zoom bag that just fits body and a longer lens) and rigged up an across the back harness that hooks into the bottom loops. Its all adjustable and I can ride really hard with it.

One heli trip I was trying to get someone to hit this nice little cliff drop and no one would, so I aired it out with my camera on. Nailed that puppy and the big man doesn't do air often, but that was just screaming for it.

Oh yeah - don't fall. If you don't think you can ride with a dslr on and not fall then you maybe should not take the cam. I tucked a couple of cameras in my coat one day to cover a race. My bindings popped open. Old school, sort of cam over elfgens if I remember right. Cracked two ribs. Suxs for sure. Oh yeah the cameras were fine. Got rid of those binders.

So don't fall.

[Skalpel]

:) maybe I'll drill out my carving a little more before I take my camera out with me :D

Thank you for the anwsers.. I'll look into those bags

[pokkis]

I keep my camera well badded in backpack, and wear back protector ;)

[crucible]

Dave* has a very cool helmet mount that he straps to the chin guard of his Dainese raptor helmet to get video when carving, sort of like a poor man's steady cam.

It helps that he has a very small, sophisticated and light digital point and shooot camera that he rolls with, so that it doesn't throw off his center of gravity.

Now all he needs is to pony up for a gyro stabilized mount and he's GTG.:D

George

[Vahur]

I've used 2 bags:

1. Tamrac 5549 Adventure 9, when I use 70-200 f/2.8 lens and normal/wideangle zoom (for stand photos). Also I use this backpack for carrying my photo gear (and laptop) during my trips to mountain (which usually means plane trip) as carry-on baggage. It's quite well padded and should protect equipment without problems. On downside it's quite heavy (2kg/~4lbs, with D300 and 2 lens total weight was 6 kg) and big, additionally photo compartment is quite small and one can't put camera with 70-200 lens into it. So I use it only when I'm targeted to photographing and do easy riding only.

2.When I want to ride and photograph, then I use 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 lens (new AF-S VR Nikkor is quite OK in 70-250mm area, 300 becomes little bit soft) in my Kata T-212 torso pack. When I ride, then it's on my back, when I want to shoot, then I release one strap and can bring bag to my chest for easy access and shooting. Closing this strap again is little bit hassle, but otherwise I like it: seems to be well protected, is small and lightweight, quite stable when on back and doesn't affect riding at all. The only consideration is falling on back, but field testing has shown that small impacts make no harm neither to rider nor equipment :) Of course I wear back protector, so it's most likely camera or lens, which will break first.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Hello all!

I have a question... When you bring a camera with you, when you go carving, how do you protect it? I have the DSLR cameras in mind here... I've recently bought an EOS 30D and I can already see that I'll be able to do some amazing action shots on the slope... but how to protect it against damage when you fall and stuff...

Any ideas? How do you do it?

I know you are referring to a high quality camera in this thread.

Perhaps until you are comfortable risking a high dollar camera, just carry an inexpensive point and shoot for a while. Under a couple hundred and with quality improving all the time, they are still capable of internet worthy photos and videos.

I would love to see more BOL members buy 100$ 6 meg cameras to pack with them on the mountain. We would all benefit from the huge number of videos and photos created. Just my thoughts. I pack a smallish PNS with me almost always. Most of the FINELINECLUB videos come from one.

Look forward to seeing your shots!! Bryan

PS, Keeping in mind I very much appreciate the high quality shots that Jack, Vahur, Firestone, Jenney, Sean and other produce with pro quality gear.

[Hans]

I have always carried a Canon Eos 600 in my Camel backpack with a small coton towel around it. And I have crashed a lot of times with this camera on the back. Two seperated lenses in the backpack, never had any problems. That stuff can have some impacts, don't be afraid.

[philw]

[...] When you bring a camera with you, when you go carving, how do you protect it? I have the DSLR cameras in mind here.[...] How do you do it?

For riding generally I use a chest bag, which is fairly common amongst people who shoot and ride. Here's some BS on this. And here's a shot of the bag in action:

On piste mostly you're going to "just slide in", not crash on your face, so sticking the camera on your chest works very well.

Backpacks are ok for base-camp use, or if you're on a skidoo or something, or if you're working from a single location (say in a race where they come to you). But they're too big to ride with comfortably, they don't fit well in seats, and you can't get the camera out fast enough for general shooting.

The only camera bit I ever broke was a fisheye lens which was caught by the tail of a ski in flight..

------

Point and shoot... fair point, although I find them hard to use.

----------

One thing which those BOL members could also think about doing would be to figure out how to be photographed better. I'm almost serious...

• Wearing black is very cool but it's bog-all use if you want to be in snowy photographs. Red/ orange/ yellow, green are probably best as the rest of the shot is generally Blue and White.
  
• Slowing down near the photographer is polite but won't produce the shots.
  
• Stopping right by the photog gets shots of you stopping and blocks her view.
  
• Riding close together is friendly but gives the photog no time to think about the shot and may "overrun the buffer" on some cameras.
  
• If you want to be published, you're going to have to look like you're having fun.
  
• Try not to sit/ stand in the photog's field of view if you're not the subject of the shot.
  
• Riding at/ spraying the photog with snow is ok if and only if you've discussed it in advance. In my case I need to know the rider's competence from watching them ride before I'm comfortable with that. Expert riders are easier to shoot and don't feel scary.
  
• Many excellent shots are made of turns which are actually "fake" - not the sort of thing you'd do if the camera wasn't there. The classic example is the huge "wave" you can kick up in powder. To get those, straight line the slope and then put one huge turn in just below the photographer; it doesn't matter if you can ride out of it or not. The same thing's true for piste riding: you only need the one turn for stills, not a sequence.
  

The other thing I suppose is that IMHO there are broadly two ways to shoot snowboarders... either you use a long lens and "snipe" them, which gets you full-frame shots of the boarder against a white background; or you use a wide-angle lens and if the boarder's close enough you can get full-frame on the rider plus an interesting background.

The first is what you have to take in a race, or anywhere that the riders aren't cooperating with you. The second type is much harder to get, because you have to think about both rider and background, and you have to get the rider to cooperate and turn in exactly the right place. If you don't explicitly set this up it's hard for the rider to figure out what the photographer wants you to do.

Other than talking with the photog, as a rider there's not a lot you can do about this, but you can easily tell which type of lens is being used (long or short), and you may want to take that into account in deciding where you turn.

[Jack M]

I agree with philw's pointers, except I think a chest bag would get in the way for carving. The courier-style bags like the Tamrac Velocity ride on your back but sling around to the front very quickly, without taking it off.

With a tele lens, you can increase your chances of getting some background in the shot if you shoot on your knees, or sitting.

Bryan is right, a decent point-n-shoot can get nice results if you learn how to really use it properly and master the shutter half-press. That drastically reduces lag time.

I took this with a 4mp Canon S45:

And yeah... what is with you people in your all-black outfits?? What do you think you are, a Ninja?? ;) :p

[Vahur]

For riding generally I use a chest bag, which is fairly common amongst people who shoot and ride.

I had same considerations as Jack with chest bag: it would get in a way during carving when getting really compressed. At least my carpet test showed that this could be possible, so I haven't tried it in field, instead ride with bag on my back.

Otherwise good advices above. But man, where were you with these advices some years ago when I started to shoot? If you had written them at this time, then it wouldn't have been necessary for me to learn them hard way from first-hand experience!

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Thanks Phil for sharing these tips and tricks. Most helpful.