Vibration damage DSLR????

[oceanloverm]

Anyone ever encounter any on this issue? I would like to know whether the vibration on the bicycle (cycling mountainbike on rocky road) will damage DSLR camera? Thanks.

p.s. sorry for my poor english :sweatsm:

 

[sexalicious]

doubt so. just dont drop the cam will do

 

[cjtune]

Well, if it's in a well-padded bag, it should be pretty well protected against vibration damage, more so than you!

Yes, appliances can be damaged by vibrations. Repeated shaking can shake loose sensitive parts - maybe not to the point of coming out, but will degrade any previous mechanical calibrations or precision fits.

 

[conquer500]

Well, if it's in a well-padded bag, it should be pretty well protected against vibration damage, more so than you!

Yes, appliances can be damaged by vibrations. Repeated shaking can shake loose sensitive parts - maybe not to the point of coming out, but will degrade any previous mechanical calibrations or precision fits.

not really true...there is lots more vibration during the trip from japan to sg.

 

[cjtune]

not really true...there is lots more vibration during the trip from japan to sg.

I'm talking about vibration felt by product during transportation/handling.
More applied vibration may not equal more vibration going to product.
These transportation vibrations are absorbed by box and bulk/crate packaging and usually they do conform to strict standards about this to meet reasonable levels of customer return rate.

 

[conquer500]

I'm talking about vibration felt by product during transportation/handling.
More applied vibration may not equal more vibration going to product.
These transportation vibrations are absorbed by box and bulk/crate packaging and usually they do conform to strict standards about this to meet reasonable levels of customer return rate.

come on, products are tested for all kind of abuse for everyday use, such vibration will not affect it.

 

[sammy888]

I used to be a very avid mountain biker and my camera and gear basically follows me wherever I go for offroad rides and oversea riding trips. People don't usually mount their gear to the bike. There is hardly many harness or mounting system that is strong enough to be attached to the bike and then at the same time take on the weight of your camera. I am talking SLR or DSLR here. As your bike get pounded by a ride speed of about 10km/h in a trail that has alot of tire rut or swallow potholes, it is a murder on the mounting screw that you have screwed your camera to ( the tripod screw mount) Vibration is the LEAST of your problem. What will break something in your gear is the hard jarring knock as your bike take when it hit large bump or holes....even on a full suspension bike. This might break the screw that mount your camera to your bike if that is what you are doing..that is trigger your caemr to take pictures as you ride. I would not really recommend that.

The best buffer is still YOU the rider. I use a waist belt strap camera bag from Lowe Off Trail 1 which allow me to have 3 lens a one camera body easily. ( I use to carry around the F4 and F5 so you can see it is big enough for even those kind of bodies in the Off trail 1 waist strap bag. ) They suffer almost no vibration or jarring short of you falling off your bike, go off the side of a moutain or you accidently unhook the strap and the bag falls off and tumble behind you which incidently happen to me 3 times and all is well.( and once of those times with my D70). Nothing broke thanks to my bag and guess the way the camera is built.

The only problem is how fit are you and how well you ride and if you really want to carry that much gear like I did. The waist strap bag is my option as I also have a small haversack on with my water bag drinking system so I can't have anything on my back so only my lower back region is ope so a stap version is the only choice. But if you ride alot and for long distance like I did 150km and more ( even with stops) your lower back will be sore as the weight of the gear pivot on your back and adominal area in the front that pull back on it. Plus the added weight means you better buy a fat woman bottom saddle to cushion the weight or get use to it if you like me love those sexy slim racing hard saddles. heh

Less gear would help of course. But on the long run it is good too hehe..it helped strengthen my lower bike and improve my riding heheh.

If your bike's top bar is high and not sloping too much, you can also strap your camer to it but again you can't put too big a bulk to it as it might interfear with your riding pattern.

Your body is the best bet for holding your gear on a bike ride. And you will also come to realise that is why sometime no biker shot any phots on trips or the photos end up being more sub-standard or restricted as the biker feel they rather use their mobile phone camera or some small PnS caemra instead as a basic DSLR or SLR strapped to them is pretty weighty. too much weight also effect how you ride and in rough trail that is even more tricky. You might do it a few times and then give up on it on the long run.

I have seen that happen many times with bikers who are into photography.. once that "passion" to take photo on epic rides with big big camera/lens is on the wane, they will unlikely be the designated photgrapher anymore heheh. Especially when nursing a sore lower back and tired legs that has to carry not just your weight but your gear too after each trip.

Short rides are fine but then again it depends very much on what your fitness level is, your ride expertise and what is "short ride trip" heheh.

 

[cjtune]

come on, products are tested for all kind of abuse for everyday use, such vibration will not affect it.

"Everyday use" with usage models assumed/guesstimated by marketing and engineering...
Some of the worst failure modes (not necessarily due to vibration) I've seen in product R&D (my vocation) is due to the failure of foreseeing them in the first place. Second-guessing Olympus R&D, I would think that they would have tested for user-carried abuse, since the E-3 is marketed as a beefy, outdoorsy body.

Transportation shock, drop, vibration, extreme storage environments tests are pretty straightforward, by comparison, and models/procedure of testing well understood.

 

[OlyFlyer]

come on, products are tested for all kind of abuse for everyday use, such vibration will not affect it.

No, nothing is tested for abuse, especially not cameras. They are tested for use, normal use. To absorb shocks caused by transport, shock absorbers are used in the box. A camera has many sensitive moving parts, abuse can cause damage. Other than thatn everything can break and shake loose if you shock and shake or vibrate violently.

 

[GavinTing]

But beware. If you get forcibly dismounted (i.e. crash), den you camera will be on the ground..

 

[airfins]

the numerous glass alignment will be off if its subjected to too much vibration,screw and parts will also be loosen.

 

[dominator]

2 bikers I know rode their motorcycle from SG to France, passing thru roads of all terrains in cambodia, laos, india etc and covered more than 50,000km.

One of them was with a Nikon F5 and a Canon G3
The other was with a Nikon D70 and a smaller compact.
They never had any problem with their camera even when one of them fell twice while riding along the way.

So if your camera is damage due to vibration, for sure it is the user fault for not taking care of it properly.

 

[sammy888]

In short, it is usually we who "feel" the more damaging heart pain then the camera taking the knocking.

In any case, there is always that eventual 1 in a million chance that a knock that usually harm no camera could this time sent it to the repair shop or rubbish bin. It can happen but so what? You want to fill all your waking hours worrying about it or not bring it along with you on a trip or off your bed? heheheh A little common sense and safety, your camera will stay with you for a long time safe and sound.

 

[fndjufri]

Anyone ever encounter any on this issue? I would like to know whether the vibration on the bicycle (cycling mountainbike on rocky road) will damage DSLR camera? Thanks.

p.s. sorry for my poor english :sweatsm:

If the camera is well protected you should have no problems.
Like someone said earlier, a well-padded bag is the way to go.
I'd recommend a backpack instead of a bag strapped to a carrier attached to your bike as your body can absorb vibrations much better than your bike.

I totally agree with what sammy888 said in his posts.
I used to go cycling/shooting on my hardtail mountain bike in the past with my D70 and 3 lenses in my Lowepro Mini Trekker backpack.
Just light off-road, no hardcore stuff.
And no long distances like what sammy888 did.
Even that, the weight of the equipment was taking a toll on my back.
My hands were so tired from absorbing all the shocks from the bumps, lifting my camera and trying to get a steady shot was really a pain, especially if I was shooting macro handheld.
Too lazy to bring a tripod.
I've since given up riding distances more than 10km with my DSLR.
Any farther than that shooting will be the last thing on my mind.
Picture quality suffers terribly when you're physically and mentally tired.