Riding (NEX 5)

SONY DSCSONY NEX-5 (16mm, f/4.5, 1/125 sec, ISO200)

There are very few things that are better than photography. To ride a bike is one of them. So taking pictures while riding a bike must be the perfect thing. Truth is: It isn’t. That’s the reason why I haven’t taken a lot of images while on the bike.

First: To ride a bike means to think about life or to think about nothing at all but for sure it does not mean to play around with a camera.

Second: It’s dangerous. Steering with one hand and breaking with the front disc only while going as fast as possible to create motion blur is at least a little risky.

SONY DSCSONY NEX-5 (16mm, f/3.2, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
SONY DSCSONY NEX-5 (16mm, f/9, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
SONY DSCSONY NEX-5 (16mm, f/4.5, 1/125 sec, ISO200)

But if there is a perfect camera for the job it’s the Sony NEX. In my case it is still my old NEX 5 and the lens is the 16mm pancake ( according to the net the worst lens ever! ). Autofocus needs a little while to lock on the handlebar but thanks to the tilt screen it is easy to check composition.

The rest is easy too: I use the camera in S-Mode and set shutter speed at 1/125s. This shutter speed is best because it’s long enough to allow some blur ( if your are going fast enough ) but is short enough to avoid blur caused by camera shake because of the bumpy ground. If I do the same on my road bike I can choose a longer shutter speed and a lower riding speed to get the same amount of blur.

The shots were taken on December 1st. It was cold but dry. Just perfect!

SONY DSCSONY NEX-5 (16mm, f/4.5, 1/125 sec, ISO200)