This Camera Gear Is How We Get The Shot

In 2006, fresh out of school, I started work at Cycle World and Road & Track, back in the days when they shared an office and a photo staff in Newport Beach. Day one on the job, I was issued a fresh and shiny Canon EOS 1D Mark IV. Day two it was covered with bugs and tape and hanging out the side of a minivan.

Motorcycle photographers ask a lot of our cameras. We subject them to slinging mud and choking dust. We bounce them down endless dirt roads, rinse them in rain, then cram them away in bags until their next indignity. Like our motorcycles, our cameras do not lead an easy life, but the best of the bunch come back for more.

Our camera gear isn’t always the latest and greatest. The Canon EOS 5D Mark III and the Fujifilm X100T have both seen generational updates, but our copies are only now in the prime of their lives. One—the Leica M3—was out of production for 18 years before I was born; but like all our gear, it’s tried and tested. Used well, loved, and a worthy addition to any rider’s camera bag.

Credit the Super 35 sensor in this Sony video camera for the righteous resolution of our YouTube series. The FS5 is a powerhouse, condensing cinematic and audio equipment that once filled flight cases into a package suitable for saddlebags.

These 35mm cameras are design icons for a reason. They’re entirely mechanical and require no batteries. Leica’s impossibly sharp lenses mean scanned film can go toe to toe with even the highest-resolution digital cameras.

Canon's 5D is the workhorse of the magazine industry because it does everything well. High-quality stills? Check. HD Video? Check. Survive the worst abuse motorcycle photographers can dispense? Double check.

Never mind that the X100T is a blatant rip-off of Leica's design, this 16 megapixel camera holds its own. With Wi-Fi and a fast built-in 35mm equivalent lens, it's an impeccable travel companion, great for magazine spreads or upgrading your selfies to moto art.

One outing with the Osmo+ is enough to sell you on the future. This zoomable 4k video camera automatically stabilizes motion, connects through your mobile phone for streaming, automates panoramas and time lapses, and still, somehow, fits in a backpack.