Home Blog Page 31

Basic’s Of Shifting Gears on a cycle for beginners

Varun Tyagi
-
5
Basic’s Of Shifting Gears on a cycle for beginners

I got my first bike in the year 2017. It was an MTB, not very expensive but fairly good for a beginner. I had “Zero” knowledge about shifting gears on my bike. I was given a crash course of 2 minutes literally by the seller and was told to keep on experimenting. Shifting gears on a cycle is pretty complicated. But it’s fun if you learn the basics of it. If you are confused as to which bike you should buy, check out this article.

Bottom Line: Shifting gears make pedalling easy, irrespective of the terrain you are riding on.

I remember the first day I took my bike out for a ride, ended up jamming the chain in the front wheel cogs. Furthermore, the ride was not that entertaining and it ended up my bike being in a closet for a week. But I did not quit! I decided to learn the art of shifting gears on my bike. I am putting this article together for people who have just picked up cycling.

Depending upon different terrain, you will have to shift gears accordingly. Posting a video as well for a better understanding of shifting gears.

Understanding cycle gears

In any geared cycle there are usually two to three chainrings in the front, and 7 to 9 cogs in the back. If you move the chain or in other words shift the chain from the smallest cog to biggest cog, the pedalling becomes easier with each bigger cog. If you shift the chain in the front, chainrings which are smaller are easier to pedal than the big chainring. Usually the shifters for each gear set on your handlebar. Right shifters change rear cogs and left shifters on your handlebar changes front chainrings.

Tip:  Right shifter is for “Rear”! Make you remember the shifters easy!

Terrain Type: Flat Road

I love riding MTB and not a great fan of hybrid or a road bike. Hence I hate float roads. When you live in the city, you really can’t avoid flat roads. I mean, we have few trails in the city, but I need to cover long chunks of flat roads to reach the trails. In the last one year, I rode almost 10,000 plus kilometres on my MTB. Sometimes in the city, sometimes intercity. Now the gear pattern that I use is, that I ride with my chain in chainring 2 or 3 in front hub and the back cogs I keep on changing.

Terrain Type: Incline

This terrain type is the most difficult if you do not know the correct gear combination. Look! the gears on your bikes are to make pedalling easy. If that is not accomplished then the idea or having gears is not fulfilled. Most of my friends have issues in climbing hills or any incline for that matter. Now if you like riding incline and love doing that high-intensity workout, then I would suggest keeping the chain in front chainring in gear 1 or 2 maximum. You can change the chain in the rear cog depending on the resistance your legs are OK with. Smaller cog means more resistance and larger distance covered, and vice versa.

Terrain Type: Off Road, Trails

This terrain is not just difficult, it is unforgiving. Wrong gear combination and you along with your MTB would come crashing down like a meteor. I would suggest practicing shifting gears on a flat or inclined terrain. In the above two terrain types shifting gears is easy as you have time. In off-road and downhill trails time goes by fast and changing of gears sometimes is in a fraction of a second. Although there is no set gear combination for this type of terrain, however, I normally ride in front 2 and rear 3 to 7 combination.

What not to do while shifting cycle gears! important!

Avoid cross chaining please, this would help you in increasing the life of your chainset. In simple words cross chaining means the chain is connected to extreme cogs in comparison to front chainrings. i.e the chain is extremely slanted, either in big chainring up front and the biggest chain cog in the back or small chainring up front and big chain cog at the back. This would put additional stress on your chain, which will result in the chain being stressed and might damage your chain. it also makes the gear shifting difficult.

Cheat Sheet Of Shifting Cycle Gears!

For: Uphills and Inclines
Use: Small or middle front chainring + bigger rear sprockets

For: Downhills & Declines
Use: Large front chain ring + a range of rear sprockets

For: Flat terrain
Use: Small or middle front chainring + ­smaller rear sprockets

I hope you enjoyed reading the article, if you have any question please drop a comment at the bottom of the page. Would be happy to hear your inputs.

Also putting up a video for the same for you guys! For more video content check out my YouTube channel.

Equipment Used For This Post & Video! Click on the products to Purchase via amazon.com!

  1. Canon 1300D
  2. Hero GoPro Session 5 Action Camera
  3. MTB Cycle
  4. Lens 18-55 and 55-250

To go back to Homepage please click here.

Using Diopter Adjustment in a DSLR

Varun Tyagi
-
1
Using Diopter Adjustment in a DSLR

My friend came across this problem while operating his brand new DSLR camera. All the pictures were blurry and even though he tried fiddling with the autofocus system of the camera, nothing changed. I then showed him the magic of diopter adjustment in his DSLR.

Unfortunately, unlike me, my friend does not have a perfect 20/20 vision and he wears glasses. As a result of his glasses which he was wearing, his eyesight and the focus system of the camera did not match. As a result of which the camera gave pretty bad results.

This is a common problem with all the people who do not have a perfect 20/20 vision. What happens is when you try to use the manual focus the image is generally blurry as your eye and the camera focus system is not on the same page or correctly aligned.

In this post, I would give you examples and the way to adjust your diopter in your camera. I would be posting images and at the end a detailed video which you can also see by visiting my YouTube Channel by clicking the link here. 

Let’s Find Out What Is Diopter?

Diopter is a small wheel/knob generally having marking of +&- on your DSLR camera. In canon which I use this is just on the right of your viewfinder. Now you will have to look closely as this is a very small rotating wheel type thing that you can adjust. Every DSLR which now comes in the market has a diopter adjustment function, the only difference is that it might be more discreet in some camera like canon, or stand out visible in cameras like Nikon.

How To Know If Your Diopter Is Not Correctly Set?

The only way to find out if your diopter is out of adjustment is when your pictures are blurry even though the autofocus points, the grid systems, and all the digital data is in place. If all these data points are synced, however, the pictures still come out blurry, your camera needs diopter adjustments.

I Am Still Getting Blurry Pictures, How Do I make Diopter Adjustment?

Now that you have identified that you diopter needs adjustments it’s time to move further. I would lay down simple steps for you. These steps will help you making diopter adjustment in your DSLR camera.

Step 1

Mount Your DSLR

The first thing that you need to do is to mount your camera on a steady surface. I would recommend that you use a tripod to get the best results. Mount your camera and point your camera to a rich colorful background. Something that your camera can focus on easily.

Diopter Adjustment

Step 2

Focus The Camera

Now when your camera is mounted, firstly set the focus system to autofocus. Try and focus with the help of autofocus system on your subject. If you are using manual focus then try and use the digital focus indicators in your camera to focus on your subject.

Diopter Adjustment

Step 3

Adjust The Diopter

Diopter Adjustment

In your camera when you try to focus on a subject in autofocus mode and when you press the shutter half way through you get a beep sound. That means that the autofocus has locked the focus on your subject. Now when the subject is in focus try to look in the viewfinder or on the LCD screen. Does your eye see a clear image? Or is it blurry? If it’s blurry try to adjust the diopter until you get a clear and crisp image without any blurriness. Furthermore, if the image after camera focuses then you diopter is correctly adjusted and you do not need to make any adjustments.

VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR DIOPTER ADJUSTMENT

This Is What we learned!

Even though this is a minor adjustment, however, it plays an important role in getting properly focused images. Keep clicking good images which are in focus.

If you have any questions please drop a comment at the bottom of the page and I will get back to you.

Hey check out the newly launched GoPro 8 Black and prebook it. 

Equipment Used For This Post & Video! Click on the products to Purchase via amazon.com!

  1. Canon 1300D
  2. Hero GoPro Session 5 Action Camera
  3. Tripod For DSLR
  4. Lens 18-55 and 55-250

More photography articles. 

1...293031Page 31 of 31