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Just wondering, how many of you carry a backup camera body when travelling -- not necessarily an identical model but perhaps an earlier one that accepts the same lenses?  Today's digital cameras are very reliable IME. However, there's nothing like spending a pile of money on travel and then finding yourself in the idyllic locale of your dreams with a dead camera. :(

 

 

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7 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

Just wondering, how many of you carry a backup camera body when travelling -- not necessarily an identical model but perhaps an earlier one that accepts the same lenses?  Today's digital cameras are very reliable IME. However, there's nothing like spending a pile of money on travel and then finding yourself in the idyllic locale of your dreams with a dead camera. :(

 

 

I am just going to take my Sony with my Nikon on this next trip, but I always travel with a backup battery for my Nikon and they get recharged every night.

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I go to wild places so I take two of everything possible. I also don’t like to change lenses so work with both cameras.  I come home from my trips exhausted. The Sony RX100 goes along for

any time spent walking around in towns. 

 

Paulette

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6 minutes ago, NYCat said:

I go to wild places so I take two of everything possible. I also don’t like to change lenses so work with both cameras.  I come home from my trips exhausted. The Sony RX100 goes along for

any time spent walking around in towns. 

 

Paulette

 

Yes, I was thinking mostly in terms of isolated places where it would be impossible to get a camera body repaired. If going to a "first world" city, I would be less inclined to take an extra camera body than if I were headed for say Machu Picchu or the Amazon. During film days, I always took two camera bodies -- one loaded with low ASA film and another with high ASA -- no matter where I went. This of course is no longer necessary with digital technology.

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In the film era, when traveling on assignment, I packed 6 Nikon bodies, one Leica M2, and lots of prime glass. In the early days of digital, traveling on my own dime, I took 2 Nikon DSLRs. 

 

Yes, I'm in Mexico right now, but I don't travel anymore, not voluntarily. I have my 3 Sonys with me, a6000, RX10 and RX100-3, because I have no place to leave them.  

 

Edo

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canon m3 with ef / efs adapter. generally my girlfriend uses it but it's always there as a backup. have used it as a full time second camera with second lens but I try to avoid that. either have that or a rebel series camera (1200d) as it's quite cheap and quite frankly is good enough quality for most of my jobs.

j

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1 hour ago, Ed Rooney said:

In the film era, when traveling on assignment, I packed 6 Nikon bodies, one Leica M2, and lots of prime glass. In the early days of digital, traveling on my own dime, I took 2 Nikon DSLRs. 

 

Yes, I'm in Mexico right now, but I don't travel anymore, not voluntarily. I have my 3 Sonys with me, a6000, RX10 and RX100-3, because I have no place to leave them.  

 

Edo

 

Wow. That was a lot of stuff to lug around. Nice thing about today's small mirrorless cameras is that carrying an extra one is not really a big deal. When I bought the Sony a6000, I was going to sell my NEX-6 but have decided to keep it as a backup for the time being. I haven't been doing much travel either in recent years, but I'm hoping to eventually get back into doing some.

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When we go away I bring my old (but still superb) D300 with me, but it stays in the rented flat/B&B when I go out on a shoot. If my main camera packs in then I have the backup for the next day. With two small children we don't out into the wilds much now, so I don't mind risking losing a day's shoot. I would probably think differently if I really was way out in the wilds on an expensive trip. And in 40 years of photography I have never had a camera pack in. Batteries however are different, I always have 2 spares.

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And did I mention the serious tripod I had in a sling case over one shoulder? My exotic glass was in a foam-cushioned Halliburton and went from 15mm to 500mm. The shoulder bag with 3 of the Nikons bodies had a 20, 24, 55, 85 or105, 135, and 180 or 200. I'm taking about film cameras, remember. Not all lenses went on all trips. Most of my travel marketing assignments were multi-destinational and lasted 2 to 3 months. Three Nikons stayed in the hotel room. 

 

With digital came better zooms. I only took two digital bodies and a few zooms with the Nikon DSLRs. At one point I just stopped doing super-tele captures, just ignored them.

 

I was fit back then, and a lot younger. So long ago. I could not lift most of that stuff now

 

Colin, my favorite Nikon body was the D90. I hated the D7000. 

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When I went to St. Croix the first time, I had my Nikon D800 and RX100.  The second time, I had my Fuji X-T1 and RX100-3. My opportunities to travel were hard to come by, so I couldn’t risk taking only one camera. Turned out while shooting a guy on a paddle board, I was standing in a foot of water. A wave eroded the sand under my feet and I fell on my backside. Then the waves churned me around.  The waves on that end of the island are gentle, but every time I put a hand down to get up, the sand disappeared from under my hand and I would flop like a fish.

 

I held the RX straight up in the air in my left hand (I’m a southpaw) whether I was on my back, stomach or sides. Did I say I was churned? Now I know what a sweatshirt feels like in the washer.

I very easily could’ve dunked the RX in the sea, and I still would have had my Fuji to use carefully from the dry beach.

How I kept that camera dry is testament to my desperation.

Betty

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I've never had a camera die while on a trip. However, I once left a brand new flash in my rental car in Panama, and the tropical heat fried the electronics. I have dropped lenses, but they've always miraculously survived. Still, you just never know when a sneaker wave might get both you and your camera. Best to be prepared as my cub scout leader used to say.

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10 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

When I went to St. Croix the first time, I had my Nikon D800 and RX100.  The second time, I had my Fuji X-T1 and RX100-3. My opportunities to travel were hard to come by, so I couldn’t risk taking only one camera. Turned out while shooting a guy on a paddle board, I was standing in a foot of water. A wave eroded the sand under my feet and I fell on my backside. Then the waves churned me around.  The waves on that end of the island are gentle, but every time I put a hand down to get up, the sand disappeared from under my hand and I would flop like a fish.

 

I held the RX straight up in the air in my left hand (I’m a southpaw) whether I was on my back, stomach or sides. Did I say I was churned? Now I know what a sweatshirt feels like in the washer.

I very easily could’ve dunked the RX in the sea, and I still would have had my Fuji to use carefully from the dry beach.

How I kept that camera dry is testament to my desperation.

Betty

No one got a video, Betty?

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I do carry two bodies with me most of the time, not so much as backup but with two different types of lenses... 

 

Fortunatly I never had problems with bodies or batteries.. but having two lenses ready to shoot at any given time is very usefull... i usually carry a tilt and shift lens + either 24-70 or 70-200, sometimes 24-70 and 70-200...

 

If I only need one lens for a particular shoot, I might make an exception... but will always travel out of town with two bodies.

 

Very heavy though... usually between 4-5 kg of gear...

 

A few years back I travelled in Madagascar , at the time I had only one body... but being there with friends photographers we travelled with 4 bodies,  with a dozen lenses and would switch cameras by replacing memory cards, was very convinient...

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4 hours ago, Bill Kuta said:

No one got a video, Betty?

Wish someone had. He/she could have won big in America’s Funniest Home Videos. Although I would have had to wear a sack over my head for the near future.

The darn guy sitting sideways on his paddle board while I shot him could have hopped off and rescued a damsel in distress, but I think he was enjoying the show too much. Or paying me back for shooting him. Although he seemed fine with facing me and posing while enjoying the best seat in the house (sea)!

Betty

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Guess I am still a bit "old school"  when out working for clients I shoot mainly with D800's and

my backup is a D700.  Currently using NORMAN strobes with packs and D2000's as a backup

I also carry 6 2400 heads.  For glass I've gone 100% zoom, 16-28, 35-70 and 70-200 and my

favorite a SIGMA 120-300 2.8.

 

I do not change lenses in the field.

 

I did weigh my standard kit for executive portraits and cameras, strobes, stands and backgrounds

come in at 540lbs....

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I hear you, Check. I would never show up at a corporate job with one of my little Sonys. In the last part of his career, Eddie Adams did executive shoots and moved around with much of gear you use. I think he had two assistants. 

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1 hour ago, Ed Rooney said:

I hear you, Check. I would never show up at a corporate job with one of my little Sonys. In the last part of his career, Eddie Adams did executive shoots and moved around with much of gear you use. I think he had two assistants. 

 

Likewise I wouldn't walk around the streets of San Miguel de Allende lugging 500 lbs of camera gear when a little Sony would do the job. B)

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I always carry two cameras. It saves time (and dust) changing lenses and yes, if one fails, you can use the other.

The only time I go out with only one camera is if I'm going for a walk looking for birds (and usually find insects, and wish I had brought a second) or going shopping or doing something non-photographic, when I take a single body with a 18-200 zoom, just in case.

If travelling, I take a third body (a very small, light D3200) but haven't needed it yet.

Many years ago, in the days of film, I was traveling around Europe with a single Mamiya 645 - and it jammed in Bratislava. I had to buy a second-hand body in Munich.

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