The need for backup equipment for paid jobs

[Hobby Shooter]

I actually love to talk about gear and techniques... I'm here in this forum. Even with aspiring photogs.

I don't mind talking gear as long as the person I'm speaking with realizes that gear is just part of the equation. Lots of people I run into wonder why their new Rebel isn't producing images any better than their iPhone, and conclude that if they had a 1Dx they'd be ready to turn pro.

ha ha, well I would venture to say it's one stage of the learning curve, then they will come to realize what else is needed to take good pictures. As my signature says I'm not a pro, nor do I aspire to become one, I don't think I have the talent. I like to learn new stuff as I find this to be a great hobby though. I do get published sometimes, but that's more out of chance and the fact that I submit pictures with travel articles I write (also a hobby). Financially, the only ambition I have is to make back the money I'm spending on hardware and maybe even cover some of the travel costs.

Whatever walk of life you're in, it's important to be open minded to people who wants to learn more about your profession, but I can understand the frustration of you pros that so many amateurs thinks that your profession is something they could just take up if they wanted. Maybe it's because it's a creative line of business and they think that skills going in to it is not so difficult to obtain.

I still remember the picture you posted last spring of that car that you shot with the 5D3 when it was new. I remember thinking it takes more than pure talent, it takes a craftsman.

[Chewngum]

I venture to guess that every photog, regardless of what you shoot, goes through this experience all the time. When I shoot a car, it's usually just me, the car owner, and a couple of his buddies serving as makeshift assistants. Even out of a group that small, there's at least one person that wants to talk about camera gear, and how he/she aspires to turn pro. The funny thing is, 99% of the time the conversation revolves around gear, not technique.

I am no pro but shoot about 20-30 paid events per year. I always get the 'Oh that lens is huge is that a mark 3? oh I shoot X, why do you shoot with Y?'. If they seem like a gear head I fuel their passion and tell them about the 25+ bodies and 30+ lenses I have owned in the last 8 years and that normally brings them to orgasm. However I had the delight recently of someone asking me if I liked a particular section of a reception hall due to its coloured fairy lights, to my surprise we then talked for 10 mins about bokeh and technique. People who know something are rare...but they do exist. Someone mentioned earlier in this thread about wanting better gear than plebs without seeming elitist. It is legimate to want to have better gear than the average joe but the average joe can own a 5d2 + L glass now, especially at higher class events. It is getting harder and harder to differentiate ourselves without seeing the results. For the OP, you don't always need to have an entire mirrored backup setup, you will generally want to have enough of the right gear that if something fails you can make do. This can mean using one body instead of two because one fails, not shooting longer than 135 because your 70-200 failed, settling for a 50 1.8 because your 85 1.4 failed or using very high ISO because your flash died. Sometimes when I consider a job, it is not worth the $200 I get paid for the night, but it is worth the $1000s in referrals I will get if I do a good job. Not having a backup makes you look bad even if its not your fault. Scouting motto...BE PREPARED!

[V8Beast]

Whatever walk of life you're in, it's important to be open minded to people who wants to learn more about your profession, but I can understand the frustration of you pros that so many amateurs thinks that your profession is something they could just take up if they wanted. Maybe it's because it's a creative line of business and they think that skills going in to it is not so difficult to obtain.

You're absolutely right on both accounts. I don't really differentiate between amateurs and pros when having such conversations. There are lots of mediocre pros out there and many extremely talented amateurs that are smart enough to know that there are better ways to make a living Creative fields, whether it's photography, writing, music, comedy, metal fabrication, etc. are generally perceived as something that anyone can do.

[helpful]

Failures are a fact of life. You name it, and it will happen to you. I've had shutters go bad all the way to opening a case on the last day of baseball to find out that an element had come loose in one of my 300mm lenses.

Assume that at least two things will break, and plan accordingly.

[RMC33]

I could not agree more. My horror story is not one that affected me, but a wedding photographer I know. She showed up early and I had helped her setup the night before. All her gear was fine but I noticed she only had 64 and 128 GB cards (this was about three months ago now). I asked her where her other cards were so I could setup the card holder and she said "I only use these". That made me a bit nervous as I usually act as her backup/director but since I was in the bridal party I could not. About two hours into the wedding her 128 GB card in her MK3 died (which had all the formals, pre-ceremony, ceremony etc.) during the reception. She came to me in tears and asked what she should do, tell my friends that she lost all these photos that we could not re-create. I had my MK3 and a card wallet with a ton of 16gb cards in it. So I got my friends in the bridal party together and told them what had happened. They told her not to worry and we would re-do them now. She took my cards and re-shot everything. She learned a valuable lesson that day about using one large card.

 I personally do not use cards over 16gb and keep a portable card reader/HDD with an LCD screen in my bag to dump from if somehow I fill up the 15 or so cards I have. It's not a matter of If.. but when.

[exactopposite]

My experience with this is a bit different. I shoot with a rebel T1i (500d) and I mainly do street photography. A few months ago I agreed to shoot a wedding (my first) for a good friend of mine along with a mutual friend who has been a pro for years. I rented a flash (580EX) for use at the reception (the wedding was outside). During the reception, the flash (which i was already not familiar with) started acting up. The LCD screen on the flash was blinking and it wouldn't respond to any of the buttons. Turning it on/off made no difference. If would still fire when I took a photo, but there was no way to adjust the power output.

Fortunately I made it though the night with no worse than some mildly underexposed shots, since the flash was stuck on a lower power setting. I was able to fix them in post processing.  In this situation there were 2 of us shooting with 3 bodies, 2 flashes, and several lenses between us. SO, even if the flash totally crapped out everything would have been fine, but it was a valuable lesson.

Aside from that the couple and the other photographer were very happy with the photos that I captured. Actually it went so well that we plan on working together on some other photo projects.

2 things to take away form this:
Always have a backup
Cameras don't take pictures. Photographers do. (a rebel isn't as nice as a 7d, but it  can definitely get the job done...if you know how to use it)

[ChilledXpress]

I could not agree more. My horror story is not one that affected me, but a wedding photographer I know. She showed up early and I had helped her setup the night before. All her gear was fine but I noticed she only had 64 and 128 GB cards (this was about three months ago now). I asked her where her other cards were so I could setup the card holder and she said "I only use these". That made me a bit nervous as I usually act as her backup/director but since I was in the bridal party I could not. About two hours into the wedding her 128 GB card in her MK3 died (which had all the formals, pre-ceremony, ceremony etc.) during the reception. She came to me in tears and asked what she should do, tell my friends that she lost all these photos that we could not re-create. I had my MK3 and a card wallet with a ton of 16gb cards in it. So I got my friends in the bridal party together and told them what had happened. They told her not to worry and we would re-do them now. She took my cards and re-shot everything. She learned a valuable lesson that day about using one large card.

 I personally do not use cards over 16gb and keep a portable card reader/HDD with an LCD screen in my bag to dump from if somehow I fill up the 15 or so cards I have. It's not a matter of If.. but when.

She was shooting with one 5D3 at a paid wedding gig and did not have the SD card as back up?!?!?! It's really the only time I use the SD, for the CYA in these exact circumstances. D'oh !!! These are the "pros" I'm talkin about.

You fill 15 16gb cards at one wedding? Good lord, you must be in PP for half the year for just one gig!

[drummstikk]

I honestly love the higher cost of the 5D3 or the 1DX... it does keep these out of the hands of some of these "pros". With more and more soccer moms or GWC ponying up for great gear, the one thing they can't buy is experience. Just because you can post on online somewhere and/or have a website does not instantly make you professional.

Oh, I so wish that the cost of gear would weed out more of the amateurs. Fact is that all too often the guy who's the rankest amateur is often the best equipped photographer on the scene. Case in point from an indoor track meet just last weekend: I and one other lady are working for different school sports information departments and roughly equipped the same (crop bodies with 70-200 2.8's). In walks a guy with a Nikon D3X mounted with a 200mm f/2.0, a lens I would almost literally kill for. (Almost. If it were a Canon.) I chatted with him a bit and learned he was a super nice guy and was just messing around trying to get some pictures of his nephew.

Another case in point: Last fall, at a high school football game between two of the state's highest ranked teams, the only guy on the sidelines with a 400mm 2.8 was not a professional photographer, but an insurance salesman.

These are the individuals that make it harder for working photographers to navigate in today’s market.

Neither of the two guys I mention above were hurting me at all. No skin off my nose if they post photos to Flickr and pass some prints out to family and friends. But one of my college contracts evaporated a couple of years ago because an athlete's father has taken it upon himself to shoot all sports and donate hundreds of jpegs for free. My understanding is the guy is a dentist, so while the contract I used to have was real money to me (equivalent to about four house payments a year), it would probably be chump change to him. The school is not getting my experience or my level of quality, but they have apparently decided the quality sacrifice balances out the cost savings.

Nobody goes to Sears and drops a few grand on a professional tool set and then starts doing auto repair for free, so it kind of blows my mind that anyone would spend thousands on photo equipment and then just start doing photography work for free. Personally, I would have a moral compunction against going out and doing something for free that would be somebody else's livelihood, except in the case of volunteer work for charitable or benevolent organizations or something to help a close friend or family member in need. Am I wrong to feel a bit screwed, not only for myself but my profession, that someone would mess with the market this way, and in so doing condition a private, for profit university that used to pay fair rates for good work to become photography freeloaders?

I suppose it doesn't really matter. That's just the market these days.

[Swphoto]

About two hours into the wedding her 128 GB card in her MK3 died (which had all the formals, pre-ceremony, ceremony etc.) during the reception. She came to me in tears and asked what she should do, tell my friends that she lost all these photos that we could not re-create. I had my MK3 and a card wallet with a ton of 16gb cards in it. So I got my friends in the bridal party together and told them what had happened. They told her not to worry and we would re-do them now. She took my cards and re-shot everything. She learned a valuable lesson that day about using one large card.

Slightly off topic, but do you recall what brand/model of card she was using?

[RMC33]

I could not agree more. My horror story is not one that affected me, but a wedding photographer I know. She showed up early and I had helped her setup the night before. All her gear was fine but I noticed she only had 64 and 128 GB cards (this was about three months ago now). I asked her where her other cards were so I could setup the card holder and she said "I only use these". That made me a bit nervous as I usually act as her backup/director but since I was in the bridal party I could not. About two hours into the wedding her 128 GB card in her MK3 died (which had all the formals, pre-ceremony, ceremony etc.) during the reception. She came to me in tears and asked what she should do, tell my friends that she lost all these photos that we could not re-create. I had my MK3 and a card wallet with a ton of 16gb cards in it. So I got my friends in the bridal party together and told them what had happened. They told her not to worry and we would re-do them now. She took my cards and re-shot everything. She learned a valuable lesson that day about using one large card.

 I personally do not use cards over 16gb and keep a portable card reader/HDD with an LCD screen in my bag to dump from if somehow I fill up the 15 or so cards I have. It's not a matter of If.. but when.

She was shooting with one 5D3 at a paid wedding gig and did not have the SD card as back up?!?!?! It's really the only time I use the SD, for the CYA in these exact circumstances. D'oh !!! These are the "pros" I'm talkin about.

You fill 15 16gb cards at one wedding? Good lord, you must be in PP for half the year for just one gig!

I should have clarified a bit. She had two bodies and usually I spend most of my time posing for her/gathering people. I don't know why but she never uses the SD slot (I keep an 8gb in mine for all shoots) or her 2nd body a lot. .

I was a bit tired while writing this. I have 15 cards, only ever use about 2-3 max (I keep a 16 in my 7d and two 8's for my Mk3). I kinda have a card fetish I guess cause I own two from every brand it seems.

[RMC33]

About two hours into the wedding her 128 GB card in her MK3 died (which had all the formals, pre-ceremony, ceremony etc.) during the reception. She came to me in tears and asked what she should do, tell my friends that she lost all these photos that we could not re-create. I had my MK3 and a card wallet with a ton of 16gb cards in it. So I got my friends in the bridal party together and told them what had happened. They told her not to worry and we would re-do them now. She took my cards and re-shot everything. She learned a valuable lesson that day about using one large card.

Slightly off topic, but do you recall what brand/model of card she was using?

Kingston, Not sure on model but I know it was 60mb/s.

[InterMurph]

The school is not getting my experience or my level of quality, but they have apparently decided the quality sacrifice balances out the cost savings.

They have also likely decided that making an athlete's father happy also helps.