The need for backup equipment for paid jobs

[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.