Backup equipment -- If you ain't got it.........

....... then DON'T take a photography job!!!


I just finished reading my 4th thread tonight that goes something like this:

I have a shoot tomorrow and my camera stopped working. I called Canon and they said "yup, its broke."

What am I gonna do?

Now, I'm not one to kick a man when he's down, but here's my thought. If you are prepared to take someone's money to take their picture, you had better be ready to go. All the pros that I know and respect build redundancy into their programs.

So, if you are a "poor" photographer who can't afford to back themselves up, is it right to contract for a job, knowing that you might not be able to deliver if your equipment fails?

I voted "yes" but that is only because their isn't an "other" option.

Obviously its always smartest to have back up, but if you can't afford it you need to start somewhere. I personally feel that if you are breaking into portraits (families, seniors, children) you're probably pretty safe to go at it without a backup for everything you own. This is only becaues while it would definitely suck to have something break at/before the shoot - at least its not soooo pressing that you couldn't do a re-shoot.

However, I don't think you should AT ALL go at a wedding without backup.

Ty,
I think it all depends on what you are shooting, if it is a family portrait then I don't think it is an absolute necessity to have a backup especially if you are starting out. If you are shooting something a little more important like a sporting event, a race a wedding then definately you need a backup and if you can't afford a new body most cities have stores where you can rent a body for 40 bucks if you can't do that then that is pretty irresponsible IMO but for the family shoots I would say it isn't required but it is good to have

Matt,

You have to start somewhere. Some people use the gigs to pay for their next upgrade.

I'm not voting because it's too one sided. Yes, they should have a backup. But starting out, and if they spent tons getting what they have, or just a small bit of what they could spare to start with, then no. I don't think they should "have" to, since we all can't go having 1D MKIII's laying around.

Tigershark wrote in post #5699270
Ty,
I think it all depends on what you are shooting, if it is a family portrait then I don't think it is an absolute necessity to have a backup especially if you are starting out. If you are shooting something a little more important like a sporting event, a race a wedding then definately you need a backup and if you can't afford a new body most cities have stores where you can rent a body for 40 bucks if you can't do that then that is pretty irresponsible IMO but for the family shoots I would say it isn't required but it is good to have

I think we are probably on the same page here. I would assume some flexibility with the family portrait scenario.

I think the thing that bugs me (and, really, its no skin off my back) is the idea that its somehow acceptable for a photographer to be less prepared than you would be in another career. If you are a framer, you better have a hammer If you work at a bank, you can't call in sick if you rip you suit jacket -- you had better have another.

My primary job is not a photographer although one day I hope to be doing this fulll time, my full time job is IT consulting for companies and individuals, if i bid a large networking job or any job that I don't have the expertise then I line it up as a backup, I've been doing this for 15+ years so this is a business and works no different from any other if it is a small job like family portraits then you can get away with it, if it is big in my experience installing a VPN for a company I always have a backup Cisco buddy ready on call in case I run into problems. IMO it works the same way. In every business there are risks you take and not having a backup can be a dangerous scenario. I see this every week in the IT industry when someone calls me to recover a crashed hard drive because they didn't have any thing backed up. After the first time they almsot always learn and photography is no different.

Yeah, thats the way I look at it. The first three jobs I did I actually paid another full time pro to be there. I learned more than my moneys worth, and the client got exactly what they wanted. When I shot my first job, I was very prepared.

When I look at the money I have invested in redundacy, I realize that I could sell it all and buy a 1ds and a 85 1.2.

Maybe I should!

If you are a pro you better have back up equipment and plenty of it.
For twenty-five years I was what you would call a Hollywood photographer.
I shot at home layouts with celebrities for Hello and Hola magazines. With
celebrities there is no going back because your equipment failed. I always
had SEVEN bodies with me and at least six lenses. For these kind of shoots
you have to be prepared, no mistakes.

I would vote other, since it depends on the situation.

I shoot corporate and commercial work and have full backup for bodies, lenses, strobes, light meters, computers, and other essential gear. Since the cost of equipment, location, assistants, models, catering, studio, etc, don't go away if something breaks, and it can easily run into a couple grand a day, I need to be prepared to keep going no matter what.

The same holds true for events that can't be recreated, or would be very costly to do so. A portrait can always be rescheduled very easily, and at worse you might have to give a refund, or have a disgruntled client. But at least you won't have to refund the fee, have a disgrunted client, and shell out $5,834.32 in expenses because you couldn't deliver.

I even backup people If a shoot really needs one assistant to function, I book two. One experienced first assistant, and another second assistant. If the first assistant gets hurt, sick, car breaks down, etc, I can usually function with a bit more workload on me, and the slack taken up with the second assistant. If it needs two to function, I book two experienced assistants, and a fresh assistant or intern. Same with makeup. I don't double book talent, but the agency is usually ready to send over an alternate should something happen. So they have backup in a way as well.

The more serious or costly the shoot, the more important the backup equipment and people are.

Hi,

I too would vote "It depends" or "Other" if those were options.

A wedding photography should have backup stuff... period. There are no do-overs, so "my camera/flash/lens quit working, my dog/assistant ate my homework" just doesn't cut it.

Someone who accepts an assignment that places a lot of financial responsibility on the client also should also have backup. I'm thinking of an example where the manufacturer lent 8 jets to the photographer for a two day shoot, at a cost to the manufacturer of about $2400 an hour. Better not have an equipment failure send you into extra innings on a job like that, or on one that sends you to the other side of the world to get the shot.

A news photographer had better have backup if their equipment fails while covering a breaking story, or they may miss the story.

Backup would be less critical in situations where there's more room to make up for problems, where a delay might be inconvenient, but isn't a disaster. Portrait sessions are a good example. Product shots another.

Once again faust is right on target.

Get a rental body for the day. Most weddings pay at least 500$, so spend a bit of that on a second body. It's worth it for piece of mind and professionalism.

Yes or No is a personal thing. But I wouldn't be a primary without a second body.

For weddings two bodies is a MINIMUM, I take three. Weddings happen once, you mess it up you get sued. Do you think a contract will protect you against an American jury if you don't take all reasonable precautions, like having a backup? Not likely.

I bought an new 40D and decided that my old 20D as a back-up is worth anything I could get trying to sell it.

It is incredibly unprofessional to cancel or not perform your job because your camera broke.
It's similar to have your batteries run down because you forgot to charge them. That reminds me, my batteries are low...

Just because you have backup equipment doesn't mean that it will save the day if something goes wrong, and just because you don't have it doesn't mean that you are unable to complete your job if something fails. It is ideal to have it, but it isn't necessary. How many of you are professionals that don't have a backup, or have ever done a job without a backup? There are more circumstances that need to be taken into consideration.