Is a back up battery necessary?

duane0524 wrote in post #10787209
Unless you miss that once in a lifetime shot because you ran out of juice.

Which, like I said, would be a mere nuisance to me. It wouldn't make me liable for breach of contract or ruin my life. Nor has it happened to me in over 8 years of shooting DSLR's.

rvdw98 wrote in post #10787308
Which, like I said, would be a mere nuisance to me. It wouldn't make me liable for breach of contract or ruin my life. Nor has it happened to me in over 8 years of shooting DSLR's.

I am not as on the ball with you, so the chances of me taking an almost empty battery with me out the door are pretty good. So having the bullpen was worth it to me.

Batteries can run fine one day and crap out the next (if you have ever owned a car, you know what I mean).

Gotta have a spare.

Necessary? Probably not.

Couldn't really hurt to have a spare charged up just in case and just switch between the two. You may end up in a situation where charging is NOT available or taking up time to charge is INconvenient.

For pros... I'd imagine it's a must.

You don't need to spend $100 on an OEM battery just get a Maximal or the like for $25 or so . Cheap insurance just in case .

For me photography was the way I earned a living. Spares were the cost of doing business.

For most on this forum, photography is a hobby. If you are going out to take snapshots, an extra battery is a cost you don't need.

I keep 2 spares and a dual charger in the bag.

Yes for me, Always had a grip full of AA's when I had the 350D and the camera battery. The 1D has a spare, but will be getting another I think too.

I find that a backup battery is never necessary until the one in my camera runs out of charge

If you are using lenses that have IS, they will also help run your battery down.

Photogs make up a big mixture of those that don't shoot many images at one outing to those that shoot events like weddings or sports where many images are taken during the course of one day. Always good to have extra battery power...and a spare body also.

I would have a battery grip full of charged batteries and spares.
Same with memory cards, tons of extras.

If you really find yourself in a situation where you have to get a shot/video, your going to be kicking your own ass for not having something as essential as a spare battery.

yes -- b/u batteries are cheap insurance and just one less thing to worry about

Do you have house, car or camera insurance??

Two things you can never have enough of,, batteries and memory cards..

I always carry spares..

I think it is much better to have one and never need it than to need it and not have one. Think of it as battery insurance. You have it and hope never to use it.

I always carry a spare battery and charger now. I learned the hard way was on a trip to New Zealand left charger home trying to save weight. Had charged battery and a duracell spare ended up taking more pictures than I expected so with two dead batteries I was walking around Christchurch going from camera store to battery store, no Wall Marts in NZ. Finely after miles of walking found a camera store who was willing to take a battery and charger from a new camera kit and sold it to me for $80.00. Saved the trip as we still had 6 more days left in trip.