Backup or alternate camera

[Hausen]

I am on the road at present and my back up to X1D on this trip is my M6ti with 28 summicron and my last roll of FujiPro160. When I return home I should have a nice Fuji GF670w waiting, that will likely be back up from now on.

 

[Jack]

Sony A7r or rII modded to full-spectrum -- with a 24-70/2.8 lens mounted, spare battery and a few filters for visible and IR (or even UV) captures, you have a reasonably inexpensive, compact and very versatile high-quality imaging system that also allows alternative capture options.

 

[Shashin]

I have a backup camera. It is on my Prius...:toocool:

 

[algrove]

Another idea

Use a tech cam setup which can be light and which probably will not break down, then have 2 DB, one color and one B&W. If one DB goes down you have a backup.

This might entail selling the fancy car, end romances and hitch hike to your destination thus eliminating all air travel, but you will have a backup.

 

[GrahamWelland]

True story regarding backups - I attended a fine art photography workshop at the weekend and there was a fellow IQ3100/technical camera shooter there with me. He found out at at 6:30am on site that he forgot to bring the synch cable for the tech cam/back. Unfortunately for him I only brought along my GFX outfit and so had no spare cable to lend him (I normally carry two with my tech cam outfit, plus at least two cable releases - all at home 2500 miles away!).

He was dead in the water regarding shooting tech cam that morning. That said he did bring his canon dslr so it wasn’t a total disaster.

 

[algrove]

True story regarding backups - I attended a fine art photography workshop at the weekend and there was a fellow IQ3100/technical camera shooter there with me. He found out at at 6:30am on site that he forgot to bring the synch cable for the tech cam/back. Unfortunately for him I only brought along my GFX outfit and so had no spare cable to lend him (I normally carry two with my tech cam outfit, plus at least two cable releases - all at home 2500 miles away!).

He was dead in the water regarding shooting tech cam that morning. That said he did bring his canon dslr so it wasn’t a total disaster.

So why did he just not use ES as most of us with the IQ3100 do now which eliminates the need for cable releases?

 

[Wayne Fox]

So why did he just not use ES as most of us with the IQ3100 do now which eliminates the need for cable releases?

That was my thought. maybe the workshop was before the firmware update that enabled ES?

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

The ideal backup is always another, identical camera, but it's usually also the most expensive solution. The A7 is always a fine lightweight alternative. However, since you already have a Zeiss outfit in F-mount, why not upgrade your Nikon body to the D850? You gain resolution, DR and better high ISO and lose weight and size. Looks like a good deal to me.

Me? M4/3 is always my backup, whatever other camera I use. Increasingly often, it's my main system anyway. It's perfect for size, not so much for image quality, but then cameras don't break that often, and image quality is good enough for what I do most of the time.

 

[GrahamWelland]

That was my thought. maybe the workshop was before the firmware update that enabled ES?

:facesmack: Doh!!

Nope. It was last weekend and I realize that I was brain dead at 6am ... the irony is that I shoot my Actus DB+ this way and just responded to the question at hand (did I have a spare synch cable with me?) vs thinking it through with him. I was obviously in shooting Fuji GFX mindset at the time, concentrating on my shots and didn’t think of it TBH. :banghead:

Time for a backup early morning left brain lobe?

 

[dchew]

Funny, cuz I am packing for a week in the Eastern Sierra, and I was just looking at my sync cables. Normally I bring two sets of cords and switches, but now I'm thinking to just leave it all in the closet!

Unless somebody else shows up with a DB and needs a spare sync cable. Hmm...

Dave

 

[tashley]

These days I don't often take my IQ3-100 out and about: it's has become for studio and near the house kinds of stuff, or stuff where I can get a car right to the place of shooting. For travel I might take either a Hassy X1D or Sony A7RII (depending on what sorts of things I anticipate shooting) but more often than not these days, if it's a vacation rather than specifically a shooting trip, I take the EM1 MkII with the 12-100 (24-200 in old money) lens. If you shoot it carefully with regards to DR, it is nearly always good enough. You can't print huge from it but you can print bigger than you might think. And you can use it in hi-res pixel shift mode which for quite a lot of subjects gives really good results, even with just a gorillapod or a ledge. I kid you not, only a real pro would tell it from MF most of the time - even in very large prints... But the killer is the combination of in-lens and in-body IS, which means that you can often shoot it at ludicrously low shutter speeds, meaning low ISO, and for this reason it will very often beat out much 'better' cameras. Really surprisingly often. And while the lens is no Rodenstock, its imperfections will be hidden to all but the most well-informed and will generally give an image that appears clean and sharp throughout the frame.

It is a MUCH more compelling combination than anyone who hasn't used it a lot would realise and now accounts for a higher percentage of the frames I shoot casually than anything else. I love it.

 

[tsjanik]

When I acquired a 645Z, I used my 645D as a backup. I then rarely used the D, so I sold it and got a K-1. The K-1 has nearly the resolution of the 645D (no CCD vs. CMOS preference for me). The K-1, when operated in pixel shift mode, rivals the 645Z (you can search for Quentin's posts of the K-1 and Fuji for comparison images); additionally, the K-1 offers the use of ultra wide lenses not available with the Z. The Z and K-1 use the same batteries, a real plus. I wish the K-1 and new Pentax lenses were more compact and lighter, as was their tradition, but otherwise a nice system.

Tom

 

[Jeffrey]

I don't shoot professionally. When traveling by air, I shoot my Phase One XF or my Cambo WRS-5000 technical camera. When I'm driving I usually take along my Nikon D810 in addition to my medium format gear. I'm trying to reduce the amount of gear I take when I'm driving, but to be perfectly honest most of my gear still winds up in my car. One day I'll figure it out. (Not a chance!) Hahaha!

 

[Kolor-Pikker]

Having crossed over from Canon to shooting a Pentax 645Z, I naturally kept the Canon 5D2 and a standard zoom for backup, but quite frankly, I haven't ever had the need to use it in a long time except once.
I've since given the Canon over to a friend, and don't particularly miss it, I just want to get deeper into medium format and stay there!