CharleyL
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 p.1 #7 · Best Lens for Dinner Party | |
With "paid gigs", it's absolutely necessary to have backup capability. This is a "one time" event and you are being paid to get it right. Do you have or can you borrow a second camera, lens, flash, etc.? You probably won't use it, but things happen, and for me, always at the worst time. There is no chance to re-shoot this event, so you must be able to get the needed shots when they happen. They are paying you to get this right. Failure of you or gear isn't an option.
Back when I was doing weddings and other paid events, I always had backup gear on me, or at least in my car. I was using two identical Canon 77D cameras for these shoots. For the weddings and large gatherings, having two identical cameras, one with a "near" lens like 24-70 or a 50mm, and the other with at least a 70-200 mm lens, to catch the shots happening at the other side of the event.
I have a two camera harness that I wore, so one camera hung on each side of me, always with the close lens on my left and the far lens on my right, so I could quickly grab and use the camera with the right lens quickly for the shot. I could also switch lenses between these two cameras if I had camera or lens troubles, and there was also a third older camera and flash out in my car, "just in case". Better to have less megapixel shots than no shots at all. My car camera was a Fuji X, a 16 megapixel attached lens camera that's now about 15 years old, but it still works well.
Spare batteries for flashes and cameras, lens wipes, etc. should be in your pockets or on you too. But make certain not to carry batteries in your pockets without some kind of contact protection on them. Pocket change or keys shorting out a lithium or even a cadmium battery in your pocket can quickly make you the Star Attraction there, when you start dancing in pain and throwing the contents of your hot pocket everywhere. Not at an event, but I watched a another photographer/tourist do this once, and his pants pocket was still smoldering after he had emptied it. Yes he got burned, but he wouldn't show any of us his burns.
For my paid shoots I have a canvas belt clip for my spare camera and flash batteries that I always wore at paid events for safety as well as to have them ready and on me, just in case I needed them. Going back and rummaging through your camera bags for batteries is very unprofessional. There is a separate pocket in this belt case for each battery, much like the ammunition holders that gun users sometimes have for their spare bullets. Each pocket in mine holds either a camera battery or two AA cells per pocket (for the speedlites). My speedlites use 4 AA cells and I use Tenergy AA size rechargeable cells. They get placed positive + up in the pockets when charged, and - up when discharged (used). The camera batteries get the same treatment, contacts up = fully charged, down = discharged.
Charley
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