Do any of you that shoot with 2 camera bodies?

rayonline_nz · Jan 27, 2021

Just curious about this. More related to walkabout / travel type of photography. We hear in the past that people shot 2 bodies either with slow and faster ISO or color film and black and white film. How do you guys do in this regard? I have also known people who have gone for hiking but to cut the load down the person just shot color film and converted the few to BW.

Cheers.

fs999 · Jan 27, 2021

On travel I have mostly three cameras on me, two, one MF and one 35mm, with film (one b&w and one color) and one digital.

AgX · Jan 27, 2021

Not alone to have different films at hand, but also to have different lenses at hand immediately.

Not sure though whether this applies on hiking.

rayonline_nz · Jan 27, 2021

fs999 said:
On travel I have mostly three cameras on me, two, one MF and one 35mm, with film (one b&w and one color) and one digital.

AgX said:
Not alone to have different films at hand, but also to have different lenses at hand immediately.

Not sure though whether this applies on hiking.

I guess I mentioned about travelling and hiking b/c it's what's on you at the time. Do you carry more than 1 camera or 4 cameras with you when you are walking around outside? Or do you leave some cameras at the hotel and then decide on 1 or 2 cameras to bring with you? Such you spend 8hrs outside in the city after leaving your hotel or you are spending 2hrs walking hiking trail.

If one was doing less walking, but just get to a location I can see how more than 1 camera can be more manageable. If you do use multiple camera bodies are they full size SLRs or are they more compact cameras like a Nikon FM ... ?

Agulliver · Jan 27, 2021

I have strong arms and a strong neck so when I am out and about (be it a local walk or travel further afield) I often have a minimum of two cameras. It varies depending on my mood and muse, but it is quite common for me to have two film SLRs...one with colour film, one with B&W or sometimes one with a wide lens and one with a zoom. I might also have some sort of digital camera with me (compact or DSLR) and a medium format. Maybe a rangefinder 35mm too with something unusual such as IR sensitive film or a high speed B&W film if the SLR has 100ISO film in it. I can lug that all in one bag, possibly with one or two camera bodies slung around my neck.

I think it's a bit of "FOMO" for me. When I've been out with just one camera, even a versatile one, I often think "damn, if only I'd had X piece of equipment I'd have got a better shot". I am not the kind of person who will desaturate a colour photo to look B&W, they never look natural. There's a certain frustration in taking a wide angle lens on a walk in the countryside intending to capture landscapes and spotting a bird of prey on the wing, a helicopter or some flower I want to photograph in macro.

So I probably end up with a ridiculous amount of gear sometimes, but it keeps my muscles in shape!

If I know I am attending a specific event or going on a specific outing I will have some idea of what I want to take...for example going out on a boat whale watching I do need a long lens and fast film. Visiting an historic city for a photo walk I might need several different lenses including a decent zoom.

moggi1964 · Jan 27, 2021

I'll be going out for an exercise walk today (Covid rules) and will take my Minister D with Portra 400; my Isolette II with XP2 and my Olympus EM1 MkII with the 12-40 F/2.8 lens. I plan to shoot film today but like having the extra reach of the Oly lens available if a specific opportunity arises.

If I was going hiking, I would bring the same ones but use a backpack rather than a messenger bag.

Ernst-Jan · Jan 27, 2021

I rarely go out with just one camera.
Last year most times I went out with a M645+45+80 and C330+55+80 in my bag, usually one with colour film and one with b/w. The weight of this doesn't bother me, like Agulliver.

For 135 I only have 50mm lenses (today a 28mm will be delivered by the way), so most of the time I will only bring one of those.
I also bought a RB67 with 3 backs, so it might also be possible to go out with just one camera and being able to shoot different film stocks. But maybe I'll take a 35mm camera with it.

Don_ih · Jan 27, 2021

I take a Leica III with a 50mm Elmar or Summar with me wherever I go. If I'm going out specifically to take pictures, I take that and a Contax SLR with a 28mm lens and a Nikkormat with a 21mm lens - the Contax will have faster film in it. I also will have a medium format (6x9). Sometimes, I'll have a Speed Graphic.... So, not one - sometimes five? The Contax runs on AA batteries - I don't like cameras that run on batteries, for the most part. But those Yashica lenses are hard to beat (that includes the ones with Zeiss stamped on them).

Nitroplait · Jan 27, 2021

As light as possible always: 1 film camera w. BW film one or max two prime lenses. Backup camera and color etc. is my iPhone.

bdial · Jan 27, 2021

My experience has been that it’s really easy to spend more time figuring out what lens to use on what body with what film than to pay attention to what you’re seeing.

halfaman · Jan 27, 2021

In recent times I am traveling with a Pentax 67II as my main camera and a panoramic Noblex 135N as secondary. I carry two lenses with the Pentax 67II, normally 105mm f/2.4 and 55mm f/4, one on the camera and another in a pocket of my jacket. The Noblex goes in the other pocket or hanging on a wirst. In the trousers pockets there is film and some color balance filter (81C). In the backpack there are things I use more sporadically like a 200mm f/4, more filters, hoods, close-up lens, batteries, a small bottle of water...

I think I should buy a journalist jacket but my partner does not like to walk next to any person wearing that piece of cloth....

Kino · Jan 27, 2021

If I am in the right mood, my 35mm Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super B with interchangeable film backs is nice. I can have slide, color negative and B&W negative all in one camera with a moment's notice. I carry 3 backs with me but find that most often I only have 2 loaded and ready to go and wind up shooting one to completion after I "discover" what I want to shoot that day.

Otherwise, I will sometimes carry two cameras, but usually with ONE type of film and a wide angle one one camera and mild telephoto on the other body.

Personally, too many choices is simply diverts my attention away from making images.

RalphLambrecht · Jan 27, 2021

rayonline_nz said:
Just curious about this. More related to walkabout / travel type of photography. We hear in the past that people shot 2 bodies either with slow and faster ISO or color film and black and white film. How do you guys do in this regard? I have also known people who have gone for hiking but to cut the load down the person just shot color film and converted the few to BW.

Cheers.

I find taking two bodies confuses the goal and, I have more good shots when taking only one body.

narsuitus · Jan 27, 2021

rayonline_nz said:
Do any of you that shoot with 2 camera bodies?

I routinely shoot weddings with two camera bodies and keep a third as a backup.

For stage performances, I usually shoot with three bodies... one with normal lens, one with telephoto lens, and one with wide-angle lens.

I sometimes shoot documentary and street with two 35mm rangefinder or SLR bodies... rangefinder with 35mm f/1.4 and 90mm f/2 or the SLR with 35mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4.

For walkabout / hiking type photography, I usually carry only one lightweight camera body and one lens and shoot either black & white or color.

For nature hikes, I usually take one body and one macro lens and shoot only color film.

At one time, I shot vacation travel with 2 Contax G1 bodies and 28/45/90mm lenses or 21/45/90mm lenses.

I now do vacation travel with one camera body, one lens, and one smart phone backup.

On my bucket list is to do a Grand Canyon type vacation with two medium format cameras... one Fuji 6x7cm with 90mm normal lens and one Fuji 6x9cm with 65mm wide-angle lens.

grain elevator · Jan 27, 2021

Around home mostly just one, but sometimes a second body for a lens I don't have for the primary body or some such. For travel, it depends. If I have to carry it a lot, just one. But if space and weight isn't an issue, two bodies just so I don't have to change lenses and to have a backup, and 3-4 lenses. Preferably the same film in both, unless something special is required, otherwise it gets too complicated.

Chan Tran · Jan 27, 2021

I used 2 or 3 bodies when I shoot a wedding to avoid having to reload film when I needed to shoot.

Paul Howell · Jan 27, 2021

When a working PJ is almost always carried two, early years a Nikon F later a F2 with either a Leica IIIG or Canon 7S, last years a F3 and FG, in those days a 50 or longer lens on the SLR and a 28 on the rangefinder or on the FG. Today I carry 3 cameras when I travel, Minolta 9 and 7 or Minolta 800 with 600 and a point and shoot.

Alex Benjamin · Jan 27, 2021

I often - not always - take the two Nikon FM, or one Nikon + the Mamiya C330 or the Fuji GW690ii.

As for film, it really depends. I kind of have three scenarios, especially with the two Nikons:
- one black & white and one color film in each
- either two different color films (same ISO) or two different black & white film (same ISO) in order to compare
- same film, different lenses so I don't have to switch

fs999 · Jan 27, 2021

rayonline_nz said:
I guess I mentioned about travelling and hiking b/c it's what's on you at the time. Do you carry more than 1 camera or 4 cameras with you when you are walking around outside? Or do you leave some cameras at the hotel and then decide on 1 or 2 cameras to bring with you? Such you spend 8hrs outside in the city after leaving your hotel or you are spending 2hrs walking hiking trail.

If one was doing less walking, but just get to a location I can see how more than 1 camera can be more manageable. If you do use multiple camera bodies are they full size SLRs or are they more compact cameras like a Nikon FM ... ?

I meant travelling and walking (I'm not hiking). Mostly one 35mm (Leica CL or Pentax *ist 35mm or Agfa Optima 1353) and one MF (Plaubel Maknia 67 or Agfa Super Isolette or Suzuki Press Van or Tayodo Reflex Beauty or Pentax 645N) and my Pentay K-1 full frame DSLR. I spend mostly 8 hours outside the hotel, walking or driving a car.

C-130 Nav · Jan 27, 2021

I usually carry 2 camera bodies. I shoot B&W film in my Nikon F6. (Hybrid alert: the other camera is a Nikon D750 which helps me compose/meter difficult scenes and zero in on settings before I fire off a volley of film shots. Could you call that an advanced light meter?) I do have a second Nikon F6 that I'm bringing into the mix with either a different B&W film or possibly color. However, I find that I get a bit tangled up with 3 camera bodies, especially when they weigh a couple of pounds each. So I'll probably only ever haul 2 about.

Occasionally, I'll go completely old school with my Kodak Medalist or Yashica D. I use a traditional light meter and only 1 camera at a time in these shoots. Shedding the complexity of the modern cameras is liberating and, while results may vary, they are certainly more rewarding.

ic-racer · Jan 27, 2021

In the last 5 years or so I have been using only a single film stock. The added complexity of multiple film stocks did not seem to make my prints any better.

Dan Fromm · Jan 27, 2021

Ray, I once shot a cycling event with two Nikkormats, one for color, the other for b/w. 105/2.5 Nikkor on each.

Until Kodachrome processing went away I used two 35 mm SLR bodies. One, with a high (1/250) sync speed for flash photography of flowers, insects and the like with ISO 25 K'chrome. The other, with aperture preferred exposure automation, for use with faster film on lenses with fixed apertures (inexpensive 400/8 teles, 700/8 Questar) and run with manual exposure control for general photography, all with ISO 100 E6 films. The bodies and small lenses lived in a Pelican case. In fact, they're still there. I also traveled with a Canon AF35ML. It sort of saved me once when an airline misplaced the Pelican.

Kodachromeguy · Jan 27, 2021

When I go on an outing with a 4×5, Hasselblad, or Fuji GW, I sometimes slip my Leica IIIC into the bag, as well. I use the latter for more snapshot-type of photos. Often, these ones turn out to be pretty successful. But I agree with some of the comments that it is best to use one film stock and size to concentrate your mind on the topic.

BradS · Jan 27, 2021

Yes, two - one chrome and one black.

Sirius Glass · Jan 27, 2021

Yes, all the time, one for black & white and one for color.

Do any of you that shoot with 2 camera bodies?

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