How many bodies do you take out?

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I always travel with 2 bodies (2x Z9), but I never carry more than one on my person.

Meaning if I take a car ride or plane to a destination, I'll have the Z9+400TC, and Z9+800PF setup. But when I go to shoot for the day, I'll pick which setup I use most.

If I have a willing participant (spouse, friend, family member) sometimes I'll give them one to either use or hold onto, and then swap with me as needed.

I suppose if I were somewhere I couldn't get back to my gear easily (say a Safari or something) then I'd probably bring both bodies.

Fortunately I've only had 2 body related issues so far. Once, I dropped the Z9 + 400TC, and I just went home, grabbed the other Z9 and 800 and was ready to shoot the next day. The other, I was in Iceland shooting Aurora and one of my R5's decided to stop working (error 70 motherboard). I was able to go into the cabin and grab another R5 to use.
 
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If I go on a dedicated wildlife photo trip will that be:
2x Z9 bodies
1x tele zoom 100-400 S
1x tele 600mm f/4 S TC

When combining business with pleasure plane trips will that be:
1x Z8
1x 24-120mm f/4
1x 600m f/6.3 S PF
 
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I usuallly carry two bodies with 2 or 3 lenses depending on where we are going. There will be a third body if I also plan to shoot Infrared. Just don't want to end up with a dead body and no backup and/or the ability to grab a different lens/body for a specific shot.
 
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sh1209 said:
Pretty much the same with me. I’ll take a long prime or zoom and then another with a shorter zoom or prime for things other than wildlife. In the summer I use the 100-400 and 90mm macro which is a great combo for insects.
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Kudos to you for being able to visualize wildlife and macro photos at the same time! I used to go out with my macro lens, figuring I’d pick up bugs and flowers while looking for birds. I just can’t pull it off. I don’t see macros when looking that far down the horizon.
 
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Mostly when hiking I will take one - a Z9 with 100-400 +/- 1.4 TC depending on what I think I'll find. This covers me for pretty much all of the wildlife I'm likely to see on a hike and the close focus of the 100-400 makes a pretty good approximation of a macro lens for close up work. If I'm off to a hide/blind where I know I won't be hiking I may take two bodies / lenses depending on what I'm photographing.
 
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sh1209 said:
In the past I only went out with one body and a couple lenses but for the last 10 years or so I have always taken two bodies and two lenses whenever going out. The main reason for me is, the difficulty of changing lenses in the field due to limitations I have from severe injuries to my arms. It makes for a better experience in my opinion having two bodies with different focal lengths ready to go. It also provides coverage for different scenarios such as video or other situations. I am to the point now, that I can't imagine not going out with multiple camera bodies. I am curious how others feel and what your workflow is like?
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Title sounded like the question was addressed to a Mafia hit man! 😎
 
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Depends. If I'm just doing something local / simple, one body and lens is usually about it. If I'm on a trip, I'll have two bodies, although TBH most of the time I'm still only using one. Where I actually use two at a time is when faced with dusty, windy, environments bent on sticking debris to my sensor.
 
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sh1209 said:
In the past I only went out with one body and a couple lenses but for the last 10 years or so I have always taken two bodies and two lenses whenever going out. The main reason for me is, the difficulty of changing lenses in the field due to limitations I have from severe injuries to my arms. It makes for a better experience in my opinion having two bodies with different focal lengths ready to go. It also provides coverage for different scenarios such as video or other situations. I am to the point now, that I can't imagine not going out with multiple camera bodies. I am curious how others feel and what your workflow is like?
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From your perspective 100% understandable, but even without such limitation I can't wait to have a second body again. I had it in the past and it was great, but at the moment, after all this spending money to change to Z I struggle a bit, because I am currently very limited in terms of time I have to go out and shoot.
On the other hand, the opposite argument counted for me already in tne past, becaus especially if you don't have so much time it is even more "important" not to miss an opportunity. For this reason, in DSLR times, and when shooting stationary from a tent or blind I often had two cameras setup for different direction in order to minimize movement or I had one on the tripod positioned for the primary target and the other one sitting on my laps with a shorter focal length or a zoom, just in case something else happens.

Today I was busy with bees in a flowering tree while some actiobn came up with three ravens in a tree nearby and I wished I had a second body with the 180-600 ready ...

So, yes ! As soon as I can afford it I will try to get back to have two bodies - sorry cameras :giggle: . Not to forget, is is also good for the equipment itself. In DSLR days my D4s was more or less glued to the 500 f4 and only came off from time to time to install the TC and the D850 was doing "the rest".
 
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Steve said:
Depends. If I'm just doing something local / simple, one body and lens is usually about it. If I'm on a trip, I'll have two bodies, although TBH most of the time I'm still only using one. Where I actually use two at a time is when faced with dusty, windy, environments bent on sticking debris to my sensor.
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There must be advanteage of having so much shooting routine. Looking at some of your excercises in your videos I believe that you are faster putting a TC between lens and body than many of us putting their hands from one camera with lens sitting on a tripod to another and having all fingers on the right button at once. :D

But I really didn't expect that you are working with one body the majority of time.
 
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Woodpecker said:
There must be advanteage of having so much shooting routine. Looking at some of your excercises in your videos I believe that you are faster putting a TC between lens and body than many of us putting their hands from one camera with lens sitting on a tripod to another and having all fingers on the right button at once. :D

But I really didn't expect that you are working with one body the majority of time.
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Most of the time I know what I'm after and what I'll need. Over the years I've become pretty good at guessing :)

The other thing is, maybe more importantly, unless you are shooting from a vehicle, having extra gear hanging all over you slows you down, at lest it does me. I'm far more flexible with just a single body and lens when I'm out hiking in a given area.

Safaris are a bit of an exception and I tend to have and use two cameras - but mostly because I'm in a vehicle and they aren't in my way when not in use :)

However, much of the time outside of safaris, I may have another lens or two and a backup body along on a trip, but each outing I choose what I want to use and the rest generally stays in the bag. Heck, anyone who has ever shot with me in Costa Rica knows I usually just have a body with a 600mm on it (and TCs in the pouch - although now my TC is on a lever :) ).
 
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I just came back from a two month visit to India. I took two bodies of Z9 together with 180-600 and 100-400 lenses and two extra batteries, all in my carry-on. It worked out well, though eventually I ended up only using one body and mostly 180-600 for birding. I did take my old 17-24mm, a 50mm and FTZ adapter for landscape and portrait photos - these were in the checked-in baggage. By the way at every security checkpoint (Toronto, Dubai, Kolkata) I had to open the camera bag for a bit of scrutiny, nothing much else.
 
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Woodpecker said:
From your perspective 100% understandable, but even without such limitation I can't wait to have a second body again. I had it in the past and it was great, but at the moment, after all this spending money to change to Z I struggle a bit, because I am currently very limited in terms of time I have to go out and shoot.
On the other hand, the opposite argument counted for me already in tne past, becaus especially if you don't have so much time it is even more "important" not to miss an opportunity. For this reason, in DSLR times, and when shooting stationary from a tent or blind I often had two cameras setup for different direction in order to minimize movement or I had one on the tripod positioned for the primary target and the other one sitting on my laps with a shorter focal length or a zoom, just in case something else happens.

Today I was busy with bees in a flowering tree while some actiobn came up with three ravens in a tree nearby and I wished I had a second body with the 180-600 ready ...

So, yes ! As soon as I can afford it I will try to get back to have two bodies - sorry cameras :giggle: . Not to forget, is is also good for the equipment itself. In DSLR days my D4s was more or less glued to the 500 f4 and only came off from time to time to install the TC and the D850 was doing "the rest".
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It sure makes a world of difference and keeps from missing a lot of opportunities
 
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I'm with you. While many times I am out there with one camera/lens, I always have the second body nearby in case I run into a problem with the first body. But also when you need two different lenses, I don't ike to do lens changes in the field due to the risk of getting dust in the camera or on the sensor, and the time it takes. When I went to do some national parks for 10 days a few years ago, I had a 24-105 on one body for landscapes, and a 100-400 + 1.4x TC on the other for wildlife. I could not anticipate from one stop to the next whether it was going to be a landscape or wildlife shot, so having both ready was really great. I also have had them both around my neck at times and was glad I did.
 
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Shooting in nearby locations a known before object: one body, one lens. As soon as I travel, I go with two. First, I don’t want to be somewhere out there, the camera goes bust and that was it. But then, in a dusty or humid environment, I hate to change lenses. And of course I am much faster, when the set is already prepared. Sometimes I even would wish for a third body, but yes, money ….
 
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McStamp said:
Shooting in nearby locations a known before object: one body, one lens. As soon as I travel, I go with two. First, I don’t want to be somewhere out there, the camera goes bust and that was it. But then, in a dusty or humid environment, I hate to change lenses. And of course I am much faster, when the set is already prepared. Sometimes I even would wish for a third body, but yes, money ….
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I agree with the third and I’m contemplating getting one of the Fuji x100 bodies just to have for a third general purpose camera.
 
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If I’m hiking, I usually take my d500/300pf with or without the 1.4 teleconverter or I’ll substitute the Z6ii body w/adapter.
If driving, I’ll take the Z8/500pf and the Z6ii with the 24-120 to be ready for potential landscape shots.
 
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