Any advice from two-fisted shooters?

[andre j.]

Hello, this is my first question to the sea of photographers who frequent this board, and I

am a newbie to wedding photography, having done one for a friend and also having

videotaped one for another. I am wondering about the logistics of using two cameras, and

how thoase who shoot that way manage it. Do you simply sling them both around your

neck? Could get crazy with a bracket and flash!? Do you have them both in a bag you work

out of and just schlep the kit around with you? I won't have the luxury of an assistant, so

any and all suggestions are welcome. By the way, I'll be shooting with Rebels and 2.8 L

zooms, 24-70 and 70-200 IS, plus an EF-s 10-22. I have a Custom Brackets QRS-35-H

with a 580EX.<div></div>

[cjogo]

~~~Most of my colleagues {who are of the two-fisted type) seem to sling several bodises, with lenses around their necks. I still use one camera.. one zoom..one small bag.....

[johnmarkpainter]

I am more of a Three fisted shooter....usually primes with Leicas. Much smaller than what

you are talking about.

 

I have done it with two Nikons with a 20-35 and a 35-70. Comfy straps are a must at that

point.

 

I don't generally use a Flash in that way though. I Have done it using Handheld Flash and

switching the cable from ONE flash to the body I want to use, or I have one body shooting

high speed (usually B&W) without Flash and another shooting Color with a FLash.

 

The 'system' is to use different lengths of Straps ala W. Eugene Smith. I did see a Photog

once that had a Bracket that held two bodies and shared one Flash. It looked crazy to me

(though interesting!) and seemed like you would be better off getting the right ONE lens

instead.

[cameron_rautmann___holt__m]

Yep, sling away. I put one over my shoulder and have one in my hands. You may want to turn the one you're not using upside down so the bracket hangs down and doesn't get in the way. Also helpful to put it around your neck so it doesn't slide off your shoulder. If anyone has a better idea, I'm all ears.

[kari douma]

I always used two when I shot film, one for black and white and one for color. I din't like hanging them both around my neck, because with 2 cameras and a light meter around my neck, I always got tangled up and choked myself! Usually I had one around my neck, and one on my sholder (like a purse :)) Sometimes if I was in the heat of the action, I would have both on my neck, but usually ended up in a mess and said "I've got to remember not to do that again!" I just switched to digital, so my next wedding I plan on only having one, because my back up is film. I don't plan on using it unless I have to. Maybe I'll change my mind after a few weddings with it!

[cliff_henry]

Only when I have to with color in one and b&W in other will I use two cameras. I find it very diffcult to work with two at a time. When shooting two, I use one with Pro T bracket on strap around neck and other with Flip 350 backet (smaller than Pro T) hung on shoulder. I use them this way for getting ready shots and ceremony. For formals I shoot only one body with color from a tripod. At reception I use one body at a time - color for set-up shots, cake, toast, etc. A couple of times during evening I will swap bodies and make a past around room with b&w body. It would be nice to have an assistant to carry extra body and lenses.

 

Cliff

[jewan_runhaar]

I am an assistant/2nd shooter to a photographer who shoots with 2 big eos 1-series DSLR's. He usually has a prime on 1 (mostly 85 1.2 which isn't the lightest by far) and a zoom on the other(24-70 most of the time) so he won't miss a shot due to carrying a prime. He has a bracket+flash on the one with the zoom and the other with out a flash, or he uses the flash from the other bracket (he can switch the flash from one camera to another in no time). It looks ridiculous seeing him walking around like that. You can't sneak up to people carrying all that around.

 

I don't really get why you would want to carry 2 camera's when all you are using are zoom lenses. I just don't see the need.

 

If you do want to go through with it, you better switch to Leica and go the Al Kaplan way. People will be a lot more spontaneous in front of your camera that way.

[cjogo]

I rarely use a bracket...and just suggest to our clients whom ask for B&W ( since we include the negs) just have the color image they select >> printed B&W. Very difficult for me to think B&W for one camera and then swing another camera in to view and think colour. Totally different sides of the brain for me. No need for us to have two cameras ...easier to concentrate and control exposures, etc. I feel the shot would be over ~ by the time I switched cameras~lens or changed exposures with the camera/flash ( still manual )<div></div>

[cjogo]

CONVERTED<div></div>

[grant g]

"I'll be shooting with Rebels and 2.8 L zooms, 24-70 and 70-200 IS, plus an EF-s 10-22."

 

I shoot almost the same setup at functions. Same lenses plus a fast prime or two (28/1.8, 50/1.4, 85/1.8). I shoot a Drebel and the 2nd body is either a 10D or a D30. The rebel stays on my neck with one of the zooms with a shoe mounted 550EX and LS2 connected to a CP-E3 in my left pants pocket. The second body has a lens that I think I might need next, with a flash bracket, cord, 550EX and an omnibounce. 2nd body goes on the left shoulder if it has to, otherwise it gets put in a bag or on a table.

 

Machine-gun shooting and chimping as needed. :^o

[picturesque]

There have been several threads about his. Do a search. When I use two systems together, I use one with a regular camera strap and another with a short strap, both around my neck, one has a bracket (medium format), the other (35mm) has no bracket. Sometimes, I use a third on a strap I modified from an Optech Binocular strap. See the following:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0093Mb

 

Works well--even with a flip bracket attached. With your Custom Bracket and flash attached to each camera, you'd have handling problems. You could have the main camera on the bracket but the second with no bracket or a small one. The biggest problem I've found with two cameras is keeping track of the technical stuff on each--how it was set, etc. To use multiple cameras efficiently, they'd best be identical and be set identically. Still, it is easy to forget to set the cameras back to "base camp" setting, and when you pick it up the next time, it's on a setting you didn't expect, and you've lost the advantage of speed, which is why one would use two cameras with different focal length lenses, to begin with.

[todd frederick]

I try to keep everything that I do very simple for many reasons. I use one digital camera with a good zoom and flash, and I can take care of almost everything with that.

 

I've been doing wedding, portrait, and event photography for well over 15 years, and when I start complicating my way of working with more than one camera, I begin to make mistakes.

 

Now then, that's just me....perhaps you can work with more than tool at the same time...but I can't.

 

My suggestion is to keep everything you do with regard to equipment as simple and as consistent as possible, and focus you efforts on the event itself, rather than on your tools.

[derek_c.]

I use three cameras at the same time<br>

<br>

Camera 1. Zoom lens, bracket, & flash - on the chest hanging around my neck.<br>

Camera 2. Prime lens, flash, & diffuser on right shoulder.<br>

Camera 3. & Prime lens on left shoulder.<br>

<br>

Two more prime lenses in my pockets.<br>

Lightmeter hanging inside of my vest.<br>

So, 3 cameras, 5 lenses, 2 flashes, 1 lightmeter, and 10 rolls of film (Reala & NPH) are always attached on my body.<br>

Lenses and flashes move around between cameras when needed.

[fotografz]

Oh my aching lumbar, Derek. You must think the Iron Man contest is for wimps ; -)

[andre j.]

Thank you so much everybody! I found myself wishing you'd all submit a photo of

yourselves in your battle regalia... T'would be an interesting assignment, n'est-ce pas?

Seriously, I'd love to see those images! On another note, what do you do with your home

base camera bag while you're working? Leave it under a table, back in the car, behind the

bar?!?!? Any issues with theft over the years?<div></div>

[andre j.]

re-post of pic, sorry - still learning how to use this board!<div></div>

[al_kaplan1]

I usually work events with three cameras set up and ready to go. A Leica M body with an 85/2 Nikkor hanging from my right shoulder, another with a 21/3.4 Super Angulon around my neck. The third, the one I use the most, has a 35/2 Summicron and a couple of wraps of the strap are around my right wrist. That camera just hangs from my wrist if I use another one for a few shots. The Vivitar 283 flash, if I'm using it, is occasionally in the shoe for a series of horizontal shots. Mostly I just hold it in my left hand, the camera in the right, hold it directly over the lens aimed where I want and plug it into whichever body I want. I do have a Sto-Fen Omni Bounce but largely still use a little trick from before they were invented.

 

Put a rubber band around the head of the flash. Keep half a dozen business cards there on top of the head where they're handy to grab and hand out. When using the flash for bounce lighting one card is pulled halfway out and bent slightly forward to kick some light straight forward at the subject and fill the shadows.

 

With three of essentially the same model camera you have 108 shots before you absolutely have to change film. Until then a fast lens/body swap can keep you shooting with your chosen piece of glass.

[picturesque]

Yes, have had gear stolen. Even if tempting, never leave your shoulder bag unattended, even if you put it by the DJ's stand. Take it to the bathroom with you. An associate of mine had a bag full of expensive lenses stolen that way. See the thread above re thefts at weddings.