Photographers, let’s talk about something simple that can make a significant difference in your work and your clients' overall satisfaction: carrying a backup camera body and lens to your weddings and sessions.

I love to take photos of people taking photos of me (hehe); this is my friend Meanz, she’s a very talented tattoo artist at Jade Rabbit in Des Moines!☺︎

Cameras and lenses are complex (and often expensive) tools, but even the most reliable, top of the line photography equipment can encounter issues when you least expect it. As a professional photographer, you need to be prepared for a variety of technical malfunctions, physical damages, and environmental factors, and having a backup setup means you’re prepared to handle any situation professionally.

Accidents like drops or spills can leave your gear totally unusable. I’ve dropped my camera while shooting on a cliff, and watched in horror as it tumbled on the rocks. I’ve even had a beer poured right into my camera bag by a drunk fan at a music festival. Thankfully I had backup gear on me in both of these situations, and precautions like keeping extra gear backstage and having a filter and lens hood on my lens really saved me even more.

Rain, snow, dust, and extreme temperatures can impact your equipment’s performance. I’ve had cameras overheat when shooting outdoors in full-sun for long periods. Electronics can fail without warning due to software glitches or random hardware issues. I’ve had batteries malfunction, bodies stop working mid-wedding, and memory cards corrupt out of nowhere. Thankfully, I had spare batteries and an extra camera body, and not only extra memory cards but I was also writing all of my images to a second card slot and didn’t lose files.

You truly never know what you’ll encounter when you’re shooting, so it’s important to be prepared with the right backup gear so you can continue working without missing any important moments, or worse, having to have a difficult conversation with a client telling them you either can’t continue the job or you lost everything. Thankfully, t’s easy to put together a backup kit, and you only need a couple of items.

The Essential Backup Gear You Need to Carry:

Backup Camera Body

Choose a camera body that you're comfortable with and that complements your main gear. It doesn't need to be the latest model but should deliver the quality your clients expect, and you should be familiar with using it. It’s a good idea to choose a backup body that is compatible with the other gear you already own (lenses, batteries, flashes, etc). Some good options for backup bodies for professional photographers are the Sony A7II, Canon EOS 6D Mark II, or Nikon D750.

Backup Lens

A versatile lens can cover various shooting scenarios if your primary lens fails. Opt for a focal length that suits your typical work, and gives you flexibility in a variety of spaces.

A backup 50mm f/1.8 lens is great choice for most professional photographers – this lens works well for portraits and general use, and it’s usually fairly cheap. You can get the Sony FE 50mm 1.8 lens new for under $250. Canon’s EF 50mm 1.8 lens is just $125, and their RF 50mm 1.8 is under $200 for mirrorless shooters. The Nikkor 50mm 1.8G lens for Nikon DSLRs is also under $200 (but their Z 50mm 1.8 is more expensive for mirrorless shooters).

A backup 24-70mm lens offers more flexibility for wide-angle and close-up shots, but most are a bit pricier and come in between $500-1200 for good new, refurbished, and gently used backup options, so it’s up to your budget and overall needs which spare lens you bring along.

Other Important Extras

Battery life can be unpredictable, especially during long shoots, extremely hot or cold weather, or when using LCD screens more frequently. Keep several spare batteries charged and easily accessible in your bag, and don’t buy off-brand batteries. Off-brand batteries frequently cause camera body and lens failures, and can corrupt your memory cards. This happened to me at a wedding I shot when I was first starting out, but thankfully I had extra Nikon brand batteries on me! I got rid of the off-brand ones immediately, they are not worth the risk.

Having an extra flash is also often overlooked, and while a good flash can be very expensive, having two on you is so valuable for low-light situations where one light isn’t cutting it, or if your main flash simply breaks. It happened to me when I was starting out and using cheaper flashes, but thankfully I had a spare flash and I wasn’t left shooting a wedding in the dark. Some good, affordable backup flashes include the Sony HVL-F28RM, the Nikon SB-700, and the Canon 430EX III-RT.

Memory cards can easily fill up faster than anticipated or fail altogether, so always keep several extras on-hand and make sure you’re using your second memory card slot in your main camera to write a backup copy of each image you shoot, so you’re protected in case of card corruption. I personally use SanDisk Extreme Pro SDXC memory cards in 128GB and 256GB and love them! I buy a few new memory cards each year to swap out my older, slower cards.

Before each shoot, make sure all your gear is in working order. Organize your camera bag so you can quickly find what you need, update firmware, clean your lenses, and format your memory cards so you’re ready to go for a successful day of shooting!