Yesterday I found myself again wishing I could afford a backup DSLR camera to my D300. Every one knows a good photographer has to have a backup camera body, right? If we have crawled out of a warm bed before the butt-crack of dawn and driven twenty miles on a cool October morning, we do not want to have a camera failure on location. We also know that any wedding photographer is going to have two of everything. Since I’m not selling myself as a wedding photographer backup camera is not a necessity. But, I still have these thoughts roaming through my head about having a backup and how could I afford it. These thoughts include picking up a used one on ebay or buying a new D300s and making my D300 the backup. All legitimate thinking, right?
Every once in a while an epiphany appears in my life. The one that showed up yesterday was that I already have a backup! When I hung up a shingle to work as a wedding/portrait photographer in 2003 I purchased a second D100. It was essential. Then three years ago when I upgraded to the D300 I basically stopped shooting the D100. I took the batteries out of them and stored them away. I enjoyed the newer camera so much I had no interest in using the older ones. I had a new toy/tool in my hands and did not want to put it down. But the epiphany suggested I get them out of storage, charge up the batteries and use them. When I look through the metadata in Lightroom I found that half the images in my archives were shot with those two D100s. I have a backup. Of course, when they come out with the D400 or D500 or whatever hundred, my mind will again forget about the D100.