Bring a back-up body?

I carry a spare. I already have had a broken Nikon f100 and a broken D2X on a trip.

Although I agree with Alex. A spare D2X is expensive to have in your camerabag. So now I am poor with money and time.....

When I dove with my D100, I had a spare body...both for topside photos and also needed to use it last Christmas in Malaysia when my port dropped into the rinse tank and a dab of water got into the bottom of the housing and managed to short out the D100!

Now that I'm diving with a D200, I'm not yet ready to drop the $$$ for the back-up body but I'm hoping the price will drop soon so I can get a spare before our big trip starting in November!

I do carry back-up o-rings, sync cords, and a spare strobe. All I need is an extra bulkhead connector and I'll be happy.

By the way, I still have one D100 body left to sell!

Just curious....

 

How many of you bring back-up camera bodies on your dive trips? How many have not, and have gotten screwed by their camera dying on them?

 

I know that shutter mechanisms have a finite number of cycles, with some models being rated higher than others. I've also heard that condesation can roast a camera, if you're not careful about moving your camera between A/C cooled cabins or cool water, and warm humid top-side air. I'm seriously thinking of getting a back-up myself. I moved to dSLR last year after my Canon S30 died in the middle of the Galapagos! No repair shops up near Darwin!

I did a test dunk of my D2x in Subal housing before a dive. It leaked, and there was very little FRESH water on the camera. It worked fine at first, but died 10 minutes later and was unrepairable, but fortunately, insured. The main o-ring was split; maybe it had been pinched. The point is that this, and probably most DSLRS can tolerate VERY little, if any H2O exposure. I was going to get a backup body, but for the same price, decided on a D200 and backup housing.

Hal

I can't afford a backup body, nor do I think I could fit it all in my handluggage if I did have one.

Instead I use my digital compact as my backup. The Canon S300 that I started with in its proprietary housing would do fine through the rest of a trip if my SLR failed. Being a completely redundant setup it is an effective backup for everything at zero cost since I already own it. Its also a nice snapshot camera to carry with me on the dive boat or a convenient snorkelling rig.

Newer P&S cameras would be a more effective backup but mine uses S&S MMII lenses and my Ikelite strobes effectively and Its not worth much on e-bay.

I always carrya spare, but I can tell you, the day I flooded my camera I did not feel like putting the spare (and another lens) in the housing in case it happened again!

I always carrya spare, but I can tell you, the day I flooded my camera I did not feel like putting the spare (and another lens) in the housing in case it happened again!

I carry a spare body too, in my case an xtra D2x. I also carry some lens backups, but only because I already owned certain focal lengths like 14mm, 20mm and 17-35 when I bought my 12-24. So it doesn't cost any money to at least backup certain perspectives in case I drop a lens or get one wet on the photo table.

I take 5 strobes for different shooting situations (WA, macro and handhold) so my backups are actually part of my normal outfit anyway. I'd really like to carry an extra housing and on the boat have one set up for WA and the other for macro, but I am always overweight and on the edge with baggage count and size so that seems a bit of overkill just for convenience sake. But I'd sure like to do it that way