Glance at the summary firstThe summary from the end of the lesson, as a road map before you start reading.
Two cameras are taken to a wedding because when one fails the work carries on with the other, and two bodies with a wide and a long lens make changing lenses at a once-only moment unnecessary. The dual card slots are set to backup recording, full cards are carried on you and formatted only after being backed up, batteries and flash batteries are planned in advance; the clocks of the two bodies are synced and their color settings matched until the same faces of different skin tones look the same tone in both cameras.
Learning goal
You will be able to go to a wedding with a bag prepared so that the failure of a single device won't ruin the day. You will set the two card slots in your camera to write every frame to both cards at once, carry the full cards safely through the day and not format any card until you get home. By keeping two bodies ready at the same time, one with a wide lens and the other with a long one, you won't have to change lenses at a once-only moment. You will plan spare batteries, flash batteries and the length of the day together. You will sync the clocks and color settings of the two bodies, and check that in frames from the two cameras the same face, light or dark, looks the same tone.
The question
On the table sits all of your friend's wedding gear, and it fits in one hand. The older member takes an old but sturdy body out of their own cupboard and puts it next to it. "What will you do if the card throws an error in the middle of the ceremony? If someone bumps you in the halay and your camera falls to the floor? If you're changing lenses as the bride walks out the door?" Your friend can't answer. A camera that fails on a street shoot only loses you a day; at a wedding, a family's only day is lost. Why take two cameras to a wedding?
Context
In the lessons on going professional you met backup equipment, which lets you carry on without stopping the work when a device fails on a paid job (Lesson 28.12). You worked on numbering cards and using them in order and telling a full card apart in the memory cards lesson (Lesson 15.2), and on keeping every file in several copies, in different places, in the backup lesson (Lesson 15.6).
A wedding is the day this knowledge is tested. You saw in the previous lesson that once-only moments are lived once; one of the things that protects those moments is a setup that can carry on the work within a second when a device fails. This setup doesn't have to mean an expensive bag; a used body, a few spare batteries and a correctly set camera are often enough. What matters is knowing in advance that every device has a backup and that every backup works.
Simple explanation
How are cards protected?
Dual card slots are a feature found on some cameras that lets two memory cards be inserted at the same time. These slots can work in several ways: overflow recording, which moves to the other card when one is full; separate recording, which writes photos to one card and video to the other; and backup recording, which writes every frame to both cards at once. At a wedding, backup recording is chosen: if one card fails, the same frames are on the other. If your camera has a single slot, changing cards often and keeping the full card separately reduces part of the risk.
Full cards are carried on the photographer through the day: in a card case, in a zipped pocket, never left on an open table or in a vehicle. A full card's label or its place in the case is changed so it doesn't get mixed up with an empty card. Cards are formatted only after the files have been backed up to at least two separate places; no card is formatted on the wedding night.
Why are two cameras needed?
A two-body setup is keeping two cameras ready at the same time at a wedding, usually one with a wide or medium lens and the other with a long lens. This setup does two jobs at once. One is backup: if one of the bodies fails, the work carries on with the other. The other is speed: changing lenses as the bride walks out the door or as the rings are put on means missing a once-only moment. It becomes possible to shoot the hall and the crowd with the wide-lens body and a distant face with the long-lens body within the same minute. The two bodies are carried with a shoulder strap or a belt with two holsters; a body isn't left on the floor or on a chair.
The battery plan is also part of this setup. At a long wedding, especially on a cold outdoor shoot or with a mirrorless camera that uses its screen a lot, batteries run out faster than expected. Several charged spare batteries for each body, a spare set of batteries for the flashes, and a check the night before that all of them have been charged are part of the plan. How many spares you need changes with the camera and the day; the most reliable measure is to note how many batteries were used on the previous long shoot.
How are the two cameras matched to each other?
Time sync is setting the internal clocks of two cameras to the same minute and second. When the editing program sorts frames by capture time, the frames of two cameras with different clocks get mixed up: a ring appears on the finger before it has been put on. Setting the clocks of the two cameras to the same moment before the shoot sorts frames from two sources correctly on a single timeline.
Body matching is aligning the two cameras' white balance, color profile and file settings with each other. Different cameras, even different models of the same brand, can interpret colors and skin slightly differently. One body showing a dark skin redder, or the other showing a light skin cooler or pinker, leads to the same person appearing in two different skin tones in the album. Before the shoot, in the same light, the faces of two people, one with light and one with dark skin, are shot with both bodies and compared; if there is a difference, the settings are matched or a batch correction is applied to one body's frames in editing.
Visual evidence
Your friend had shot a cousin's engagement party with a single camera and a single card. In the middle of the night the card threw an error, and the frames of the dinner and the gift-pinning ceremony were lost. A data recovery program brought back a few frames, but couldn't bring back the rest.
The day before the wedding, your friend puts the body the older member gave them next to their own camera. They turn on backup recording in their own camera and set the clocks of the two bodies to the same second according to their phone's clock. They shoot a dark-skinned club member and a light-skinned club member in front of the window with both bodies; the old body shows skin a little redder. Once they match the white balance and color profile, the two faces come out the same tone in both cameras.
On the wedding day, in the middle of the ceremony, their camera shows that a card is full; but because backup recording is on, the other card carries every frame. As the bride walks out the door, they shoot the door with the wide-lens body and, right after, her father's face with the long-lens body. When they get home at night, they back up the cards to three separate places and format them only the next day.
Common mistakes
Common mistakeGoing to a wedding with a single camera and a single card.
One failure takes away a family's only day. The fix: go with two bodies, backup recording and spare batteries.
Common mistakeFormatting cards during the day or leaving them on a table.
Frames are lost or get mixed up with an empty card. The fix: carry full cards on you, label them and format only after backing up.
Common mistakeNot syncing the clocks and color settings of the two bodies.
Frames are sorted out of order, the same face looks two different tones. The fix: sync the clocks before the shoot, shoot the same faces with both bodies and compare the colors.
Summary
Two cameras are taken to a wedding because when one fails the work carries on with the other, and two bodies with a wide and a long lens make changing lenses at a once-only moment unnecessary. The dual card slots are set to backup recording, full cards are carried on you and formatted only after being backed up, batteries and flash batteries are planned in advance; the clocks of the two bodies are synced and their color settings matched until the same faces of different skin tones look the same tone in both cameras.
Mini assignment
In this assignment you will prepare your bag as if you were going to a long day of shooting, a wedding or an event.
- If your camera has dual card slots, turn on backup recording; if not, write down a routine for changing cards and keeping full cards.
- List a backup for every device you have, camera, lens, card, battery, flash and flash batteries; mark the ones without a backup and write a solution.
- With two cameras, or a camera and a phone, shoot two faces with light and dark skin in the same light; sync the clocks and compare whether the skin looks the same tone on both devices.
Check yourself
- If a single device failed, could you carry on shooting?
- Do you have a routine that keeps full cards from getting mixed up with empty ones?
- Are the frames from the two devices on the same timeline and in the same tone?
Glossary
| Term | Short definition |
|---|---|
| Dual card slots | A feature that lets two memory cards be inserted at once and can work as overflow, separate or backup recording. |
| Two-body setup | Keeping two cameras ready at the same time, most often with a wide and a long lens. |
| Time sync | Setting the internal clocks of two cameras to the same second; the frames sort on a single timeline. |
| Body matching | Aligning the two cameras' white balance, color profile and file settings with each other. |
Mini quiz
1. At a wedding, which recording mode are the dual card slots set to?
- A) Backup recording, which writes every frame to both cards at once
- B) Overflow recording, which moves to the other card when one is full
- C) Recording that separates photo and video
- D) A single card
2. Beyond being a backup, what is the benefit of a two-body setup?
- A) Using fewer batteries
- B) Making files smaller
- C) Not having to change lenses at a once-only moment
- D) Making colors more vivid
3. What happens if the clocks of the two cameras aren't synced?
- A) The frames aren't taken
- B) The frames are sorted in the wrong order in the editing program
- C) The colors change
- D) The cards fill up
4. If the two bodies show the same dark skin in different tones, what is done?
- A) One body's frames are deleted
- B) The difference is ignored
- C) All frames are turned into black and white
- D) White balance and color profile are matched, or a batch correction is applied to one body
Answers
- A — When one card fails, the same frames remain on the other card.
- C — The wide and long lenses are ready at the same time; the moment doesn't wait.
- B — Because the program sorts frames by capture time, events get mixed up.
- D — The same person shouldn't appear in two different skin tones in the album.
Summary card
- Two bodies: one a backup, both together for speed; wide and long lens ready.
- Dual card slots: backup recording.
- Full card on you, labeled; no formatting before backing up.
- Batteries and flash batteries: plan from the record of the previous shoot, charge the night before.
- Sync the clocks; shoot the same faces with both bodies, compare the skin.
Bridge to the next lesson
The bag is ready: two bodies, two cards, spare batteries. But the wedding will start at nine in the morning and last until midnight; while the bride gets ready at home, the groom is at another house, the civil ceremony is in a hall, the halay in a garden. Your friend can't be in two places at once. Which moment will come where, at what time, and which frames are must-haves? How to never miss a moment: is there a way? The next lesson takes up the timeline and the must-have frames.