Interesting that pros use 40D's and 7D's these days. The digital age has certainly opened up the market somewhat.
Well, they produce significantly better images than a 35 mm film SLR, so I don't really know what your point is.
Not sure if my customers would happily sit by and enjoy me "going off and finding another body" when I experienced problems.
It depends on the kind of work you do, doesn't it? In the middle of a wedding you don't just need a spare body if the worst happens, you need it within reach so you can use it instantly. In my case that just doesn't apply. Yes, I do urgent work with publication deadlines that must be met, but most of my photography is done days or even weeks in advance. The chances of a hardware failure occurring when I have to finish a job the same day are vanishingly small. And during daytime hours I can literally jump on my bike, cycle into town and be back with a new camera within an hour.
Even so I have kept the 40D as a backup - but I'm beginning to question whether it is really needed.
How many taxi drivers do you know who carry a spare car?
My backups are fully charged with appropriate lenses mounted, always at my side and ready to shoot the moment they're picked up.
