Are you Professional?

Today I was covering an NBA game and a supposed professional photographer was blasting a Canon CPS Support member about not having a loaner camera available to him to cover the game. This guys camera went down in the first quarter (broken shutter).He is a newspaper photographer but now had to scramble for another body. No one's fault but his!


I took the guy aside and said don't berate the Canon CPS employee. You are a professional photographer. Do you think NASCAR drivers go into a race with only one engine? How about police officers. Do you think they go into a situation with only one bullet? NO, you have back up!

People complain about CPS not having enough equipment to loan. The purpose of CPS (Canon Professional Services) is NOT to be your back up! The loaner system was meant to be a tool for you to use to test new bodies or lenses. It was never meant to be as your source of back up if your main equipment went down!

I have seven (EOS 1Dx bodies, Three (s) 5D Mark IIIs) and at least three each of my prime lenses (EF300/2.8L II IS and EF400/2.8L II IS) lens as my back up. I never depend upon Canon CPS to provide me with bodies or lenses.

You are NOT a professional unless you have back up in case your equipment goes down. This is YOUR responsibility not Canon's or anyone elses. And if they cannot repair it in a few days for you, don't go bad mouthing Canon because they cannot repair your camera.

Instead of spending that money you are making on expensive toys for yourself or splurging on vacations, put some aside for your back up. If you cannot save enough money for back up then maybe you should choose a different career.

Agree 100%

So what was they guy's answer?

A sports wire photographer loaned him his Canon EOS 60D. It works but it is not a 1Dx like the guy had. I wasn't about to loan him one of my cameras. I already had three set up around the basketball court.

Apparently this guy is a freelance photographer just barely making ends meet. He earns by piece work. But, still, that is not an excuse.

I just did not like how he was screaming at the CPS worker and it really wasn't fair. Then he comes up to us telling us how Canon's suck and said he will look into Nikon's. OK, fine go ahead. Nikon's NPS will do the same to him too.

When I began my career in photography in 1979, I was told by many photographers to go into a job with a back up camera. I started off with a Pentax K-1000 as my back up to my Canon A-1 camera! Then it was a Canon AE-1 that became my back up. When I bought my New F-1, a Canon T-90 was my back up.

If a stringer spends $1000 on a spare body and $20 to park, per game, how many games do you need to cover at $50 a photo, to break even?

Of course, the stringer might cover other $50 assignments, so it might not take a whole basketball season.

BAK

I can't imagine loaning him anything. What a schmuck.




They is no justification to be an a hole in public or to berate a phone representative. The mere concept of holding someone else responsible for your own equipment is freak'n precious. Raising your voice to someone's employee who's only crime is answering the phone, is unacceptable.




I carry three Pentax 67s, and if all 3 were to suddenly drop dead, I have a Mamiya 645 system with 3 lenses for backup (in a separate case ) which, though six years old, is all like new since I've never needed to rely on it. I just keep installing fresh batteries, lol. Recording an image to 645 after all this time would seem like such a compromise.

I don't feel 'lack of income' as an excuse- if you can't afford to have the proper gear (which incluedes backup body/lens/flash) then you can't afford to be putting yourself out there as a pro.
I never go to a gig without backup body, extra batteries, lenses, etc. Never.

If you can't afford the gear then charge more, market more, get a better business plan. Compared to most I'm probably 'over geared' but there are times I use everything I have at a shoot.

Backup cameras, AND lenses, AND strobes, etc. are just part of the business for any pro. I keep my previous generation of camera/lens for those times when my main gear needs to go into CPS.

Right on Penguin! I had a few freelancers mock me after they saw my back up gear (I always carry three back up bodies plus a EF16-35L and a fisheye lens too). They carry one camera body! Some of these freelancers even have the gall to ask if they can borrow my back up bodies and get angry when I won't loan my equipment out. I do not know these guys!

All of my professional photographer friends also carry back up. That is the way we were trained. A lot of us have strong upper body strength from carrying heavy camera bags! I now use a camera bag with a dolly built-in.

I also carry a power strip so that I can charge my batteries in the hotel or at the arena in cases of emergencies. I do charge the batteries of my main bodies in the hotel room if I have a shoot the following day too.

You NEVER LOAN camera equipment to anyone. Ever. That is rule #1. I implemented it after a dive trip to Borneo 20 years ago after loaning a prime 20mm to a fellow diver. Of course he flooded it. Rule #2? See rule #1.

Hula Mike, you are absolutely correct. I have loaned my equipment to professional photographer friends. One time a friend was covering the US Open Tennis game and dropped my EOS 1v SLR camera. He went out and bought me a new one the following week. He came to my house with a brand new camera and I asked him what is this? He then explained what happened. I didn't expect that . . . I would have accepted the depreciated amount for the camera. But this is a reminder, if you do borrow a piece of equipment, ALWAYS make sure you treat it as yours and do the right thing if you damage it.

I sort of leant my equipment once. I was producer for a 48 Hour Film project. One of our crew was someone who'd always wanted to be DP, so I let him. He wasn't just DP but was the photographer as well. Using my equipment. I suppose you could say I wasn't lending it since he was just a member of my crew, and that's probably true. It was hard on me to watch someone else using my equipment, but I had enough else to do as producer.

The following year I produced another film, but this time I was the one using my own equipment. Both were fun, and I need to do another one.

I have high end digital video (HD) cameras that people want to try out. Sorry, I do not loan my work horses out to anyone. It is not that I am selfish but these cameras and digital cameras are my business's life blood. Without them, I cannot make a living. And they costs several thousand dollars too.

I do let amateurs put their bodies onto my EF400 lenses so they can take a few images but I am right there making sure they do not damage my equipment. I do this at surfing events and some MLB baseball games.

At a wedding saturday I had a 580 act up, had a spare.
The other photog had a quantum light knocked over at the reception by a guest.



backups? Yep, you NEED them.



Chatted with the venue manager - the room cost $5k for the night, the food $120/head (180 guests) and you had to use their DJ, their lighting person (venue was a museum) - $35-40k spent on the reception.



The last thing you want to do is screw up a wedding where the bride spent $50,000! For what, the cost of flash or body - when a used 5D can be had for $500?

I don't often use my 580's but I have four of them. I use my Metz more so I have three of those. I am surprised about the number of professional photographers I see at sporting events with only one or two cameras.

They see my back up and ask if they could borrow one. Some of these guys get mad when I say NO but that is their problem not mine. I am there to do a job and that job is not to loan out my camera gear.

I am accused of being arrogant to rookie photographers but I tell them to get back up equipment all the time. My mentors told me from the get-go to buy back up.

So you have more of what you don't use than what you do use? When would you use one over the other? Just curious. Do you just prefer the Metz UI?

I do not really think of myself as a "pro" photographer, but I shoot evidentiary images as part of my police patrol job; an added responsibility, I am the designated photographer for my shift. I have a pair of Canon 7D cameras in my Pelican case, plus a 580EX, 580EX II, and 320EX. My lenses are not duplicates, but as my 10-22mm EF-S can shoot at very close distance, it can handle everything if my 100mm Macro L malfunctions. Sometimes I bring a 5D or 1D2N along, too.

The taxpayers actually do provide a camera, but it is a tiny Sony P&S, not nearly up to the task of true evidentiary/forensic photography.

As the OP indicated, I have spare ammunition, and, actually, a spare handgun, too, that being the professional thing to do.