(Leica D-lux5)You can visit any photography forum (or camera forum, to be exact), randomly pick a post and have a high chance of running into one which evaluates and investigates the best possible back-up camera. That our mind is strewed with ideas and information of such cameras could be a ramification of the short cycle of digital cameras.
Recently, I have been in contact with young shooters selling their gear – their “back-up” cameras. To me, the proposition of such tyros having a back-up camera doesn’t quite parse. In the film era, even experienced amateur photographers would rather spend on an extra lens than a so-called back-up camera. Surely, whether in the film or digital age, a majority of professional photographers carry a back-up camera with them. The most obvious practical reason is to play safe as consequences will be too dire for them to go on an assignment with just one camera, which may malfunction or get broken in some unforeseen situations. For the rest of us, the need is not in at least 99% of our shooting.
What are the points of carrying around a X100 fitted with a 35mm equivalent fixed lens or a GXR M-mount with numerous vintage lenses as a back-up camera to our very responsive DSLR fitted with a 24-140mm equivalent zoom lens? We don’t do this. A sane person will simply leave either one at home. The corollary is to sell those cameras one has less chance to use.
So, what we amateurs require is not a back-up camera but a second camera. A second camera should compliment but not overlap your first camera in various areas like the focal length, image characters, form factors, the mindset behind its design and production and so on. One may factor in all these elements or just some of them when grapping a second camera. But the focal length factor should probably be given major consideration. Take one of the sellers I met for example. He has a Leica X1 and a Fujifilm X100, and has put up both on sale. His unspoken plan is to sell the one which meets a suitor sooner. Why? While the two cameras are very different in all the factors listed above, the same 35mm focal length gives the owner no chance to use them on the same occasion. There is simply no point to keep both.
As for me, lots of people who know me have asked about the reasons for keeping more than one cameras. The answer is simple: each camera is catered for what it is good at. The A55 is primarily for night shots, sports and indoor events; the GX200 mainly for street shots which need an unassuming camera capable of covering an extensive DOF; the Leica X1 is kept for the Leica image characters and me to learn capturing the world in 35mm only. Usually, as a street photographer, when I bring along the A55, the GX200 is in a handy place in my bag because I don't wish to be busy changing lenses or backing up to a less prominent shooting position just to find that the scene was missed. I don’t consider the GX200 a back-up; it is a second camera for a reason. The logic is different and so is the purpose, which has an important bearing on the choice for one’s arsenal of cameras.
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