Hey, this is Scott of Photography Banzai.
In this video I'm gonna be talking about dual wielding
cameras. Using two cameras at once. Pretty nice, I really enjoy doing this quite a
bit. Done it for many years with different cameras. I'll go over the benefits and
the drawbacks to dual-wielding. So let's get started. Here's the way that I
usually do dual wielding. Two different straps. Standard camera strap on the main
camera. Usually a wide-angle lens, which I'll get two different focal lengths and
things later. But this is the main camera. Very easy to access. Then you have the second
camera on a strap here attached to the tripod mount. Easy enough. So you have to
think about which one goes first on you. You definitely want the large long strap
first. Otherwise if this was on the bottom of this strap you would be
choking yourself. Which I'll demonstrate... And the shoulder strap see that it
does not work well for... hehh, auhh, it doesn't work well for this one. Unless you have a very
long strap and then in that case it just would not function that well. So you
definitely want your main camera on the standard strap over the shoulder strap.
Proper way to do this is you put the shoulder strap first. That's good to go.
You do have to consider the length of this. You want it long enough. Main camera...
like that that way you can easily access this camera, but also pull this one up.
You can do side shots as long as this is long enough. That's pretty much it. Just
quickly switch between the two cameras. Here's the second option. It's a dual
strap. This is a very cheap one I picked up off Amazon. Actually started modifying
it adding more protection. Did use it once...
Nice photoshoot! It did work pretty well, surprisingly. So there are a few benefits
to this over my main setup. The one is it's a little
simpler once it's all attached. And each camera is as easily accessed as the
other. Both have full range of movement.
Ahh, it does work pretty well. See the back. I did modify this a little bit to make it
more structurally sound. So that's pretty much it for this one. It works well and I'll
probably do a video on this in the future just showing all the
modifications I've done and will do to the strap to make it more reliable.
Of course you can lengthen these here to make it easier. But, of course, when you
duct down towards the ground you don't want your camera that you're not using
to touch the floor. So that's one of the issues which I'll get to. Here's the last
way I've used in the past to hold the two cameras at once. This is kind of in
between dual wielding and just doing standard stuff. It's a cheapest. You have
a standard strap and your main camera. Of course, use that as much as you want.
But when you want that different focal length, pull it out of your bag. In this
case just have a simple messenger bag with a flap. You can... easily
leave that flap open depending on your bag, if it's safe. This one actually has a
little side straps that I can leave covering the top of the camera. So that
adds a little bit of extra protection for any accidental situations. But you
just pull the second camera out take your photo with the more unique
perspective of the lens in this case, and then put it back in the bag.
So you just keep doing that back and forth when you want that different
perspective. Works all right. Not as quick as other options. Now you've seen
different ways to hold the two cameras at once... I'm gonna go into some of the benefits
and negatives of dual-wielding. First let's go into the negatives I've found
with dual-wielding. Biggest one is, of course, added weight.. added a complexity.
If your control scheme isn't very similar on the two cameras it can get confusing
potentially, but it really depends on your experience and practice. When you get
used to it it gets easier. Another negative I've found. I mentioned in this
so far is when you kneel down, which you actually do quite a bit. Depending on
your type of photography. You will potentially bump one of the cameras into
the ground, or into something. I have done that quite a few times in the past, but I
do use the lens filters usually and those have taken most of the damage.
Ahh, besides that really not any huge negatives. It's a little confusing at
times but you get used to it. So there are a lot of benefits to dual wielding
I've found. The biggest is using prime lenses. Two at the same time. Get some
variety in focal length. In this case 20mm on the D750 and then we've
got 100mm on the D600. So what that benefit there is I don't always
want a wide angle, especially if I'm taking photos of people. Sometimes it's
very unique perspective and it does work. so I'll get down there I'll take a
wide-angle. Switch quickly to the long focal length. Get some portrait shots. So
you get that instant variety with the two cameras. Of course, you also get
instant backup. If one of your cameras is having issues, just switch to the other one.
Quick, BAM, you got it. Easy enough. When you have those two different focal lengths
at the same time you don't really have to change lenses in the field unless you
really need something else. That way dust.. anything.. any situation if the conditions
are poor. There's some rain or something you just leave
the lens on the camera. On each camera. And then you've still got that variety,
but you don't have to have any issues getting stuff inside your camera at the time.
I used Pentax DSLRs for many years in the past. K-7.. K-5 together towards
the end, but I had quite a few different cameras before that. K10D for a while, so
maybe the K-7.. K10D together. One camera would have a manual lens.
Something slow to use, but unique. Other camera would have something dependable.
Quick to use.. autofocus. In those situations it was really beneficial to
have the two cameras set up and ready to go, quick and easy to use.
And then I moved to the Nikon stuff. Full-frame D600. I also had a D7000 in
the beginning. So those two cameras. You got the APS-C and the full-frame camera.
Two different lenses with you. You can switch them out, swap them. And then
you've got some more unique focal length range. Because of the different sensor
sizes. So if I were, for example, using a D7200 I could put it on the crop camera
and get a little bit more range... effectively, and just worked out well
with the different sensor sizes. But in this case two different full-frame
cameras, ahh, easy enough just to have the two lenses and leave them on each camera.
A few quick examples. One at a convention doing the hallway photos, which are
basically impromptu quick photos. A few seconds. A minute or two really something
short and easy. In this case the dual-wielding helps a lot.
Get that variety and you can do it quickly. So I pull out the wide-angle...
Take a full body shot and then also pull out some type of short telephoto, or normal
lens. 50 or 100mm, something like that. Get the portrait photo. Those
cases I can do it in a few seconds almost, and it works out well. And another
example is a friend's horse farm. We've taken cosplay photos there... Multiple
photographers, multiple cosplayers, and horses. So you
don't want to use flash around the horses. I do want some variety and the
dual wielding works out well in that case. Basically same setup. Wide angle and
then some type of telephoto. In the past I've used the 70-210mm, the old Nikon
lens. And also the Sigma 100 to 300mm f4. Those work out well. So
you've got the one camera with a large telephoto lens, and another camera with
maybe a normal lens 50mm or potentially this wide angle. It really
depends on the situation, and I don't have to change them out. I can change
them out, and it's quicker and easier just to do it once if I need to. Or just
leave them as is. So those are my experiences of with dual-wielding cameras.
Very helpful to me in many situations. Of course, it's not ideal in every situation,
but when you want that variety. You want the backup, and you want... once it's fully
setup, easy to use and quick and easy to have those different focal lengths... It's
a good option! So I hope you enjoyed this video, if you did please consider
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as well. Thanks again!