Single points of failure & redundancy

[kye]

I'm interested in how much redundant equipment people bring in case of malfunctions.

I know it's not that common to take two bodies or duplicate lenses and that it's basically inevitable that people have multiple batteries and media, but who takes things like duplicate battery chargers, card readers, microphones, cables, and computers on set or when travelling?

I shoot travel so tend to travel light, but I'm contemplating buying a spare charger, card reader, and a few little bits like that to lessen the number of single-points-of-failure while I'm out travelling.

[Drew Allegre]

Think in terms of risk analysis:
-How severe is the risk? Would it stop your shoot or worse?
-How likely is the risk?
and then you may add:
-How much cost/weight/convenience am I willing to sacrifice to mitigate the risk?

And of course it really depends on your system and how you work.  Third party chargers are cheap, card readers are cheap, but you could possibly also mitigate the risk by carrying a camera charging/data cable.  If you're traveling with 2 or more cameras, you may already have a backup charger.  On that note, another risk may be lack of power for an extended period of time, so a power bank or two may be worth carrying.  For me it really depends on the shoot, whether it's a wedding or corporate shoot or month long sightseeing trip, the answers will generally be different.
 

[jonpais]

A smartphone in case all else fails. ?

[anonim]

Camera and one of the Seneca's book being close, perhaps wouldn't be bad experiment?

(Of course, that just in the case you are not using already "dead" system.)

[IronFilm]

5 hours ago, kye said:

I'm interested in how much redundant equipment people bring in case of malfunctions.

About a billion!

Anyway, there is a difference between how many back up options you own, vs own many you always have on set with you right now and then (which can vary)

[thebrothersthre3]

Trying to back up all the gear that wouldn't kind of ruin my shoot if I didn't have it. 

2 Cameras, 2 gimbals, some extra lens options( not going to have two of every lens). I have many different battery chargers. I don't edit on the go so I don't need any of that stuff. 

[kye]

13 hours ago, jonpais said:

A smartphone in case all else fails. ?

This is true..  and these days, it's not a terrible backup option

11 hours ago, anonim said:

Camera and one of the Seneca's book being close, perhaps wouldn't be bad experiment?

(Of course, that just in the case you are not using already "dead" system.)

Good point!  even if it took me a while to work out what you were talking about ???

[mercer]

Wait... you’re supposed to bring a camera to a shoot? No wonder it’s taking me so long to finish my film. 

But seriously, I at least bring an extra wide angle and a nifty fifty, extra cards and I always bring extra batteries. 

[Mark Romero 2]

Two cameras

About four lenses with some overlap between them. Nothing being a true backup though.

A gimbal (my primary weapon of choice), a motorized slider, a tripod with a so-so manfrotto fluid head.

Takstar shotgun mic, wired cheap lav mic, Zoom h1

A couple of led panels and a small youngnuo led hair light (pretty bright on its own actually), a whole bunch of light stands, a mic stand.

But for most of my (real estate) videos it is just two cameras and the Zhiyun Crane and a GVM motroized slider and a tripod, plus the 10-18 f/4 and 16-55 kit lens and the 30m Sigma f/2.8.