Ok, here’s the first of my occasional posts about equipment (rather than photos), and it’s probably not what you would have guessed.

As a wedding or event photographer, carrying two camera bodies is an absolute must. Not doing so would only invite Murphy’s Law (read: if you only have one camera, it will break when you need it most). Telling the bride that the camera wasn’t working just when the pastor said “you may now kiss the bride” won’t go over very well.

Of course, when I do carry two cameras, Murphy tends to give up, and both will work flawlessly, so I might as well use that to my advantage and use two different lenses. Typically I have a wide angle to normal zoom on one camera (e.g. a 24-70mm) and a telezoom on the other camera (e.g. a 70-200mm).

Now, the dilemma this introduces is how to carry two cameras so that a) I can get to either one in a second or two, b) the straps won’t get in each other’s way, since that would violate a), and c) they won’t fall off my shoulder (Murphy’s lurking…).

After searching for some time, I’ve finally found a wonderful solution in the Op/Tech Dual Harness. I’ve used it on several occasions, and it gets the job done really well. As you can see in the photo below, two cameras can freely hang off the harness without having to be held at all, and I can bring either camera up to my eye in a second, and then just as quickly let go of it and grab the other one.

If that isn’t enough to be happy about, the whole Op/Tech system is completely modular, so when I’m not on a professional assignment and may want to carry just one camera on a regular shoulder strap, it takes me just a few seconds to switch out straps. Last but not least, the dual harness is just over $30 at some of the leading online retailers. Can you tell I’m excited? Let’s hope it holds up well over time, but for $30, I can buy 3 or 4 or 5 of these before I’ve spent what some other harnesses cost, and I’m not actually convinced that they’d work as well for my purposes.