Am I crazy?

[Ryan DS]

Having been highly invested in portrait photography since I first picked up a camera 10 years ago, I decided to put my focus on starting a business last year. Over the last 12 months, I have been planning, second shooting, and building my portfolio and look to officially launch early next year.

Now, my question is gear related. As far as I'm concerned, I have obtained top-quality tools for the job and the only thing I am lacking is a secondary camera body. I currently shoot with a Nikon D700 and am completely pleased with its performance. Now this is my (slight) dilemma, because my business has not yet gone live, I have not booked any weddings yet but still feel I should invest into a second body now. These are my options:

Used D300 or D300s
Nikon D7000
Another D700

The top choice for me would be another D700 simply because its performance and redundancy however used, its still a bit expensive. The D300(s) would be nice because its laid out like the D700 and the D7000 has decent high ISO performance which is something important to me. Both the D300(s) and D7000 are about 1/2 the price of the D700 but I am not sure I would like the DX-crop much in tangent with FX.

Am I crazy to get another D700 before booking any weddings (although I do have some portrait shoots booked) or should I go the cheaper route and pick up a DX body or bypass it all together until things start picking up? Just looking for some advice here.

[autofocus]

I would recommend the D300 options. Here is my reasoning:
*the camera layout is near identical to your D700, so no fumbling if, and when you switch cameras. From what I've seen, the D7000 is somewhat different.
*having a lens mounted on a crop body for those quick, longer distant shots would be a real plus over constantly changing lenses on your D700
*and as always costs have to be considered, so the D300's would be cost effective
If you're only looking for a backup system, then any of the options would be fine. But, as I noted in my second bullet above, armed with two cameras setup for different purposes can be a real plus

[Jim Poor]

Either would do fine, but I also tend to agree with the monozygotic twin approach instead of the dizygotic twin approach.

I also have a D700 with just a few dozen clicks on it FS

Originally Posted by Ryan DS

Having been highly invested in portrait photography since I first picked up a camera 10 years ago, I decided to put my focus on starting a business last year. Over the last 12 months, I have been planning, second shooting, and building my portfolio and look to officially launch early next year.

Now, my question is gear related. As far as I'm concerned, I have obtained top-quality tools for the job and the only thing I am lacking is a secondary camera body. I currently shoot with a Nikon D700 and am completely pleased with its performance. Now this is my (slight) dilemma, because my business has not yet gone live, I have not booked any weddings yet but still feel I should invest into a second body now. These are my options:

Used D300 or D300s
Nikon D7000
Another D700

The top choice for me would be another D700 simply because its performance and redundancy however used, its still a bit expensive. The D300(s) would be nice because its laid out like the D700 and the D7000 has decent high ISO performance which is something important to me. Both the D300(s) and D7000 are about 1/2 the price of the D700 but I am not sure I would like the DX-crop much in tangent with FX.

Am I crazy to get another D700 before booking any weddings (although I do have some portrait shoots booked) or should I go the cheaper route and pick up a DX body or bypass it all together until things start picking up? Just looking for some advice here.

[sk66]

If your focus is entirely portrait/event stuff then I would get a used/refurbished D700 as my backup.... For just a little more than a new D700 you could probably get a used D3...especially in a few months when (if) the D4 comes out.