Next to more and better lenses, the best investment for many photographers is a second camera body. Grabbing a second camera with a lens attached is much faster than swapping lenses and when that low battery indicator starts to flash, you can just grab the second one and keep shooting while your assistant makes the change or until you can stop and do it yourself. It also gives you a backup when things go wrong.
There are plenty of good reasons to have a second camera body. There's generally only one reason that many photographers don't have one, and that's cost. With a little bit of thought about what you really need in a second body, though, you may find that it's more affordable than you think. Here are a few examples, ready to help you expand your arsenal, listed by brand so you'll know they'll work with your current lenses.
Canon APS-C
EOS Rebel T3: This was a breakthrough model for Canon and at 12.2 megapixels, it's still a very capable crop sensor camera. It starts up incredibly fast, has a nice, big JPEG buffer and a battery life of about 700 shots, along with good low-light performance. There are 5 available here for less than $200 each.
EOS 60D: Step up to 18 megapixel resolution and get a whole lot more, like a top-mounted display, higher-magnification, pentaprism viewfinder , 8 more cross-type AF points, a whopping 15-shot RAW buffer and shutter speeds up to 1/8000s. There's one available for less than $450, here.
Nikon Crop Sensor (DX)
D5300: This one features 24.2 megapixel resolution. That's higher than some of Nikon's full frame models. It has an awesome articulated LCD, built-in Wi-Fi and super-fast autofocus. It also boasts many of the same features as the “big guns”, but you have to access them through the menu. We know where you can get one in mint condition for $425. The one possible drawback? It's red. If you said, “So what?” check it out here.
D90: If you don't need all that resolution from your second body and really want to save money, here's a model that will do the job nicely. It shoots at 12.3 megapixels, which is more than high enough for most photographic work. It gives you 11 AF points and 3D focus tracking. It can even track up to 5 faces simultaneously. With all the other standard features you'd expect from a modern crop-sensor DSLR, this is a highly capable second camera. Choose from 2 here ,both priced less than $225.
No doubt, you've noticed that these are all used bodies. Hopefully, you also noticed that each one is clearly marked with an honest rating and that all photos are of the actual items. What you may not have noticed is that each one is also covered by a 180-day guarantee. That's the kind of up-front, straightforward trading you can expect to do with the professionals at UsedPhotoPro.com. If you didn't find what you're looking for above, go search their website to see what kind of bargains you can find.