Near-disasters with your equipment

[bobt]

I was in Miami Beach a couple of years ago having Christmas dinner at a wonderful restaurant with relatives. My son and I had our cameras and lens with us both for the event and feeling that was safer then leaving them in our hotel room.

After a great meal and a bit too much in the beverage department, we left the restaurant. A little while later we realized we left all of our camera gear behind. It was where we left it when we went back so no problem but what a hell of an oversight.

 

[RHVC59]

About a month ago I took my camera with me to get the mail. It was mounted on a monopod which I was carrying in my right hand. I had the mail in my left hand, and was wearing slippers.... somehow coming up the concrete steps, I slipped out of one of my slippers, and down I went. I was not not quick enough to catch myself with my left hand. So I landed on my face, and right knee. Somehow I was able to keep my right arm holding The D80 with a 55-200mm- zoom on the monopod behind my back, so it did not hit the ground. My knee face and left hand on the other hand did. The hand and were definitely gouged on the cement steps. They bled profusely, and hurt like hell. My pinky is still stiff. I no longer go out in slippers with my camera to get the mail..

 

[neutrino23]

About 20 years ago I was vacationing in Hawaii. When we went snorkeling I put the camera (old Canon SLR) in a backpack way up on the beach against some rocks. Turned out it was that far up the beach. While we were snorkeling the tide came in and soaked the camera. I had it repaired twice but it never worked perfectly after that.

 

[TheReef]

Woah…last night I dreamt I unscrewed my K10D and sand started pouring out…
Talk about paranoia of the weather sealing…

 

[Phrasikleia]

I think this thread should be re-titled "Who not to buy used equipment from!"

LOL. The same thought crossed my mind.

 

[chocolaterabbit]

Wow, that must be an experience, how the heck did your lens get melted? As far as I know, lens are not made from chocolate

it melted like cheese yeah photography must've made my imagination go wild. i tried to get out of the dream by struggling but it didn't work. of course when i woke up i ran over and checked it, luckily it was ok

 

[valdore]

Somehow when you combine myself with nice photography equipment, things can turn into a hot mess real quick. Example - the night before I leave for New York last October my entire tripod and my 5D mounted tumbles to the pavement - next to a creek. I guess I should be thankful the whole thing didn't go IN the creek. That was $311 to Canon for repairs there. Luckily I was still able to shoot photos with the camera in New York despite it being somewhat damaged.

I later on found out that the lens mounted on the camera at the time of that October pavement fall, my 17-40L, suffered some damage, and one day a couple months back while I was doing a shot, the bloody lens just blatantly fell off the camera. It hasn't since however and I still use it, though the 17-40's mount/ring/whatever it's called does require repair, even though I'm still able to use it for photos for now.

And last night I didn't make sure all the pockets were zipped on my Customary Barge bag (recently acquired this wonderful bag for photo and laptop gear) and I had two lenses yet again hit the pavement. I get quite frustrated with myself sometimes.

Since I use wide angle so much, I very, very much want to buy a new 16-35L II, use it as my full time wide angle, which will allow me to send the damaged 17-40L in for repairs, then I'll keep it as a backup wide angle.

 

[peskaa]

1D Mark III and 16-35L II sitting on a table whilst having coffee with some friends mid-shoot. Somebody knocks the table, and the camera ends up on the floor. Resulting damage?

- Small mark on the 1D battery, nothing major. Works fine.
- 16-35L splits in two, leaving the metal lens mount in the camera, and the other bit rolls off into the distance.

Needless to say, all insured. Goes off to Canon and comes back 3 days later good as new, except for a tiny tiny tiny cosmetic scratch on the barrel.


Other minor mishaps? Wide angle adapters snapped off flashguns (430EX), flashguns getting knocked off the top (580EXII) and shattering, lens hoods getting rather abused and a handful of smashed Hoya Pro filters.

 

[luminosity]

I had another near-disaster with my 17-55 today. I work at a school, and this morning I was taking some shots in documentary-style at our cafeteria. Because of the mishap mentioned in the first post, I don't have a strap attached to my D300 at the moment, and so I have to hand-hold it. As I was leaving the cafeteria, I wasn't paying attention to the D300 in my hand, or to the lens. My 17-55 hit the brick wall next to the door frame on my way out, and of course I didn't have the hood on.

I'm here to tell you that the 17-55 is as tough as it is often advertised as being. It chipped some brick right off the wall, and all that came off the lens was a small bit of black metal on the outer part of the lens (not the inner barrel, thankfully). You can feel a small indentation if you run your finger along it, and see a tiny chip, but other than that, it's the same as it was before.

If it had been a Tamron or Sigma equivalent, I suspect that I'd be out a lens today. The Nikon extracted its own ounce of brick for what it gave up.

 

[rouxeny]

I just had a near disaster. I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand, had just gotten out of a cab and was walking toward the hotel entrance. I heard a big crash and noticed the backpack was a whole lot lighter. Turns out my 70-200mm 2.8 IS had just fallen out of my bag onto the concrete floor. Ouch.

The lens hood had flown off, but was fine. The lens cap is smashed on one side. The Tiffen UV filter is cracked in multiple places. It is also dented where the filter must have impacted the ground. The lens itself looks entirely fine. I tested the focus and it seems normal. The IS also seems normal. The front element looks ok. Actually, a few test shots I took look pretty good. In sunlight, there is a bit of flare from the cracks I believe, but in overcast conditions, it did ok, really would look like a normal shot if not scrutinized carefully.

I am unable to unscrew the filter and will bring the lens in to the local Canon office and see what they can do and to get it checked out.

Overall, very impressed. The lens went through about a 3.5 foot free fall onto concrete and looks overall fine. I'm not sure what would have happened if it had fallen onto something other than the lens cap/UV filter. I guess that is one argument for always having a UV filter on. I guess I am glad it was not my CPL.

 

[wheelhot]

yikes! a 70-200 f/2.8 fell to the ground, I just felt my heart fall down Oo, I guess that what they call quality (same applies to the previous poster 17-55 Nikkor, it's f/2.8 rite?)