Dropped Rebel XT on kitchen floor!

[gooble]

Well I've had my Rebel XT for less than a month and I just dropped about 3 feet from a table to the floor. I had an EF 50 f/1.8 with a rubber, collapsible lens hood on it when it fell. I think it landed directly on the lens as there is no apparent point of impact on the body except for one corner of the hot shoe. That corner of the hot shoe gouged the linoleum and there was some floor stuck in the hot shoe but it was not visibly bent and the flash fits fine. The lens popped apart in two pieces and there is one broken tab that holds the front element to the rest of the lens. The fall also released the internal flash but it shuts and opens fine now.

Now after inspecting everything I noticed a rattle that I had never noticed before if I shake it. After some investigation I determined that the noise was coming from the metal brackets that holds the internal flash from opening too far. If I shake the camera while holding the brackets there is no more noise. I don't know why I never noticed the noise before but I didn't.

So I put on the kit lens and take some shots and everything seems ok. My questions are:

Has anyone here dropped theirs and what was the outcome? My worry is that the drop may have caused some damage that may not show up for some time.

Also, is there any hope of warranty coverage for future problems that might occur because of this? What about warranty coverage on the lens?

[nwyman]

Dropping is not covered by the warranty. I just paid $90.00 to have a lens repaired after dropping it from my case. They seem to be able to tell if the damage is caused by dropping.

[Jackal]

The rattling of the brackets is normal.

[Livinthalife]

note to self. dont' by XT from gooble :) JK

If it's working now, I wouldn't worry. Just try your best not to drop it again, This is a expensive piece of equipment you got.

[saravrose]

that sucks.. atleast it's the nifty and not an expensive lens... I'd still have the camera looked over...

sari

[gooble]

The rattling of the brackets is normal.
Yeah, it seems to be normal but there are always those things you notice after you drop something that didn't seem to be there before. I think it is the hyper-sensitivity associated with trying to find out if everything is ok.

I guess my main concern with the camera was knocking the mirrors, sensor, and shutter out of alignment.

As far as the lens goes it seems shot, however there is only one little broken tab. I think it is possible to get it back together but there seems to be a lack of screws or fasteners of any kind which may make it hard. It must have been glued/clipped together.

[Jamie Holladay]

Do you have your equipment insured? If not that is something you might want to look into. Becareful next time, Please.

[gooble]

Does anyone know how much force Canon designs its cameras to take without damage to the internal mechanical and moving parts?

After closer examination it appears that the corner of the hot shoe took the brunt of the impact. I would assume that the hot shoe is attached to the metal sub-frame and therefore did a good job of distributing the force throughout the camera. After the hot shoe hit, I think the rubber lens hood hit with a force applied 90 degrees to the focal axis of the lens and just popped the front element housing out of the lens body. I am amazed that there is not a scratch or ding anywhere else on the camera.

It's probably a good thing that the 50 is flimsy plastic because if it would have been metal it may have done damage to the lens mount and who knows what else. As it happened, I think that the lens flexed and absorbed some energy.

[zakabog]

I've had a nifty fifty fall apart in my hands (literally.) The two pieces you have (with one busted clip) was what I had except I lacked a busted clip. I don't know what caused it or anything I think I was just focusing and when I moved my hand away one of the pieces of the lens went with my hand. It was real odd, snapped back together afer maybe 30 minutes of playing with it but now it makes a horrible grinding noise when it tries to autofocus past a certain point. I also hear the grinding noise now with my 50mm macro lens when it tries to autofocus, does anyone have any idea why it does that? I never dropped the macro or anything, the nifty fifty I didn't care much about because it was just $80. The macro was something like $300 though, and it's real annoying to hear horrible grinding noises coming from a $300 lens.

[RWK]

My XT was 3 days old when the gal gave it to one of the kids to carry. She slipped and fell on the ice and the camera slammed lens first into the frozen ground. The lens filter was shattered and no other damage was done. I never replaced the filter after seeing some pics. with extra light shadows in the pics.

[lostdoggy]

Yeap drop mine a few time but it still working. The wort was when my son swipe it of the kitche table and broke the foot of the flash off. Luckily I was able to secure a replacement foot for $10.

[ACDCROCKS]

The strap came loose on my nikon on concrete, the very day I bought it, dont fell bad.

[sandro9mm]

XT is a durable... droped it from 2 meters on the solid rock, while climbing of course... it works just fine! Its made of a durable stuff... don't worry, xt flash rattle is normal :P

[gooble]

I was able to get the lens back together and amazingly it seems to work fine. The front lens element that moves in and out to focus is skewed a little bit to one side though. I think that this is due to the fact that one of the clips that holds it in the lens body is broken. The other three are holding it in though. Now when focus set on infinity the piece isn't flush with front of lens body. I'm sure it is tilting the focal plane slightly and will through off the focus somewhat.

[MrWills]

My daughter grab the neck strap on mine one day. It droped about 3-4 feet hit the kitchen table. Happend about 6 months ago, Camer still works and have no problesm. I will just send it in and pay if something comes up. Good luck with yours. :)

[polvoronn]

Also, is there any hope of warranty coverage for future problems that might occur because of this? What about warranty coverage on the lens?

If you purchased the equipment with your credit card, I would check what kind of warranties your credit card offers. Some CC's will cover damage from dropping your equipment within 1-3 months of purchase depending on your CC, even if it's your fault.

I remember a friend of mine dropped his new 15" PowerBook after about a week of ownership and ended up with a dent in the aluminum casing. His visa company reimbursed him for the cost of the repair. result; good as new 15" PowerBook.