Blunders and Stupidity

[Whaler]

:lol: Okay let's ALL fess up. . . . . We all know Mr B dropped a great white out of his pick-up truck. Me? I left a 3021 tripod with a 3047 head by the side of a road on Sunday. Upon returning (5 minutes later) GONE! :oops: :oops: :oops: Oh yeah and I also lost a 77mm Canon lens cap to the tune of $9 :twisted: Let's hear your story. :twisted:

[vvizard]

I left a 70-200mm 2.8, a X-drive II and my jacket on an empty chair outside in a very crowded location, full of unknown people for 30 minutes... All laying just fine where I left it when I returned =D No it was not intentionally, and I do realize how lucky I must have been =D

[Digital Prophet]

Two weeks ago I tried taking pictures of my boss's dog by a tree. Well it got to looking like it was going to rain. I got so caught up with loading my stuff that I almost forgot the puppy and drove off. Luckily the little guy was still there.

Hey, if it you don't get caught then its just between you and god. And they can't issue a material witness warrant for god.

- Digital Prophet -

[Whaler]

Oh man not a puppy. . . . . that's brutal. :lol:

[PetPhotoGuy]

I once worked on a photo shoot with a couple of boisterous dogs. As I was working through various shots and switching through different lens choices, I set my gear bag down so that it would be close and I could reach equipment quickly. I continued working with one of the dogs, getting great shots when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the other dog was relieving himself all over my gear bag. Needless to say I am a bit more careful where I place my stuff these days.

[defordphoto]

I went on an MX shoot with one of the forum members last winter. Parking sucked and it was muddy and nasty. We talked with each other while in our trucks (window rolled down) before parking.

Packed everything up I needed (10D and 100-400) and off I went. Left everything else in the truck and set the alarm). Came back to the truck about an hour or so later to pick up the 70-200 and found the window (still) rolled down.

My heart sank deep into the mud.

But, all was intact as I had left it. Whew! I have never dropped a camera or a lens in my life. Oh. I take that back. I dropped a P&S digital while at the coast. Didn't hurt it at all. I have never dropped any important/expensive cameras or lenses.

Last year at the Portland ChampCar race one of the photogs dropped his setup in the hot pits. It was not pretty. We all mourned his loss. But, it was (only) a film camera so he took that as a sign from the Photo Gods that it was time to convert to digital.

I am sure he is now reborn. I should see him again in about 6 weeks.

[vvizard]

I have never dropped anything important before either. Although last weekend I was walking towards the car, with 10D around neck, my 50mm lens in one hand, and a coke-bottle in the other. Suddenly I felt the item in my left hand slip, and fall down on the tarmac. For a split-second while I was trying to find out if it was the lens or the bottle which was on it's way to bite tarmac, my hart stopped I think :oops:

[IndyJeff]

I was once changing lenses, from the 50 to the 100-200. I had the 100-200 mounted and as I began to twist it on I felt my grip on the 50 slip. As it plummeted towards the pavement, I stuck my foot out and caught it on top of my foot. Well the catch only lasted a second, then it rolled off onto the pavement. Picked it up and blew it off, no damage. The 3 second rule came into play there I am sure.

[gsmx2]

Two part story.

Part One: On Saturday, when on a 4 week trip, I go to a movie and left my nearly new Canon A40 in the car and forget to lock the door. Get back; camera and other things are gone, never to be recovered.

Sunday morning wake up and NEED a camera for that day and the rest of the trip. Purchase a DRebel and love it; vow never to leave it in my car again. We wake up in a motel in Joplin, Missouri, go to breakfast, then drive to Tulsa, OK (108) miles and go to Starbucks for coffee. Go to get the camera; it is not in the car. I had left it in the restaurant in Joplin. I curse and call; a waitress had picked it up. As I am cursing my stupidity and the fact that we need to drive 108 back, my wife says, "You should be praising God. We have a camera to go pick up." Amazing how calm one can get when VERY THANKFUL.

gsm x2

[Volatile]

Back when I first got my P&S ($500 was a LOT of money back then) we went to Waimea on a big day to watch the surfers. We set up the blanket and whatnot on the beach and were hanging around. A big set came through and I got some great shots, though it breaks waaay outside. I stuffed the camera into my cargo pocket on my shorts and totally forgot that the big set would eventually reach the beach.

Have you ever seen the wave in the Ocean Spray commercials? That's the Waimea shorebreak. This wave came up the rather steep beach, and I busied myself scooping up the blanket. The wave hit my legs and soaked me up to the waist. Then I remembered the camera and freaked right out.

I wouldn't turn on, system error. Sent it back to the dealer, and they said it's not covered on the warranty and would be $200 to fix. I told them to send it back to me because I planned to fight the warranty issue. When it came back, it worked fine and I never had a problem with it. Happy Ending...

[vvizard]

Oh I recall another one.. Just after buying my 10D and the 50mm prime, we had a lunar-eclipse (November last year if I recall correctly).. Guess it's big enough of a blunder to admit in here that I tried shooting the moon with a 50mm =D But.. there's more to it actually..

This was in the middle of the night. I took the camera, a tripod and drove off to the top of a mountain here, as I thought I could really get a good night-shot of the place where I live while at it. Up there, I placed the camera on the tripod, and took some shots. It was blowing a bit that night actually.. During one of those long exposures, I turned away from the camera to block the wind with my back as I lighted a cigarette. Upon turning back again, I saw the tripod falling forwards, headed for a sure death of camera/lens, as it would've felt off the mountain-cliff, and probably rolled 200-300 metres down on the rocky surface. In a miracoulos way, I manged to throw myself forwards, and get my hands on the tripod before it fell off. WOW! Talk about matrix-reflexes =D And to top it off, this was before I had fixed insurance for the equipment. If this was to happen again I would probably let it fall, and trow all my lenses and equipment (and probably car) after it, collect a nice insurance-check, and order a MK-II =D

[Tom W]

Wow! I didn't have anything that spectacular happen during the eclipse, but I tried to take a series of exposures with my tripod-mounted Elan and a 70-210 tele. I'm not quite sure what happened, but I ended up leaving the shutter open for a fairly long time - long enough to drink a beer (maybe "beer happened").

Needless to say, my shot was ruined and the lab didn't even try to develop it.

[vvizard]

Haha, my RS-80N (or whatever it's named) arrived today, so now I can do bulb-exposures while having to hands free for both beer and cigarettes. This device surely can put more fun into photography =D

[johneo]

Not as bad as some of the others but I had left my 10D on the dining room table as well as my camera bag with all the stuff I have for the 10D (a few lenses, 550EX flash and so on ...) and went out for awhile. Got home a few hours later and noticed no camera or bag? Being over 50, I assumed I forgot I had left it in my computer room so didn't think twice about it.

A while later went to use the computer and didn't see the bag or camera ... PANIC! :x I had one of those sick sinking feelings :cry:

I checked my van, the entire house ... all over ... NO CAMERA! My wife came home shortly after and I asked if she knew where it was. While I was out she had come home, done a little house work and put it on the floor of my closet (I never put it there).

Boy, did we have a serious talk ... :x

[ron chappel]

My income is really low and it's only recently everything miraculously came together for me to be able to afford a 300D.
Very strangely it is probably the least looked after camera i've ever owned. :? :? :? :? :? :?
Is there some reverse psychology going on here?!
Bizzare.Truly bizzare

I carry it around on the dirt bike with dodgey strap on the bag,use all kinds of different brand lenses on it without adapters which risks scratching the inside of the mount parts and i haven't even had to clean the sensor at all.
The worst it has got so far is being kicked across some tarmac-very minor scratches were the only result.
I REALLY should get around to insuring it one day.If someone stole my car with the camera in they would tripple their takings ,lol (and the car insur wouldn't cover that much value of contents)

[Guillermo Freige]

This happened to me the day I bought my first digicam (a Sony P1). I was in NY state (in Poughkeepsie) working in a 4 weeks residence for IBM, without my EOS 5, so I decided to buy a digicam. So the first weekend I went to NY City and bougth the P1 in Sony Center building, with a 128Mb MS and other stuff. As battery was charged, I decided to use the P1 and the 128Mb MS during the day and in the return trip by train, keeping it in my pocket instead of keeping it in the shopping bag with the other stuff. The problem was, when I arrived to the hotel, the camera was nowhere!!!!!
After the panic attack, and a checking in the lobby, I started to remember I had the camera in the trainstation after the trip, so the only possible place to loose it was the taxi used between the station and the hotel!. The problem is I didn't remember the taxi company name!. It was too late for a trip to the station, and the next day was monday, so I went to work to IBM. I was able to return to the station only at late afternoon, at aproximately the same time the day before when the loose occured. Fortunately I remembered the taxicab driver, and I was lucky enough to find him in the taxi stop!!!. Luckily he remembered me, and stored the camera (it was in the back seat) after my trip, so I recovered my brand new P1!!!!!. Of course I tip it generously!! In 2001 the camera plus the 128MB MS costed me $1000.....
So, I was REALLY lucky!!!

[Jesper]

I'm changing lenses on my 10D quite often and most of the time I'm keeping one lens under my arm while taking off or putting on the other lens. Someday that's going to go wrong and I will drop a lens. Fortunately it hasn't happened yet... :?

I did drop my 10D once while I was changing lenses. :shock: It was lying on my lap and slided off, and fell on the floor. No lens was attached and it fell with the lens mount faced down on the concrete. Fortunately there was only minor damage, there's a scratch on top (near the "Canon" mark) and nothing else. I guess I was lucky, it would have been a lot worse if it would have fell with the LCD faced down, and fortunately the lens mount isn't damaged either.

Now I'll always hang the 10D around my neck by the strap when I change lenses, so it can't fall. I still have to find out what to do with the lenses so that they can't fall - holding them under my arm isn't the best thing to do. :roll:

And I've also left my bag with 10D, lenses and everything in a café once. We walked out and a few minutes later.... "MY CAMERA!!!" :shock: - I ran back and the bag was still standing next to the chair.

[iwatkins]

Many years ago I dropped an EOS 650 with a 50mm lens attached from the observatory on the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland. :(

It disappered off down the mountain and is probably sat in the Aletsch glacier now only to be discovered when it pops out of the bottom in 5000 years time. Hope whoever finds it likes the shots. :)

Luckily, it was the first time I had insured a camera, so I wasn't out of pocket.

Not had any major problems with the 10D.

Cheers

Ian

[Ikinaa]

Many years ago I dropped an EOS 650 with a 50mm lens attached from the observatory on the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland. :(

It disappered off down the mountain and is probably sat in the Aletsch glacier now only to be discovered when it pops out of the bottom in 5000 years time. Hope whoever finds it likes the shots. :)

Luckily, it was the first time I had insured a camera, so I wasn't out of pocket.

Not had any major problems with the 10D.

Cheers

Ian

At the speed the glaciers are melting, you can probably get it back in 5 years :wink:

[MarkH]

The wave hit my legs and soaked me up to the waist. Then I remembered the camera and freaked right out.

I wouldn't turn on, system error. Sent it back to the dealer, and they said it's not covered on the warranty and would be $200 to fix. I told them to send it back to me because I planned to fight the warranty issue.

I don't get it! You had a camera that wasn't working due to being briefly submerged in salt water and you were thinking that it should be covered under warranty?

I'm glad it worked out OK, but I don't understand your thinking on the warranty thing.

[Lamplight]

Wow, I guess I haven't been into photography long enough to anything happen as bad as you guys! The worst thing I've done so far is drop my DRebel kit lens from about chest-height. It landed on it's side on asphalt and rolled into the nearby grass, but was unharmed. In fact, now it seems like it can focus closer to a subject. ??? :lol: (Yes, I realize that is just my imagination. :D)

[Bruce Hamilton]

I don't get it! You had a camera that wasn't working due to being briefly submerged in salt water and you were thinking that it should be covered under warranty?

If the manual doesn't explicitly say "Do not submerge in salt water"... :lol: :lol: :lol:

[roanjohn]

I once dropped my precious s400 in the beach!!! The sand started getting in the lens barrel and the thing won't zoom in and out...Needless to say, I was bummed.

Thank goodness for Mack camera!! They fixed it!!

Okay, not as dramatic as some of the stories but I though I would contribute. 8)

Ro1

[jgbeam]

I left my Canon G3 on top of the car when I pulled out of a hotel lot at Disneyworld last October. It already had about 200 vacation shots on it. didn't miss it until the next day. Called the hotel and whoever found it had turned it in. There ARE honest people in the world! The camera was in a padded Lowepro case and survived the fall, no problems at all.

Jim

[PhotosGuy]

I left my Canon G3 on top of the car when I pulled out of a hotel lot at Disneyworld last October. It already had about 200 vacation shots on it. didn't miss it until the next day. Called the hotel and whoever found it had turned it in. There ARE honest people in the world! The camera was in a padded Lowepro case and survived the fall, no problems at all.

Another excellent reason to use custom WB! Write your name & current hotel on the white paper with BLACK magic marker so it’ll show up in the first WB pic.

OK, my screw up…
I had won a Rolli 35 (film) cam in a contest & used it a few months for personal stuff when I didn’t want to carry the Nikons since it would fit in my pocket, so I thought it’d be ideal to take on my first skydiving expedition with a few friends. I took a lot of shots – up at my face with the chute overhead; down at my feet showing the ground 1000’ below; friends landing their first jump, etc. When I got to pic # 40 I knew I was in trouble.
Seems that the cam back was separate from the body & had to be slid up from the bottom. The pressure plate caught the film & pushed it up off the sprockets & I didn’t notice (probably too much adrenaline!).
On the “up” side, it made an excellent excuse to go back & jump a few more times!

:D :( :wink:

[daaaveman]

I took my wife's P&S to a kid's birthday party a few weeks ago. Took lots of shots. Later that night, while visiting my sister, I went to fetch it from the car and it wasn't there.....panic. The wife was getting pretty pissed. The last thing I remembered was removing the belt pack from my belt while standing next to the car. "I must have left it on top of the car!!!" I drove 80 mph back to the party spot and spent half an hour with a flashlight looking for it and wondering if I was going to get arrested for wandering around a closed business with a flashlight at night. Didn't find it. Went home dejected and suffered my wife's wrath. My sister called the next day. It seems I had taken it in her house (which I didn't remember) and my 3 yr old had "packed it for me" in her suitcase. Wife never apologized for the wrath........I guess they're just like that. Needless to say, I'm not borrowing her P&S anymore. I'll lug the big camera to the next birthday party.

[PhotosGuy]

I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather.........not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.

Daaaveman, I'm laughing so hard I can hardly type!

[aeroshots2003]

This one happened some 10 years ago when I was still into manual photography :

I was walking through the fields for some outdoor photography, when I came across a creek. I could only pass it by jumping, since no bridge was in sight. As I jumped one of my lenses (70-210 which I had in my jacket's left pocket) came flying next to me. As gravitation kicked in, the lens headed for the water. Man, I can tell you my heart stopped as I saw water bubbles coming to the surface... :roll:

[tpinchback]

This one happened some 10 years ago when I was still into manual photography :

I was walking through the fields for some outdoor photography, when I came across a creek. I could only pass it by jumping, since no bridge was in sight. As I jumped one of my lenses (70-210 which I had in my jacket's left pocket) came flying next to me. As gravitation kicked in, the lens headed for the water. Man, I can tell you my heart stopped as I saw water bubbles coming to the surface... :roll:
Did the lens still work, r was the water to deep to retrive the lens?

[arumdevil]

[quote=Volatile]
I'm glad it worked out OK, but I don't understand your thinking on the warranty thing.

Just cos the warranty doesn't cover certain situations doesn't mean you can't fool them.

Case in point, a few years ago I got a Sony MD player at Dixons airport branch on my way out of the UK. while I was abroad I used a mobile phone charger to run the MD player off the mains. trouble is these things run on a single 1.5 V AA battery and the charger outputs 9 volts. There was a flash and when I opened the lid the smoke wafted out.

I was kicking myself for being so stupid and it was only a couple of days old.

when I got back to england I took it to a branch of Dixons and explained that I bought it at the airport but that it didn't work when I tried it. they tried it out and shure enough it didn't work, (I aired it out first) so they gave me a replacement! I couldn't believe it :)

Oh, did I say MD player? :lol: I meant digital camera of course :oops: ;)

[GPR1]

Last summer I took a trip with my family to Hong Kong, one of my favorite cities. I had purchased a new Manfroto carbon fiber tripod just prior to departure, by my wife's leave (she knew she'd be schlepping it around the city, and wanted me to have something lighter than my old aluminum unit). One time I walked off the Star Ferry without it (it was on the seat next to me). My wife noticed before the ferry had again left, and retrieved it for me. After that she kept a very close eye on all my gear.

Greg

[ShutteringFocus]

I have a story that proves they dont make them like the used to.

We were packing up for a fourth of the July trip and I put my camera in the back of the van. Someone decided to rearrange the back of the van and took the camera out and set it on the driveway. (If I ever find out who...they will not finish their apple :? ) Of course, the forgot to put it back in. And off we went...rolling OVER THE TOP OF my 1987 Canon AE-1 Program with a 75-200mm lens mounted on it...along with other junk in the bag.

The camera suffered a single dent in the bottom on the aluminum cover. Nothing else. Nothing broken. No problems. Still works to this day. The lens to was in perfect condition...except that it had been mounted ON the camera and was ripped off tearing the lens mount off. But no glass was broken at all, and no dents.

If a van rolled over any of my current camera equipment...I would be picking up micro chips and plastic pulp. Needless to say, the camera bag never leaves my neck...even when I am in the van. :D

[alexd1983]

Just cos the warranty doesn't cover certain situations doesn't mean you can't fool them.

Case in point, a few years ago I got a Sony MD player at Dixons airport branch on my way out of the UK. while I was abroad I used a mobile phone charger to run the MD player off the mains. trouble is these things run on a single 1.5 V AA battery and the charger outputs 9 volts. There was a flash and when I opened the lid the smoke wafted out.

I was kicking myself for being so stupid and it was only a couple of days old.

when I got back to england I took it to a branch of Dixons and explained that I bought it at the airport but that it didn't work when I tried it. they tried it out and shure enough it didn't work, (I aired it out first) so they gave me a replacement! I couldn't believe it :)

Oh, did I say MD player? :lol: I meant digital camera of course :oops: ;)

I also have lied my way through a warranty. I dropped my cell phone in a toilet! It slipped off my beltclip.... the water was "clean"... and after about 5 seconds of debating whether or not to retrieve it, lol I went for it. The screen was all black and blue (not it's normal greenish yellow mono screen color) water poured out of it. After letting it dry... the screen returned semi to it's normal appearance and the phone actually worked... but the water must have shorted the memory.. as the phonebook would not function..

Warranty does not cover water accidents. So i lied and told them it just stopped working one day.... they looked at it.... and gave me a new phone on the spot ;) lol.

[vvizard]

I was hammered the last year at high-school, and a lot of us where out drinking. We where driving to an amusement-park (the driver was sober of course), and we had to stop in the middle of our capital to take a leak.. Pulled the car to the side of the road, jumped over the high-way fences, and let ourself do what we had to do. *aaah* some gallons of beer later, we where back in the car driving towards our destination, when I found out "OH ****! I lost my cell-phone back there", and that was a brand new Ericsson T68, by far the most sophisticated phone manufactured at that time, and costed half a fortune for a high-school kid like me. I reported it "pickpocked" to my insurance-company, and got a brand new one (even upgraded model, as Sony had purchased Ericsson in the meantime, and raped the ... err, I mean "redesigned" the phne). Insurance-fraud sure ain't good, but losing equipment worth half your life-savings as an 18 year old sure aint either :-P Beside, insurance-fraud or warranty-fraud, it's still fraud, I just like to make it a Whopper if I first have to ;) (Thanks Belmondo)

Made a blunder with my 10D today too. Got home now, had it in my rucksack. Usually that is full of school-books and stuff, so I just toss it on the floor whenever I have to have both hands free. Today I had an exam, so the only friggin thing in that sack was the 10D and some pens.. So when I was about to unlock the door, I just dropped my sack intenionally on the stairway.. Not "that" big fall, so I haven't even bothered to check if it took damage.. If it did, I'm covered (legally) by insurance anyhow =D

[theoldmoose]

I'm amazed at the naivete (or gall, take your pick) of folks that feel that somehow this forum is a private confessions room.

Insurance fraud and retail (warantee) fraud are illegal, unethical, and even if they weren't, engaging in such practices are the bane of their respective industries and does nothing but raise prices for everyone else.

Whether or not you agree with me isn't the point. Consider that even if you use a 'nom de plume', that you really aren't all that anonymous. In fact, a favorite recent tactic of prospective employers is to find out what aliases you use on line, and do a few quick google searches, to find out what kind of person you *really* are.

I can't imagine that anyone would want to endanger their careers and reputations by declaring that they performed illegal actions, either now or in the past.

The Internet has a long (perhaps perpetually long) memory. Be careful of what you post. If you wouldn't want your mother, wife, kids, or boss to know, then don't post it.

[aeroshots2003]

This one happened some 10 years ago when I was still into manual photography :

I was walking through the fields for some outdoor photography, when I came across a creek. I could only pass it by jumping, since no bridge was in sight. As I jumped one of my lenses (70-210 which I had in my jacket's left pocket) came flying next to me. As gravitation kicked in, the lens headed for the water. Man, I can tell you my heart stopped as I saw water bubbles coming to the surface... :roll:
Did the lens still work, r was the water to deep to retrive the lens?

About 1 m deep. I left it drying for about 2 days and miraculously no defects occured (I wouldn't want to try it with my 70-200 2.8L today !). I still have this dark-age lens somewhere in a drawer - a nostalgic souvenir of my early days in the photographic world :wink:

[aeroshots2003]

And this one happened last december when I was photographing military jets :

as two fighters lined up on the runway prior to departure I was eagerly taking pictures with my EOS 5 + 70-200L. As the jets started powering up seconds before releasing the breaks, the noise became unbearable for bystanders. Since I had no earplugs, I let go of the camera to cover my ears certain that I had the camera strap around my neck... NOT. :roll:

Due to the noise I didn't hear the camera hit the ground - it was only after the aircraft had taken off that I panicked as I discovered the camera lying at my feet. :?

To my surprise no damage occured - seemingly the lens hood had hit the ground first, breaking the fall. Since that day I swear never to leave the Canon brand :P

[theoldmoose]

This one happened some 10 years ago when I was still into manual photography :

I was walking through the fields for some outdoor photography, when I came across a creek. I could only pass it by jumping, since no bridge was in sight. As I jumped one of my lenses (70-210 which I had in my jacket's left pocket) came flying next to me. As gravitation kicked in, the lens headed for the water. Man, I can tell you my heart stopped as I saw water bubbles coming to the surface... :roll:
Did the lens still work, r was the water to deep to retrive the lens?

About 1 m deep. I left it drying for about 2 days and miraculously no defects occured (I wouldn't want to try it with my 70-200 2.8L today !). I still have this dark-age lens somewhere in a drawer - a nostalgic souvenir of my early days in the photographic world :wink:

Hey! I'm still using a 70-210mm, scored used in a local emporium. Twill do nicely, thanks, until I can scare up enough cash for a 'real' lens. :wink:

[robertwgross]

And this one happened last december when I was photographing military jets :
as two fighters lined up on the runway prior to departure I was eagerly taking pictures with my EOS 5 + 70-200L. As the jets started powering up seconds before releasing the breaks, the noise became unbearable for bystanders. Since I had no earplugs, I let go of the camera to cover my ears certain that I had the camera strap around my neck... NOT. :roll:
Due to the noise I didn't hear the camera hit the ground - it was only after the aircraft had taken off that I panicked as I discovered the camera lying at my feet. :?
To my surprise no damage occured - seemingly the lens hood had hit the ground first, breaking the fall. Since that day I swear never to leave the Canon brand :P

Good story. ... but did you get the shot?

---Bob Gross---

[Bluelens]

I have not done anything...yet ;)

But my wife.. that is a different story.

Bought her our first camera, a Pentax something-or-other. I wasn't into photography and she was so hello Christmas present to her. She dropped and the lens got jammed.

She learned after a couple years that a film SLR is not her thing. I got her a digital P&S. She didn't put the strap on properly and one night while we are out....blam...it hit the sidewalk. Things stopped working right.

I got her one last camera that she had been eyeing for a while. And again for one more Christmas I got her what she wanted. She has used the crap out of it and has not dropped it or anything.

It was after this camera that I jumped into photography, went out and got my Rebel G Sept. '02. Never dropped it. :)

[Boudreaux]

On a recent trip to the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, I had opened my camera bag to get my camera out... forgot to close it back and then proceeded to sling it over my shoulder where I quickley heard the sickening sound of metal/glass to concrete. :shock: :cry:

My wife's look said it all. I looked down to see my 28-135 lens on the floor. I picked it up and placed it in the bag and tried to "forget about it" while touring the museum. Thankfully I took the advice of many people of this forum and bought a filter for lens protection.

Here's what it looked like when I got it home. I took a picture to remind me to ALWAYS check the bag before throwing it over the shoulder.

http://users.ev1.net/~KFALCON/lens/Broken.jpg

I sent it off to Canon for repairs and thankfully it wasn't DOA. The cost of repair was much cheaper than replacement but enough to keep me on my toes when taking my equipment out of my bag.

I just received my lens back today and yeah :D I am excited to have it back. (Vow) "I will never ever sling my camera bag over my shoulder without checking the buckles first!" Ugh! I'm getting nauseous remembering the event.. I gotta go....erp!

http://users.ev1.net/~KFALCON/lens/Fixed.jpg

[Belmondo]

I don't know if we're going through this exercise to get sympathy, make ourselves laugh, or for group therapy to rid ourselves of traumatic memories.

Several years ago my wife and I flew to Maui for a winter vacation; we left from San Francisco in the middle of a cold, wet storm. I had my camera with me…Canon F1 with a Vivitar Series I 28-90 zoom. I loved that camera, and the lens was from the days when Vivitar made truly excellent gear. Anyway, I got on the plane, wrapped the camera in my coat, and stuck the bundle in the overhead compartment. When we landed in Hawaii, the passenger in the aisle seat got up first and asked if he could get anything out of the compartment for me, so I asked him to grab my coat. I failed to mention (actually forgot) the camera rolled up inside it, so he just grabbed a sleeve and pulled---the camera hit the floor hard. The body survived intact, but the lens mount was pulled partially out of the lens body so that it pointed off at about a 30-degree angle. I wrapped the whole mess back up into the coat and refused to look at it again for the rest of the trip.

I used the incident as an excuse to buy an EOS-650 the next day---my first autofocus camera. After all, I wasn’t going to be without a camera in what is arguably one of the most beautiful places on earth.

This was a long time ago, so I can't remember what it cost to repair the lens, but I remember thinking at the time that it was really pretty cheap considering how bad it looked.

Dropping camera equipment seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life.

[ijohnson]

I had my g2 at a surprise party and got a little (lot) drunk. I was taking pictures of my friends arm-wrestling (like I said, drunk), and I moved my picture-taking arm out of the way of an on-coming collision with a fellow drunkard and the camera came flying out of my hand. It bounced HARD about 50 times, or so it seemed.

The camera is fine but has a nice crack in the LCD-screen hinge and a few deep scuffs.

From this I learned two lessons:
1) Don't mix alcohol and SLR's. Bring your P+S.
2) Scuffs and cracks, assuming they don't decrease the functionality of the camera, look really cool. I keep wishing I would drop my 10d in a harmless way. I can't bring myself to scuff it intentionally.

[m*m]

I was trying to take a picture of my son blowing out the candles on his birthday cake with my Kodac disposable camera and right as he was about to blow them out I dropped it on the icing. I couldn't see through the glass thingy to take anymore pictures so i just developed the roll of film for the two pictures I had on there before the event.

It was horrible....but I did get a couple of good pictures...

I bought a new disposable camera while I was developing the film.

[aeroshots2003]

And this one happened last december when I was photographing military jets :
as two fighters lined up on the runway prior to departure I was eagerly taking pictures with my EOS 5 + 70-200L. As the jets started powering up seconds before releasing the breaks, the noise became unbearable for bystanders. Since I had no earplugs, I let go of the camera to cover my ears certain that I had the camera strap around my neck... NOT. :roll:
Due to the noise I didn't hear the camera hit the ground - it was only after the aircraft had taken off that I panicked as I discovered the camera lying at my feet. :?
To my surprise no damage occured - seemingly the lens hood had hit the ground first, breaking the fall. Since that day I swear never to leave the Canon brand :P

Good story. ... but did you get the shot?

---Bob Gross---

Yep, I managed to endure some of the jet noise. After the incident I thought the EOS 5 was damaged since the mirror slap did not sound the same as before, but that just seemed to be my hearing gone bad :wink:

[RbnDave]

While adjusting my rearview mirror I noticed something that looked strangely like my camera case bouncing down the road behind me. "That's strange," I said to myself and then realized I had forgotten my S30 on the roof of my car while unpacking the night before. I turned around and to my horror dicovered my mangled camera case laying by the side of the road with a corner of my S30 sticking out. I did a couple test photos and found the camera worked fine. Man was I lucky. Not only had I left my camera outside overnight on the roof of my car, I also happened to look in the rearview at the exact moment it flew off the roof. I was blocks away from home so I'm sure I never would have found it if I didn't see it the moment it blew off. BTW, I was going 45MPH when this happened and my camera was in a thin case with no padding.

[BDM]

:lol: Okay let's ALL fess up. . . . . We all know Mr B dropped a great white out of his pick-up truck. Me? I left a 3021 tripod with a 3047 head by the side of a road on Sunday. Upon returning (5 minutes later) GONE! :oops: :oops: :oops: Oh yeah and I also lost a 77mm Canon lens cap to the tune of $9 :twisted: Let's hear your story. :twisted:

Many, many years ago I worked as a photographer for a TV station. We pulled up at a store where we were going to shoot a commercial. I got out of the station's car, went inside to announce our arrival, returned almost immediately only to discover the tail gate down and the station's Bolex Rex 5 movie camera and my Spectra Combi 500 light meter were gone. That taught me a lesson I've never forgotten!

Bruce

[roppelt]

HA I got you all beat :shock: I had just bought a brand new Elan II with a 135~400 Quantaray lens I had about 900.00 in it and I was invited to go hunting with some friends in PA. I was on top of a waterfall when I sliped and droped the whole thing over :( smashing it to peices....Lucky for me I had bought it at ritz with a insurance policy and had a replacement in my hands in two day's.

[vvizard]

Yesterday my camera-equipment where laying in a office-chair, and my 50mm was laid on it's side, rather than standing on one of the lens-caps. So when I pushed the chair a tiny bit, trying to pass it, it rolled off and smashed into the floor. I can now confirm that a lens hitting the ground is a very ugly sound :( Luckily this is a carpet-floor, and I think it turned out ok. Can't see any cracks in it, and I mounted it on to see if autofocus worked like it should, and it did. Just hope the impact haven't thrown the focus off, so it'll start to front/back focus. A friend of mine's Sigma-lens started doing that after rolling off his desk. But that was a 70-200 2.8, so the speed it had gotten before reaching the floor was probably a lot bigger than what my 50mm managed to reach :lol:

[Sketcher]

Mine's a near blunder:

Had 2yr old daughter beside me while shooting dragons at the ponds edge in our backyard last summer. 10D, 70-200 f/2.8L IS w/1.4x TC, 500D and TC-80n3 sat atop my Manfrotto/Bogen legs.

A ladybug landed on the farthest out tripod leg and my daughter in her excitement to touch the bug forgot that there was a pond just two feet in front of her. As she fell toward the pond, she grabbed the tripod and they both headed toward the pond. It all happened in a split second but I was able to grab her shirt bottom and the TC-80n3 to halt their fall just inches from touching the water. For a brief moment I was actually conflicted as to which hand I should let go of to save the other. If that TC cable let loose... Kids dry off with a towel and are fine after hugs and kisses, the camera gear...

Thankfully I didn't have to play that end game as I was able to pull them both back from the waters edge. I'm a bit more careful when my kids go shooting w/me these days. For now, it may be troublesome and an attention requirement to have them along but they get really excited to see the bugs up close on the computer or printed and I'm hoping to make it an enjoyable hobby for us all to grow with.

Of course I would have let go of the gear to keep my daughter from falling in. At least that's what I keep telling my wife who was watching in horror as Hannah fell toward the pond. Besides, it's only a little water dear (note to self - wife doesn't take kindly to minimizing kid hazards)...