Worst accident your equipment has survived

[tim]

What's the worst treatment/accident that your equipment's survived?

Today I put down a 40D, 17-55 F2.8 IS, and 580EX II on a table and walked away. Unfortunately it was connected to the CP-E4 in my pocket, so the whole thing fell about a meter to the floor. It didn't seem to work after that, so I put it in the car and got the backup 20D and my second 17-55 out. However trying it later it seems it's working fine, focusing accurately, and working well, so it may have just knocked something. So I think it survived.

[S-S]

fell sideways into a child's bike while holding 40D + grip + 50 1.8 - right hand holding the camera hit the ground INSIDE the bike frame (you know, that diamond shape) wrist first and the camera smacked into the frame & got paint on it, then somehow was wrenched out again as i continued to fall somehow over the bike and did some kind of weird flip, laying on my back on some grass on the other side of the bike, still holding camera in the air (go E1 strap!)

"are you alright?" checked camera - little bit of paint on one part, works fine, focuses fine "yep all good thanks"

[S.Horton]

Dropped a 24-70 from an open backpack (stupid) -- Broke the CP filter, lens is a bit stiff on the zoom but is working perfectly.

It will have a vacation in NJ shortly anyway.

[Fingertip]

Had an XL1s (videocamera) fall 6 feet onto pavement 5 minutes before a wedding. I had just enough time to roll a minute of tape and check it before the wedding started. Still works to this day!

[RandyMN]

This one happened quite a few years ago with my Canon AE-1.

I was photographing the interior of a luxory condominium and was talkning with the manager in the main lobby as my camera was resting on the tripod.

Something was not stable about the tripod and it slowing began tilting until the entire tripod/camera assembly tipped completely over! It so happened that the lobby had a waterfall with a pond, which of course the camera and lens took a complete dive!

I quickly grabbed it, shut it off and took it to the repair shop for a complete cleaning. But they both survived.

[bps]

This thread is making me cringe!

[lauderdalems]

You are suppose to learn from other's mistakes.

[S-S]

was holding too much stuff in one hand while getting out of car... dangling from my fingers was keys & 40D + lensbaby, hanging by hand strap

not paying attention, detatched the WRONG loop from fingers while trying to get keys off, and watched stupidly as camera hit concrete from about 2 feet up

lensbaby took the impact & the handy shock-absorber-style lens meant no damage to camera or lens except for the mode dial notations popped off and had to be re-glued!

phew

[Trainboy]

While preparing to take a shot similar to this one (http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=188425)
my tripod got blown over by the wind with my mom's camera on it. The spot is the little nobbly bit on the top of the cliff in this shot (http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=27859&nseq=28) and it fell all the down to the tracks.
And lived.

[lil_miss]

*touch wood* nothing has happened here yet :D

[Perry Ge]

Sliding down a cliff with my old rebel attached to my tripod - used the tripod as a stick to control my fall as I slid down - carried on shooting when I got to the bottom :lol:

[S.Horton]

@Trainboy I think you have the thread record on "highest drop and survived" so far!

BTW, really, great work there with those shots.

[bnlearle]

My friend went kayaking with his MKIII (couple days old). Flipped his kayak in shallow water. Completely dunked his MKIII. Picked it up off the floor (maybe 3 feet deep). All in all, it was COMPLETELY submerged for probably 5 to 10 seconds (doesn't sound like a long time but actually count that outloud with a $4k camera being submerged in mind!). Let it dry out and everything was A-OK :) That was about a year ago and it's still running perfectly. Crazy.

[_Jo_]

I was photographing a wedding on the beach and we were doing the after ceremony shots, I set my tripod up and then went and arranged the group - what's the saying never turn your back on the sea??!! When I turned around the tide had come right in - and my tripod with attached camera was mid-tip. I literally flew through the air and caught it just before it went in the drink. *phew* (that was at my very first sole wedding).

[Killjoy]

I had just bought a boat. I was taking photos of my daughter fishing in the bow when a coworker came flying up on a jetski.
He sent a wall of water into my boat, soaking my family, and my camera.
My whole camera bag was open on the back seat of the boat.
He soaked my 20D with the 28-105 on it, and in the bag was my 50 f/1.4, 75-300 and my 10-22 as well as my 420EX and 580EX.
The bag wasn't too bad, but the camera had to go back to Canon in Irvine for the focus circuit board to be reworked. $330 later, it's working as good as new.

That was two and a half years ago. I still wonder if I had enough weight on my anchor to hold a body at the bottom of that lake.

[jms_uk]

That was two and a half years ago. I still wonder if I had enough weight on my anchor to hold a body at the bottom of that lake.


this made me laugh a lot :D

[ShutteringFocus]

Ran over a Ae-1 program and 70-200 with a car once. Someone else took it out of the car, and placed it on the ground during packing for a trip...and nobody put it back in...

Cracked the lens off the mount, and put a small dent on the camera body. Lens was trash, but the camera was fine.

And that's the difference between cameras made in 1987 and those made in 2009...ha! (oh, and all that technical junk like auto focus etc.)

Not having the 70-200 cramped my style since the only other lens I had was a 50. I stuffed the camera under my bed for a few years...and then bought a D30...and here we are in the digital age!

[wndrlst]

Unfortunately, I only have non-survival stories... :(

Somewhere near Seneca Rocks in WV there is a 24-105L with a CP on it at the bottom of a cliff. It hit the rock face so many times on the way down, I thought I was playing Plinko. Unfortunately, I didn't win the $10K. Fortunately, they were insured.

I also lost my last film body to a rogue wave in Puerto Rico. :rip:

[jonwhite]

Very lucky with that surviving Tim, I don't think the 17-55 is designed to survive a 1m drop test!

Between me and Nick over the last few years

1. Clipped a door frame whilst rushing through it with a 30D + 17-55 f2.8 IS on shoulder, camera survived but the lens barrel cracked, it was less than a week old.

2. Swung a 30D + 10-22mm into a stone wall by accident, nice smashing sound but when I looked later it was just the filter that had smashed.

3. Half dropped a Gripped 30D + 70-200 f2.8 IS + 580EX, everything survived apart from the flash foot which snapped but fortunately its a cheap and easy replace.

4. Dropped a 5D MKII + 24-70 whilst leaning out of a window, fortunately had the strap round my neck so just scuffed the front of the lens. Whole thing was only 2 days old.

5. Had a chair dropped on a 5DMKII + 70-200 f2.8 IS by someone at a wedding. Took a big knock and nearly took it out of the hand but fortunately held on to it and no damage to the lens.

[Helda]

On my way to a wedding, I dropped Canon 1DS Mark III with f2.8 70-200 mm lens and it hit a concrete floor. The UV filter shattered but everything else seems to work fine :-)

[kona77]

After picking up my new/used 5d I came home, grabbed my Thinktank backpack out of the backseat and threw it onto my shoulder. All of a sudden I heard my 20D with my 10-22 doing the polka across my tar driveway. I was stunned. I didn't zip it up all the way, what a dumba$$.

I am VERY lucky that I had my lens cap on with the hood. As you can see the glass is fine, no internal damage, just cosmetic. My filter screws on just fine. I always keep the lens cover on but this shows me how important they are.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=302559&stc=1&d=1220615887

[harroz]

I was doing a bridal and had the gear in the back of the van. I normally always zip my bag up after changing lenses, so anyway I needed a lens so jogged back and reached in and grabbed the bag and went to jog back to the scene, bag wasn't zippped- 10-22 went flying, bounced off the bumber and hit gravel ground. It still works.

1v hit the concrete ground from 1.5mtrs, lens and 550ex broken but the camera worked fine for another month then just stopped.

30d hit the ground from 1.5mtrs, lenses etc fine but the camera's focus started going funny after a couple of weeks.

And my cybersyncs have had a hard time, numerous drops and falls, even stood on one of the receivers once and broke open the casing, but they still work like a dream- rock solid!

In Antarctica I had to wrench a cp filter off someone's 100-400L, they had the camera/lens swinging off their shoulder and the front of the lens hit a rock and shattered the cp. As far as i know the lens was fine one we got the cp off.

[jpbimages]

I know this is a canon forum, and I am working diligently at getting a canon, but these stories are of my nikon d50:
As I am my schools only photographer, I am the one with the "big fancy camera" and someone got the bright idea to go INTO my bag and play with said "big fancy camera". After flipping switches, pressing buttons, and taking pictures (please note I was NOT in the room, and thought that everyone had already left the room, I wouldn't have left my camera in there unattended unless otherwise) they dropped it, not on purpouse, but dropped the camera. I found this out by the person who, when I returned to the room, said "dude check out your camera". I looked at it, no harm, looked at the pictures "cute guys... really cute", (think myspace self-shots, with a D50......) when someone told me the lens popped out but they "fixed it" I nearly fell out of my seat, I did a systems check and all was well....
Same D50:
I finally found the "foot" (can't think of the technical term) for my tripod (the part you screw onto your camera) and so, in my excitement, proceeded outside with my camera attached to my folded tripod (easier to carry i guess I assumed), I made it to the basement, tripped, and caught myself. once I had righted myself, I saw my camera slide off the tripod. The fall took about 2 hours (all 3 feet of the fall) the lens popped out again, so, thinking all was well, I went to replace the lens, and lo and behold the lens fell back out, the mount on the lens was shot.... I finally got the lens into the camera shop, and it will be out monday, I am taking my camera in (as I just noted the whole back plate is coming off, hinge-like) and the flash doesn't work (common error with the D50)....
I can't wait to get my hands on a 20d, 30d, something... I will treat it with such great respect!

[FlyingPhotog]

Marriage

[Lightstream]

Dropped 135L during a high speed lens change attempt at an event - from waist height (about 3ft or a bit more - I was holding the lens a bit higher). Lens slams into the hard floor.....and nothing happens.

Them L lens are built to take it and it shows. Glad I had that superior construction. Lens still works great, as if nothing has happened...

[picturecrazy]

Dropped a 24-70L 3 inches off the ground while making a lens change. *Thought* it was fine, but two elements got decentered and messed up all shots for the rest of the night.

Jumped over a creek in the mountains, had the 17-55 in my coat pocket. It came out of my pocket mid air and landed beside the creek on a bed of rocks. It went on a trip to Canon and they made some adjustments and said it would have been fine as-is, though I'm not sure if I believe them. Can't complain as they didn't charge me for it.

Ran up a flight of stairs to get a shot and wiped out. 1D3 took a hit on near the vertical grip shutter release. Paint got scraped off, but the body (and the 24-70L) worked fine afterwards.

Tim, you seem to drop gear quite regularly! LOL

[tim]

Recently I didn't drop a camera exactly, I had it on a tripod but I think I had the mounting plate on backward somehow. It fell, 17-55 lens was written off, and the 7D needed a new part for the case and an AF realignment.

A few days later at a wedding I was using a 40D, between shots the camera failed - I hadn't set it down or anything. NZ$600 to replace the whole mirror box, which I hope replaces everything in there.

[benesotor]

This one happened quite a few years ago with my Canon AE-1.

I was photographing the interior of a luxory condominium and was talkning with the manager in the main lobby as my camera was resting on the tripod.

Something was not stable about the tripod and it slowing began tilting until the entire tripod/camera assembly tipped completely over! It so happened that the lobby had a waterfall with a pond, which of course the camera and lens took a complete dive!

I quickly grabbed it, shut it off and took it to the repair shop for a complete cleaning. But they both survived.

To be honest, I wouldn't be suprised if you dropped it in molten lava and it survived, I have the AV-1 and it's an absolute tank.


^ Tim you seem to have bad luck with your gear!


@jpbimages - You really need to take care of your gear at school. When I used to take my rebel camera into school I was really cautious. A friend of mine took his 40D in and some kids got pink acrylic paint all over it.

[tim]

^ Tim you seem to have bad luck with your gear!

Nah not really, three problems in 120 or so weddings over six years is pretty minor, and one of the problems wasn't even at a wedding.

[jpbimages]

I understand being careful, that was the first and last incident, I never let my camera from my sight anymore!

[angryhampster]

My 5D, BG-E4, and 50mm f/1.4 were knocked out of myhands by an angry drunk woman at a party. It landed very hard 3-4 feet down on the cement sidewalk. Took a chunk out of the corner of my BGE4, but I caught it before the lens hit the ground. Camera is still in nearly flawless shape.

[Nevilleblack]

I dropped my 50mm 1.8 down a cliff of large rocks while climbing and it bounced from boulder to boulder and lived. (happy dance)

[shotinthedark]

Slipped while getting some shots of my boys at the skate park (the concrete is glass smooth). Landed on my elbow holding the camera on the same arm, bouncing the 16-35 off the pavement (gently?)

Meanwhile the 50 rolls out of my bag and drops 15 feet into the bowl, rolls all the way around and stops in my son's hand-unscathed!

Both lenses are accurate:
still debating my status

[tim]

My other 40D failed at my last wedding (that makes three cameras having to go to Canon this month at $500/visit). It won't autofocus any more, and the green information at the bottom of the viewfinder won't light up. Like the other one, one minute it was working, next minute it wasn't.

[Invertalon]

My 24-105 rolled off my girlfriends bed while I was reloading my camera bag. It was about a 1.5-2ft fall, but luckily her carpet is quite plush and soft. Don't think any harm was done :D

I always get worried one of my lenses will roll out of my bag when I am not careful and go crashing down to the concrete... Would be a sad day :(

Luckily, it's insured. But still... I would die a little inside.

[PhotoMatte]

I was shooting a wedding at a B&B and the entire wedding party began their walk, one couple at a time, from a 2nd-story balcony. They walked outside, waited for their photo to be taken, then spent the next minute walking to the ceremony site. This involved walking down some outside stairs, around a rather long hedgerow, then up a small gravel road that eventually led to the ceremony. I was situated in a small gap in the hedge, positioned so I could capture the folks coming out onto the balcony at one moment, then turn around and shoot the previous couple as they walked up the aisle. It was a great setup. Naturally the bride was the last to make the walk. After spending some time shooting her on the balcony, I turned around to get ready for her walk up the aisle. I had my 70-200mm lens attached to another camera body, strapped across my shoulder and this led to a disaster.
During all my previous pirouettes between the gap in the hedge I hadn't encountered anything but air. However, as I was shooting the bride on the balcony, someone had come along and placed a small table directly behind me and loaded it with two full glasses of wine, two lit candles and some bread...all unbeknownst to me. As I turned around that final time, ready to catch the bride and her father walking up the aisle, my 70-200mm lens bumped into the table, knocking it over. This resulted in my spilling wine all over the groom's pants, snuffing out the candles as they hit the dirt, and leaving the bread less than desirable. I was mortified :oops: but there was still a minute before the bride made that turn up the gravel road and noticed what had happened (all the guests, naturally, saw the whole thing!). I dashed into the B&B kitchen with wine glasses in hand, refilled them while I snagged a lighter, then dashed back out to see if I could get the table back in place and set up the way it had been before I'd knocked it over. I did it! The bread had to remain a little dirty but the bride never knew what happened (until well into the reception; when she heard about it she laughed).
Those kinds of moments are what I live to photograph during a wedding and there I was, causing all of it and capturing none of it. But the B&G continue to recommend me to this day so I guess that's good :)

[PhotoMatte]

My 24-105 rolled off my girlfriends bed while I was reloading my camera bag. It was about a 1.5-2ft fall, but luckily her carpet is quite plush and soft. Don't think any harm was done :D

I always get worried one of my lenses will roll out of my bag when I am not careful and go crashing down to the concrete... Would be a sad day :(

Luckily, it's insured. But still... I would die a little inside.

I was photographing a bride getting ready at a hair salon. Since she was sitting in a chair I decided I'd sit in the one next to her, to get a similar perspective. I was wearing one of those fanny packs (bum bags to all you anglophiles) that has two water bottle compartments at either end; I empty those out and use them for lens holders. I had my 16-35 in one compartment and my 70-200 in the other. Unbeknownst to me, the clasp on my fanny pack had come undone when I'd sat down. When I stood up the fanny pack crashed to the ground and I could clearly hear the sound of glass breaking as my 70-200 hit the marble floor. Ouch. That wedding didn't make me any money...:(

[jchargu3]

had just gotten the 40d + 28-135 and was still breaking into digital quite a bit as i primarily shot with a minolta 35mm manual wind using a 80mm lens... anyway I was on my way back from St. Louis and stopped at a rest area, opened the back door of my truck and in slow motion the camera and lens go from my hand, hit the seat, bounced, hit the floor bounced, hit the nerf bar, bounced and hit the ground... the 28-135 split apart at the zoom ring!!!!


i twisted the zoom ring, and it snapped back together, although the 40 did have a few blems after that it still shoots wonderfully :)

[Maureen Souza]

I missed this the 1st time around...

Last spring my darling husband got into my Pelican which had all my big guns in it; then forgot to latch it. The Pelican was in the back of our SUV.....When we got home, he went to pull it out for me and the Pelican opened and all my lenses fell out onto the cement driveway as well as one camera body. Several of them had to go to Canon for servicing...anout $1000 worth or repairs.

[FlyingPhotog]

I missed this the 1st time around...

Last spring my darling husband got into my Pelican which had all my big guns in it; then forgot to latch it. The Pelican was in the back of our SUV.....When we got home, he went to pull it out for me and the Pelican opened and all my lenses fell out onto the cement driveway as well as one camera body. Several of them had to go to Canon for servicing...anout $1000 worth or repairs.

(Little do we all know that since that fateful day, Maureen has been ghostwriting all of Skip's posts. We wish him a speedy recovery...)

[Rich1884]

My 18-55 fell out of my bag, on to concrete steps and continued down about 15 steps, losing it's cap in the process. It has barely a scratch on it... and people say these lenses are flimsy!!

[PhotoMatte]

I was shooting an outdoor reception in the rain and thought my gear bag was sealed. When I came back indoors I pulled out my 16-35 only to find it had condensation on the inside of the glass. The condensation was still there the next morning so I put the lens in the oven (125 degrees for 4 hours) and it came out working perfectly!

[Killjoy]

(Little do we all know that since that fateful day, Maureen has been ghostwriting all of Skip's posts. We wish him a speedy recovery...)
:p I can see that happening. :lol::lol:

[jpbimages]

I *just* dropped my full camera bag........
I have never felt such a bad feeling I don't believe... that SUCKED
luckily everything survived, but the thud.... it nearly made me sick

[SuzyView]

I missed this the 1st time around...

Last spring my darling husband got into my Pelican which had all my big guns in it; then forgot to latch it. The Pelican was in the back of our SUV.....When we got home, he went to pull it out for me and the Pelican opened and all my lenses fell out onto the cement driveway as well as one camera body. Several of them had to go to Canon for servicing...anout $1000 worth or repairs.

Was that after you came to visit me?

[Rivest]

I put the lens in the oven (125 degrees for 4 hours) and it came out working perfectly!

:shock: Really ?

[ChasWG]

Here's my long a terrible story of death and survival and then rebirth!

So last year I was in Italy for 17 days covering the Giro d'Italia bike race for Universal Sports. One morning about 8 days into the trip I woke up early, got dressed, ate and went to go pull the car around to the front of the hotel, on the drive through the parking lot I totally bunged up the side of the car by squeezing it between two other cars parked badly. So I found out exactly how wide a Ford Mondeo actual is. Pretty wide as it turns out.
That was the start of my day, it got worse, much worse.

Later after we drive for about 60Km to get the start city for that days race, we walk around and find a coffee shop and sit and have a drink. I take my camera sling style bag off and set it down beside my chair. About 20 minutes later we decide to go get the rest of the gear and actually do some work. We have to walk about 3 miles to the team bus area to do an interview with one of the American riders from team Garmin. We get there, start to cover the warm up session and that's when it hits me, my camera bag is not on my back! I left it sitting at a sidewalk table at the cafe. My friend tells me to run and get it. I take off with all my audio gear still strapped around me. I'm just going to say that its fairly humid and warm in most of Italy and a 3 mile sprint with a bunch of audio gear turned me into jello by the time I found the cafe again. I didn't see the bag right away so I went to look for someone in the shop. The cute Italian girl who sold us our drinks was nowhere to be found, not in the shop or out at the tables on the sidewalk. So I looked outside again at the table. Sitting exactly where I had left it behind the table, next to the wall and the chair I had sat in was my camera bag, just like I left it. I can't tell you how happy I was! I was really just happy to have the CF cards back with all the images I had taken up to that point.
But wait, there's more...

I sling on my camera bag and start hiking back to the now totally screwed up interview. They had no sound guy, only a cheesy camera mic on the video camera.
I get back, sweating like crazy, hot, thursty and looking totally white and spent. My friend informs me that the normally very quiet bicycle racer was completely not himself today and blathered on and on throwing out great quips and quotes. And no audio guy was to record it... I said, "Well I'm back, lets get something." I start to extend my boom pole to gather some sound and that's when it happens, the unmistakable sound of plastic cracking... followed by a now lighter back... and finished up with the dead thump of a heavy backpack hitting cold, gray concrete. "No F'ing way!" is what I was told later is what I said, way too loudly. The plastic buckle that held the sling together had just cracked and popped apart, releasing my bag to the ground. The bulk of the wieght landed right on top of my 70-210 USM. The other lenses, flash and camera body were perfectly fine and continued to function for the rest of the trip which included a day in Rome. You don't really need a long lens in Rome as it turns out. The 70-210 on the other hand now had a freely floating focusing motor flopping around inside the barrel.

I'm a firm believer in Karma. I didn't leave a note on the car that I creased earlier that morning. I did nothing to say sorry or offer money to fix the scratch I left on someone elses property. Karma slapped me back pretty quickly for that.

The up side to this long story is that I now have a 70-200 f4L as a replacement! :D And I drive more carefully in parking lots...

[freelanser]

back in the day when I used to shoot video, I had my Sony hi-8 video camera over my shoulder via the strap, standing next to a fire truck and the hose popped that was connected to the truck. ( sounded like a shotgun blast )

And when I stepped back the strap let go on the video camera, straight to the ground it went lens first
I thought it was done, picked it up and it sounded like a babys rattle toy.
it still worked !!

[badams]

Was preparing to start shooting at my cousin's wedding and I was unscrewing the flash from the flash bracket and somehow did not have ahold of the flash. It fell to the carpeted floor with the flash cord connected to it and the camera. Note: Flash cord can expand to at least 4ft. :)

Flash was fine.


1 day after getting my 500L I was standing on my mom's front porch shooting birds (handholding it) and a Cooper's hawk was chasing a Cedar Waxwing around. Before long both were on the porch with me and nearly in the front of the lens. I had the shade on, but I think either of them could've hit the front of the lens at the speed in which they were traveling. Luckily nothing was hurt, just scared me a little (well OK alot).

[mdrtoys]

I was set up for a prime shot of a wild horse herd when they took an unexpected turn in my direction. I thought my strap was around my neck and dropped the camera. Well, it wasn't and the my 1DmkII fell in the dirt. I didn't have time to grab it so I ran and hid behind a rock where I had a great vantage point of 20 or so horses trampling my camera. After they had passed, I walked out, picked it up and inspected it to find everything worked perfectly.

Worst part is, I didn't get the shot

[rpkwon]

Was shooting at the beach when a wave crashed over me drenching my 5D, 17-40L and everything else. I look up and there I see my camera bag floating away a couple feet in front of me. I jump in about knee deep to retrieve it, killing my iphone in the process but saved all my gear. Luckily, everything in my bag was dry and my camera still works!

[PMCphotography]

My 24-70 2.8 AND my 70-200 f/2.8 actually have fallen off my 5d2 several times, usually making a sickly thud on the ground when they land.

Both got the finish scraped a bit, but still work just fine :)

[images by Paul]

About 12 years ago, I was shooting a reception and was on about a three foot stage trying to get a little higher, when I accidentally stepped off the stage. In my hands was a Mimaya M6 with a Metz 60CT and battery pack. I fell backwards onto my tripod, which caught on my vest and tore through it, split my pants open to the crotch and gave me a concussion after hitting my head. The camera??? Saved!

[tim]

So this past weekend my D700 with a 24-70 attached falls off the roof of my car, onto gravel. I only took my eyes off it for five seconds. Afterwards there are some new marks on the battery grip and lens hood, but everything still works perfectly, focuses accurately. I love having pro grade gear :)

My old 7D with a 17-55 took a similar tumble, off a tripod onto concrete. The lens was written off, the camera cost $600 to repair.

[Heath]

So this past weekend my D700 with a 24-70 attached falls off the roof of my car, onto gravel. I only took my eyes off it for five seconds. Afterwards there are some new marks on the battery grip and lens hood, but everything still works perfectly, focuses accurately. I love having pro grade gear :)

My old 7D with a 17-55 took a similar tumble, off a tripod onto concrete. The lens was written off, the camera cost $600 to repair.

I love that you started this thread almost 3 years ago and you are still dropping your equipment. :)

[FlyingPhotog]

Coming home with me from the store...

[tim]

I love that you started this thread almost 3 years ago and you are still dropping your equipment. :)

I haven't even listed all of them. A camera fell out of a partly open bag once. Another time a D700 with a 16-35 sitting at my feet rolled a few meters down a hill then fell a meter to the gravel road. That worked fine too.

The Nikon gear I have really is built like a tank :-) I've told my assistant that she needs to protect the gear from me and that she's in charge of it now. That, and driving directions...

[tim]

Coming home with me from the store...

What happened?

[highway0691]

Before trecking through an isolated National Park I decided to hide my 70 -200 IS (due to its weight)behind the back seat of my Utility/pick-up resting on a metal floor. Upon returning to my vehicle I totally forgot about it. The drive home - 2.5 hrs to travel 60 Kilometres on a terrible corrugated rd and then a further 8 hrs on a reasonable rd.

The zoom action is a bit loose and it's lost a bit of paint, would not win a prize in a beauty contest. Used it on a job a recently as yesterday - works fine. off to Canon soon.

[form]

None of my equipment has survived a fall without incident except my old rebel XT that fell in freshwater and lived.

[Peacefield]

Well, while traveling on vacation in the UK X years ago, I had one of my Pentax film cameras in a holster bag which was poorly designed. Put a longer but not especially heavy lens on it and the bag becomes top heavy. Sure enough, I lean forward, the bag turns upside down and camera plus lens comes crashing on to the pavement. A year later, the same thing happens to my other film camera. But those loses are what finally complelled me to make the transition to digital.

I've dropped a few lenses. Never with catastrophic results, but they hit hard enough to require a bit of a reset by CPS.

While shooting a wedding this summer, I was working with a videographer who was using Canon SLR's. They had a 5d2 and 24-70 on a tripod. They kept leaving its legs very narrow for mobility. We're outside, they leave the setup on the tripod with legs close together, step away to work with the couple, and then we all saw it happen; the whole thing tipped and crashed to the pavement. It was one of those horrible slow motion kind of moments. The ones that are so slow it gives you a lot of time to experience the heart ache as it makes its fall, but not so slow that anyone can get there to catch it. ugh.

[400dabuser]

The worst I have ever encountered is that I had all my equipment in my camera bag, travelling on the bus top level, I had the bag on one clip rather than the two it had, going down the stairs when the bus driver braked hard the clip became undone.

The bag then slid down the stairs with a hard bang on the wall of the bus. Had a damage check to see if there were anything damaged. Yup, my 24-70mm had a damaged filter ring. That is the worst damaged I have ever suffered so far

[Rivest]

My father picked up my camera bag, who wasn't zipped. My Tamron 17-50 fell down from waist height to the hardwood floor. Result? Broken hood, nothing else!

[umphotography]

I missed this the 1st time around...

Last spring my darling husband got into my Pelican which had all my big guns in it; then forgot to latch it. The Pelican was in the back of our SUV.....When we got home, he went to pull it out for me and the Pelican opened and all my lenses fell out onto the cement driveway as well as one camera body. Several of them had to go to Canon for servicing...anout $1000 worth or repairs.

And he lived to tell about it:lol:

Im so paranoid about stuff like this that we put all our lens in cases', inside the pelican case. There has been a few instances of the same thing happening to us going from the church to the reception:o

Other than that my 5D classic took are hard smack luckily on a wooden floor when my camera strap slipped out of my hand. About a 3FT drop. Took another 10K shots with it and it never missed a beat. It had the 24-70 attached so it was a pretty loud thud. Everything worked so thats all that mattered.

[Sylvester XxX]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-J0cqymhtf5g/TlfJ_PyhL8I/AAAAAAAAANo/btcwtgZwFUs/s640/11%2B-%2B1

I went for a ride and the seat fell apart. (Bolt broke). I thought okay I have seen them Bmx boys with no seat so no big deal. I joked the Handle bar is next.

20 min later the Handel bar came off in my hand.

£100 to fix so not so bad in the end.

[snyderman]

First outdoor shoot with my Elinchrom D-Lite 4 studio lights and a softbox:

Shooting 2 seniors at a local park. Nice rustic looking arched bridge to position the kids. Shooting angle for me was right next to the creek the bridge spanned. So there I am, with the DLite with softbox attached shooting away when a slight breeze rolls through and topples the strobe, softbox and stand into the creek!

Needless to say, shooting with lighting was done for the day. Really smart, Dave!

Took it home and tried it again. Still didn't work. Great, now I'm down one strobe. About a week later, I plugged in the 'wet' strobe and the thing worked! Way too lucky. At the time, I believe the strobe was only splashed with water and was never submerged in water due to the softbox holding things up.

Got really lucky this time. Sandbags or an assistant every time out with a softbox attached here on out.

Here's a pic just before the disaster:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6101/6384548337_08e27340e1_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidsnyderphotography/6384548337/)
DPP_2040426 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidsnyderphotography/6384548337/) by snyderman3 (http://www.flickr.com/people/davidsnyderphotography/), on Flickr



dave

[Sheldon N]

My camera gear survived this accident about 3 1/2 years ago. It was in the trunk when we got hit, took a crowbar to get it out!

Everything was fine, except a 17-40 that went soft and needed to got back to Canon for a calibration. Props to Lowepro for the padding in their backpacks. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/sheldonnalos/IMG_0384.jpg

[ewheeler20]

My camera was eaten by a bear.








polar bear...

[Rivest]

^^
http://s3.amazonaws.com/kym-assets/entries/icons/original/000/001/232/picsor.jpg?1258495896

:D

[ewheeler20]

I can't... the bear ate it... I think NOT having pics of it is proof! lol

[tomcat7886]

I can't... the bear ate it... I think NOT having pics of it is proof! lol

liked your response!