Anyone else ever destroy camera or gear?

So I borrowed my mother in laws XTi, to see if the ones I have been seeing on craigslist was an upgrade, despite being discontinued it was a really good camera when it was purchased. The same amount of MP's, but the frame rate was much higher then my XS plus it had a few more features then mine. This was several weeks ago, been too ashamed and depressed about it to post earlier.

So I took it for a test drive, set it up on a very sturdy tripod, with my 150-500. Didn't realize part of my jacket got caught in the tripod, I turned around to grab something from my car, and the whole thing came with me. It hit the pavement, camera first, then my lens. It would probably still be working had it fell onto grass, damaged for sure but, still functional... I guess I'll never know for sure. I sat with my head in my hands for a while.

I like to think I treat other peoples belongings even better then my own. So even though my lens is worth more, I almost rather my lens took the fall.

I ended up getting a replacement. It is discontinued, so I couldn't get a new one, nor would she let me. So I scoured craigslist looking for mint condition ones, had to turn down many, scuffs scratches etc. Till I found the most anal person on the planet, his 10 year old car looked like it rolled off the showroom floor. The lens he used to show me the camera worked, came out of bubble wrap, and NO, this was not him putting on a show. This guy probably irons his socks, and measures out his dental floss. He gave me a discount after I showed him why I was getting an xti rather then other cameras on craigslist.

Despite the camera taking the fall, my lens took some secondary damage. I sheared off the switches for autofocus and OS. So my lens is now stuck in manual focus, and is stuck with OS turned on, but at least it is still mostly functional. At least the OS is stuck on rather then stuck off ( hey I gotta look for a shining light somewhere!)

The camera is pretty boned, I haven't even taken it for an estimate. Xti's aren't very expensive, and I'm pretty sure the cost of fixing it would be more then getting a brand new body.

The Sigma repair center is accross the country return shipping would brobly be $75 ? plus a BS $50 fee for buying it from the states, since it is a third party repair facility, and not actually Sigmas. Sigma you really need to get on that! Even if it wasn't dropped and still under full warranty there is the $50 fee what a crock.... anyways. Probably best to just buy a new one, when and if I can afford it. For now I'm going to continue to manually focus, I've actually gotten used to it tracking insects (I could never keep the dot on an insect)

sorry for your loss... if it's any consolation, there's a thriving market for camera parts. Bung them on e-bay with good descriptions of the problems and you'll likely be suprised at what you can get for them.

For example a new LCD assembly cost US$64 on it's own...

I haven't destroyed anything. My XTi+50mm 1.4 fell about 1.5 feet out of my unzipped camera bag, but they worked fine after removing and reconnecting the lens and battery.

A guy my wife used to work for, the manager of a medium-sized advertising production house, destroyed two HD film cameras (~100k each), a whole crate of pro-grade walkie-talkies (~8k in gear), and a handful of other minor things. The company went out of business due to his incompetence - later they found out that he was using company funds to buy coke and heroin.

My 50d and 70-200 2.8 fell out of my unzipped camera bag after coming home from a wedding. Camera had some scuff marks but performed as it always had. The filter ended up with a dent and the lens made kind of a high pitched sound when focusing but it still worked, if a little slower. It was quite the heart stopping experience when it happened.

Dumped a speedlite and a Pocket Wizard into a river during a shoot a couple of weeks ago. Wind came up and blew the lightstand over. After drying out the PW seems to be working OK.

Dropped my 5DmkII onto my driveway 4 hours after purchase. It was in my camera bag which was not zipped close, swung it on my back and the camera went flying. Bent the hotshoe mount slightly and scraped the paint off the top but has worked great for over 80K photos since.

broke 3 PC adapters due to assistants backing out and myself trying to handle my lighting by myself..umbrella+light​stand+windy day=disaster..luckily the flash never broke, but those adapters were $65/piece. Also broke the big handle off my lumopro superclamp so now it's just a little nub, which still baffles the hell out of me because the fall was maybe 4 feet and I thought they were supposed to be super durable. I haven't broken any essential gear.

I feel like doing that to my 50D, it is nothing short of annoying at the moment

have you tried turning it off and on again?

sorry couldnt resist.

BTT: i dropped my 55-200 before because i left it on a table and it rolled off. it wasnt a very smart thing to do.

treck_dialect wrote in post #13510577
have you tried turning it off and on again?

sorry couldnt resist..

Yes and off and on and off again, recharging the battery and trying again. Then giving it a smack or 2 . Pretty sure a connection was loosened, but I know absolutely nothing about inner workings of electronics. Looks like the circuit boards are bent, from what I can see, if not chipped or cracked. The seams of the camera don't fit together like they used to.

It's only good for parts really, and I'm not going to hold my breath for someone to take a damaged camera. Plus I'm lazy and don't want to take appart the non broken parts.

I was thinking about taking it to a camera repair shop and seeing what or if they'll give me anything for it. Or possibly taking the usable parts off and ebaying them off. But Ebay is such a hassle. I can't actually guarantee anything either.

At least I know I'm not the only one, though it's not really that much comfort.

Nah, I just lose it -
In two race meetings in 2010, I lost my 2X extender then the next day my 20-35 went west.
No idea of how I managed it.
Two weeks later at the next event, the hood for my 300/2.8 went on its own little holiday - probably to join the 2X and 20-35.
All up about A$1400.
cest la vie.

I worked for a newspaper for 17 years, but I've only destroyed two cameras. One ended up in the drink, the other on a police rescue stretcher (I kid you not).

philwillmedia wrote in post #13512233
Nah, I just lose it -
In two race meetings in 2010, I lost my 2X extender then the next day my 20-35 went west.
No idea of how I managed it.
Two weeks later at the next event, the hood for my 300/2.8 went on its own little holiday - probably to join the 2X and 20-35.
All up about A$1400.
cest la vie.

Damn, that's pretty crappy luck.

I tend to lie down in tall grass when I shoot birds or wildlife. So if your camera bad isn't zipped up stuff tends to come out Luckily my nifty 250 was still in the grass when I realized it was missing.

yogestee wrote in post #13512297
I worked for a newspaper for 17 years, but I've only destroyed two cameras. One ended up in the drink, the other on a police rescue stretcher (I kid you not).

LOL

Crimzon wrote in post #13516385
LOL

Yeah,, I was getting pics of a hang glider who went over the edge of a cliff and landed about 20 metres at the bottom.

I was making my way down a slippery trail when I slipped, lost grip of my work issue Nikon F4 which fell down the cliff coming to rest about three metres from the patient. The police rescue guys brought the patient up on a stretcher with the Nikon perched between the patient's legs. The Nikon was destroyed but the patient relatively uninjured.

Thanks guys!

Hey, I once ripped the 1/4-20 fitting AND much of the bottom plate out of my new-to-me Bronica 6x6.
I had it bolted to the tripod I was carrying when I slipped walking down the muddy shores of the Snake River in GTNP. The tripod hit the ground, knocking it from my hand, then bounced downhill. At some point in the event chain the camera made its bid for freedom and promptly accelerated away, plummeting and rolling downhill. I watched it tumble and roll and feared it was about to go for a swim. Fortunately, its rampage ended in the mud, just a few feet short... The lens took a bit of cleaning but is fine. I bought another body and still have the original. It works fine and I shoot it hand-held with no issues.

The newer of my two Slik DX-700 tripods has defective plastic leg joint components. (Apparently a common problem. Buy Slik at your own risk!) Twice, one of the lower legs has fallen apart as I gently tried to extend it. When this happens springs, sleeves, spacers, blood and gore, fall to the ground. Oddly, the older tripod has survived all manner of abuse including a 100+ ft tumble into a Bryce side canyon, rattlesnake attack, monsoonal drowning, slot canyon sand overdose, etc.