Dropped my camera

I just got home, pulled my bag out of the truck not realizing I didnt close the bag when I put the camera away (wont make that mistake again). It fell from about waist height and tumbled across my diveway about 10 feet. Thankfully everything seems to work fine. Im just wondering if theres any specific things I should check to make sure everything is ok?? Any tips would be helpful. Like I said everything seems fine. Oh by the way...The 17-55 IS was on there. Thank God I had the lens hood on it. Apparently the lens cap wasnt on tight enough and popped off, but the hood protected it, otherwise I would have been screwed!! That baby is never coming off the lens!

OUCH!!! That always hurts. Anyway sounds like your doing it. Run the camera and lens through its paces. You might want to run a focus test to see if there is any alignment problem with either the camera or the lens. Here is a good focus chart to use along with instructions on how to run the test.
http://focustestchart.​com/chart.html
Ignore the Nikon all over the page. It's still a great chart.

Thanks!!!

Yesterday must have been "drop your gear" day. I was at the camera shop picking up some stuff and had unzipped the lower section of my Natl. Geographic backpack. As I swung it onto my sholder I heard a crashing sound as 3 lenses fell about 4&1/2 feet to the concrete floor. They were the 100-400, 24-105 and a 50 f1.4. Hoods and caps went everywhere!!
After I started breathing again and took stock, the only damage was a cracked hood on the 24-105. Luckily Tempe Camera is also Tempe Camera Repair. They grabbed all my stuff, took it into the shop and checked it out for free. Every lens checked out fine!
I don't reccommend this field test, but Canon gear is tougher than some think.

I use a backpack style bag which I like very much but as some people know the top of the bag can pull itself open. I caught mine before it fully openend. This can happen if you have the cover part of the bag filled with stuff and having the two zipper tabs aligned together at the top of the bag. The weight of the full cover can pull the two zipper tabs apart and start opening the bag and can fully open if not caught. The simple solution to this that I use is to bring the two zippers together down at the bottom of one side of the bag. That way the weight of the cover can't pull the zipper tabs apart because they are at the bottom where there is no "pull" regardles of the weight. Just try it with your hands with the zippers at the top and then down at the bottom on one side. You'll see you can easily pull it apart when together at the top but you can't pull it apart when they are together at the bottom. some people use a clip of some sort to hold the zipper tab together at the top which works fine.

Hope this helps someone to avoid the crash!

After a "near miss" a year ago, I instituted a rule that I live by. I never close my backpack without zipping it. If I feel the need to leave it unzipped, then I leave it open. If I'm concerned about it being open, then I zip it. I may lose a little convenience, but I gain a lot more peace of mind and security.

I've had some near misses even lately. I guess I'm getting old. I do have bags now that don't fly open when picked up, but I have heavy set-ups so if they fell, it would be disastrous. I would definitely check out the shutter and the lens connections.

These stories help us all to check our zippers.

You're one lucky so and so.

I wouldnt like to think what the actual body looks like, surely it must have scrapes or worse all over it?

I have a backpack and have done the swing over the shoulder and sent the body and 17-55 flying, however since I not only make sure it is always zipped but zipped down into a corner as my backpack can pull open a bit if I leave the zippers right at the top of the bag.

Nick_C wrote in post #3940730
I wouldnt like to think what the actual body looks like, surely it must have scrapes or worse all over it?

Nope Forunately the lens hood seems to have taken most of the hits, however there is a little gouge in the rubber that surrounds the viewfinder but its very small and barely noticeable.

Man, put some insurance on your stuff.. its worth it. you drop it. dump it over a boat in the water or whatever. they will replace it.

wow, I dropped my 400D + 24-70 from about torso height onto carpet and the lens foucssing died. consider yourself lucky!