3000 foot fall and still working

It is a second source so all we know is that it fell of the helmet. Maybe it fell of the helmet closer to the ground...

mikeassk wrote in post #9210743
It is a second source so all we know is that it fell of the helmet. Maybe it fell of the helmet closer to the ground...

Assessing the extent of the damage, factoring in the earths rotation, terminal velocity, acceleration, air resistance, wind, elevation and damage to the video camera. I'd estimate 2.74 feet onto a soft surface.

good thing i checked, about to post this

That camera and lens are worth a whole lot to Canon as a publicity hook. But that's the height of three stacked 100-story buildings. I would like to see a video of the event, it's a bit hard to believe. Maybe if it hit a haystack sitting on a trampoline.

lol at people not believing this could happen

probably not normal, but far from as impossible as you're all making it sound

mikekelley wrote in post #9210849
lol at people not believing this could happen

probably not normal, but far from as impossible as you're all making it sound

If I'm included in the "lot of people", then my post was a joke.

I believe it *can* happen, I'm still skeptical if it actually *did* happen.

mikeassk wrote in post #9210743
It is a second source so all we know is that it fell of the helmet. Maybe it fell of the helmet closer to the ground...

Still second-hand source but a bit closer...http://cielphoto.blogs​pot.com/

A rebel with a kit lens doesn't weight very much at all, not to mention it's not very sleek so I'm sure the terminal velocity for it is quite low. So 3000 or 20ft (est) into muddy grass is going to have the same impact. Now even 20ft is hard to believe but it's not impossible.

The owner had probably bought one of the excellent, and comfy PotN camera straps, and the wind resistance of that parachuted the camera down.

They really are nice straps. Who still has some shopping to do?

I'll go with the amazingly unlikely but not impossible crowd. At least until someone posts decent photos. Weirder things have fallen from airplanes and survived after all.

IVIax wrote in post #9210759
Assessing the extent of the damage, factoring in the earths rotation, terminal velocity, acceleration, air resistance, wind, elevation and damage to the video camera. I'd estimate 2.74 feet onto a soft surface.

You forgot to factor in the height of the guy it fell off .. was he 5'2 or 6'2 .. that could make your calculation out by around 30% ..

Looking back at the photo that looks like wet sand on the camera. Sand could be about as soft as you can get (relatively). Also a **** to clean off though so its not all good.

zachbreaux wrote in post #9207085
The post said that the body "fell off" of his helmet.

And, as was pointed out at another site, maybe this is the real story here. The camera plate simply should not have come off the helmet, this could have killed someone on the ground. Who cares about the camera...

JayStar86 wrote in post #9207247
i sort of dont believe it... the impact of a 3000 foot fall should have blown it into so many bits and pieces that you wouldn't be able to recognize that those pieces were of a camera if fallen on a hard surface. Now on a soft surface like grass or something maybe not to that extent but even then the sheer force of impact from such a high fall should have still crushed it if it hit soft grass.... it would truly take the perfect set of circumstances and angles and what not for this thing to have survived.... I think we need to send this story to the "mythbusters" lol and see what they come up with!

Indeed, and keep in mind there are documented cases of people surviving from 20,000 foot and up falls and living [A russian in WW2 for instance, as well as the one that survived in the back of a plane after it broke up..which Mythbusters covered]

if this guy can servive, then that camera can servive!

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=45VtzmtA_C0

My friend dropped a Nikon D3 last weekend from a height of about 5 feet onto concrete, and I think it looks worse than the XT shown here.

XT >>>> D3