p.2 #1 · I broke a lens for the first time. What is the most expensive gear break have you had?
I've been lucky not to permanently damage any of my gear over the years, though I've had some close calls....my 100L Macro and 1Ds II skidded out of my bag when I picked the bag up. Luckily, it came out very low, and there was essentially no impact. Had a minor abrasion on the hood and a little on my L bracket, but otherwise perfect.
Luckily, I have insurance with zero deductible, which covers replacement cost, so it's good that I don't need to really worry if something catastrophic were to happen.
p.2 #2 · I broke a lens for the first time. What is the most expensive gear break have you had?
A friend of mine dropped his D3 and 200 f/2 off a second-floor balcony on to concrete. It put a pretty big dent in the front of the lens body, but it kept shooting. Scared him pretty good.
p.2 #3 · I broke a lens for the first time. What is the most expensive gear break have you had?
I tripped over on the cobblestones in Cambrai (France) main square in 2007 chasing to get in front of a military parade to celebrate 90th aniversary of the tank battle smashing a 24-70L on my 40D. Insurance paid for the repair and it was good as new - in fact I'm about to sell it as I have the Mk2 now. Worse was my wife dropping my camera bag in San Francisco airport and not telling me. Everything worked fine and it wasn't until I looked at an image on a computer screen 3/7 later that I realised there were three fine cracks on the polarising filter on my 17-40L and some of my photos had three lines of distortion across them such that my (rather good) shots of the Pfiefer FAlls on Big Sur were unsalvageable!!
Niall
p.2 #4 · I broke a lens for the first time. What is the most expensive gear break have you had?
amacal1 wrote:
Before you do anything drastic, can you post some pics of the halves of your lens?
I had the exact same thing happen to my 50 1.8 and I was able to snap it back together after a couple of minutes of fiddling. It may not be "broken." It may have just come apart.
Mine is the same since it rolled off a table - moral, never put a lens down on its side unless it has a collar to stop it rolling. The rear element occasional rattles and comes out, but i twist it back in and it works fine - at that price I can't be bothered getting it repaired.
Niall
p.2 #6 · I broke a lens for the first time. What is the most expensive gear break have you had?
CPS Gold - 30% reduction on repairs and CPS Platinum - 60%!
By the way you are all novices -until you have had a 500mm with a 5d2 attached go for a swim in salt water...well, let's just say good insurance highly recommended!
p.2 #7 · I broke a lens for the first time. What is the most expensive gear break have you had?
Just an amateur here so way less chances to break stuff, but I've been shooting with Canon stuff since 2001 almost exclusively.. (Elan 7e, 10D, 5D, now 5D3)
I broke my 50/1.8 years back and disassembled it to see how it worked.. I figured it wasn't worth repairing. Since I knew I liked 50mm I bought a 50/1.4 to replace it with. That was around 2003 or 2004.
In 2009 I fell hiking with my 5D + 50/1.4 around my neck and slid down an icy hill.. the 5D was fine but the front element of the 50 had gotten pushed in and the focus was toast due to the helical track or whatever you call it being bent. Very common repair apparently. I got that repaired for $100 by Canon so that was pretty exciting, and I swear my 50 is a "better copy" since they went through it and calibrated it, etc..
Then last year my 1.4X II TC broke.. it never got dropped but the lens mount switch broke, you couldn't lock the bayonet mount in any more.. (It locked fine to the camera, but the lens wouldn't lock to the TC) Canon was a bit tough on this one.. as the 1.4X III TC was out. They wouldn't promise to fix it, but then did. They basically said they'll only fix out of production lenses if they have spare parts, and they can't tell you if they have spare parts! But they did repair it, and it was pretty reasonable IIRC.
p.2 #8 · I broke a lens for the first time. What is the most expensive gear break have you had?
amacal1 wrote:
Before you do anything drastic, can you post some pics of the halves of your lens?
I had the exact same thing happen to my 50 1.8 and I was able to snap it back together after a couple of minutes of fiddling. It may not be "broken." It may have just come apart.
