Pulled my camera and 24-70 off a table. Err 60 on the camera. Figured out it was the lens. Sent it in... $730 repair... My foot caught the tether cable. Guess there's a first time for everything!! I was just shooting some Buy & Sell photos to list here, lol! I'm actually crying a little inside...
I've had the same thing happen about fifteen years ago with a 5D and a EF24-70mm. $250 for the repair to the camera. I think it was the armrest on an office chair which caught the neck strap and it got pulled off a desk.
Don't think too hard about it. They're meant to be used, they are designed to be repaired.
In 2011, I dropped a brand new EF 1.4x III during the unboxing ceremony. Cost of repair = buy a new one. Fortunately, I got an almost full refund through the credit card that I used for the original purchase.
Earlier, I dropped an EF 70-200/2.8L IS, which would probably have been OK, but the EF 300/4L IS that landed on it butt-first immediately afterwards had a different plan. It cracked the 70-200 lens barrel open (plastic cover tube and internal metal tube). That repair cost a bit more than a new EF 1.4x III.
More recently, but still long ago (2011 again), I discovered damage on my EF 35/1.4L, which must have been from a drop (or a swing-into), but the event wasn't as dramatic as most of my klutzes. The cost of repair for this one was about half the cost of a new 1.4x III.
Once, I was taking an EF 100/2.8 Macro from its bag, when something got hung up on something. End result, I threw the lens at the wall about ten feet away, after which it bounced at least a couple of times on the concrete floor (first bounce went about two feet upwards). Long story short, the lens was absolutely fine.
Back in the old days (i.e. film), I had a Pentax SMC 500/4 lens become detached from its Pentax MZ-5N camera, probably while futzing about with a teleconverter. I had the presence of mind to catch the lens, and the camera hit the gravel I was standing on. The camera still had road rash and a crack on its forehead when I sold it, but it worked fine.
Some F-22 Raptors were doing a flyby for a nearby event, I kept hearing this roaring sound (not that special) but the speed at which the sounds progressed was something else.
I grabbed my Sony A7R, quickly opened the upper balcony door, bounded off to the far corner of the balcony, tripped over beam/joist depth change on the balcony which might be 1-1/4" and...
The A7R with lens went flying off the balcony, @$$ over teakettle. Ker-plunk on the ground below, probably a 24' vertical drop. Add forward velocity and "sum tumblez".
Did I mention the time a harpia harpyja carried off my "Bigma" 200-500mm f/2.8 and 1DX II?
It was either me or the gear, I gave it up without a fight. Didn't have insurance on any of it, but funnily enough it somehow ended up in the hands/paws/prehensile tails of some local Tufted Capuchins who were "hawking" it on CL, and I was able to barter with some larvae and opposum I just happened to have on hand.
Got all my gear back. Strange week, that. Looking back on it, it all seems so fantastical.
I think if things happen at home, it's sad but tolerable. Back when we were young my wife dropped my 28-70L onto concrete first day of a month long trip. On one hand, the WW2 era concrete (very, very durable!) had more visible marks than the lens, but the lens clearly didn't get away unscathed. Let's say the photos from that trip aren't the sharpest.
Then I dropped my 24-70L on the deck of the boat in Antarctica, which was terminal. Since then I try to have some overlap in focal lengths so that I'm not completely screwed when I'm far away from a camera store.
We have to laugh at it all or we'd all still be crying. I mean I have more dropped lens stories but I hate to admit how semi careless I am. I swear most were not my fault! I just happened to be the one closest to the tragedy...
