To my horror an act of carelessnes on my part let my 400D + 70-200mm f/2.8 fall about 2 feet onto a concrete floor and to my amazment everything it perfectly fine, not even a scratch
Anyhow, this got me wondering; whats the biggest/most costly drop you've had that was
A) all ok
B) needed minor repairs
C) resulted in a hefty repair bill
or (gulp)
D) DOA
Lets be honest some of you pros treat your gear like crap, there must be some damage - who has the highest tally?
My wife was shooting a 30D w/100-400L IS attached; she slipped down the bank to the river and everything bounced down a set of stairs built out of railroad cross ties. Body was fine but the lens wouldn't AFand the IS wouldn't work. Cost $700+ for Canon to repair but it came back much sharper than before. That hurt but the lens was much better for it.
There was a post long ago about stupid things and accidents. I had a backpack that had a faulty zipper which I found out the hard way. Walking across a concrete pad to take some B&G shots at a wedding and the pack worked its way open and dumped my 70-200 f2.8IS, 20D, 5D, and 28-135 IS on the concrete from shoulder height - call it 4 feet. Aside from a few scuffs, cracked 70-200 lens hood and one small ding near the shutter release on the 5D everything came through just fine. I'm just glad it was the smooth concrete not rough. Yes I consider myself lucky in no serious damage but obviously unlucky enough to have a crappy bag. Not a cheap one either - it was a backpack fronted by Bogen who incidently did NOT stand by their promise to stand behind their stuff. They pawned me off on the manufacturer who promptly ignored my emails and letters. Guess they figure since they're overseas they can ignore me safely. Anyway I bet I wasn't the first to have problems with it since they stopped carrying that line of backpacks shortly after I made my complaint. The backpack was a Delsey - my advice is don't even take one as a freebie. The zippers don't lock and they will creep open from the weight of the equipment inside.
I scraped the front of my MT-24EX trying to get a low angle on an ant and lightly bump one of my lens on the doorway, that's about it.
I'm pretty careful with my gear, if the body is on top of the table right in the middle or not attached to the tripod, the strap is always around my neck.
edit: oh sorry, didn't realise the thread is only for the pros.
I once dropped an empty 85mm f/1.8 box onto a carpeted floor. I was scared at first, but everything still looked ok and the box worked great afterwards without any repairs necessary!
n0b0 wrote:
I scraped the front of my MT-24EX trying to get a low angle on an ant and lightly bump one of my lens on the doorway, that's about it.
I'm pretty careful with my gear, if the body is on top of the table right in the middle or not attached to the tripod, the strap is always around my neck.
edit: oh sorry, didn't realise the thread is only for the pros.
It's not just for pros, I'm an amature myself - I just figured pros will have bigger drops...
1. Shooting a wedding - Brand new (less than a week old) 430EX on my second body which had my 24-70L on it - the whole kit was sitting on the table next to me while I jumped up to take a shot with the lead body which had the 580EX II and my Sigma 70-200 2.8 on it. When I stood up and composed the shot, I felt something on my left leg that turned out to be the strap of my second body, and when I stepped to brace myself for a handheld 200mm shot I tugged the second body off the table. I reached with my left hand to grab the strap, and saved the majority of the kit from hitting the floor, but the 430EX tagged the floor and shoe mount exploded and my new flash was hanging by some very fine wires. After finding the screws and parts, I was actually able to re-assemble the unit and it's still working today.
2. Shooting CF-18 Fighter Jets at our local air base, and I had left my 70-200 on the tripod and was carrying the 24-70 mounted on a body. We were changing locations, so I grabbed the tripod only to realize that I had not locked the mount! I watched the Sigma lens land on the tarmac, hood first, bounce high enough for me to catch it on the uprise, and immediately mounted it to the camera and shot a few tests. EVERYTHING worked! The funny part of this one was the look on the faces of the other photographers that had realized what was going on. They had not realized that it had bounced on the hood end, and were stunned to see me using the lens right after that tumble.
So in both cases, fast reflexes and a little luck prevailed.
Good thread! I hope there are not too many horror stories here, but I look forward to reading more saves!
This just happened a few weeks ago: In a Lowepro Classic Trekker bag I had the 24-70 attached to my 1D3. When I opened the back seat of my Jeep Cherokee, the bag rolled out onto the pavement. When I opened the bag, the lens was still attached to the mount, but bent on it, and stuck. 2 weeks and $500 later Canon got them both back to me good as new.
I was changing lenses at a wedding in a church a few months ago when I dropped my 24-70 from about 5' (chest high). The lens landed near the rear of it close to the metal camera mount ring, bounced off of the carpeted yet very hard floor, but still works fine.
I then realized at home that the impact cracked the lens outter shell, there is a 1.5" gash on the rear most part of the lens. I know if I send it in to Canon they're gonna charge a REDICULOUS amount. But, the lens works fine, still sharp pictures, I'm just a little worried that the barrel when extended all the way out (for 24mm pictures) wobbles a little too much, more than I remember
Trout Guy wrote:
My wife was shooting a 30D w/100-400L IS attached; she slipped down the bank to the river and everything bounced down a set of stairs built out of railroad cross ties. Body was fine but the lens wouldn't AFand the IS wouldn't work. Cost $700+ for Canon to repair but it came back much sharper than before. That hurt but the lens was much better for it.
TG
And now I have that lens and yes it is quite sharp
I had a tokina 12-24 F4 at the top of my backpack and after a trip to colorado, I was unloading the car, put the backpack on my shoulder and it the lens fell out (6 feet up) and hit the cement driveway. The filter shattered and the ring wouldn't come off. The lens hood brook. That was a major uh-oh. I sent the lens to Tokina and they removed the jammed filter ring, replaced the hood, cleaned, calibrated, and checked it out. Price was $45.00. Yes, $45.00. Lens works fine. So, when someone asks which wide angle for a crop camera they should get, there's only one and that's the Tokina 12-24 F4. Built Ford Tough.
I had a tokina 12-24 F4 at the top of my backpack and after a trip to colorado, I was unloading the car, put the backpack on my shoulder and it the lens fell out (6 feet up) and hit the cement driveway. The filter shattered and the ring wouldn't come off. The lens hood brook. That was a major uh-oh. I sent the lens to Tokina and they removed the jammed filter ring, replaced the hood, cleaned, calibrated, and checked it out. Price was $45.00. Yes, $45.00. Lens works fine. So, when someone asks which wide angle for a crop camera they should get, there's only one and that's the Tokina 12-24 F4. Built Ford Tough.
I've posted about this previously (too lazy to dig for it), but my wife dropped my old 20D and 100-400L onto hardwood floor in our office from about 4 feet (knocked off the counter) at around 7 AM one weekend morning. I learned of this when she walked into the bedroom crying and woke me up saying something like "I dropped your camera and there's glass everywhere." Mercifully the glass was from the UV filter. Damage was a cracked lens cap, busted filter, and a bent filter ring, along with a slight mark on the front element from filter glass hitting it. A couple hundred $ later it was back from Canon NJ sharper than it'd been before.
Second worst was when I dropped my 24-105 L onto the carpet in my office. The front element popped clean off the camera (turns out it is mounted by three narrow plastic strips. Shockingly cheap build quality IMHO). I sent the element and barrel back to Canon, and again a couple hundred $ later it was back sharper than before.
I'm tempted to drop my 50 1.4 next; it is my only remaining lens I'd consider soft.
Dead - a couple of Nikon F4's - the culprit was grape soda while photographing kids. The soda dried and glued two shutters closed.
On the other hand - every time a Canon lens or body is dropped the repair is less costly than I would have imagined possible. A lens snapped in two - $100. A 1Ds-II with a lens kind of stuck was $700.
I believe that for a working pro it is good to break a few things and realize how trivial the kit really can be.
Two drops so far, both due to evil gremlins...My 1DMKIIn detached (somehow ) from my 300F2.8 while I had it over my sholder and hit the cement sidewalk for about a 6 ft drop No damage! didn't even leave a mark on the body.
the other was my 70-200 f 2.8 dropped from about 4 ft (gremlins knocked it out of my hands while dragging it out of my car) broke the UV filter & made it a real pain to get off the lens, took about 2 hrs to carefully remove the broken glass so as not to scratch the front element...now the only filters I put on the lens are polorizing or ND filters...Lucky me though no damage to either piece...just keep my head ona swivel to watch for those gremlins...
at least it wasnt a 
) from my 300F2.8 while I had it over my sholder and hit the cement sidewalk for about a 6 ft drop 