Gear Disasters...

Self explanatory post.....I promise to tell at least two severe disaster stories, both involving my gear and water, if you tell me yours!

Phew, luckily nothing to report, so far ! I did dump a golf cart (yes the 4 wheeler) in a lake once....shhhh.

Back in the early 80's, is when I started taking my camera gear with me in my kayak on West Coast trips. I was too naive to spend the dollars at the time on dry bags for all of my gear, and had it all in the cockpit with me. While attempting to land in the surf for lunch at a nice beach, one of the guys with me was too close behind me. I decided the waves were too big to land in, so I started to turn around to head back out. Just at that time a huge wave caught his boat and launched him right on top of me. I was instantly capsized and my whole cockpit was full of water with all of my gear submerged. At that time camera gear was not nearly as expensive as it is now, but everything was totally damaged. To make things worse, it was the first day of our two week trip, and I had planned to stop at various seabird colony islands (i.e. petrels, puffins, auklets, etc.). Fortunately, it was all fully replaced by my home insurance when I got back home. But for the two weeks of the trip, needless to say, I was pretty bummed out!! Now I have very secure drybags for any gear that goes out there with me.

I drove over a tripod leg once... Actually just grazed it, but it destroyed the leg locks (the lever locks that Manfrotto uses). The aluminum tubes were fine, and I just had to cough up for a pair of locks.

But I once was in a group where someone had the extended leg of his CF gitzo underneath someone's car (as we were shooting at the edge of the road). You can guess what happened! The CF wasn't nearly as forgiving as my aluminum!

And like so many people, I had a tripod blow over in a small gust of wind, complete with my camera and Sigma 50-500. Onto asphalt. Thankfully this was long before I owned my 300/2.8IS. Damage wasn't actually that bad--and other than the cosmetic damage, the real damage didn't show up for a couple of weeks. (The Canadian distributor of Sigma repaired it for free! But it took a month.)

Beyond that, it's just forgetting that critical piece of gear at home or in the car.

-Paul

I know someone who had their 600mm VR fall out the car window and on to concrete whilst the camera stayed in their hand! They had just put a TC on and it hadn't fully clicked in place so when they went to turn the camera from landscape to portrait the unthinkable happened

While on safari in Kenya last year I had my 800mm fall of the roof of the Jeep while trying to change cameras. It was the 3rd day of a month long trip and the lens lost its ability to focus .

I didn't have my camera with 500mm attached properly mounted in the Wimberley head one morning. I picked up the tripod and the camera and lens crashed onto the parking lot. The camera was totaled along with the teleconverter. The lens only required a minor repair.

Imagine running over a 1DIIN with a full sized diesel pickup...it isn't pretty
Working in the field at night with very little sleep is a recipe for disaster.

Water disaster #1:

My most recent catastrophic disaster was during my latest workshop run in Kamloops, BC. It was the first day of the workshop and lessons were learned the hard way....

We were heading out in a john boat to photograph the loons. I was loading up the boat with gear - my 600/4, 5D MKII, 1.4TC and full flash setup was mounted on my tripod. Legs were shortened all the way down and splayed. The rig was placed in the center of the boat, as it had been the days that I had gone out by myself prior to this. I turned around to help a participant into the boat and as he stepped in he lost his balance. The boat, still attached to the dock, tilted just enough that my rig fell over. It happened to land just right so that it hit the edge of the boat and the weight of the lens sent it upside down through the 12" space between the boat and the dock. In that split second, now permanently etched into my brain as clearly as my worst childhood memories, I watched the whole rig go into the drink with tripod legs in the air. A total loss. Needless to sat the participant felt terrible. But, as I expressed to him, I was the one to blame for my carelessness. On subsequent days the lenses were placed off the tripod into the boat - like I said lesson learned the hard way!

Fortunately I have good insurance and there was an 11,000 check on my desk when I returned from my trip. I am now the proud owner of a spanking new 600 and 5D II. My lens was 10 years old and pretty beat up, so now I look like a beginner again.

And also fortunately, as with my other two disasters over the last decade or so, I was fortunate enough to be able to borrow equipment from friends. John Timmis, who I had never met previously, graciously offered to loan me his 1D MK III - after a few hours thinking about it I accepted. Derick McDonald, the owner of the resort, also graciously loaned me his 600 - he had a 500 that he was using. So, pretty much all of the loon shots I have been posting were taken with other people's gear! Thanks guys!

Anyone want to buy some used gear?

Makes me not feel so bad about my 500 hitting the asphalt.. cracked the hood, Canon wanted $500.. some magic marker and a Lenscoat and it's fine....

The Africa mishap scares the crap out of me.. paying $$$ to get there and have equipment go belly up. Think I would lay down in front of a pack of rhinos !

January 27th, 2009 ..

Larry and I drove over to Great Marsh and there were a number of canvas backs and mallards feedin' along the shore so we stopped and I grabbed some corn and sure enough, they stayed. We proceded to set up when Frode Jacobson said there was a pair of male wood ducks there too .. well, evidently in my haste, I didn't fasten the 600 with the D300 attached to it very well on my wimberly II, as I turned around for something and I heard this thud ... I looked back and there was the outfit laying a few feet away on the asphalt - it had falled 5 feet. WOW .. shook my head that I had just done that and Larry asked how bad it was .. I could see the lcd viewing panel was smashed ... I picked it up and it was really smashed, tried to turn it on and it was electronically dead ....

But, we had a pair of male wood ducks so I removed the D300 and went back to the truck and grabbed another Dslr ( I carry several ) probably the D80 and attached it to the 600, loaded it on the wimberly and it was just fine !! We shot for like an hour and my photos were fine. The 600 apparently survived.

I took the D300 out to State Farm who covers my camera gear for 1.20 a hundred and showed him the camera. Told him it fell off my tripod with the 600 attached .. that I apparently hadn't tightened it down properly. I was offered a new D300 or a check for the current price of a new D300. I took the cash and tossed another 800 at a D700.

I sent the 600mm in since it was covered by State Farm .. Nikon Melville says Major Repair . Major Parts .. kept it forever ................ I don't even remember it was so long ...... they replaced manual focus ring ( it squeaked in one spot ) encoder glass and bayonette. I asked them to clean and update anything that it needed -- so I basically have a brand new Nikon 600 !!

State Farm .. terrific .. !! once I got the estimate from Nikon I faxed them the bill for having it packed, shipped and the repair estimate and I had my check in a week, with the understanding if repair costs changed, so would my claim.

This is a separate policy anyone can purchase from State Farm .. I pay 1.20 a hundred and I can even sell a print or two as an amatuer .. a pro tog charging clients, selling photos would be like 2.50 a hundred I believe they said. The rate was 1.20 to 2.50 so depending on what you do and want to cover, you.ll be in that area someplace.

I don't rememember .. something like insuring a 1000 dollar laptop for 25 bucks .. i mean no questions asked, just like my clumsiness !! For those who take this type of gear out in the feild, what a economical insurance policy !!

While cleaning the sensor of my 1D Mark II N less than an hour before going to bed early to leave for a week long trip to New Hampshire, I accidently tripped the shutter of the camera with a LensPen inside the camera. The mirror and shutter closed on the LensPen, destroying the shutter. Fortunately, I was able to get a loaner from a very nice NSN member for the trip!

Nothing so bad has happened to my gear. But, I was moving along wet rocks in Monterey, Calif a few years ago with my (former) 1D Mark III and 300 f/2.8 on a mono when I slipped. I managed to hold my mono and rig above the water (complete instincts since it happened so flippin' fast). I landed square in the water on my back and on a rock but the gear was safe. I ended up in urgent care with a severe bruise to my wrist, back and ego. Insurance company refused to pay the bill!

Not really a disaster but kind of funny story. Last winter I took a snow mobile tour at yellowstone. I carried 40D with 70-200mm 2.8 hoping to make some "bison in snow" shots. I secured my back pack to snowmobile using bungee cords. Halfway though the trip I took a sharp left turn and ended up in 4 feet powered snow. After securing the bag I wanted to make sure my camera and lens were working. I tried to focus the camera on a snow mobile. I looked through view finder and every thing was blurry while focus lock was beeping. I tried to focus on different objects and no luck same blurry viewfinder. On our way back we ran into a very co-operative bison herd and It was very frustrating.

Back at the hotel, I changed to another lens and pointed the camera at TV and took a shot. LCD showed a very sharp picture. I looked through viewfinder and shocked to see same blurry viewfinder. Then realized it was the diopter adjustment. I must have bumped into diopter adjustment wheel accidentally and change the setting. Couple of clicks, I was back in business:)

I too am in the dropped camera club....

Toward the end of a 4 month tour in Afghanistan I failed to tighten my 1D MII securely to the ballhead. Predictably when I put the tripod over my shoulder the camera hit the concrete. It landed on the top of the body with the hot shoe pushed into the body. The 24-105 lens was undamaged. Incredibly, the camera still worked! Not all of the function worked- for instance moving the focussing point was problematic since it did not show through the view finder- but I was still able to shoot. I shot hundreds, maybe even a thousand more images before I got home and sent it in for repair. Without the solid build of the pro body I would have been totally out of luck.

No disaster storys from me fortunately. My buddy dave hemmings has a few beauties,dont be shy dave

Greg Downing wrote:Water disaster #1:

Fortunately I have good insurance and there was an 11,000 check on my desk when I returned from my trip. I am now the proud owner of a spanking new 600 and 5D II. My lens was 10 years old and pretty beat up, so now I look like a beginner again.

Sounds slightly stressful. Who is your insurer? What kind of documentation did they request from you? Did your premium skyrocket? I use State Farm to insure my 1D3 and 500mm. Still, I have always partially, if not mostly, expected that I wouldn't really see a check if something happened, given that the whole core business model of insurance revolves around wriggling out of claims using spurious logic and sneaky lawyers. I'm intrigued by the fact that you made a claim and actually got money.

I had a Nikon F5, 500mm AFS lens, and Nikon 1.4 tc on my tripod. When I lifted it over my shoulder the whole thing fell on the blacktop, totally destroying all 3. Since the 500mm was a graymarket lens, Nikon refused to repair it. They also would not sell the parts to a 3rd party repairman without the serial number, which they rejected. Fortunately, I had the equipment insured with State Farm, and they covered the replacement cost of the equipment. I switched to Canon.

My water story is from last winter. I had a 40D and 70-200 set up on a tripod on a creek bank. I scrambled down the bank to move distraction out of the frame.. and heard a clattering sound. Camera and lens were immersed in icy water, the lens completely immersed, camera partly. The camera was powered on.

After some yelling, packed up, and tried drying the camera and lens out. I put the camera and lens near gentle heat, and waited a few days. It took a week for the camera to respond - it's perfectly OK now. The lens was still making sloshing sounds inside after a week, so I sent it to Canon, who fixed it promptly for not much more than 100 bucks.

none yet but there are some great 'horror stories' here, enough to energize the paranoid side of myself once again! ..dj