How did you drop your 500-600 Lens?

I was wondering how and why most lenses are dropped. Knowing the possibilities would be a good way to prevent the same thing from happening. I am sure after thinking for a while at most possibilities, someone will come up with a new one.

I dropped mine at Bosque this month while mounting it o the Wimberley. I though it was tighten down well (did check) but the lens plate was of the rail on the other side. As soon as the lens was released it went crashing into the ground,

Any thoughts!

Alfred

I remember hearing that hit the ground that morning!! I turned and looked at your truck and seen your lens hood sticking out from behind the rear tire.... My heart stoped. I'm glad you got that working well enough to last your trip out there.

Is this the "Fess Up" thread again? Now I need to tell you how I'm constantly dropping my big lenses?

In Florida, I forgot to tighten the quick release clamp enough and it slip out while it was over my shoulder. It was saved by the fact that I was using an external battery (DCB) on the camera and the cables were wrapped around the tripod head.

In Bosque, I was chasing a Roadrunner and, you guessed it, I didn't tighten the quick release clamp enough while it was over my shoulder. I got VERY lucky. I snapped my external flash cable into pieces which must have softened the blow and the lens and camera (D2H) landed in a big dust pile. A half hour of cleaning and swearing later, everything but the flash cable was ok.

I don't use Arca-Swss clamps (yet), so I don't have that problem!

But I still don't trust the QR I do have, so I built a safety clip out of about $3.00 worh of material from the hardware store. It's 1/16" aircraft cable, with some crimps and a clip. It's never been tested (touch wood), but it gives me peace of mind when I sling my rig over my shoulder. (Okay, so my 50-500 is a lot smaller than your 500/600 primes, but it's big and expensive for me.) The three or four extra seconds it takes to attach to or remove from the tripod don't bother me much (not compared to the idea of dropping it, anyway!)

-Paul

Paul,
Could you show a picture of the 'safety catch' you made? I been trying to think of a way to make sure my gear is more secure while in transit over my shoulder.

I was standing around chatting with other photographers on an overcast day at Jamaica Bay, NY. My tripod legs were not extended, so it was low over the water. I don't know exactly how it happened, but everything went over into the water, 500 f/4 lens hood first, then it tipped sideways. This meant the lens, camera body, and flash unit.

Luckily Bill T had a cloth that mopped up most of the water, and after stuff dried on my front element I first used a bulb blower to get rid of the dirt, then used cleaning solution and a microfiber cloth to remove the water spots. My theory was that I didn't want to rub the grains of dirt against the element with the cloth and that maybe waiting for it to dry was the right thing to do.

My lessons learned? First, don't hang around in the water if you don't have to be there with gear. We were just chatting and there was no reason I couldn't have done so on the shore. Second, best to spread the tripod legs for more secure balance against wind, water current, etc. I have been more careful since.

I have never dropped my big lens!

Greg Downing wrote:I have never dropped my big lens!

True, other people drop it for you.

Greg Wrote:

I have never dropped my big lens!

Nice way to jinx your self. your doomed now. lol

Campbell wrote:Greg Wrote:

I have never dropped my big lens!

Nice way to jinx your self. your doomed now. lol

I have a big piece of wood here and I am knocking on it!

Campbell wrote:Paul,
Could you show a picture of the 'safety catch' you made? I been trying to think of a way to make sure my gear is more secure while in transit over my shoulder.

I don't have a good picture handy... but here's a crop from a picture I took of my daugher pretending to look through my camera.

There is a loop of the aircraft cable on the tripod foot, through a convenient slot that happened to be there. The other section has two loops--one large enough to go around the base of the tripod, but not enough to go over the ballhead--for it to come off the tripod, I've got to pull out the centre column. There's a few inches of cable coming out of that loop, and into another one, which goes through the base end of a clip (similar to one you might find on a dog's leash). This clip attaches to the loop on the lens foot. The three loops are all secured using crimping devices of the appropriate size for the aircraft cable.

-Paul

1)The stop screws on the Wimberly plate have saved me a few times when I had not tightened Wimberly clamp all the way.

2)My 600 hit the ground in Nome. I put the lens in the clamp--tightened it to the point where I thought it was tight enough. Walked backed to the van. When I was 7 or 8 feet away I heard a muffled click and looked over my shoulder to see the lens just falling to the ground.

The moral of the story is that I really jerk the lens foot now to make sure it is in the clamp securely.

Paul, Thank you. This gives me new ideas. Now I know I have some cable here somewhere??...

I haven't dropped my 500 yet (so now I guess I should expect to do so)
It seems the lens is going to go most times when mounting, dismounting it -- I always wrap the heavy duty Canon strap (attached to the lens) around my neck whenever moving the lens on or off the tripod as well as when moving my entire rig over my shoulder from place to place. My thought is if this sucker is going to go I would wrather have the lens bounce around my body then the ground.

I used to use the lens strap the same way, but due to it's annoyance I have since removed it. Since I crawl on the ground a lot I got sick of the strap getting wet and full of sand.

A metal strap, such as Paul has shown, is a good idea. Paranoia works for me.

Greg Downing wrote:I used to use the lens strap the same way, but due to it's annoyance I have since removed it. Since I crawl on the ground a lot I got sick of the strap getting wet and full of sand.

A metal strap, such as Paul has shown, is a good idea. Paranoia works for me.

Hadn't thought of that -- thanx for the post.

To clarify, the comment about paranoia was not referring to the strap that Paul showed. It was referring to paranoia as a safety mechanism in itself; My lens is safe due to my paranoia of dropping it.

That sounds like a good idea Paul. I was thinking of a dog leach with a quick release (the short ones) Your idea is simple.

Alfred

Jason....for next year I have a 600 for spare

Greg Downing wrote:My lens is safe due to my paranoia of dropping it.

For that to work, you have to have 100% confidence that your QR clamps, etc., all work 100% properly when used properly. The paranoia only ensures that they are used properly.

Like I said, I don't use the Arca-Swiss type plates & clamps--I don't have that 100% certainty in my equipment.

-Paul

My 400DO lens and 1D and 2x TC were attached to each other in the back of my SUV. After rearranging some of his equipment, Alex propped my equipment against the rear door. About five minutes later, when I opened the rear compartment, my equipment fell about three feet to the hard dirt road. Repairs were only $1000. Hey, what are friends for?