How did you drop your 500-600 Lens?

I haven't dropped the 500 or 600 but I did once drop a Nikon 400 f/2.8 due to not locking the lens down properly on the Wimberley head. I have since gone to Wimberley plates for the big lenses with the stops so that if you don't tighten it down all the way, the lens won't drop due to the slide stops on the plates.

Last June I was shooting Lewis Woodpeckers at a nest in the Ogden River Valley, UT. It was hot and calm all morning. After 3 hours, I decided to quit, packed up my gear, and returned to my SUV. I set the Gitzo 1548 tripod (with my Canon 600 mm IS + 2.0x TE + 1VHS still mounted on the Wimberley head) down beside the truck while I packed my gear bags away inside. Suddenly a huge gust of canyon wind came up and I scrambled to grab papers flying inside the truck. When I went to get the rig, I was dismayed to see it had blown over! Apparently the long telephoto lens had acted as a sail and just lifted everything up and over.

Try this with your big lens mounted parallel to 2 of the tripod feet. It doesn't take much to lift the lens up to the point where the rig will tip over.

Fortunately for me, the big Wimberley C-clamp absorbed most of the blow. The damage (~$600) could have been far worse.

I'm still waiting for my insurance company to pay up.

Once I arrived at Anahuac Wildlife Refuge on the Upper texas coast and set up my Groofwin window Pod with a Arca Swiss ballhead and placed the 600 on there. When I shut the car door to head off, the lens flopped down and literly pulled the whole window mount with it out the window and crashed on the concrete. I wanted to die, and was afraid to even look down at it. To my amazement, I only had scratches on the Lens hood. No problem with the lens, body or mounts. Nikon is tuff stuff.

Alan Murphy wrote:. . . [with] my Groofwin window Pod . . . the lens flopped down and literly pulled the whole window mount with it out the window . . .

Thank you, Alan, I rest my case. I've been writing, every time the question comes up, that the clamp-on Kirk window mount is much safer.

My one 600 drop was a fence crossing, something that hasn't been mentioned. I put the tripod with 600 and EOS1-n across a fence in preparation for climbing/vaulting over myself, but the ground was soft under one leg, and when I let go, the whole rig toppled over. Fortunately, the ground was soft (Falklands bog), no damage done. On one other occasion, my lens strap averted disaster from the car when I loosened the QR clamp instead of the ballhead clamp (another advantage of the Wimberly with its differently shaped release!).

One good tip I learned (I think Joe McDonald told me this) is once you think you've tightened the QR well, lift the whole lens/tripod assembly off the ground by the lens. If everything lifts off the ground, you have a very quick conformation that the dovetail of the plate is in the base. It's a good habit to commit to doing in 2004.

Larsen wrote:One good tip I learned (I think Joe McDonald told me this) is once you think you've tightened the QR well, lift the whole lens/tripod assembly off the ground by the lens. If everything lifts off the ground, you have a very quick conformation that the dovetail of the plate is in the base. It's a good habit to commit to doing in 2004.

You are right - it was Joe. He told me the same thing.

Good tip!

While photographing in the front hatch of a Land Rover in Kenya, I was using my 500 on a beanbag, with a Walt Anderson panning plate attached to the lens foot and placed on the SafariSack when shooting. Although my number one rule when photographing is to protect the equipment, I was in a rush in one case to reach down onto the seat to grab another compact flash card. I quickly set the beanbag down on the truck roof in front of me, then placed the panning plate with lens/camera attched onto it, then bent down through the hatch to grab the card. All I remember hearing is the lens/1Ds start rolling, jumping back up through the hatch to see the combo rolling towards the edge of the truck, letting out a scream, and reaching out with my right hand to grab to lens around the barrel shortly after it started into a 7-foot fall. I had set the beanbag down with most of the beans to one side, so it caused the camera/lens to tip over and it just kept going. Definitely the best catch of my life, and I was much more careful for the rest of the trip when setting the thing down.

I only have a "teeny" 300/2.8, and did manage to give it a good whack once through being careful. I was scrambling over granite rocks in the Wichita Mountains photographing collared lizards, and when I had to take a large step down (about three feet) I decided "Better safe than sorry" and set my 300 (mounted on a gitzo tripod without the legs extended) down rather than hold it in my hands while taking the large step. After stepping down and turning around, I found that I'd set it (lens parallel to the two legs as someone mentioned) down on a slightly sloped spot, and the lens had tipped and fallen against a boulder, striking squarely on the manual focus ring!

Manual focus ring didn't turn smoothly, but the lens otherwise seemed to be fine, IS and autofocus appeared to work. But I sent it in to Canon to be repaired, and got socked with a $350 repair bill. More importantly, Canon allowed the lens to sit in their receiving area for over three weeks (despite daily phone calls from me during the last week and a half) and didn't get the lens back to me till halfway through my trip to Yellowstone last Fall! *sigh*

After shooting birds at a local pond I returned to my vehicle in a parking lot and set my 600mm lens, mounted on a Wimberly head and large Gitzo carbon fiber tripod, down on the pavement. Only one section of the tripod legs were extended, as I had decided to lower the others to make it easier for carrying. I opened the rear door of my vehicle and then heard a crash. I looked and saw my camera rig lying on the pavement. The lens mount on the EOS3 was broken and the 600 mount was damaged as well. I could not understand why this rig toppled over until I noticed one tripod leg was now shorter than the others. Upon close inspection, I realized I had not fully tightened that leg and it slipped under the weight it was supporting. Repairs on the 600 were over $400 and the EOS3 was totaled. Moral of this story - double check the locking mechanism on your tripod legs, especially when leaving your rig unattended for any length of time.

I have not damaged a big lens but have had a couple of close calls. High winds nearly toppled my 500 and the tripod once. I replaced the hood with a home made shorter one after that as the hood was the largest source of windage and is at the far end of the lever arm to boot. The smaller hood also saved .6 Lbs and was much less a target when moving through brush as well as reducing vibration from the wind when shooting.

I have never dropped a big lens, however, on the coast of Maine, I dropped my 17mm about 30 feet down on to some rocks. Luckily it was in a hard case, which didn't pop open, not only that, it was pitch dark by the time I got down to the rocks to find it.

Bob

The first lens I dropped was a Sigma 400mm and it was attached to my first A2 camera body. I had it on a monfrotto tripod with a manfrotto quick release plate. I t did just that! Quick released right into the lake in 6 ft. of water. I had to dive in with my clothes on to get it. Both were repaired and I still have the A2.

The second time was with a Canon 500mm 4.5 that i had bought used and it was attached to a brand new EOS 3. I had them on the same manfrotto tripod and had left them in our boathouse after photographing wood ducks in the early morning light. I went up to the house and when I returned the tripod was nowhere in sight. The wind had come up and the curtain I was using as a blind had caught around the tripod and sent it into the boat slip! Neither were repairable and it cost me $9,000. CDN for a "new" used 500 mm and EOS 3. Couldn't afford to go to a 500mm 4 IS with those dollars involved.

Lessons Learned - be extremely careful around water - I no longer carry lens and camera on my tripod over my shoulder, got a Wimberly head, and I don't leave my set-up alone and standing up anymore! I seem to be a bit of a klutz

I use a method similar to BrianS & Greg's Strap method to carry and protect my 600mm. I use a strap sold by Kirk enterprises that has an arca-swiss clamp on it.
I simply attach the clamp to the end of lens plate on the part that sticks out beyond the regular clamp on the Wimberly or ball head. The Strap has a nice shoulder pad as well. You can then slip your arm into the strap when the whole rig is hoisted over your shoulder. In place of using my arm, I sometimes run one of the tripod legs in the strap opening and then attach the strap clamp to the lens plate.
In any case you essentially end up with two clamps attached to your lens plate, the one from your tripod head and the one from the kirk strap. If your lens comes off your tripod the strap will act as the backup protection provided the strap is wraped around you or your tripod.
If I want to crawl on the ground I just remove the clamp from the lens and leave the strap drapped over the wimberly head.
For hiking longer distances you also have the option of carrying your big lens by the strap only. The shoulder pad on the strap makes this quite comfortable. When I do this, I carry my collapsed tripod in my hand. Anyway it works for me and is fairly versatile.

Ralph Alfors

Larsen wrote:One good tip I learned (I think Joe McDonald told me this) is once you think you've tightened the QR well, lift the whole lens/tripod assembly off the ground by the lens. If everything lifts off the ground, you have a very quick conformation that the dovetail of the plate is in the base. It's a good habit to commit to doing in 2004.

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That is exactly what I do.... EVERYTIME I mount the lens!