Bad things you've done to to your kit

S

StevenS

Suspended / Banned
Messages
252
Name
Steven
Edit My Images
No
I don't go out of my way to destroy cameras, but I have had a few moments. Most of them have been rather odd, not always fatal, nothing as simple as just dropping it.

This is what happens if you drop a Leica M in the Bay of Bengal. It transpires they do not like salt water.

IMG_1694.JPG IMG_1695.JPG IMG_1691.JPG IMG_1692.JPG
 
Last edited:
I'm not sure how anybody is going to follow dropping a Leica into the Bay of Bengal, short of dropping a hasselblad into a volcano :lol:
 
Last edited:
Wow.... They ask so much for few resistors and PCB?

Once I borrowed my D5100 + 70-300VR to someone... Came back completely smashed, body looks like someone bouced it off the wall, lens suffered broken autofocus roller and as well as damaged contact. Never again!
 
Leica used to have a scheme called Passport. Whatever you did to your camera in the first 12 months, they'd fix or replace it. They advertised it with a lovely picture of a Leica S after being extensively chewed by a dog.

I made a major profit on the insurance on this (new for old), so no worries.

I did lose out when I lent my son a Panasonic pocket camera to take to Glastonbury. He put it in his bag and it came back with bits of Jaffa cakes stuck in the leaves covering the shutter. That was the end of that.
 
Drowned a D3 when I sank the kayak in rapids. Dropped an UWA off a cliff while rock climbing. Got a ton of water inside a big zoom in heavy rain photographing Moto GP (saved that one). The usual drops and dangs...
 
sk66 said:
Drowned a D3 when I sank the kayak in rapids. Dropped an UWA off a cliff while rock climbing. Got a ton of water inside a big zoom in heavy rain photographing Moto GP (saved that one). The usual drops and dangs...
Click to expand...

Someone dropped a bag down the side of this glacier and the camera inside survived. Spot the lunatic on the edge.

LadakhPAB039.jpg
 
Said yes when a guest says "let me take a photo of you with your camera"

Que broken flash.
 
My Canon 1DX, 16-35 2.8, GPS receiver and WFT wireless file transmitter still sits at the bottom of a Malaysian lake.
 
cymruchris said:
My Canon 1DX, 16-35 2.8, GPS receiver and WFT wireless file transmitter still sits at the bottom of a Malaysian lake.
Click to expand...

That's more like it. Were you taking pictures of fish?

I made a pretty good effort of destroying a Leica Q going down a 60 degree slope on a Quadbike in the Bali jungle and doing a somersault. Blood everywhere and my specs were found in a tree. The base of the half-case was worn down to the metal plate inside, but besides paint scraped off the lens cap, the camera was completely OK.



L1010455.jpg
 
The strap on my bag snapped which had both my D3 cameras and lenses including my beloved Nikon AFS 80-200MM and the whole lot went 3,000 feet down the side of Ben Lomond. It's probably still down there but I doubt anything survived. Loved that gear and some of my best family photos were taken with it. My business insurance replaced it all but I wasn't impressed at all with how they went about it and I never really got back into photography in the same way since.
 
StevenS said:
That's more like it. Were you taking pictures of fish?
Click to expand...

Nope I was stood on land - around 10-15ft from the water when I dropped it. Photographing a bridge. Sounds impossible right? :)
 
cymruchris said:
Nope I was stood on land - around 10-15ft from the water when I dropped it. Photographing a bridge. Sounds impossible right? :)
Click to expand...

Does sound impossible. Did it bounce all the way to the water's edge or did you throw it?
 
gman said:
The strap on my bag snapped which had both my D3 cameras and lenses including my beloved Nikon AFS 80-200MM and the whole lot went 3,000 feet down the side of Ben Lomond. It's probably still down there but I doubt anything survived. Loved that gear and some of my best family photos were taken with it. My business insurance replaced it all but I wasn't impressed at all with how they went about it and I never really got back into photography in the same way since.
Click to expand...

But it went in style. It's not like dropping in the pond at the end of the garden.

Some insurers are a nightmare, fortunately my household insurance paid up on my Leica (£5k) in 3 days credit direct to my account.

Years ago, something to do with work, I came across a chap who bought a video camera at Gatwick, took it on holiday to Majorca, came back and made 5 separate successful insurance claims.
 
StevenS said:
Does sound impossible. Did it bounce all the way to the water's edge or did you throw it?
Click to expand...

It bounced - it fell off a flat surface onto the ground, and then rolled with increasing speed to the water's edge, where it promptly disappeared with a plop. Never seen a squarish shaped thing move so fast.
 
cymruchris said:
It bounced - it fell off a flat surface onto the ground, and then rolled with increasing speed to the water's edge, where it promptly disappeared with a plop. Never seen a squarish shaped thing move so fast.
Click to expand...

Without wishing to sound smug, the advantage of rangefinders and I suppose most other mirrorless cameras is that they are always strapped around the neck, so if the camera goes you go with it.
 
Last edited:
About 10 years ago I got my bag out of the boot and swung it onto my shoulder. Unfortunately I'd forgotten to zip it up. Gravity took over and my 40D and 100-400 fell out. It landed on tarmac which was traumatic enough but there'd obviously been a car window smashed recently because as I looked down to survey the damage, there were tiny pieces of glass surrounding the camera and for a few seconds I thought I'd killed it. Thankfully, a few minor marks on the hood and the hood mount was the sun total of the damage. A lesson learned.
 
StevenS said:
Without wishing to sound smug, the advantage of rangefinders and I suppose most other mirrorless cameras is that they are always strapped around the neck, so if the camera goes you go with it.
Click to expand...

Mine isn't? The benefit of smaller kit is that I don't need to it to be strapped around my neck all the time as I can hold it with one hand and a finger grip.

Actually, you opened the post with images of your rangefinder that was dropped into the Bay of Bengal as it wasn't around your neck?
 
Last edited:
stevelmx5 said:
Mine isn't? The benefit of smaller kit is that I don't need to it to be strapped around my neck all the time as I can hold it with one hand and a finger grip.

Actually, you opened the post with images of your rangefinder that was dropped into the Bay of Bengal as it wasn't around your neck?
Click to expand...

It was in a bag that was safely strapped on. I went in with the bag. Being waterproof, it kept the water in.
 
Last edited:
I dropped my first SLR off the top deck of a moving double decker bus, and onto the road. Put quite a dent in the tarmac. Didn't hurt the Zenit E.
 
StevenS said:
But it went in style. It's not like dropping in the pond at the end of the garden.

Some insurers are a nightmare, fortunately my household insurance paid up on my Leica (£5k) in 3 days credit direct to my account.

Years ago, something to do with work, I came across a chap who bought a video camera at Gatwick, took it on holiday to Majorca, came back and made 5 separate successful insurance claims.
Click to expand...

And is proud enough of his total dishonesty to brag about it - otherwise you wouldn't know about it. The man is a criminal, nothing else. That is nothing to be proud of, not even for someone else - in fact I would say, knowing about it, you had a duty to report it, otherwise you stand as an accessory.

I am lost for words as to how I feel. It is disgraceful.
 
To be fair you've got to wonder how the insurance companies didn't catch him out, I thought they all shared information?
 
Lensflare said:
And is proud enough of his total dishonesty to brag about it - otherwise you wouldn't know about it. The man is a criminal, nothing else. That is nothing to be proud of, not even for someone else - in fact I would say, knowing about it, you had a duty to report it, otherwise you stand as an accessory.

I am lost for words as to how I feel. It is disgraceful.
Click to expand...

I was investigating the guy for a much bigger fraud. It was a £300 or £400 video camera, still the claims probably paid for his holiday. I seem to remember we got him bang to rights on something else.
 
Last edited:
Bobsyeruncle said:
They do now. He said it was years ago.
Click to expand...

Insurance companies did not have a central system until fairly recently, created mainly to do with motor claims fraud. Multiple claims is not something I would recommend.
 
I finished mopping the kitchen floor then went to get my D7000 to take some pictures of the garden. I walked into the kitchen having completely forgotten about the wet floor tiles and went flying. I went down hard with my face missing the kitchen units by 2 inches. Snapped the zoom lens clean off the D7000 body damaging the lens and camera body badly. Insurance provided a new camera and lens. The only thing that was salvageable was the EL-15 battery and the camera strap.
 
john.margetts said:
I dropped my first SLR off the top deck of a moving double decker bus, and onto the road. Put quite a dent in the tarmac. Didn't hurt the Zenit E.
Click to expand...

Rather ignominiously, a friend of mine was in the Louvre, his lens-heavy camera tipped out of bag and dropped (just a couple of feet!) onto floor.
One Nikon body went in the bin and his 14-24 f2.8 has sticky focus and an impressive dent.

Some smaller bags do have less than ideal straps and he's now very careful to test them for stability
 
sk66 said:
Drowned a D3 when I sank the kayak in rapids. Dropped an UWA off a cliff while rock climbing. Got a ton of water inside a big zoom in heavy rain photographing Moto GP (saved that one). The usual drops and dangs...
Click to expand...

Are you sure you should actually leave your house?

And don't watch "Final Destination 1" :LOL:
 
Dropped my Canon 700d into the stream at Ashness Bridge on Thursday. Kit lens and camera currently sitting in a bag of rice.
 
Caught my Manfrotto tripod on my leg while out walking along the canal. Watched as it disappeared under the water in slow-motion.

Fortunately a nearby fisherman helped recover it with his long catch net.
 
Not me personally but some of my customers have had some pretty interesting experiences with kit they've hired from my company.

The most recent one was the guy whose lens hood was "eaten by a bear". Quite a substantial meal too - it was the hood off a 600mm prime.
 
it’s not mine... but there was a story going around a week or two ago about a (day old) Nikon D500 vs German Shepherd...
Nikon-D500-camera-destroyed-by-a-German-Shepherd-named-Rex2.jpg

Worst I did was pull my D750 off the shelf holding it by the body, only my 50mm was caught up on the strap. Crashed onto wooden floor but all seems fine.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top