Dropped a camera!

burancap

burancap

Veteran
Local time
2:22 PM
Joined
May 5, 2010
Messages
2,191
Location
South Carolina
View My Gallery
Title says it all! :bang:

FIRST TIME! I have been shooting since I was a kid and this morning I dropped my very first camera from my hand!

I was not really in a hurry or anything, but was stupidly holding my lovely little X-A1 by the wrist strap. I had a momentary lapse of reason and lightened my grip shuffling items in my hands while I exited the back door.

CRASH!

I picked it and the lens cap up, closed the popped-open flash, and set it on my passenger seat. I was sad. It took me about an hour to take an evaluative look. Remarkably, the only marks were on the bottom of the OEM extra grip, a small scuff on the corner of the Thumbs Up, and on the actual body -just a tiny little divet to the edge of the molded thumb rest on the back. The lens (27) was unmarked!

Hey, this is not too bad!

Fired it up and I immediately see the left side of the screen has a dark arc. Argh! Well, not the end of the world. Let's see if it fires. Hey, presto! It still works. I hit the review button and zoom out. The arc is on the image! Double argh! Pop the lens and there it is. A dark grey, high density foam surround (frame) had bowed out under the sensor's protective glass. I tried a little gentle "nudging" by bouncing the body against my palm. No luck. It is a shame as I had begun to really enjoy the output from this great little camera. As it would make no monetary sense to repair it (I may pop it open someday when it is on its last legs), I have set the crop to 1:1 and that took care of it for now -back to 6x6!
 
What a bummer.. So far been lucky w/ my drops - just two..
- film back on a baby Linhof that did more damage to the concrete sidewalk.. I was replacing the film back w/ sheet film back when someone bumped my arm, caring the drop.
- can't remember which camera it was, hit lens hood first, hood dented, lens camera minor scratches.

Gary
 
"Argh" indeed. I had it happen years ago, on a film Leica no less. Peter Grisafi worked on it for a relatively small fee and quick turnaround because he "felt sorry for me". I don't think I was crying but it's many years now, perhaps I am forgetting something😀. It's not the end of the world obviously, but, ah, that sinking feeling....

.
 
Sorry for the drop, but the way I see it if you handle cameras all the time it is bound to happen, and it is a matter of time.

I dropped a Nikon F2 just like you by relaxing my grip. Dented and broke part of the die cast on the prism.

A different F2 tipped over on a tripod and dented the corner of the top plate. I kinda learned that when tripods are set tall they can be unstable.

A lot of time passed but I fell down a railroad embankment, and during this fall a M6 HM (0.85 VF'er) fell from my open bag. The camera tumbled on that big railroad gravel, but other than cosmetic damage the camera was fine. I ended up getting rid of that camera to create some separation from the bad experience. That particular Leica was a lemon anyway. Oh-well.

I guess the positive spin is that you learn to move on and continue shooting, basically knowing that accidents happen.

Cal
 
I can remember being in a studio class when I was in college. I had to get a couple of sawhorses for a tabletop setup. I placed my camera, a Nikkormat, in the middle of a large tabletop in the middle of the room. there was at least 4 feet of table on all sides, so no danger of it falling off. Someone grabbed a 6' ladder and swung it sideways just skimming the table. I heard a crash behind me and thought oh no. I turned and there was my Nikkormat with the top plate and prism smashed almost flat. It fell 4' onto a concrete floor. The guy who swung the ladder was just standing there still holding the damn thing horizontally. I wanted to cry. He never paid me for the repair.
 
Dropped a Mamiya M645 once on a hardwood floor. The safety lock on the Sunpack 544 flash failed. Camera hit on the film wind side, pushing it into the body (these are not really sturdy cameras) and making it inoperable. The camera was only a month or so old, but the damage was clearly my fault. Sent it to Mamiya, explaining exactly what happened. They repaired it under warranty despite it being my fault.

Dropped a Nikon 15mm F/3.5 AI-S from the top of a sailboat mast into the Gulf of Mexico once. Considering how much it weighed, some poor fish was likely rendered unconscious.

As was pointed out, if you handle cameras enough, you are going to drop one eventually.
 
I went for a walk with a Bessa R2a and the camera strap busted randomly, I caught the end of the strap when the camera was about an inch from the pavement! I don't think the concrete and Bessa would have got along very well.

I was at a camera shop in Leeds and the guy had a Rolleiflex that had been dropped in the sea...it couldn't be saved.
 
I remember a few years ago running from some crazy dog off a leash, with a 1939 Voigtlander Vito I around my neck. It was during high-school, when my friends and I would shoot in some unsavoury parts of town. Clearly the case was from 1939 too, as the leather neckstrap just randomly snapped while I was running. Luckily, I caught the Vito as it began falling. I remember hastily jamming the broken end of the strap into the leather case, or through some sort of hole where the severed strap was supposed to attach. A few seconds later, the other side of the camera strap broke. At that point, I decided to just run with it in my hands... I still have the case and most of the strap.
 
Leica iiic wrist strap screw works loose from tripod bushing while Robert's getting out of car in grocery lot--Barnack hits asphalt, Robert utters exclamation involving deity & fornication --tiny dent in a back corner, no other ill affect, including CV 35/2.5...

Sony A7 sling strap screw works loose from tripod bushing when Robert's getting out of car at home after photographing--A7 hits gravelly road mix, Robert no longer impugns deity or fornication but utters Oh Dear--no dent, just a few more scratches in the worn paint, just another crack in the cover glass (since replaced, that's why we buy cover glass), all works fine, including 55/1.8...

Robert on his Trek Soho commuter bike passes an adult cyclist pulling a tike trailer, catches the font wheel in an open seam in the concrete roadway, falls slightly farther than either camera fell (indeed, not nearly as far relative to comparative size) but detaches all ribs and can hardly move for weeks.

Robert is all better now. Though neither the cameras nor Robert are getting younger, the cameras are better built. Maybe Robert needs to be tethered to a sling, but who will make sure it doesn't work loose?
 
I recently had an experience with my Leica M6 tumbling with me.

I was backing up onto some rocks on a beach the rocks gave way and I tumbled and my M6 hit a rock.

Damaged the rock.
 
b0d3e7682d0428bde3fde5ab13cf260b.jpg
1ca9457e9619b4abce816251c2d1d907.jpg

Too many dents to count.

Warmest,

Mme. O.
 
Y'all are making me feel better. No, it wasn't the most expensive camera, and yes, it was bound to happen some day. It certainly is not my first damaged camera, just the first that I ever dropped under my own control -or lack thereof. There was just a strange sense of stewardship-shirking that overwhelmed me after it fell from my grasp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Godfrey
return to Leica X...
2 3 4
Replies
71
Views
3K
Godfrey
Godfrey
Jamie Pillers
One camera, one lens?
2 3
Replies
48
Views
1K
38Deardorff
38Deardorff
Godfrey
A pleasant few moments today ...
Replies
3
Views
392
chuckroast
C
Godfrey
Camera Testing - Voigtländer Vito II
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
Godfrey
Godfrey
caila77
Which camera made you fall in love with photography?
3 4 5
Replies
95
Views
6K
38Deardorff
38Deardorff
Back
Top Bottom