Dropped it....

[moreammo]

So I decided to snag a 5d MKII kit. I spent the evening charging the battery and reading the manual. When the battery was done I went through all the settings and familiarized myself with it. This morning I put it in a camera bag and brought it to work. I threw it on a tripod and took it into the conference room. I got the legs extended and turned the camera on its side…

The moment it happened was very surreal. It was almost as if I was pulled into a bad dream and forced to watch in slow motion. The head lock latch was not locked and the body and lens fell gracefully to the ground below. In mid air it was as if it was frozen, floating even. Then ever so rapidly the travertine below seemed to come flying up at it, then… it was over. The impact was on the front of the lens initially then it fell back onto the tripod mount at the base of the body and slid a few feet away from me. My head fell and my stomach hit my throat. Fortunately my eagerness to try my new toy had overcome my need for breakfast and nothing was ejected. Calmly I explained to my coworkers this was my personal camera and I had just purchased it. I had not even taken a photo with it yet. As I was answering their questions I could feel my heart sinking further into my abdomen. Almost certain I was in store for some kind of cardiac arrest or embolism I reached down and gently lifted my camera from the floor. The sound of shattered glass did not be-still my pounding head. Suddenly it was all real. This had actually happened. The top portion of the lens was crushed… After further examination and removal of the lens cap the body is fine, not a scratch on it and it works flawlessly. The lens was for the most part protected by the UVA filter which had shattered into a thousand pieces and the filter ring was crushed and the deco ring was torn…


I took it to Precision Camera here in Austin and it looks like $200 in labor, a hundred or so in parts and 15 days then it should be good as new… plus the $60 to rent a lens while I wait. They give a huge discount if you rent while your having a lens repaired.


Oh well it's been christened, now that’s out of the way I can get down to business and not worry about every little scratch 🙂


My stomach still hurts though…

 

[lawnpotter]

You are an excellent story teller cause I really could feel your pain. I am glad you could move forward with a positive attitude.

 

[tunalegs]

I've dropped my Canon Rebel a couple of times, once on carpet (no big deal), and once on pavement. There is a little rattle inside since dropping it on the sidewalk, but everything functions normally so I never had it looked at.

Once had a Petri 7s fall out of my backpack while riding a bike. That was terminal. But thankfully it was a cheap old camera, and not something I shelled out for. But still, a terrible feeling realizing that smashing sound was your camera...

 

[nikon_sam]

From the title I did not want to read it but I did...glad to hear it's reasonably fixable...
I had a dream that I dropped my F5, the lens was toast and it also ripped off the front lens mount and destroyed the body...it felt so real...

 

[moreammo]

There are not many things that can elicit that kind of guttural response from me. I know that F5 dream all too well. Mine normally involves my M6 though. It's crazy I have carried my cameras on mountains and through canyons and never dropped one. But before I ever took a pic with my 5D MKII... down she goes. Totally my fault, I should have checked that lock. I really lucked out on this. Sorry to hear about your Petri, glad to hear your rebels still working though.

 

[Coldkennels]

I personally hate using tripods for (at least in part) that very reason. The only time I've ever had a camera hit the deck like that was, like you, because it was on a tripod. It was boxing day; his dog, an over-eager collie, crashed right into it while I was a few feet away, and I couldn't catch it in time.

Luckily, it was only a Lubitel, but I know your pain. There's that moment when you realise you just can't do anything, and you're totally powerless. Not a nice feeling.

A similar thing happened to the photographer at my graduation party. She wasn't so lucky, though; smashed the lens and wrecked the lens mount of her Canon DSLR (can't remember the model). There's obviously a lesson to learn, here.

 

[oftheherd]

I know the feeling, but I was lucky. It wasn't from that high, and everything worked fine afterward. But what a terrible feeling until you are convinced all is still well. Sorry for you it happened, glad it wasn't worse.