Dropped my first camera!

[Keith]

And wouldn't you know it ... it happened to be my cheapest! 😛

My trusty $50.00 eBay OM-2 slipped from my hand and hit the ground with quite a thud ... lens down. At the time it was wearing an old Pentax solid alloy lens cap that just happened to fit the Zuiko f1.4 50mm perfecty and it absorbed all the impact on the edge of the cap with a decent dent and some abrasion but the camera and Zuiko were unscathed ... thankyou Pentax for making such robust caps!

It amazes me that lady luck would allow it to be my least expensive piece of gear that broke my drought of never having dropped a camera! 😀

 

[ItsReallyDarren]

Did you vision go into slow motion while you watched it fall?

Mine did followed right up with that "heart in your throat" feeling. With hindsight it wasn't so bad. Just gave me a freight for a few minutes.

Lucky save by the lens cap. And now that memory will stay with you.

So no more dropped cameras right?

 

[markwatts]

Keith that is a strange coincidence. Last night someone brushed my LX3 complete with brand new Leica viewfinder off a bar counter onto a tiled floor. The noise on impact made everyone look around. I cannot find a scratch on either the camera or my second piece of Leica kit (I own a tabletop tripod as well!)

 

[Ezzie]

I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread, I'm jinxed now.

 

[nikon_sam]

I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread, I'm jinxed now.

I was never here...😎

 

[Pickett Wilson]

The only camera I've ever dropped was a Mamiya M645 1000s back in 1980. It fell about four foot onto a carpeted floor. It hit on the film advance side, smashed in the winding mechanism, trashed the lens, popped the back open and the film insert sailed across the room. While the 1000s took good photos, they don't seem to be really well made. 🙂

 

[oftheherd]

I once dropped my Yashica 124 MAT G while loading it. It struck a rock I was sitting on, right on the wind mechanism side. It put a dent in the round part and the wind crank would not travel all the way it should. Since it racheted, it did continue to work, for the couple of weeks or so until it was stolen. That muct have been a disappointed theif. 😀

Certainly I was chagrinned when it happened. I can understand anyone's feelings on watching it fall, the fear as you examine it, and the sinking feeling if all isn't well. Glad yours is working well Keith.

You learn to be more careful, but if you keep taking photos, it probably will happen again some time.

 

[laptoprob]

I didn't have such luck when I dropped the CV12 finder. Slipped from the scc. shoe. Damn. Broken front lens.

 

[Carlsen Highway]

I dropped my first camera four days ago. It was my Leica M2.

I had it on a neck strap, I lifted the camera to take a photograph of a Polish chap, and a strong gust of wind from behind must have blown the strap over my head at teh same moment...so when I put the camera down at my chest level and let go of it....it went straight down, onto a gravel road. Freakish accident. It was very windy, actually it was on the southern most part of the country, so next step Antarctica - that kind of windy...

Chipped some vulcanite off one corner...enough to annoy the hell out of me for a bit, until I figurred that was all that was wrong with it. I put some black tape over the damage, and have forgotten about it - but not the sound of it hitting the ground!

 

[btgc]

strong gust of wind from behind must have blown the strap over my head at teh same moment...

this is probably most strange case of dropping camera I've heard/read about.

I dropped KAS2 during first roll - carrying it in hand without any additional means. Happily it fell on gravel covered with grass (not concrete, stone, tiles, tarmac at last) and I quickly learned that heavy metal cameras need strap - either hand or neck.

Though today I learned that strap also isn't panacea.

 

[funkpilz]

The first time I dropped a camera it was my OM-2 as well. It was sitting on a tripod and fell front first on the lens. Luckily the lens hood absorbed most of the fall. It's useless now, but it saved my 50/1.8 except for a small dent on the front.

 

[dfoo]

I've dropped two cameras. The first was my original Canon 5D... I slipped while taking some pictures on the beach, and the camera flew out of my hand into a rock pool. This was on day 1 of a 3 day hiking trip. The camera was ruined, and so was the trip. The second time, I dropped my Nikon FE2 more or less directly onto the 50mm mounted lens. The filter mount threads were ruined on the lens, but other than no other problems.

 

[degruyl]

I dropped my Nikon FE2 more or less directly onto the 50mm mounted lens. The filter mount threads were ruined on the lens, but other than no other problems.

If the FE2 is the same as the FM2 (same vintage, anyway) it is nearly indestructible. Or, as nearly as any precision instrument.

I am surprised the lens worked well, though.

 

[helen.HH]

OUCH !!!
Sorry to Hear that Keith
I do Hope it wasn't the Blk OM you just had redone....but I suppose YOU were Quite Lucky 🙂

Btw ,Did YOU see the link re: Jane Bown
& her Wonderful Work w/ the OM
going strong at 80

Best-H

 

[dfoo]

If the FE2 is the same as the FM2 (same vintage, anyway) it is nearly indestructible. Or, as nearly as any precision instrument.

I am surprised the lens worked well, though.

Yes, actually I have both an FM2 and FE2. Both are excellent, although I prefer the meter on the FM2 because the needle match in the FE2 is invisible when the lights go down.

 

[gavinlg]

I hate that sickening sound of a camera hitting the ground.

To the guy that dropped his 5d in a rock pool, that is epicly bad. I really hope that doesn't jinx me for my Japan trip coming up next month!

 

[dfoo]

You are going to shoot around rock pools? 🙂 If so, I recommend attaching the neck strap, or using a hand strap 😉 That being said, I think a neck strap would have also resulted in severely damaging the camera because I slipped forward climbing up a rock, and I suspect it would have sling-shotted the camera into the rock face.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

I spent a long time contemplating an Iskra - then sourcing a good one, took a month to escape from Siberia, I used it for three weeks - then tested it for 'bounce'.....it did'nt! 🙁 , fortunately that's the only one in forty five years! apart from very neatly catching a Nikkormat with the 'instep' of my foot!...phew!!
Dave.

 

[ryan26]

dropped an xpan when my strap broke in the Lhasa airport.... resulting in the glare of a bunch of chinese soldiers. Camera was fine, and luckily, so was I.

 

[tightsqueez]

You really don't know if your stuff works until...

You really don't know if your stuff works until...

...you've dropped it 10 times inside of a 25-ton armored vehicle. The M8 I currently have has been dropped, and I mean from a good elevation, about 20 times or so. It's not my fault the Army fitted the vehicle with shocks that were made for a 1/2 ton pickup.

Guess it makes perfect sense why I have never had any dust on my sensor. 😀

P.S. Do not try this at home, as I do not support this method.