wintoid
Back to film
I bought a bargain Nikon Coolscan 8000 for £400 (yay) which broke within 3 months (boo) and the repair quote was over £1000, so it was sold for parts. Basically cost me £100 per month 🙁
Your most expensive broken piece of gear?
- Thread starter cosmonaut
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valdas
Veteran
Several years ago in Saaremaa I dropped my Rolleiflex, it hit the ground pretty badly (not properly zipped backpack), but apart from the small ding on the door this camera remained fully functional.
I few days ago I was shooting with Olympus 35LC using self timer. Self timer stuck and now shutter won't fire. I have spent two evenings trying to repair, but could not get to the shutter... Lesson - don't use ST on old fifed lens RF. I paid 30€ for this camera so it won't worth repairing professionally. It will be a shelf qeen from now on...
I few days ago I was shooting with Olympus 35LC using self timer. Self timer stuck and now shutter won't fire. I have spent two evenings trying to repair, but could not get to the shutter... Lesson - don't use ST on old fifed lens RF. I paid 30€ for this camera so it won't worth repairing professionally. It will be a shelf qeen from now on...
biomed
Veteran
Three major mishaps. First was a motorcycle wreck where my Minolta SRT101 was caught between the motorcycle and the asphalt as the bike slid down the road. The front of the Rokkor 50mm lens was ground away down the focus ring. Second was dropping my F2 onto concrete. I shoved the shutter speed dial about 1/8 of an inch into the top plate. Third was a Mamiya C330 sitting on a shelf in our bedroom. A car jumped the curb and sidewalk hitting the house. The impact threw the C330 across the room where it imbedded itself into the wall. The lensboard was bent as were the bellows rails. The top of the body was twisted out of shape, the focus screen broken and mirror shattered. The Minolta body was OK and worked fine for several years until I traded it for some other gear. The C330 was totaled. I had full replacement homeowner's insurance. I opted to get a Nikon FE2 with the MD-12 motordrive. That camera is still working well. The F2 needed a bit of work and is still functioning perfectly today.
Mike
Mike
dogbunny
Registered Boozer
2013 was a bad camera year for me. My Hexar RF was mounted on a tripod on the desk. I was taking long exposures out my apartment window. I left the room. A few minutes later I hear a crash. I come back into the room to find my cat standing on the desk and my camera on the floor. Everything out of alignment and you can't take more than 2 pictures without the film auto-rewinding.
A week later I was at a market in Kazakhstan with my Ricoh GRIV in my jacket pocket. An old woman was carrying a bunch of packages up the stairs. I stepped aside to let her pass. The camera swung around in my jacket, banged against the banister, fell out of my pocket and crashed down to the landing below. It still worked but would back focus pretty bad.
I was down to my trusty Spotmatic, which decided it was time to die of old age a couple of weeks later.
Needless to say, I'm at a crossroads. Haha.
db
A week later I was at a market in Kazakhstan with my Ricoh GRIV in my jacket pocket. An old woman was carrying a bunch of packages up the stairs. I stepped aside to let her pass. The camera swung around in my jacket, banged against the banister, fell out of my pocket and crashed down to the landing below. It still worked but would back focus pretty bad.
I was down to my trusty Spotmatic, which decided it was time to die of old age a couple of weeks later.
Needless to say, I'm at a crossroads. Haha.
db
Last edited:
noisycheese
Normal(ish) Human
Vickko
Veteran
I destroyed a Zunow 5cm f1.1 LTM lens. I tried to disassemble it to clean off some internal hazing.
Should have left it alone, as the hazing had no perceptible effect on image-making.
And I even "did my homework", consulting with experts who had actual experience on this lens.
Hard to peg true value. Ebay sales attempts are simply stupid. Westlicht records are sparse, it is such a rare item.
Sold it as parts and recovered my expenditure, but, still hurts.
Should have left it alone, as the hazing had no perceptible effect on image-making.
And I even "did my homework", consulting with experts who had actual experience on this lens.
Hard to peg true value. Ebay sales attempts are simply stupid. Westlicht records are sparse, it is such a rare item.
Sold it as parts and recovered my expenditure, but, still hurts.
kubilai
Established
Last year, realized one day that there was nothing inside the 1.25x magnifier on my M7 : its optical part was gone (bought new 7 years before).
2WK
Rangefinder User
daveleo
what?
You remind me . . . this is not a joke, it's true.
Maybe 10-12 years back, all the cars ahead of me on the highway started swerving, skidding, bailing out onto the shoulder.
Long story short - a guy left his baby boy on the roof of his car. Luckily the kid was strapped into a car seat - the guy had packed his daughter, bags and coffee in the car, just forgot about the boy !!
Turned out just fine, scrapes and bruises but nothing broken.
kossi008
Photon Counter
Dropped too many lenses to count them...
But the most expensive was my ZM 28/2.8 two years ago.
Rode my bike through a construction site with my bag strapped to it.
Does my Nex fall into the sand? No, it waits until there's concrete under the bike again. Does it break the fall of the Biogon? No, of course it's the other way around.
The people from Zeiss Oberkochen were really nice though, they let me have a demo lens for half the new price... so maybe it wasn't my most expensive accident after all...
But the most expensive was my ZM 28/2.8 two years ago.
Rode my bike through a construction site with my bag strapped to it.
Does my Nex fall into the sand? No, it waits until there's concrete under the bike again. Does it break the fall of the Biogon? No, of course it's the other way around.
The people from Zeiss Oberkochen were really nice though, they let me have a demo lens for half the new price... so maybe it wasn't my most expensive accident after all...
Vickko
Veteran
Nope. Far more stupid.
I tried to open the lens up to clean out haze between the lenses at the iris.
Even had special ring wrenches made to fit what I thought were the correct surfaces to untwist.
Ended up distorting the lens barrels and even damaging the anti-rotation tab for the focus mount. But, never got the lens apart at all.
At the post mortem, one tech that has done many of these said that the thread likely locked together due to age or corrosion and something that could have been tried would have been to drip/soak solvent down the barrel, where the threaded section for the front lens head was, and see if that would have allowed the lens head to be untwisted.
That tech also said that 30% of the time, on Zunow's that he's done, he has destroyed them beyond repair, trying to disassemble them.
Makes me think about some antiques, that they are just impossible to repair.
I tried to open the lens up to clean out haze between the lenses at the iris.
Even had special ring wrenches made to fit what I thought were the correct surfaces to untwist.
Ended up distorting the lens barrels and even damaging the anti-rotation tab for the focus mount. But, never got the lens apart at all.
At the post mortem, one tech that has done many of these said that the thread likely locked together due to age or corrosion and something that could have been tried would have been to drip/soak solvent down the barrel, where the threaded section for the front lens head was, and see if that would have allowed the lens head to be untwisted.
That tech also said that 30% of the time, on Zunow's that he's done, he has destroyed them beyond repair, trying to disassemble them.
Makes me think about some antiques, that they are just impossible to repair.
thejameskendall
Established
New-to-me M6 that I slightly over paid on, strap lug fell off, crashed to the floor. Crack in viewfinder, crack in the ring around it that scratched my glasses, hole where the strap lug was. No money to mean it.
Great buy, thanks eBay. It's still broken a year later.
Great buy, thanks eBay. It's still broken a year later.
grandallj
Grainy
Repair expense is still TBD (waiting to hear back from Sherry K), but my winner to date will be the M2 I bought out of the classifieds a couple weeks ago and promptly jammed the shutter by dislodging the felt light trap.
Vince Lupo
Whatever
Was probably a Dynalite DR1000 power pack (about $1100 retail), about 10 years ago. Had it blow on me due to static electricity walking in my stocking feet on the thick carpeted floor of a model apartment and then touching the pack (no joke), and had to send it to Dynalite to get repaired. Unfortunately it was cheaper for me to buy another pack than to rent it for the time that Dynalite was going to have the pack for repair, so I bought another pack. Now I have two, and it's proven to be very useful.
Also dropped a Nikon wide angle zoom lens in the Chesapeake Bay while changing lenses on my (then) Nikon D70s. Unfortunately lenses don't float.
Also dropped a Nikon wide angle zoom lens in the Chesapeake Bay while changing lenses on my (then) Nikon D70s. Unfortunately lenses don't float.
cosmonaut
Well-known
Austerby
Well-known
A couple of my own expensive mistakes and one of a friends:
1. Dropping a 75mm Summicron onto the pavement. Repaired fully under Passport
2. My MP sliding off my shoulder and landing on the pavement - a different pavement this time. Misaligned rangefinder and a slight indent...
3. We were on a sailing holiday, having chartered a catamaran to sail around the Sporades. Moored in a nice bay off Alonissos, one of my friends on board was toying with his Canon G9 when it slipped out of his hands, onto the deck, then neatly bounced three times down the steps at the back of the boat and plopped into the water. We just watched it happen in a sort of slow motion and then all burst out laughing, including him. He did dive down to retrieve it as we were only in about 3m depth, but the camera was dead.
1. Dropping a 75mm Summicron onto the pavement. Repaired fully under Passport
2. My MP sliding off my shoulder and landing on the pavement - a different pavement this time. Misaligned rangefinder and a slight indent...
3. We were on a sailing holiday, having chartered a catamaran to sail around the Sporades. Moored in a nice bay off Alonissos, one of my friends on board was toying with his Canon G9 when it slipped out of his hands, onto the deck, then neatly bounced three times down the steps at the back of the boat and plopped into the water. We just watched it happen in a sort of slow motion and then all burst out laughing, including him. He did dive down to retrieve it as we were only in about 3m depth, but the camera was dead.
KenR
Well-known
X100s
X100s
I recently backed over my X100s. My wife and I were loading the car, I put my messenger bag down and told her to put in in the car while I got the dog loaded. She "never heard" me. I backed over the bag. Laptop and camera are toast - the the Courierware bag came through just fine. I am still waiting for the insurance settlement. Yes they do cover you for your own stupidity.
X100s
I recently backed over my X100s. My wife and I were loading the car, I put my messenger bag down and told her to put in in the car while I got the dog loaded. She "never heard" me. I backed over the bag. Laptop and camera are toast - the the Courierware bag came through just fine. I am still waiting for the insurance settlement. Yes they do cover you for your own stupidity.
rhl-oregon
Cameras Guitars Wonders
My lesson is: Do not sneeze.
Or if you must sneeze, make sure you are not in a giant sandbox with all sizes of silica grit, including the finest particles that love to work their way into optical instruments.
Also, when you find yourself in a giant sandbox, and on the verge of a sneeze that might make you wet your trousers, make sure your Ricoh GRD4 is attached to your wrist by its wrist strap, which the manufacturer so thoughtfully included along with instructions for attaching it, rather than trusting the camera to remain "securely" in your hand.
Finally, make sure the GRD4 is turned off BEFORE you sneeze, so the lens recedes behind its trapdoor.
Not being thoroughly prepared for this tragicomic sequence got me a $300+ GRD rebuild by CrisCam.
Or if you must sneeze, make sure you are not in a giant sandbox with all sizes of silica grit, including the finest particles that love to work their way into optical instruments.
Also, when you find yourself in a giant sandbox, and on the verge of a sneeze that might make you wet your trousers, make sure your Ricoh GRD4 is attached to your wrist by its wrist strap, which the manufacturer so thoughtfully included along with instructions for attaching it, rather than trusting the camera to remain "securely" in your hand.
Finally, make sure the GRD4 is turned off BEFORE you sneeze, so the lens recedes behind its trapdoor.
Not being thoroughly prepared for this tragicomic sequence got me a $300+ GRD rebuild by CrisCam.
Brian Atherton
Well-known
Photographic? - Weston 5 exposure meter. It dropped out of my bag onto a carpeted floor. Turning around to look for it, I stepped on it. 😡
Non-photographic? - A wrist watch I was given for Christmas when I was fourteen. Two days after Christmas day, wondering how the day-of-the-month date worked, I prised off the back to see. The innards fell out and dropped onto a hard floor, exploding everywhere. 😱
Non-photographic? - A wrist watch I was given for Christmas when I was fourteen. Two days after Christmas day, wondering how the day-of-the-month date worked, I prised off the back to see. The innards fell out and dropped onto a hard floor, exploding everywhere. 😱
lxmike
M2 fan.
In the 36 years I have been carrying photographic gear I have been lucky, apart from a leaking battery compartment on a Pentax MX
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