I recently purchased a new 5DMKIII and 24-105mm and took it out on it's first shoot, a 15 day expedition into the most remote National Park in Australia.

After 10 days of shooting some spectacular landscapes, flora and fauna I was shooting a waterfall in the late afternoon. The light was just sensational with streaky clouds reflecting hues of every shade of red and a rainbow emitting from the 30m cascading falls.

Having spent some time setting up the camera on my new Slik tripod while perched on an extremely polished rock at the rim of a 30m overhang. I leveled the camera (visually and with the internal leveling tool), wiggled it about to test stability on the tripod and feeling it was OK, turned 90' briefly to pick up my filter when I heard a "crack". I turned quickly back and saw the tips two of the trailing tripod legs flick over the edge. Peering over the ledge I was perched on, I watched in disbelief and horror as the camera, lens, 32GB CF card, and tripod became smaller and smaller as they approached the deep plunge pool below and eventually penetrated the waters surface. Needless to say the combination does not float and I imagine sank all the way to the bottom which must have been at least 6m deep.

A rescue attempt to retrieve the setup would have not only been dangerous from the point of view of the difficulty in reaching the location of the submerged camera - the water also potentially contained Salt Water Crocodiles.

Fortunately, I did insure the camera the day I left for the expedition but do have an expensive excess, CF card and tripod to replace. I also have shoot coming up that I was really hoping to use the camera for. Hopefully the insurer is able to come up with the replacement soon.


How did you FAIL?