Camera FAILS: Or Tell Us How You Trashed Your Camera.

[enduro]

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?

[Ezookiel]

Oww. Mega Bummer!
I hate using a tripod, I'm always really nervous about it toppling over, but I also know I have to use it. A real love/hate relationship. A loss like that would be devastating. Especially the card. Cameras can be replaced, but not so easily lost photos.

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My fail was lending out my Fuji S5000 to a mate, who lent it to his daughter, and some six months later when I finally got it back, got told "we never used it" but strangely it now didn't work anymore, blank white screen and all photos just a blank grey.
It had one up side though - it made me have to go buy a proper DSLR camera.

[Sifor]

I think I'd jump off the cliff if that happened to my D800, especially since it's only insured for $2k... (180% increase in contents premium ain't forgiving).

I'm always hesitant using a tripod, even using a heavy Manfrotto 055XB to take star shots on my deck makes me shake when the wind blows..

[Mary Anne]

I am so sorry to read this, that's a terrible thing to happen to you.
The loss of the camera and tripod is bad enough, though to loose the Memory Card with all your work on it is even worse.
Hopefully what is getting replaced will be replaced very soon and you get it in time for that shoot that is coming up.

[gbamber]

OH! Cruel!

My (our) fail. A big family holiday; Aus - UK - Chicago - Orlando - Phoenix - LA, back to Aus. Number one son (13 years old) had been looking after the (video) camera every day, doing a terrific job, on the rides at Disney, off the rides. In and out of NBA Basketball games at every city, the works. On the last day we went down to Macca's for bfast & (I hesitate to say he) the camera was left behind! Camera was covered by travel insurance, but the footage of the previous nights LA Lakers game was lost to the thieves.

The rest of the day in Anaheim Police dept, obviously not an important crime to them! He was devastated, I tried to tell him, no biggie, all covered etc, but that 13 YO was not going to be consoled. All in all a great holiday, but the last day was a lesson to all of us in security.

[Bennymiata]

I really feel for you Enduro.
Such a loss. :(

[Brigitte]

As I read your story I could feel your pain, anger and frustration. I hope you can make it back to that area to get some more photos. Thank goodness you did not go over the edge!!!

[mechawombat]

I had my week old D7000 fall from my hands as I was putting on a BR strap

some dents and had to reseat my cards but not as bad as the OP

[Warus]

I had my old 450D with the heavy Tokina 11-16 on the front on a tripod at the top of a local waterfall. Why on Earth do they feel solidly set when you are paying attention but as soon as you turn they decide to fall? I ended up with a dent on the lens surround and the lens cap which was on at the time slowly floated along and over the ledge to fall about 30 metres onto rocks below. I wasn't going after it. I still use the Tokina as it's luckily just cosmetic damage and the filter holder is a bit painful to screw filters onto.

Also watched the old 18-55 lens roll slowly across the backseat after dropping out of an open zipper and falling out the open door. It landed front element down on gravel but amazingly didn't have a scratch, just a bit of dust. It shows lens are reasonable tough.

[kiwi]

tripped and dropped a d2h and 80-200, bent like a banana at mount, mount stuffed, lens in 20 pieces and written off

insured :)

[ameerat42]

(I had to wait a while after I read about your episode, Enduro...)

I lent my good camera to my sister...


once, a long time ago...



Ohw, OK: who travelled extensively with it riding in the glovebox of the car over a good few months.

I could not repair the collapsed shutter mechanism. It was a grand old Fujica 35mm rangefinder.
Am.

[MissionMan]

Made the mistake of dropping my point and shoot into the black volcanic beach sand in New Zealand. Needless to say the camera was useless after that. The sand is magnetic and seem to get sucked into every gap meaning the front zoom wouldn't extend. Fortunately it wasn't expensive so I just chucked it in the end.

[ktoopi]

My experince wasn't a trashing but a near miss! It was my old 450D which was left on a plane flying between Maroochydore and Sydney several years ago. The camera was not insured at the time and I was pretty much told by airport staff that pigs woould fly if I ever saw it again but after 3 days of ringing twice a day and asking if it had turned up yet, my camera magically appeared! Needless to say I dropped everything and drove straight to the airport in complete disbelief and relief at the same time! A lesson in insurance I think as the first thing I did when I got it back was insure it and all cameras are now immediately insured!:)

[ashey]

Not good news Wayne, I lost my 5Dmk11 and 17/40mm lens down at Mandurah a few months back, fell down a hole in some reef. Was insured and back snapping in two weeks, $50 dollar excess which is pretty good I think. Hope you get it sorted quickly.

[Dylan & Marianne]

boy oh boy that sounds painful to watch that go down the gurgler ;(
In a situation where I'm cliffside, I tend to make sure that the camera strap is latched on to something other than my tripod often wound around one arm - not sure how safe that is though - I'm presuming a tip over the edge won't also pull me over!!

I've had a couple of camera and personal fails too
First trip to Iceland after getting the 5dmk2, 4 days into our trip after photographing beautiful waterfalls with plenty of spray around, the 5dmk2 died from moisture penetration and threatened to do so again on a few future trips despite what we thought was appropriate shielding from the conditions.

On a trip to china, we were in Yunnan and setting up a shoot when our guide (who was non photographically oriented) insisted there was a better spot to photograph - he took us there, it was absolute bollocks , in our rush, marianne dropped the 24-70 glass first onto the hard ground .......

Not to mention the numerous filters I've dropped at seaside /riverside because of my fixation with hand holding!

[Wazza999]

Hurrying to get out of the car in the pouring rain in Ireland - my Pentax K10D was in a snoot bag, I was sure I had my hand through the strap but alas it was not so. It bounced on the bitumen and killed the attached (luckily kit) zoom and took a chip out of the body covering. The memory card wouldn't work until it had been read on a computer (??) but the camera was otherwise none the worse for wear and I had an excuse to upgrade from the kit lens. Several notes to self arose from this episode. We did have a talk at our camera club from a landscape photographer whose plate camera was blown off the rocks by a gust of wind, now that's worth crying about!

[flyonthewall]

Some painful sounding stories here. Haven't had a major accident but did have a close call one morning. I was trying to get some sunrise shots at the local jetty, one of the legs on the tripod collapsed and fell towards the railing. It landed on top of the railing, luckily I managed to grab the tripod, the camera itself was hanging over the railing though and I had nasty visions if it just falling in the water. No real damage came from it though and I've definitely learnt to double check the tripod.

[bricat]

When our Canon G2 was new let the better half have a shoot as I wanted her to embrace photography a bit. Dropped said camera when lens was on full zoom and broke. Cost nearly as much as new camera to replace lens etc. It still takes some great shots today providing you don't want to blow them up too big.
As an aside if you go to a fishing shop you can buy wire trace and crimp a loop on each end then hook them around a belt of similiar to yourself/tripod and camera. Can make the length as long/short as you are comfortable with.
I feel your pain at the loss. It's not the money so much is it? cheers Brian

[Shelley]

Jeez Wayne, that is terrible I feel your pain. My tripod went over with my 5dii on it into water for just a split second, too late. $350 later hopefully it will be a backup camera to my 5d3.

[rafikicat]

I knew there was a good reason why I loathe using a tripod. :)

[Xebadir]

Ooh I've got a few.
First DSLR was a D40 I was given for a birthday - I treasured it after coming from film. Went to Tassie on a holiday after finishing my undergraduate study, first day after I got there, heading into King Solomons Caves, the camera was (I thought) well secured in a lowpro carry case (which was zipped up), as I am walking towards the holding point I hear a crack and feel something hitting me against the legs...I look round and there was my D40 and a 55-200 - the lens shattered and broken from the mount (not before leaving its mounting ring) debris everywhere...Needless to say the lens was a writeoff, but the camera was repaired and still works to this day (and I got a 70-300VR instead via insurance). Lesson learnt: Never trust zips on the lower side of a bag, always bring them to the top - the camera had worked the zip open and eventually pushed through.

Second experience was my D700 with 24-70 falling off my tripod due to a screw that had loosened in the head, complete loss on the 24-70 as it landed on the lens barrel, but the camera was fine, insurance again to the rescue - made me very wary of tripods and encouraged me to change over my tripod head for something rock solid. Not a mistake Ill be making again.

Oh and a fun few with Sony videos: Was chasing storms with my buddy one night in Oklahoma, we both have Sony CX150 HD Videos, and use them regularly. Anyway, his classic was leaving the camera on the roof of the car, and then driving off at full speed - the camera went flying - drove back, picked it up, no worse for wear! Thought...jeez these things are tough. Later that night we were videoing hail falling under a service station roof, (8cm stones), I put mine in the alcove between the bonnet and the windscreen - sure enough a big gust of wind came through and blew it out. End result was mine ended up still working fine and being functional, besides the lens cap no longer closing. Toughest little cameras I have ever seen!

Edit: And despite the situations I use them in I have yet to have had a water incident with my camera, but have had hailstones bouncing off.

[JoPho]

Poor OP, what a photo that would have made as it plummetted over the edge, as would a close up of your expression.
I suppose the worst part would be losing the days worth of images. Good to hear insurance is softening the pain of the possible financial agony.

I have a story or two to share, hope it's ok.
Travelling to WA on the train with my two little girls, my husband who had just scored a job had to fly over before hand. I was 8 months pregnant and we were a family struggling financially. I had a Canon that I bought second hand and had taken photos of the girls and my pregnancy during our last month east. While I was asleep on the floor with the two girls on either side of me who were also asleep but on the seats, someone stole my camera and bag from beside me. It took a long time to be able to afford another camera and they took with it those final treasured shots. I still feel very sad because of those memories they stole that were in that camera and that I could have had for the birth of our last child.

When I finally got another DSLR we went outback. I was out running in the bush, following roo tracks, trying hard to get to the salt flats before sunrise. I had my camera,unprotected, in my hands. Those massive spiders were everywhere and I was focusing on not destroying their webs.
Well I tripped on ? and felt myself start to fall. Instead of protecting myself I wrapped my camera in my arms and tumbled head first into a tree. It hurt with sickening intensity but the camera was ok so I staggered up and kept running. The last words of my husband and son-in-law were "you can't go out there alone, what happens if you break an ankle?"
"Ha, they will never know how close I came to being hurt", I thought.

Well when they came to pick me up the first thing they asked was "What happened?"
"Nothing!" was my response.
But when I checked myself over, I had put quite a gash in my head and my face was covered in blood. Fortunately it looked worse than it was and only took a week or two to heal. Truth is, if I could do it again, I'd still take the gash and protect my camera.

[dodgyexposure]

I can't top that story.

I was sitting on a low bench with my 600D beside me, ready to shoot, so no lens cap on. I got up, something caught the strap and, in a piece of perfect synchronisation, the camera met my foot as it swung forward, propelling the camera and lens 6 feet across the gravel.

Cosmetic damage only, luckily.

[MissionMan]

Had a fail over the weekend. Left my D700 with 24-70 on the dining room table. Was busy getting dinner for our toddler who promptly climbed onto the chair next to the table (while my back was turned) and pulled it off the table. Nice crack in the front ring that the filter screws into. Fortunately the lens and camera are fine (extremely relieved), check the autofocus and everything is great but a little crack is obviously annoying. will probably take it to Nikon at some point, get the camera checked over and get it fixed but for now I've just put a fine piece of tape over it.

Never turn your back on a toddler, even for a second.

[Duane Pipe]

Had a fail over the weekend. Left my D700 with 24-70 on the dining room table. Was busy getting dinner for our toddler who promptly climbed onto the chair next to the table (while my back was turned) and pulled it off the table. Nice crack in the front ring that the filter screws into. Fortunately the lens and camera are fine (extremely relieved), check the autofocus and everything is great but a little crack is obviously annoying. will probably take it to Nikon at some point, get the camera checked over and get it fixed but for now I've just put a fine piece of tape over it.

Never turn your back on a toddler, even for a second.

Bummer:( I am always aware of my camera strap hanging over bench tops and so forth and hopefully I never forget MM;)

[MissionMan]

Bummer:( I am always aware of my camera strap hanging over bench tops and so forth and hopefully I never forget MM;)

No strap attached, she grabbed the actual camera.

[znelbok]

While cruising back from Hawaii, I was packing up all the gear from a day out. I had the camera bag on the top bunk while the kids were on the bottom beds watching TV. Put it up there to get it out of their way (or them out of its way).

They asked me to do something so I got distracted briefly and while my back was turned my son climbed up onto the top bunk (which was his bed for the cruise) and moved the bag. The zip was not done up ['cause I was in and out of the bag packing] and he inadvertantly tipped the camera out.

Well it bounced off the bunk on the other side of the room and then hit the floor and broke the bayonet fitting of the lens. Luckily I had brough about four P&S cameras along as well so we could still take photos for the rest of the trip.

Fortunately I had travel insurance and after Nikon has looked at it, the repair cost is almost the price of a new D7000 body.

So as of yesterday [insurance company rang to tell me they have approved the claim], I am on the hunt for a D7000 body. The lens only requires a bayonet fitting which is cheap and easy to replace. At least some good comes from the bad.

Its not the first incident with this camera. My wife gave it back to me one day (in its bag) and when I pulled it out the filter was smashed???? Of course no one knoew what had happened.

I wont be letting anyone use my new D600 at all (mine mine mine). Suffice it to say, its insured for theft and accidental damage both inside and outside the home.

Mick

[Xenedis]

On 16/05/2010 my photography mate Peter and I headed down to Kiama for some dawn seascape photography.

Beyond the famous Kiama blow hole is a basalt rock headland extending a fair way out and affording some spectacular views from a reasonably high distance from the water.

The conditions that morning were somewhat deceptive.

That weekend, the swell had been quite large, and it had been reported on the news the previous day that teen solo sailor Jessica Watson had returned to Sydney in big seas. Her little boat was being thrown around even in calmer waters.

On the morning of our shoot, the tide was nearly in. The swell was a good three metres by my very rough estimate.

I photographed this image from the headland past the blow hole:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4615115408_81a4f517bf_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/xenedis/4615115408/)


It was mere moments after the capture of this image that a very large wave pounded the side of the cliff below and sent a positively huge surge of water up and completely over me.

At the time of impact I was changing a filter, and the ocean was in my sights. All of a sudden, I saw what was coming, and within seconds I recall a wall of water descending upon me from a great height, almost as if I had stood under a waterfall. The force of the water was so strong that it nearly knocked me over.

The filter went flying, and both me and my camera rig got completely drenched. There wasn't a dry inch on me, and I was stunned by what had just happened.

I was completely caught out by the ocean, and it was an exercise that essentially cost me $4,000 in destroyed equipment, and could have cost me a whole lot more than money.

I earlier said that the conditions were deceptive. We had been shooting on that cliff for a while, and had seen the ocean and the sets of waves rolling in. In my image, a look at the rocks on which I was standing shows that there had been no recent contact with water. We were reasonably high up from the water (10-15 metres by my estimate), so the conditions, despite the large swell and near-full tide, seemed safe. I spend a lot of time by the ocean, and I certainly didn't feel I was taking a risk being where I was at that moment.

I sure got it terribly wrong!

I think I was hit by what people call a 'rogue wave'. The ocean's waves have typical cycles, with a larger set of waves coming in every so often. Every 30-40 minutes or so, there can be a much larger wave. Possibly a combination of a reasonably large wave and a faster-moving large wave converged and produced the 'rogue' wave which hit me. My recollection was that I was not directly hit by the wave; rather that the cliff face sustained the impact and what hit me was the splash. Certainly it had a lot of force, as it nearly threw me off balance.

Such is the power of the ocean, and every now and then it decides to show us humans how small we really are. Peter was quite lucky, as he was also on the cliff, but was around 10-15 metres back from where I was standing. He was going to head over to where I was; what great fortune that he didn't!

After the incident, I decided to get the hell out of there. The gravity of the situation didn't really dawn on me (pardon the pun) at first, and my concern was for my gear rather than the fact that I could have been swept off the cliff and down into the tumultuous conditions below, where being pounded against sharp rocks by a large swell was a very real possibility.

Within a short period of time, I knew my camera was written off, and my iPhone, which was on my belt and obscured by the jumper I was wearing, was also written off. Miraculously my lens survived, and I also found my neutral-density filter which had gone flying out of my hands when I was struck. It was on the rocks in the receding water a short distance away.

I was cold, wet, tired, shocked, and had a 90-minute drive home knowing that I would be up for around $4,000 to replace my dead camera and phone.

To give you an idea of the conditions that existed that day, here is another image taken earlier, looking out past the location at which I was standing when I was hit.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4618162254_29f43e2c45_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/xenedis/4618162254/)


To give a sense of scale and location, the place where I was located when I was hit was just behind the part of the cliff on the left side of the frame, much closer to the splashing water than the edge of the image.

By my estimate, the height of the rocks on the left from which the which the water cascades, is a good four metres.

That small, vertical protrusion from the distance cliff, silhouetted against the clouds, is a beacon, about the height of a human, if not taller. It's been years since I've been out there, so I'm only going by memory. Suffice it to say, the splashes from the ocean were large!

It was quite a dramatic morning that could have been a whole lot worse.

Fatalities:


Canon EOS 5D
Apple iPhone 3GS 32GB


Survivors:


Me
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
Lee filters and filter holder
Flash card with images to tell the story



I came out on top after all, but it forced some thinking, and I was inspired to write an article on tips for safe seascape photography (http://xenedis.wordpress.com/2010/06/20/tips-for-safe-seascape-photography/).

Hopefully my experience will also be beneficial to the people who read about it, and will remind them that the ocean is very big, and we humans are very small.

[MI5]

On our honeymoon, I had a nikonos (underwater nikon) and canon t90 with me. By end of trip, just the nikonos left. Our tour guide took us to a very nice coral cove. I jumped into the water and wife stayed on the boat. My better half passed me the Canon. You can guess what happened to it.

[Mark L]

^ what happened to the wife? :D

[MI5]

Thnaks Xenedis for sharing that experience. I sometime get myself into places probably are unsafe i.e very possible rogue waves. Your post has made me more mindful of that. Thanks again.

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^ what happened to the wife? :D


I did get:angry0:. I shouldn't have, it's only a camera. Great reason for upgrade though!!