Gear Talk > EOS Bodies - For Stills

Survival of the fittest/luckiest

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Damon:
About a year ago, I (almost?) inducted myself into the photography Darwin Awards as I watched as my 20D/24-105 fly off my truck box @ ~50mph onto the road, resting finally on the middle line. It was inside my dry bag as I was headed out to do some kayaking but not padded or anything. The battery and door blew apart and a small chunk of the battery area went south as well. A small bungee later and some glue and it still works to this day. The lens worked for about another 8 months, suffering only a few missing edge plastic near the main objective. Could you share your close calls or not so close regarding mishaps/bonehead moves and the durability of your equipment so I feel better.

Damon

TAF:
It's been a while since I did anything like that to my equipment.  It's nice to see that modern stuff is decently rugged.

My last disaster occurred c1980.  I was on the roof shooting some neighborhood shots, and had just finished when my Lake Placid F-1 (I've been a Canon user a long time...) slipped off my shoulder.  In the old days (ie: the days after leather and before neoprene straps), we used guitar straps, which are rather slippery on the underside (very pretty on the top side...after this incident I added a velcro strip to the strap and to my jacket).  The camera took one bounce and then fell about 10 feet to the ground.

The entire top side of the camera on the film advance lever side was stove in as far as the lever pivot, and the frame counter was smashed.  But the back did not pop open, and there was no light leak.  The photos were fine.

I used the camera like that for at least a month before sending it back to Canon for repair, which came to around $100 at the time (the body new was $500).  I gladly paid it, and still have the camera, which works perfectly to this day (when you can get proper mercury batteries for the light meter even that works perfectly).

So I have high expectation of my 5D3 (although it is in a lot less danger these days since I am not willing or even able to get myself into as dangerous positions as when I was younger, so the camera is safer than it might have been).

I am appreciative of weather sealing...

Ryan708:
my friend dropped his 40d down a set of concrete stairs and broke his 17-40L in half. Canon put it back together for $180 i think he said, and he says the lens has never been so sharp. The body didnt suffer any damage other than cosmetic.

I was taking pictures of a big block chevy on an engine stand for a friend, and I turned the engine stand around and while turning a front castor broke off the stand, and the motor fell toward me so natural instinct was to catch the falling object. My T1i was in my hand with my 17-70 on it. only got some scuffs but i smashed it into a block of cast iron pretty hard haha. Enough that I was making an ugly wincy face when I checked to make sure it was ok

mdm041:
I've destroyed several lens hoods and a few UV filters but they have saved the lens everytime.  Most of my stuff has been running into stuff.  I once tried to spear a cyclist as I was panning to get a picture of a porsche on the road and as I turned a cyclist was riding by me on the sidewalk.  I caught him right in the chest and knocked him to the ground.  The lens hood of my 70-200 was split in half but the lens was fine.  I keep them on even if I'm indoors because I've saved a few trips to CPS because of them.

te4o:
Oh, one never forgets these seconds... It is almost like the birth or death of a child... My son opened carelessly the rear door of the car on a parking slot near Mt Kosciusko and the whole camera bag carelessly packed on top of all tents sleeping bags and virtually sitting under the roof dropped in one go on the road. 40D, 17-55 mounted, 70-200/4, 10-22, batteries and other stuff in a Lowe Pro 200 waist bag gave a sound of 4000 loss. But only the electrics of the 70-200 were broken and the rest was OK. 1000 repair and again, the lens came back sharper than before!

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