The clumsy part of me managed to drop the 7D. What should I check for?

[DominoDude]

I was out on a trip yesterday, and was standing in/at a waterfall and decided my 400/5.6L was not the proper lens to have on. Found a solid stone and made the camera balance on the lens hood, backed it up with my backpack and my leg. It didn't take more than a few seconds before the camera decided it wanted to try close-ups of some of the stones and the water - all on its own...

Lets just say that I didn't let it lay there for all that many seconds. I'm slow, but my reactions were triggered by the bouncing sound against the rock and I, probably, had my fingers on the body as soon as my expensive package stopped skidding in the mud.

Apart from brushing off all visible and easily removable sand/mud and water drops from the body and lens, what should I look out for now?

I did shoot a few frames with another lens soon afterwards, and the body seemed ok (I haven't taken the card out of the camera yet or tried downloading anything). When I got home I figured the best thing to do was to just have everything dry up, so that I can clean it properly and inspect it in a day or so.

What I have noticed is that there are scratches on the body and some colour is missing in those scratches, some finer sand particles are in between the metal and plastic on the hotshoe and near the flash. The 400/5.6L have a clearly visible dent almost as wide as a finger and it's a millimeter or two deep. The lens hood can be slid over it, and it locks (almost) as before, some wiggling and odd sound can be heard while doing so. It feels like I can do a full twist of the focus ring, and no extra noises could be heard, nor did I feel that it was stiffer to move than usual. I haven't had the nerve to try and rattle the lens - far too afraid it will make noises that equals repairs that I can't afford.

 

[Loswr]

Re: The clumsy part of me, managed to drop the 7D. What should I check for?

Assuming everything else is working (and I hope so!), you'll want to re-AMFA all your lenses. I dropped my 5DII from waist level to pavement on one occasion, it was cosmetically and mechanically fine, but all the AMFA values for all my lenses shifted by ~10 units.

 

[Valvebounce]

Re: The clumsy part of me, managed to drop the 7D. What should I check for?

Hi DominoDude.
First sorry to hear your news, as well as what Neuro said, I would suggest this quick test from Roger (Lens Rentals)
http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/05/testing-for-a-decentered-lens-an-old-technique-gets-a-makeover
to see if your lens has internal harm that doesn't rattle! It will assess whether the lens is centred and can be done yourself, I think the target has to be bought but don't remember, I don't think there are any other costs.
I might also try a soft brush and vacuum cleaner to clean the outside, brush to move crud vacuum to catch it so you don't just move it around?
Hope your gear is ok.

Cheers Graham.

Edit to add link! Doh!

I was out on a trip yesterday, and was standing in/at a waterfall and decided my 400/5.6L was not the proper lens to have on. Found a solid stone and made the camera balance on the lens hood, backed it up with my backpack and my leg. It didn't take more than a few seconds before the camera decided it wanted to try close-ups of some of the stones and the water - all on its own...

Lets just say that I didn't let it lay there for all that many seconds. I'm slow, but my reactions were triggered by the bouncing sound against the rock and I, probably, had my fingers on the body as soon as my expensive package stopped skidding in the mud.

Apart from brushing off all visible and easily removable sand/mud and water drops from the body and lens, what should I look out for now?

I did shoot a few frames with another lens soon afterwards, and the body seemed ok (I haven't taken the card out of the camera yet or tried downloading anything). When I got home I figured the best thing to do was to just have everything dry up, so that I can clean it properly and inspect it in a day or so.

What I have noticed is that there are scratches on the body and some colour is missing in those scratches, some finer sand particles are in between the metal and plastic on the hotshoe and near the flash. The 400/5.6L have a clearly visible dent almost as wide as a finger and it's a millimeter or two deep. The lens hood can be slid over it, and it locks (almost) as before, some wiggling and odd sound can be heard while doing so. It feels like I can do a full twist of the focus ring, and no extra noises could be heard, nor did I feel that it was stiffer to move than usual. I haven't had the nerve to try and rattle the lens - far too afraid it will make noises that equals repairs that I can't afford.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Re: The clumsy part of me, managed to drop the 7D. What should I check for?

Personally, I'd send it to Canon for repair and cleaning. There will be sand that works its way into moving parts internally. Cleaning them before its used will prevent a expensive failure. If you have insurance, you should be covered. I repair lenses as a hobby, and it does not take a big shock to cause internal damage that will progress, or just degrade the images. The mount on the rear of the lens is made to incredibally tight tolerances, and a bend that you cannot see will affect images. The tolerances can be on the order of 1/10,000 inch.

Lenses elements do shift, and with a dent that size, its likely that decentering will happen, as well as a loss of sharpness. Its much less expensive to fix it while its minor than to use it and have a big bill or total loss. Canon will replace the dented part, and the rubber grips on the body, if required. These are not expensive.

 

[TLN]

Re: The clumsy part of me, managed to drop the 7D. What should I check for?

I would not do AFMA againg unless you see some lenses works bad for you.
Just take all of your stuff out and test it. All lenes, all FL, close focus and infinity. It might be that nothing is hurt.

 

[Valvebounce]

Re: The clumsy part of me, managed to drop the 7D. What should I check for?

Hi TLN.
Is the gist of what you are saying go out and check your AFMA before you adjust it? Isn't that the equivalent of doing the job twice? If you do AFMA again you will confirm that your settings either have or have not changed under more controlled settings than go out and shoot then look for problems.

Cheers Graham.

I would not do AFMA againg unless you see some lenses works bad for you.
Just take all of your stuff out and test it. All lenes, all FL, close focus and infinity. It might be that nothing is hurt.

 

[DominoDude]

Thanks to all of you for support and useful ideas!

My insurance didn't cover it, so I'll have to wait to get things serviced/repaired until I get a job someday. I haven't had the possibility to set things up on a tripod and do test shots. When I was out trying some test shots with other lens combinations I got the feeling that there was something not entirely correct about the focusing and the overall sharpness I got out of it. Could be a mind trick, could be that things has been nudged out of original placing internally in the body.

Might be that I have to pull out the old 50D and shoot with that and the other lenses until I can afford to get everything checked and fixed. Oh, if I only were a millionaire...

 

[AcutancePhotography]

One thing you should check for is checking out getting a good strap for your camera!

Very sorry to hear about your accident. That must stynk.

Hope everything works out, but for next time, strap that puppy!

 

[DominoDude]

One thing you should check for is checking out getting a good strap for your camera!

Very sorry to hear about your accident. That must stynk.

Hope everything works out, but for next time, strap that puppy!

Thanks! Yeah, I have a strap attached (Canons original). The problem was that I balanced the camera on the lens hood on a rock - done that before without problems - and was stretching down into my backpack to take out another lens to use. The rock was solid enough and didn't wobble, but the surface was anything but even and the camera/lens combo balanced nicely for a few seconds. I was stupid enough to think that having the backpack tucked near my camera on one side and my legs on the other would be enough to catch any movement before it got ugly... I was utterly wrong.

 

[AcutancePhotography]

I was utterly wrong.

If I had a dollar for every lapse of judgement in my life, I could afford to pay for the results of my lapses of judgement. ;D

 

[mackguyver]

It happens to all of us eventually and given some of the carnage I've seen & read about on the web, consider yourself lucky. The 7D is a tough camera, so that helps a lot, too, and I agree with the idea of sending it to Canon for a clean & check if you're nervous. I have dropped two bodies - a 450D on rocks and a 60D on concrete, both from about 4-5 feet on a tripod that I knocked or was blown over. In both cases, the lens (400 f/5.6) took the brunt of the damage (and a $400 lens hood replacement) but the bodies survived just slightly worse for the wear. I used each camera for another year or so with no problems.

 

[pdirestajr]

These tools are built tough for this reason. If things are still working fine then you are good to go!

 

[Harry Muff]

I'd check you haven't damaged the floor.