Dropping Gear - What have YOU dropped? =(

[Sean Dempsey]

Okay, I've dropped a few things. In the last monght, I dropped:

- Canon 17-40 L from about 4 feet onto a rock covered riverbank. Chipped the edge of the UV filter, and broke off a tiny piece of where the hood twists on. SEEMS to function fine.

- Sigma 105 Macro from about 3 feet onto hard packed dirt area. Again, seems to work fine, fell mostly on the hood and such

But the worst of all:
- Canon 10D... 4 days old, fumbled out of my hands, onto the edge of an open car door, onto the pavement. Again, it SEEMS to be working fine with a minor minor ding in the metal body. I am glad it wasn't the rebel.

Dropping things is never good, but I haven't done any noticable lasting damage. The L lense was about 4 inches away from falling IN to the river, but luckily it didn't. Really the most frightening was watching the 10D body fall while changing lenses... I'll NEVER take it off my neck again..

Anyone else a butterfingers?

[Liz]

You seem to have the knack. BUT also.......the "luck o' the Irish" to go with it.

As for me, just 2 days ago I dropped my G3, but it was in the case - altho the case is sort of "thin." But I think it's fine. I dropped on a carpet - from about 4 feet.

When I first got the Canon 420EX flash I dropped it in a Museum in France - from about 4 feet onto a marble floor. It got a nick - but worked fine.

The older Rebel (2000) and 50mm lens: I was bicycle riding and some kids came right toward me as they were watching something in back of them . Trying to avoid them, I fell onto a cement path and my camera, lens, etc. (in the bag) went skidding down the road. Everything was ok.

Interesting thread. Thanks for posting.

Liz

Okay, I've dropped a few things. In the last monght, I dropped:

- Canon 17-40 L from about 4 feet onto a rock covered riverbank. Chipped the edge of the UV filter, and broke off a tiny piece of where the hood twists on. SEEMS to function fine.

- Sigma 105 Macro from about 3 feet onto hard packed dirt area. Again, seems to work fine, fell mostly on the hood and such

But the worst of all:
- Canon 10D... 4 days old, fumbled out of my hands, onto the edge of an open car door, onto the pavement. Again, it SEEMS to be working fine with a minor minor ding in the metal body. I am glad it wasn't the rebel.

Dropping things is never good, but I haven't done any noticable lasting damage. The L lense was about 4 inches away from falling IN to the river, but luckily it didn't. Really the most frightening was watching the 10D body fall while changing lenses... I'll NEVER take it off my neck again..

Anyone else a butterfingers?

[Lionheart]

One of my business partners borrowed the D30 and 100-400 L lens one weekend, dropped it (actually his daughter did the dropping) onto the driveway. The 100-400 was fine, but the D30 went in for a cracked lens mount.
Personally, I've dropped my old 70-200 f2.8L onto concrete from about 4 ft up, while attached to my old EOS-1V. Just get some minor scratches on the body of the camera and a dented UV filter. Nothing broken. My limited conclusion is that pro gear really can take a beating, unlike the commercial stuff like the D30 with its plastic body, which required repairs.

[Trevor Ash]

To my recollection, I've never dropped a single piece of equipment!

KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!!

[I_Fly]

Ditto here. Haven't dropped anything...yet. I'm sure it will happen eventually. I just hope I'm not using all my luck up so when it does happen it's ugly!

[Mig]

Dude. Do you grease your hands in the morning or something? Heh. Sorry - just teasing. Luckily I've never dropped anything, but I've insured all my stuff just in case.

Danielle

[Irakly Shanidze]

Last Christmas I dropped my camera bag from about four feet on a concrete floor of Detroit International Airport. Domke name did not save my Contax N Digital from getting a crack in a top plate and having the whole top plate assebly misaligned. All lenses were OK, though. The nastiest thing, of course, was that it was the only time when I decided not to take N1 body as a backup. As a result I hade to carry twenty two pounds of very expensive, fragile and absolutely useless glass and a dead body for 10 days all over Bahamas. All I had was my wife's Canon G2.
When I came home, Kyocera quickly and relatively unexpensively ($475) fixed the camera, but I did not notice that the camera came back with a backfocusing problem. For six months I was blaming my eyes for missing focus on photos taken at full aperture with fast lenses before I was fed up enough to put the body on a bench for testing. It was bloody backfocusing 7mm. Another $260.

[paulnj]

hey!! dropped the 100-400 IS..... I HAVEN'T DROPPED THAT VERY LENS yet

but my cousin dropped my f100/80-200f2.8/ sb28 onto the lawn from 2 feet....... landed on the flash...... took the foot RIGHT OFF!....$160

[darkrainfall]

I have dropped my sb-28 flash... well, actually it slipped out of my hands, I tried to catch it and it kind of hit a chair and a wall before landing on the floor... but it was perfectly fine. I also dropped it on the ground once, still fine... it's a nice, tough flash.
I also fell down the stairs outside of my apartment with my d100, but other than a slightly bent hot shoe mount (which I had Kevin fix for me) it was fine... and I did fall to protect my camera, and checked to make sure it was okay first... *smile* and I was mostly fine.

[paulnj]

This winter I was going down a icey hill with my 8 pound 1D/100-400 over my shoulder at a fast walk. When I hit the bottom and BLACK ICE was on the sidewalk......

FEET went to eye level, yet my camera never came within 18 inches of the ground I NEARLY RIPPED MY OWN HEAD OFF KEEPING THE CAMERA FROM HITTING THE GROUND

my ass was KILLING ME THOUGH

[Ultra Magnus]

Oh yeah.. Sacrifice your body!!!

You will heal, cameras don't!

[walterick]

I dropped my "Tank" Sigma 24mm hard on a sidewalk in Las Vegas. Scratched body, no performance impedences.

A few years later I dropped it again on a rock near Bull Run, VA, where it then merrily ran down the river bank and plunged into the creek. I pulled it out, dripping wet, water running from its innards. Cussing and spitting my way back to the car, I placed it in the hot sun hoping I could still manually focus the sucker if its guts didn't rust. Well, not only did it dry right out but everything still works fine. It still autofocuses just the way it did when I bought it

Since then, I've dropped the lens on concrete at least once more.

I hardly even notice anymore

Also, I dropped my 8008s with Promaster flash a few months back and broke off part of the flash's plastic mounting shoe.

So don't worry, you're not alone

[Spike]

it fell... I was shooting on a rocky frozen river bank and didn't take enough care in getting the tripod set up in a sturdy position. The camera and tripod tipped over and into the water. Fried my little digicam. On the bright side, the camera had been purchased with a credit card only a couple months prior to its demise, and the credit card protection plan reimbursed me. Lucky break...literally.

Spike