oh the horror!

[Phil_USN]

While unpacking the car immediately before a big promo shoot with Kristanna Loken, my Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens tumbled out of my bag onto the asphalt of the parking lot. B+W filter is fine... but the front element of the lens has a big scallop crack in it, and won't focus either manually or AF. The rest of the shoot went fantastic, but I'm still disgusted with myself. Time to drown the sorrows perhaps...

[JSPhoto]

Ouch! That hurts.... I have had gear broken, but fortunately with the help of others, specifically shooting basketball, having had thre 28-135mm lenses knocked off the body! The last one was a rental too....
This is why insurance helps out BIGTIME!!!

JS

[jar_e]

Ouch. Sorry for your lost. I'm really scared to deal with my camera gear at my dorm room...all my floors are concrete, so if anything drops, it will take a miracle to save it.

Hopefully you can overcome the lost and keep on shooting!

[Axle]

gha! that sucks, sorry to hear that.

[Old Timer]

Just glad you weren't dependent on it for the shoot. I've had a few lenses and bodies take some nasty tumbles over the years but never to where they would not function at all afterwards. Hope repairs aren't too outrageous.

[another view]

I did something along those lines a couple of years ago. Bummer. So the UV filter is fine but the front lens element was still damaged? Probably million-to-one odds of this happening again...

[walterick]

That sucks. You can't beat yourself up though. Accidents happen, you just have to roll with it.

I dropped my Mamiya on a rock last week. The lens got a scratch and the film door popped open, potentially exposing the last few frames I shot. I still don't know if the mechanics got screwed up or not.

The only thing you can do is promise yourself to be more careful in the future, and keep pushing forward with your work.

I know it still sucks though.

[ken1953]

Bummer Phil...this is a dumb newbie and question...can it be repaired or do you need to purchase a new one. I know some things can be fixed, but am not sure about the glass. Anyway...I keep a rider on my homeowners insurance policy for all my stuff because like my agent said...you never know when your going to do something dumb like get up and walk off and forget your camera and when you remember it and go back......it's gone.
Anyway...glad the shoot went well otherwise.
Ken

[Speed]

While unpacking the car immediately before a big promo shoot with Kristanna Loken, my Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens tumbled out of my bag onto the asphalt of the parking lot. B+W filter is fine... but the front element of the lens has a big scallop crack in it, and won't focus either manually or AF. The rest of the shoot went fantastic, but I'm still disgusted with myself. Time to drown the sorrows perhaps...

Sorry to hear about that Phil.

Hopefully, they can replace the front element and the insides are OK.

I feel your pain.

It's incredible that the filter survived and the front element got busted. Amazing.

[shutterman]

While unpacking the car immediately before a big promo shoot with Kristanna Loken, ...

Look at the bright side - you got to take pictures of Kristanna Loken!

[Ronnoco]

Ooh! That hurts.

I will always remember at age 11 standing on the edge of a canyon in British Columbia, I dropped a lens when I was trying to screw in a Pentax to the old style mount.

I dove for it and caught it, but I almost went over the edge in the process.

Ronnoco

[walterick]

Your story actually reminded me of the time I dropped my autofocus Sigma in a creek. I pulled it out with water running out of its innards. Figured it was done.

Didn't get upset, put it on the windshield of my car in the sun, a day or so later put it back on the camera and it works fine. Autofocus and all I still use it frequently to this day.

[almo]

While unpacking the car immediately before a big promo shoot with Kristanna Loken, my Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens tumbled out of my bag onto the asphalt of the parking lot. B+W filter is fine... but the front element of the lens has a big scallop crack in it, and won't focus either manually or AF. The rest of the shoot went fantastic, but I'm still disgusted with myself. Time to drown the sorrows perhaps...

I'd break a lens to do a shoot with her! Be thankful;)

[SmartWombat]

my Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens tumbled out of my bag onto the asphalt of the parking lot.

OUCH! Glad you still got the shots.
I thought I was luckier with my 70-200 f2.8 IS and its excursion to the tarmac,
Becuase I'd been using it, the lens hood was on and so it bounced off the lens hood, onto the tripod ring, then onto the lens hood, then onto the tripod ring ... in all it bounced like that about 6 times before finally hitting the deck.
Immediately afterwards it worked!
Only the metal ring on the end moved, so the lend hood slopped about. The lens elements were undamaged !
About 6 months later, the diaphragm fails to stop down properly, resulting in random over exposure.

[Phil_USN]

Thanks for the encouragement, all. The shoot went great and she's very interested in my Iraq work, so I made a friend that night. I've been shooting a BUNCH since then and getting the shots with just a 50mm and a 28mm, so the tele-zoom is a luxury worst case scenario. This is why I think that budding photographers should be only allowed to use a 50mm lens and a camera body when starting out. That's what I learned on and used for years until I invested in a tele-zoom for my old Pentax about 10 years ago. Anyways, I contacted Canon and got a return authorization. The repair could cost as little as $80, but I'm not counting on it. We'll see. I DO have the lens insured, but here's where we get into deductable vs. repair vs. new lens cost. My deductable on my camera gear is $500 and it's that high because I was thinking catastrophic failure or theft of both camera and lens or the whole bag. Then $500 would be equitable. $500 deductable on a $600 lens is just not worth it since my insurance company will be taking at least 3 months to process and complete the claim. I never thought I'd drop just a lens, but it's been a learning experience. Until then, I need to live by HC Bresson's words & if my photos aren't good enough, get closer.

[PhotoGirl]

While unpacking the car immediately before a big promo shoot with Kristanna Loken, my Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens tumbled out of my bag onto the asphalt of the parking lot. B+W filter is fine... but the front element of the lens has a big scallop crack in it, and won't focus either manually or AF. The rest of the shoot went fantastic, but I'm still disgusted with myself. Time to drown the sorrows perhaps...

Sorry to hear that Phil. That's one of my worse nightmares. I try so hard to protect my camera all the time because I only have one and I don't have the money to replace/fix it. I'm glad your shoot went well though!