Ever drop a vintage camera?

I have. It was a Voigtlander Vito B. I had it in a cloth bag (my

camera bag). The bottom of the bag broke because of rot (Vancouver

rain). Of course the camera hit the cement sidewalk and broke into

many pieces. To make matters worse, about 20 minutes later I stepped

into big gap of a sidewalk, fell, and my videocam when flying into the

air. That hit the sidewalk too but it was in my Lowepro and I had it

lined with 1" packaging foam. So the bag just bounced and nothing got

damaged inside the bag. That was one of the worst days of my life. I

liked that Vito B---or was it a CLR? I never did replace that camera.

About 1 week later I got food poisoning and spent 13 days in the

hospital. That's when I was introduced to my 1st anal probe. At least

the nurses were nice, and my wife came every day to visit me. Since

then I've been very careful with keeping my cameras well-protected and

avoiding greasy spoons.

I guess the message is don't drop your vintage camera or bad things will happen to you!

 

I dropped a Rollei 2.8F once while taking it out of the ever ready case to change the film...and it fell forward (in slow motion I might add). Completely crushed the front standard...completely unrepairable. I was not a happy camper.

 

Can't tell you how many $5 and $10 garage sale cameras I took apart (and ruined) trying to fix. I found out one thing...I'm not a camera repair person. This was long before there was a Photo.net though.

Once I had left my Vitessa-L in a coat pocket closed with the lens shade floating around in the pocket, and came back to it later to find my coat on the floor. The camera was fine, having been cushioned by lens shade, which was a total loss. Haven't found another lens shade since (but maybe I should sell the lens shade box on eBay).

 

The worst was once when I was shopping for some cable releases for my Linhof Tech V (no, I didn't drop the Tech V!) at Calumet, and I had the camera in a bag set up to shoot with the grip and finder attached. En route the finder had been slowly slipping off the shoe, so I took the camera out of the bag and set it up, and then watched in slow motion as the finder went tumbling to the wooden floor. Fortunately, it was the old style finder and not the new $1200 one. The pin in the distance adjustment mechanism broke, and I think it cost around $80 to fix.

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Frank Granovski , feb 04, 2005; 07:40 a.m.

That's when I was introduced to my 1st anal probe.

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I'm sorry to hear about your camera. I got my first anal probe in 1974. That's when I filed my first US income tax return. Uncle Sam had both hands on my shoulders, no kiss, no reach-around. The operation was a success - they extracted my wallet. I didn't know you could reach it that way, but I was in for a surprise.

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Best,

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<p>Wiggy "Don't Touch Me There" Jones</p>

A Baldinette, face-down with the door closed. No structural damage, but an asphalt impression in the cover. With no bouncing or skidding they can be quite easy to rake up.

I forgot to mention that I dropped 3 flash units---not all at the same time. That's why I keep buying them.

 

Regarding the probe, I was surprised that I never felt a thing. My wife was beside me all the way through, in the hospital lab. She was quite bothered, thinking that it was painful me. I guess I was lucky. :)

Oh yes. In fact I've dropped them forcefully on occasion.

I haven't dropped a camera, but I've rendered more than one useless after failed attempts at performing my own CLA. I've learned a lot since then and have brought several back to life, but just last week a 'patient' died on the operating table and I didn't even get a chance to run any film through it.

 

A while ago I did drop the middle lens element for an Argus 21 Markfinder during a lens cleaning and it shattered on the tile floor. I was holding it up to the light to make sure I removed all of the haze and didn't realize I had turned away from my work table, which I cover with a towel, and was holding it over the floor. It seemed to happen in slow motion and I'll be damned if that little piece of glass breaking wasn't heard by the entire neighborhood; it sounded that loud to me at the time. Not sure how long I sat there staring at the floor.

 

It's funny, I can drop $20-30 on lunch/dinner for two eating out and think nothing of it, but when I spend that on a modest classic camera from the 'bay' and I then 'kill' it by trying to remove the lens for cleaning or can't get the lens back on because the threads became stripped, or shutter blades get bent, etc., it just ruins my day.

Hey I went in for one of those probe thingies once. The guy asked me if I was OK...told him I felt alright but I wished he would stop digging his chin into my shoulder and moaning. He didn't think it was funny but I thought it was a scream.

 

Never dropped a vintage but I think several got disassembled and stayed that way.

I dropped a Rollei 35 (forget which exact model) a couple times (same camera, had dings on all four bottom corners and two top ones by the time I gave it to my dad). Every time, it would disengage something in the meter's match-needle linkage and I'd have to pull the aperture and speed control knobs off the front, take off the top cover, and reassemble everything. First time, it took me about three hours (I was about 17). Second time, less than an hour. Third time, fifteen minutes. After that, it was my dad's problem...

Years ago someone explained if you see a camera or lens dropping, don't bother trying to catch it with your hand - it already has a head start. However, if you can stick your foot out, you have a chance to deflect it and maybe minimized the impact, especially if it is headed for concrete. If your family doesn't already think you are pretty strange, start practicing this with an old junk camera for a few minutes every evening.

I have never dropped a camera, but I did drop a bar of soap once in a shower while visiting a prison, I am glad no one was there with a camera,photographing my probe. JUST KIDDING.I did have a friend drop a hassy into the Grand canyon at a overlook. His son climbed the 300 ft. down the cliff to bring up the pieces. Think it would have done better on the moon.

So far (knock on wood -- where did that saying originate), no drops though my Bessa-R fell out of my backpack.

 

My daughter dropped her little disposable Kodak into the moat while touring the Forbidden City in Beijing.

 

A couple I know traveled from New Jersey to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. When they got there, his wife was so terrified, that 10 feet down the trail, she had her back flat against the wall arms spread out holding up the Grand Canyon, saying, "OK, we can leave. I've seen enough."

 

I woke up twice during my colonoscopy -- the doctor who did mine puts his patients under. First time I woke up, I said, "Hey, I think I'm awake." Then they gave me some more anasthetic.

 

Second time, I woke up and had this distinct feeling that I had a garden hose up my butt. I went home walking like Festus on Gunsmoke (not really -- it was pretty much painless).

"Knock on wood" has to do with the sprites and faries that live in trees. Knocking is like saying, "Yo, sprites and faries....how 'bout some good luck?" Pentax 67 users buy those overpriced wooden handles for exactly that reason.

I once dropped my '65 Nikon F on a tarmac street in the Ardennes whilst out walking with my family in law. I was running to catch up and it fell from 1,5 meters high. Add mass to velocity and it flew away. Apart from a bump in the top and a bent side of the prism (and me skipping a few heartbeats), it was fine. Lucky it didn't fall on the lens, a beautiful 55/2.8 micro...

The F still works like it did in the past 40 years, by the way :-)

I've dropped my Mamiya Supers 23s/Universals several times. With these all-metal battle-

tanks, you worry more about damaging what it lands on.

 

Once on concrete from waist level, lost a little paint, reset the the frame counter, no real

damage. The concrete likewise seems to have sustained minimal damage.

 

Was adjusting the rangefinder to my new 250/5 and forgot I was using the tripod mount

on the lens. Grasped the lens firmly, released the retaining collar... and yelped as the

heavy, all metal body hit my foot. Eventually I stopped hopping, my wife stopped laughing,

and I went back to work. Fifteen minutes later I did it again. No damage to the camera,

significant pain and modest bruising on the foot.

 

 

Managed to mismount the 50/6.3 on it--the ring was turned, but the lens was apparently

sitting on top of it, not locked in. The camera was sitting lens up in the car so I didn't

notice. When I took it out to put it on the tripod the lens of course fell, bouncing down the

street. Bent some metal around the rear element, and lost paint from several locations, but

it still works great.

 

Had the Super 23 body plus 50/6.3 sitting on the front seat of my car, had my E-10 on the

floor. Moron going 20mph slower cuts me off, necessitating hard braking. In a classic film

vs. digital confrontation, the Mamiya flew off the seat and put a nice divot in the E-10's

front element. Score one for film.

Yes, I dropped a newly-restored Exakta VX while out shooting in fall 2003. The shutter stopped self-capping as a result. Made me absolutely sick. I had it out of it's never-ready case because I swapping lenses a lot, and was having trouble squeezing my finger between the edge of the case and the lens mount to press the lens mount release lever. The camera has since been restored again. Now it stays in it's case all the time, and the strap stays around my neck. It slows me down, but Exakta are pretty slow-working to begin with.

 

On the other had, my father dropped his Leica in our driveway in the early 70's. It hit hard enough to put dents in the metal. He picked it up, brushed off the cinders, and kept right on using it. That camera went probably another 25 years before it had a CLA. Still has the dents.

I had a Canon 500mm f4.5L S.S.C. mounted n an F-1N winder winder fall over on the camera back when a gust of wind tipped my tripod over. Broken the lens in half at the mount dented the camera back and broke the battery door on the winder.

 

Through some great efforts by my repair guy the lens is whole again and with a friends help I found a new door and back. So my $2000.00 worth of gear is back and working as it should looking none the worse for wear.

 

NOW that was a sick feeling.

Out shooting with the Minolta A (not the digital one, the old rangefinder) in it's beatup everready case. Sling it over my shoulder, and suddenly it felt very light. The stitching for the bottom of the case had completely come undone, but thankfully, it's winter, and there's several inches of snow.

 

Of course, I drop screws all the time while "repairing/destroying" my classics, but I usually find them again. Then there's that Sakar (piece of junk) 28mm lense that I took apart and never figured out the right order that the elements should go back in :).

Like Gene, I have dropped a few forcefully. I once dropped one that didn't hit the ground 'till it was clear down the block. Touchdown!

By the way, my Nikon F really looks like it has been used. Lots of brass and dents showing, and still running smoothly. Who needs an F6 anyway :-)

> "Regarding the probe, I was surprised that I never felt a thing. My wife was beside me all the way through, in the hospital lab."

 

I had one in the 80's. I told my doctor I would rather die then experience that again. Years later my wife tells me they are supposed to give you I.V. Valium during the procedure. None of that for me, it was all pain!

 

I've killed one camera working on it, a Ciro-flex TLR when a spring went flying off into the carpet somewhere. It had been cannibalized for parts by the time my wife found the spring. I had searched for hours, even vaccummed the floor and hand sifted through the bag contents.

 

I've had good luck so far working on shutters, etc., even though I don't really know anything about them. Just cleaned the shutter in my Zeca LF camera last week; it works perfectly!

I don't know how this thread got on colonoscopies. A doctor friend of mine described proctology as an iron pipe with an *sshole at both ends. I had my first in 1976, using old technology, and swore never again. I have since had three more, over the last six years, using new technology and where you are asleep, and it is a walk in the park. The doctor is chatting with you and the next thing you know is the nurse telling you to get dressed. The worst thing is that you have to drink a gallon (128 fl. oz.) of liquid the night before to clean you out. Getting back to the topic, i have not yet (knock on wood, is this a Druid thing) seriously dropped a camera. It would break my heart.

Who is going to be first with the "vintage colonoscopy photos"?

About 12 years ago, I worked with a guy up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., who had a colonoscopy "old style." He told me he was up on the examining table on all fours, howling at the top of his lungs while perspiring profusely. Made me want to NEVER sign up for one of those.

 

A side note. He also was witness to New York State's last execution in the 1960s (not sure of the year, so maybe it was the 1970s). Even though he's a staunch Republican, he said it was the worst thing he'd ever seen in his life and immediately became -- and still is -- a death penalty opponent.

 

A side note II. A small dog that belonged to a friend bit off the tip of one of his fingers.

 

Oh yeah, I don't think he ever dropped a camera.