The right way to drop a camera?

<p>I dropped my camera the other day, the first time it's ever happened in years of shooting. I was taking it out of my backpack and somehow, it slipped out of my hand and fell 3 feet or so to the pavement and landed directly on the lens, which was not the worst of the news. The force of the impact forced the back to spring open and expose the few shots I'd already taken, which fortunately had only been three or so. Surveying the damage, I picked up the lens and found that the UV filter had absorbed most, if not all of the damage. Of course, it was now cracked, bent from the impact and jammed onto the lens. I looked thru the viewfinder and couldn't see any of the crack, which were only located in one area near the very rim of the filter. The lens still clicked in at all f-stops and DOF preview engaged the aperture blades at each stop with no problem. I fired it off a few times and all seemed to be well, so I reloaded my film, retook the shots that had been exposed and continued on my way. Later that day, I stopped into the photo shop in town and showed the lens to my friend, who said he could easily get the filter off by breaking the glass and then using a wrench to bend the filter ring inwards, or something. I watched him carefully do that and even tho the front of the lens is a little dinged up, filters still mount with no problems. I got my film back today and none of the cracks in the UV filter show up in any of the shots! I'll chalk everything up to some sturdy construction and a bit of luck.</p>

Film!?

 

 

Just kidding! I just dumped a cappuchino on my pentax k1000 (newly cla'd!). Fortunately most of the drink landed on the

lens, a relatively cheap sigma. It still focuses and changes the aperture but if I let it sit for a while it gums up something

fierce. Just a little dribbled on the back where it soaked into the door seals but I can replace those myself.

<p>" . . . The Right Way to Drop a Camera?"<br>

With innocence, with commitment, or with a prayer.</p>

<p>Glad to hear your camera made it out okay. I've dropped 'em, knocked 'em, let them get rained on, submerged them; my film cameras usually emerge still working. I did, once, have to pay a repair bill, though, so be careful. </p>

<p>This past November, I went to my 10 year high school reunion and later in the night, after the drinks were flowing, someone bumped into someone holding red wine, which spilled on my 5D, which worked fine for the rest of the night, but the next day, the aperture wouldn't change at all. After some coaxing and spinning of the aperture dial, it finally worked, but the shutter release is still a little finicky sometimes.</p>

<p>"the right way to drop...?"<br>

With a kick to add insult to injury. Having dropped three cameras during my career, one of which did not survive the fall, if you can get your foot between the pavement and the camera before it hits, you can cushion the impact a bit. Poorly executed, that can turn into a drop-kick (that would be bad, okay?). But done with a little skill, you can cushion the fall or even prevent any damage at all.<br>

You can practice with a Hasselblad if you feel really brave.</p>

I was just going to say what Thomas said. I have foot-saved cameras several times, not to mention cell phones, drinking glasses, and various fragile toys. Luckily I've never dropped my RB67 with prism finder. The thought of that 7-pounder landing on my tootsie might make me flinch for the crucial fraction of a second.

<p>Thomas has it. The best way to drop a camera is by catching it with your foot. When you are as ham-fisted as me the hockey "goal tender" save starts to become second nature. Then again I dropped an RB67 about 50ft while shooting in a coal-fired power plant. Not pretty. I'm just glad I didn't kill somebody.</p>

<p>Hey August, exact simultaneous post with the same thought. cool.</p>

<p>The best way to drop a camera? On the softest part of someone else's body......</p>

<p>Be careful with that foot save- I've used it to prevent damage to several dropped items, but it's not a good idea to employ this strategy when dropping a very sharp knife...</p>

<p>I'll fifth the foot save. I've yet to drop a camera, but I've dropped a lens. It worked fine fortunately and it was wrapped in a towel. That was how it was dropped as I had forgotten it was in the towel and dropped the towel with lens inside on my bathroom floor and right after I released I realized "OH NO! My lens is in there!". Thankfully no damage (70-210/2.8...so heavy). I have once or twice turned a foot save in to a punt. The most memorable was a cell phone that I tried to foot save and ended up punting it in to the back of my brother's head. He wasn't to happy about that...but we had a good laugh after a few minutes.</p>

<p>Thats not the right way to drop a camera, a story from a while ago<br>

I finallt saved and got a 2nd Body to shoot with. The obvious choice for Nikon shooters in those days was a Nikkormat. I could not have been happier getting a 2nd Nikon. I carefully unpacked it, set it up for use, loaded film and mounted a lens. I took it and was going to a park to shoot and try it out. I walked outside with the camera hanging off my neck from the strap. THE STRAP THAT I PUT ON WRONG - And watched it bounce down a full flight of concrete stairs. Never got to shoot a single frame with that camera, and to add insult to injury I lost my 50mm 1.4 lens to boot.</p>

<p>Same happened to me, exactly the same, but I was using a Lens Hood instead of a Filter, everything that happened was a little scratch on the lens and the back door getting open. This was about 8 months ago, and the camera nor the lens has failed. <br>

Now, about 3 or 4 months ago my Zenit Helios 44mm lens fell to the ground and this screwed with the arpertures, they didn't work at all now. But I took it to service and they left my 1983 lens as new for what's about 15USD. Eventhough these cases may have a happy ending, it's better to avoid dropping your camera or lens!</p>

<p>The footsave is great, but don't miss. I once booted a 24mm TS lens into Chatham harbor instead of saving it!</p>

<p>I dropped my first digital camera (Nikon coolpix s10) on rocks, frozen river ice, rocks again, concrete etc. etc. at least 10 times before it finally quit working... even then I found a work-around to make it boot up and take pictures... this was all over a 2 year period.</p>

<p>that gave me a reason to finally buy something new (another Nikon coolpix P90) which I have not dropped yet, probably because it has a neck strap vs. that little wrist strap.</p>

<p>Mud is good. I dropped my Hasselblad, splat! in the mud, while taking it off the tripod. Wiped the mud off, kept shooting. No problem!</p>

<p>Speaking of putting straps on cameras, when my parents got their Nikon D80, my mom asked me to put the strap on. In the process of tightening it, the whole camera flew off the kitchen table and landed on the floor. I can't remember how long after that when the lens died, but my mom thinks something my dad did caused the lens to die. Shhh...</p>

<p>As for the foot punt, being that it was my first camera drop, my reflexes weren't nearly fast enough.</p>

<p>I've never dropped a camera, but two months ago on a trip to New Orleans with my mother I decided not to take my Canon G-9 on an outing for a day. (I took two film cameras instead.) So I put my G-9 on the top shelf of the hotel closet. What I didn't notice was that I had put the camera on a plastic bag that was lying flat on the shelf. That evening, Mom was looking for something she had misplaced, and pulled the bag off the shelf. (She's short, and couldn't see the camera.) The camera dropped about 6 feet to the concrete floor. She handed it to me, and it looked okay, but when I turned it on, the lens extended and an error message was displayed on the screen. Turning it off did not retract the lens. I sent the camera to Teleplan Camera Repair (http://www.teleplancamerarepair.com/) and for $95 they repaired the camera in six weeks, and now it works just fine. <br>

I don't know what the "right" way to drop a camera is, but six feet to a concrete floor ain't it.</p>

<p>Hello from the Other John Wilson,</p>

<p>I used to be fast with my hands and snatched many things from the air before they hit the floor. One day I successfully performed such a feat with a 30W soldering iron. It was the last time I ever attempted a save.</p>

<p>I can relate to the filter saving a camera. My Bronica went face down onto a marble floor of a cathedral once. I just knew it was demolished. When I got home I had to remove the filter in pieces and split the ring to get it out of the lens, but that lens is still my sharpest lens today and both it and the camera function flawlessly. Filters can be the best twenty dollars you ever spend.</p>

<p>I brought a Canon A430 PS to Australia with me before I got really into photography, and learned a valuable lesson by dropping it into a sand dune with the lens extended. I now use a waterproof PS (Pentax Optio Wx series) camera for my sandy dune excursions and leave the 5DII at home. </p>

<p>The right way to drop a camera is about 1 inch from your left hand and into your right hand</p>