Scariest situations with your DSLR

[hjoseph7]

This never happened to me so far, but other than dropping your camera on hard cement, DEAD pixels would have to

rate #2 on the list of scariest moments. Can anybody add to this list ?

[ronald_moravec1]

Left the house to go to a camera flea market. Turned it on to view some pics with a lens I contemplated buying.

 

On the way out, I found a spring green tree with a gold colored glass building as a total backdrop. It would have been a

stunning pic and the light was perfect.

 

Put my new 85 2.0 on the D200 and it was dead as a doornail. Battery was fully charged at home, both of them in the grip.

 

Never did resolve why it happened and it has not happened since. I did buy a D40 back up.

[daverhaas]

At a wedding and the flash was firing (on camera, not pop-up) about 1/2 of the time.... fortunately I had a backup flash that solved the problem... Also had a backup camera body in case that was the issue. Also had backup batteries and cables...

Did I mention that I had backups?

 

so the feeling of terror was short lived.

 

Dave

[sarah_fox]

I mounted up a vintage lens to my relatively new 5D for an experiment. The mirror tapped the back of the lens assembly when the lens was focused to infinity. No damage... but I'll never make THAT mistake again. I now check lens clearance before mounting up anything "unique."

[pjmeade]

The situation that left me speachless, hyperventilating and deeply traumatised was when I asked my daughter to hold one DSLR whilst I used another. I turned in time to see my brand new 300/f4 IS fall off the camera and land on the woodland floor. It was dirty but otherwise unharmed. Phew.

 

However, I think the moment that carried the most actual physical risk was when I was photographing polo from behind the goal and ended up I the middle of a melee with horses and sticks moving very fast and very close.

 

Oh, and I was nearly run down by a horse and carriage last weekend as I was tried to photograph one of the other carriage drivers.

 

Anyone who shoots rally driving probably gets a lot closer to death than that

[PuppyDigs]

I crashed by motorcycle. I jumped out from under it but my camera and lens weren't so fortunate and are still paperweights

to this day.

[dschuleman]

I was taking pictures at a Parade in St. Louis and was looking through the viewfinder for a very long stretch of time (with a telephoto lens) of some floats going by...when I took the camera down from my face I noticed, about 30 ft back, a float was coming where people walked with it squirting water at the parade-watchers with super soakers. Fortunately, I had enough time to duck, turn around, and put my camera in its case.

 

I knew I should have gotten the 70-200 f4L IS and not the non-stabilized version cause of the weather sealing :(

 

Danny

[ambers-photos]

i was shooting baby ducks in the river and slipped on a mossy rock and down i went one hand held high out of the water holding my camera i was wet and cold but the camera was fine and i got the photo

 

 

 

Amber

[steve torelli]

"I mounted up a vintage lens to my relatively new 5D for an experiment. The mirror tapped the back of the lens assembly when the lens was focused to infinity. No damage... but I'll never make THAT mistake again. I now check lens clearance before mounting up anything "unique."

 

I did exactly the same thing with a Zeiss 50. Sold it on Fred Miranda the next day.

[JDMvW]

I had a vintage lens (not Canon) and mounted it on my 20D without incident, but when I mounted it on my EOS 650

film camera, all jammed up. Fortunately after I got the lens off and turned the camera off and on, all was OK, no

permanent damage. This is to recommend that a EOS650 or 620 camera can be bought for about $30 on eBay. It not

only makes a nice film backup body, but it also can serve as a test bed for some of these things.

 

However, my scariest moment was hearing a sort of snap-crackle and pop when I mounted my new focus-confirmation

adapter on my new 20D. Two trips to the authorized repair facility and more than $400 later I got my camera back

with new

circuitry.

 

"How I hate to see those blinking 99s"

 

(from a song Willie Nelson would have written if he had been there)

[lex_jenkins]

Watching a niece scampering around with my D2H scared the hell outta me. I was afraid she'd hurt herself. She only weighed 60 lbs at the time. Fortunately she's strong so no bones were broken or muscles strained.

[mharris]

Opened the back door of my truck, a tall truck. and heard something hit the ground at my feet. Looked down, nothing there, looked under the truck and there it was, a new D300. Boy ain't been right since. It took a 250 dollar operation to get him right.

[patrick_f]

Was leaving one job on my way to another....put my 5D on top of my black Camery (with Kayak rack) for just a second. Turned off

of 1st ave S. St. Pete onto 16th (or so) st. North - at 30 Miles per hour. Heard something roll across my roof. And then crash into

the gutter. Slammed on the brakes, got out, freaked! Broke the 24-105(is) COMPLETELY off of the camera body! As in, broken in

half...before I had insurance and again, on my way to job #2. Luckily, Canon was able to repair the lens for $165, but WOW was

that a lesson! DUMB DUMB DUMB! Never ever put your camera on top of your car for even a second.

[patrick_f]

Second was when I was changing lenses on top of Seneca Rocks, WV...a thousand foot cliff face. Placed the 18mm(2.8) Nikkor

on the rock next to me. Accidently knocked it and watched it bounce and tumble 6 feet (or so) towards the edge of the cliff. It was

literally stopped by a rock less than six inches from going over the edge! Broke the filter, but the lens was fine. I was a little

nervous retrieving the lens though...

DUMB!

[excelguru]

Mine happened when I was changing lenses. I removed a smaller lens and set my 24-70 f/2.8L onto the 5D body. Then I grabbed the rear lens cap, attached it to the smaller lens and placed it into my bag. I had to take a moment to shuffle some lenses around in my bag. Then I went back to the 5D with the 24-70 sitting on it. Notice I said "sitting" on it. I never actually TWISTED the lens to lock it into place. Stupid. I picked up the camera (over a concrete carport) and the lens promptly fell off. I was VERY lucky and caught the lens in midair with my other hand. Damn-near had a coronary, right there. That won't happen again.

 

Another... I was canoeing in a swamp in South Carolina with a non-waterproof Lowepro backpack (laying in the hull) which was loaded with about $8000 in photo gear. At one point, there as some miscommunication between my wife and I and the canoe almost flipped. I said a few choice words which are not suitable for this forum.

[roger krueger]

I was at a Cadillac Tramps show at the Galaxy Theater (R.I.P.) in Santa Ana. I was shooting from the crowd after my three

songs in front of the barricade were up. At the start of the encore the singer reaches out to me. I figure he just wants to

shake hands. Instead, he grabs my wrist and pulls. Seems he wants me to shoot the encore from in front of the

barricade.

 

Taking full leave of my senses, I jump up to go over. Some helpful soul grabs my feet and lifts. Security catches my

shoulders at the ergonomically-correct-for-them waist level. But "helpful" guy just keeps lifting my legs.

 

So I'm completely upside down, flailing around with a 1dsII+50 in my hand, praying the 24/1.4 and 135/2 in my shorts

pockets stay put.

 

After what seemed like a week "helpful" guy finally lets go, I get back to my feet, security confers and decides if it's what

the singer wants it's O.K. by them. I look through the finder and everything's blurry. Damn. But I crank the diopter all the way

over and can shoot the rest of the set. Then I realize the whole world's blurry, not just my finder, my glasses are gone. After

some fear over the idea of driving 90 miles home with uncorrected 20/400 vision someone turns up my glasses, miraculously

intact.

 

In the end the only damage was a divot in the prism, I must've whacked it against the metal barricade while I was flailing upsode down.

[roger krueger]

A few other contenders:

 

Shooting the Crowd at Coconut's in Capistrano, I'm getting pretty close to the rythym guitarist with my 19/2.8, shooting away

from my eye to get a better angle. I get hit hard from behind and do a face plant on the stage (no barricade venue). I feel the

camera hit something as I go down. Once the people get off me and I can get back up I see the guitarist standing there mad

as hell. It takes me a moment to realize he only has 5 tuning pegs left. For a minute I thought I was going to get my ass

kicked. Instead he just packs up in the middle of the song and walks out the door. Then the really scary part: A big mark in

the coating of my precious Leica 19. But after some terrified polishing with my t-shirt it all came out, apparently it was paint

transfer from the guitar. Yup, Leica coating is tougher than guitar paint, who'd have guessed.

 

Shooting the Exploited at the Jumping Turtle in San Marcos, I had some twit try to stage dive over me. Unless your an

Olympian, ain't no way you're clearing the front row coming off a 2-foot stage. His knee caught my 24 dead on. Luckily the

soft denim didn't scratch at all, this is the rare situation where a UV filter probably would've made things worse. I didn't fare

so well, the camera slammed into my face hard enough to give me a bloody nose and fat lip. It's kinda gross frantically

checking your lens for scratches and dripping blood on it.

 

Same show, during the opener, lessons learned :1) If there's one guy between you and an active mosh pit, and he's got a full

pitcher of beer, it's time to be somewhere else. 2) Weather-sealing is a really good thing 3) But the cute little rubber port

covers aren't worth squat if you're too stupid to put them back in place.

[dangoldman]

I've taken my camera sailing with me. I've also shot sailing from a RIB. I was scared to death that i was i going to get the camera a good dousing (and it did get hit with a couple) but it kept on working. I've also taken my cameras up the rig with me. The strap breaking or the clips for the strap coming lose while it was 50' in the air with me was not a happy though. I once left my camera in the trunk of a jeep with the door open (and my laptop sitting on top of the case). If the key werent still in the door, i would have lost my camera and laptop (with hundreds of new images.)....

[Spearhead]

Roger and I have pretty similar experiences, and my personal welfare seems to have suffered far more than my camera's. I've been crushed into the edge of the stage with absolutely nowhere to go and just put the camera forward over the stage while trying to keep my spine from coming through my chest.<p><i>Weather-sealing is a really good thing </i><p>I *really* agree Roger on this one. If you don't have weather sealing, shoot these shows with a replaceable camera. In the instance below, I asked before the show if there were going to be flying liquids and was told no. Fortunately, my camera is weather sealed, as I didn't realize what they were doing quickly enough...<p><center><img src="http://www.spirer.com/HOBFeb2008/slides/JDSL3851.jpg"><br><i>Have a Drink, Copyright 2008 Jeff Spirer</i></center></center></i>

[david_henderson]

First trip with a dslr and in the middle of Mexico. Camera stops working and strange error messages appear. Handbook tells me its a data corruption issue. Momentarily unsure whether this is a card or camera issue and whether I had a continuing or likely to repeat problem; more continuingly unsure whether I am going to be able to get 150+ irreplaceable photographs off a corrupt card. All turned out well eventually.

 

I photograph a lot by the sea. Show me some slippery rocks and I'll show you where I fell over and the scars on my legs from the falls. Never damaged a camera though (yet) but its one of the reasons I rarely carry a camera attached to a tripod.

[ronda]

This is going to make me sound like a real brainiac but here goes......I just got my 5D that day, that night I was

setting it up on the tripod thought it had settled in and clipped on "wrong" I let go it fell off the tripod lens hit first and

then the camera all I could do was stare at it thinking " I killed it an its not even 24 hours old" I finally grabbed it up

and checked it out turned it on the little red light flashed I snapped a picture it took a picture I breathed a huge sigh

of relief and told my daughter "don't you breath a word of this to your father" I still havent told him to this day.

Thankfully I was in the living room the tripod wasnt extended all the way up and was sitting on 2 layers of carpet. I

have a huge throw rug in the middle of the living room which is carpeted. But I about died ! That will never happen

agian I always double check now before letting go. I was at the Zoo in Portland not long ago and I had the camera on

the tripod but I also had the strap around my neck that camera wasnt going down enless I went to. Im sure I will have

more miss-haps hopefully non as silly as that one was.

[dangoldman]

Oh, the other great fear is picking up my photo backpack in a rush when it has been zipped up and spilling my camera gear every where. Came close, once, now i have a 'system'. If the straps that pull everything closer in arent fastened, im not picking it up.

[aginbyte]

Disaster struck today! Was in Cape Cod shooting panoramas at the Chatham fish pier, had the Canon 5D body mounted

on the tripod and was putting on the 24mm Tilt Shift (my favorite lens, used for 90% of all my shots). Was starting to place

the lens when I had a sudden attack of pain (unfortunately a regular feature of damaged lungs), my hand came off the lens,

which sprang off the 5D, bounced down to hit on the pier, and then slowly (so slowly it was excruciating!) rolled off into

Chatham harbor. PJ and I could only watch in shock. The problem was that I KNEW something was wrong before I picked

up the lens, but ignored the feeling and just went on with my work. Very expensive lesson.