whats the worse thing you have had happen to your EOS camera?

[marc_mccoy1]

<p>I dropped my canon 28mm lens because I did not want to drop the other camera in my hand.. It was a nikon I shoulda let it go... But it was not mine. Any way the lens snapped apart, I got it all back together and put it on a shelf thinking I might get it looked at. Well satan My cat decided he wanted to get on the shelf. Down came the lens and It broke again I could not find everything this time....</p>

[unclebuddha]

<p>I was exiting the AirBart Bus at Oakland airport and when I slung my daypack onto my back my 20d and 17-85 fell out and UNDER the Bus! Without thinking, I jumped to the ground and slid under to get the camera. I never even thought that the driver was unaware that I was underneath his bus and I could have been killed. Still makes me feel a little queasy. The hood mount on the lens was chipped and the bottom of the camera body a little scuffed but, otherwise, all was well.</p>

[guy_howard]

<p>I had 70-200 2.8L IS and 580 EXII mounted on my 40D and was carrying the rig on a tripod. Camera had L bracket which was not tightened sufficienly, and when I started to set it up for shooting the rig slid off the L plate. Camera hit wooden deck from 6', lens hood first, then rolled. Absolutely no damage to anything. Minor scuff on corner of lens hood. Camera battery door popped off, but went right back in.</p>

[john_markanich]

<p>Not an EOS related answer but the tirpod, me, my 503CXi w/a 50CF Distagon attached all crashed down a slippery rock and into the drink in an ice cold stream in central VT. Everybody/thing hit the rock and took a dip. Result: $1500 repair from Hblad for the body and lens all of which, excepting a $500 deductible, was coverd by my homeowners insurance because of a rider I carrried on all my better gear. Black & Blue rear end; priceless.</p>

[john_markanich]

<p>Not an EOS related answer but the tirpod, me, my 503CXi w/a 50CF Distagon attached all crashed down a slippery rock and into the drink in an ice cold stream in central VT. Everybody/thing hit the rock and took a dip. Result: $1500 repair from Hblad for the body and lens all of which, excepting a $500 deductible, was coverd by my homeowners insurance because of a rider I carrried on all my better gear. Black & Blue rear end; priceless.</p>

[jerry_cahak]

<p>Not an EOS but a Nikon F4 with a 200-500 on it. Didn't check the quick release tripod mount and it fell off and into 20 feet of water. All gone.</p>

[ty_mickan]

<p>Picked my camera bag up by the strap and it was not zipped up. My Nikon F3 fell out onto concrete from about one metre. Being metal, it didn't bounce well and was ruined. I didn't try to get it fixed because it was a great way to convince my wife that I should go digital, which I did. If only I knew at the time.......</p>

[jerry_cahak]

<p>My "lake event" was my forced upgrade to digital. Best thing that ever happened to me.</p>

[kinoy]

3 days ago, my eos was running out of battery, so i missed some great moment that day... (sigh)

[arthur_young1]

<p>In July while kayaking with friends, most of the river was calm and flat but the river narrowed in an "S" corner. I got turned sideways and rolled over. My kayak and I were pulled under and pinned to the base of a dead fall tree by the strong current. I had my Rebel Xti around my neck with 24-105 "L" IS mounted. Completely submerged. I managed to fight the current and get out of my kayak. As soon as I stood up in the river I turned the power switch off and put the battery in my pocket. Several hours later when I reached home, I put them both in the oven (detached ) with a lamp and a 100 watt light bulb for 24 hrs. They both worked fine afterwards but the lens had water spots inside. I sent the lens to Canon and they said it was beyond economical repair. I only had it a few months. I had just got the XTi back from Canon for replacement of the shutter assy. I took the lens to a local shop and had new glass put in it. It's been 6 months and both are still working. I had a POTD on Steve's Digi Cam this month taken with this outfit. I was quite upset at the time of the accident but happy to have not drowned. I think I got out of it pretty good!</p><div></div>

[delwyn_ching]

<p>The mirror came undone on my 5D. Sending it to Canon Service Center after the New Year.</p>

[jose_castro1]

<p>I had my 30D + 85 1.2 in my toploader slung over my shoulder and both hands full with other stuff. Opening the gate to the house, the bag slipped and fell - hitting the pavement pretty hard. Slowly opened the bag indoors and could hear broken glass *crinkling* inside. (insert sad song here).<br>

Cracked the lens cover and shattered the only UV filter I ever bought. 85 baby came out fine except for some extensive air-blowing to remove the shards and powdered glass. (insert happy song here).</p>

 

[kurthokc]

<p>Can't believe I'm the only one who's had the neck strap come undone at the camera end and drop the camera....fortunately I broke its fall with my foot and no damage done. The strap ends are now securely taped. Dumbest missed shot was caused by not realizing the camera timer had somehow been engaged. I never use the timer, so I didn't have a clue why the shutter wouldn't work. Then it worked. Then it wouldn't work. Grrrrr. Worst accident I ever saw was caused by being careful. My father and I went fishing in the Gulf of Mexico in a small open boat. My father didn't want his movie camera to get salt spray on it, so he put it in a storage locker under the seat. Turned out that was the live bait well, which filled up with fresh sea water as soon as we got underway. End of one camera's career, start of another.</p>

[scott bean]

<p>About 3 years ago, I had my 20D with battery grip and 10-22mm lens on a tripod taking some pictures of a waterfall. I was standing in the water and had my tripod in the water. I had taken several shots, no problems. I turned towards the shoreline to get another lens and out of the corner of my eye I see some movement...it was my tripod tipping over and dunking the whole camera into the stream. It was only under the water a few seconds, but water was everywhere, in the CF compartment, behind the lens, in the battery grip etc. Tried to dry the camera out but no luck. Had to send the camera, lens, and battery pack back to Canon for repair (it is still working now though since the repair). Now if I have my tripod in the water (or near the water!) I don't ever take my hand off it, I don't care how stable it feels or how secure the footing is.<br>

Right after getting my 40D I was back at the same waterfall shooting some pics and slipped an fell in the water. I also had a digital Rebel that had been converted to IR on me at the time. Luckily the cameras didn't get very wet.</p>

[DickArnold]

<p>This was a long time ago during the Viet war. I was flying missions out of Korat, Thailand and on my off time I would ride my motorcycle into the inaccessible parts of the country. We had a few days off and my roommate and I decided to take about a hundred mile trip to Surin, Thailand to watch the annual elephant roundup. I took my Minolta knockoff of a post WWII Leica rangefinder to photograph the elephants. I cannot remember the model number of the minolta but it was long before the SRT-101 I eventually owned. I bought it in 1953. The roads to Surin were dirt, narrow, surrounded by jungle and filled with potholes. It ran close to the Cambobian border. My camera was in a hard plastic saddle bag. I hit a pot hole going faster than I should have and the backend of the motorcycle bottomed out and recoiled with a lot of force. My roommate who was on his bike said the camera flew out of the saddle bag in about a forty foot high arc and struck the road resulting in its shattered demise. No pictures of my ride on an elephant in Surin. I also dropped my 70-200 2.8L on a concrete sidewalk shooting a wedding years later with no damage and drowned a Canon A2 shooting a soccer game against a newspaper deadline. I still have and use the 70-200. It's almost as old as my fifteen year old cat. </p>

[philscbx]

<p>

<p>*The most important tactic I now make rule #1.<br>

NEVER allow camera strap when setting any gear down to drape over the edge of counter, shelf or table etc.<br>

Just like the old saying goes, if your falling from skyscraper, just throw out an extension cord, and will catch onto something.<br>

John Wayne would be proud of the quick draw reflex catching my 1DsMkII in mid flight. <br>

Rule #2, inform those near or handling your gear bags, that it's not dirty laundry they just slammed in the door.<br>

Lucky Canon made repairs under extended warrantee to smashed lens.<br>

Happy New Year to all, and more amazing shots to come.</p>

</p>

[mark_poseley]

<p>The worst thing to happen to my EOS? It sat in my closet and did not get used...</p>

[eric merrill]

<p>Phil:</p>

<p>Addendum to your rule #1...</p>

<p>Cameras belong at the lowest height possible. If it can fall, it will. :)</p>

<p>Eric</p>

[jfarias]

<p>so far, i see that alot of you have lost or ruined equipment because it got dropped onto the floor or into water sometimes along with yourself. some of your mishaps have been very unfortunate, but im sure that they will teach others of things that can happen to their own equipment. now thanks to this thread im gonna be a lot more careful with my equipment and where i put it.</p>

[karl_lehmann]

<p>Just to summarize, the two biggest hazards are camera straps and quick release plates.<br>

Unfortunately they are both very useful...</p>

[myrjola]

<p>While attaching my 20D to a telescope mount that has a screw for piggybacking the camera on it, I thought that I'd get the camera attached to the screw more quickly by opening the telescope-holding band containing the screw and screwing the screw into the camera instead of just rotating the camera into the screw, as I had usually done. I even took a dime out of my pocket to use it as an improvised screwdriver. To my surprise, the camera didn't work when I tried to take shots. I delivered it to a local repair service, turned out that the screw had gone too deep and actually caused the mirror box to break due to the force exerted on the magnesium hull and passed on other components inside. Although it was repairable, since that incident I've been more patient...</p>

[ray .]

<p>Remind me not to buy any camera gear from you guys.. :}</p>

[dennis_ernst]

<p>A couple years ago I was trying to get a photo of a waterfall. A small pond formed at the bottom of it. As the trees and brush were very dense and close I set up my tripod right at the bottom of the lake. While I was setting up the shot two dogs (off their leash) ran thru the tripod legs sending my trusty old Canon 350 into the lake. I pulled it out by the end of the tripod legs as it was in 3 or 4 feet deep. When the owners of the dogs saw what happened they ran.<br>

Expecting the worst, I immediatly opened it up, removed the batteries and chip and removed all the surface water I could. I wraped it up an extra tee shirt so it could breath and hike two hours back to the car. I layed it out on the floorboard so the heater would blow on it and drove home with the heater blasting and the windows open. I let is sit for three days then put a fresh charged battery pack and a chip back in and to my suprise it worked! I gave it a good cleaning and it's work just fine for another couple of years. </p>