So my camera bag fell 23' onto concrete :O

[2dhouse]

<p>So my camera bag just fell off a roof, 23' straight onto concrete, there's a lot of gear in it and somehow only 3 lens hoods where damaged! I did the math and it's the same force as a sledge hammer swung by a massive dude right onto the bag - I think the camera gods were on my side today! <br /><br />Here are some pics and a more detailed explanation<br>

<img src="http://2dphotography.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/blog2.jpg" alt="" width="648" height="429" /><br>

<img src="http://2dphotography.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/blog11.jpg" alt="" width="648" height="429" /><br>

More info:<br /><a id="link_1291776101168_0" href="http://2dphotography.ca/blog/2010/12/sheer-luck-good-packing-or-telekinesis-either-way-crisis-averted/">2D Photography Inc. | Sheer Luck, Good Packing or Telekinesis.. Either Way Crisis Averted!</a><br /><br />One lucky dude I am today..</p>

 

[ShunCheung]

<p>I would test every body and every lens carefully to make sure that there is no little alignment problems. Try to shoot a flat wall and make sure that the images are still sharp corner to corner.</p>

<p>Good luck. You might have dodged a bullet.</p>

[2dhouse]

<p>Thank you for the advice, I've actually already tested everything quite thoroughly! Bullet indeed dodged..<br>

I actually did exactly that as well. Also checked all focus/zoom rings to make sure there wasn't any stiffness - no scratches, stiffness or unsharp images so I think I'm good to go :) just that horrible bent 85 1.4 hood, which for the record I can't bend even if I stand on it and I weigh 270lbs :P</p>

[howard_m]

<p>David, what bag is that?</p>

[2dhouse]

<p>Howard,<br>

It's a Lowepro Vertex 200AW, I've got 3 of them and actually it's saved my butt a few times now easy! Not sure if they still sell them though</p>

[2dhouse]

<p>Howard,<br />It's a Lowepro Vertex 200AW, I've got 3 of them and actually it's saved my butt a few times now easy! Not sure if they still sell them though</p>

[mark_drutz]

<p>If the Photography Gods were on your side, the bag wouldn't have fallen at all. Maybe they're trying to tell you something.</p>

[danielransom]

<p>I'd get in touch with Lowepro. You have a great ad possibility.</p>

[nathangardner]

<p>Go get insurance so if you're not so lucky next time, at least you'll be covered.</p>

[2dhouse]

<p>Oh we're already insured.. At the worst it wouldn't really have been a big deal, just more of a hassle than anything else but thank you :)</p>

[Ray House]

<p>Could you share that math formula with us? Glad to hear your gear survived.</p>

[bruce_erickson1]

<p>What insurance do you have?</p>

[bojepsen1]

<p>Congrats to you, my friend. That is good luck indeed. I once dropped a suitcase, primarily full of clothes, in which lay my 50mm 1.8. The handle broke when I took it out of the boot and wouldn't you know it. The lens was destroyed. Whims of the Goddes of Mercy, I suppose :-)</p>

[steve m smith]

<blockquote>

<p>I did the math and it's the same force as a sledge hammer swung by a massive dude right onto the bag</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Can you show me the formula for that? And is <em>massive dude </em>a scientific term?</p>

<p>Actually the massive dude with a sledge hammer would do a lot more damage as the force is concentrated on the much smaller surface area of the hammer compared to the surface area of the bag hitting the ground..... but that's enough rocket surgery. Pleased to hear the important bits survived.</p>

[tom_mann1]

<p>Just checking: You do mean 23 feet, not 23 inches, don't you? If so, I'm **VERY** impressed. I'm a big user of LoewPro bags and they have saved my equipment from some minor impacts, but nothing as big as you experienced.</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

[andrew_west5]

<p>I once had a Pentax Optio MX, a 3.2 MP stills/video hybrid. It suffered rain, snow, and being dropped on concrete more times than I care to count. It worked perfectly until I took it with me on a trip to Florida. It didn't survive baggage handling.</p>

<p>Maybe I displeased the camera gods. Or TSA.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Once I had my Nikon D2X with the 17-55mm/f2.8 AF-S DX lens attached in a LowePro TopLoader 75 bag: <a href="http://products.lowepro.com/product/toploader-pro-75-aw,2131,8.htm">http://products.lowepro.com/product/toploader-pro-75-aw,2131,8.htm</a><br>

Suddenly the shoulder strap came off (due to a poor design) and the whole bag fell from my waist level onto a concerte floor. Initially I thought there was no damage at all since the bag is well padded, and the drop was from perhaps only 3 feet. It turns out that the mount on the lens was slightly bent and the right side of all images captured with that lens became out of focus. One symptom was that the lens wouldn't work with the bottom row of AF points on the camera any more. Nikon USA charged me about $130 to fix the lens mount.</p>

<p>David the OP here may have gotten lucky since apparently neither one of the bodies had a lens attached in the way he arranges his camera bag, as any impact would likely put a lot of stress on the mount between body and lens. However, elements inside lenses could still be knoced out of alignment, etc. etc. That was why I suggested that he should check each lens and body.</p>

[2dhouse]

<p>Shun, yeah that's actually one of a few reasons I never store my bodies mounted.. but I still appreciate the advice, had I not been aware I may not have checked and that could have been bad.</p>

<p>Bruce, I'm not sure what you mean exactly, I've just got the whole studio under a very extensive insurance policy for everything inside the studio, and a lot of stuff that leaves when we do on location shoots.</p>

<p>Ray, hehe you asked for it! It's really just high school math I believe..<br /> <strong> </strong></p>

<p><strong>Formula</strong></p>

<p>My bag weighs in at 40lbs = 18.2 kg.<br /> And F=ma where m=mass (18.2 kg) and a = acceleration (the Earth’s gravitational pull of 9.8m/s/s)<br /> Therefore F=178.36N <img src="http://2dphotography.ca/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" /><br /> What does that mean? well.. a 10 pound (4.5kg) sledge with that energy would accelerate at 40m/s/s! combined with the earths gravity, nearly 50m/s/s! that's about 180km/h or 112mph after 1 second! assuming that the swing of a sledge is a little less than a second, I estimated that it would be traveling around 120kp/h around the same speed a very strong male would be able to achieve<br /> Now V(f)^2=2a(d) where V is the final velocity of our bag, and d is the distance it covered (23′=7m)<br /> so v•v=2•9.8(7m)=137<br /> therefore V(f)=11.7m/s = a whopping 42km/h! so that's the final speed of the bag when it hit the ground.</p>

<p>Also I would agree that a sledge would be a bit worse, but given that the bag seemed to land on one corner with all the hoods, I think it was a pretty concentrated blow..<br /> phew that was a good deal of math :P</p>

[steve m smith]

<blockquote>

<p>phew that was a good deal of math</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Or a lot of <em>maths</em> as we call it in the UK.</p>

[User_4136860]

<p>It goes to prove it's worth buying good bags.</p>

[bruce_erickson1]

<p>I just found an entire discussion of equipment insurance after I wrote. <a href="../learn/insurance">http://www.photo.net/learn/insurance</a> . I am more interested in non-business insurance of equipment, but there is no need to get into that discussion.</p>

[henryp]

<p>Ouch. You're better off than <a href="http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/956894">this fellow</a> who dropped his gear 400' into a river, lost it all and now has no insurance coverage for replacement. Small consolation I know though.</p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

[2dhouse]

<p>Oh my, that's... just... horrible... wow. Yeah I am a lot better off, I almost feel bad since I was at least insured in the event of the worst case :/</p>

[jenkins]

<p>This situation can be the only positive reason i can think of for having less gear, it doesn't hit the ground so hard, I am well safe :)</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>I would imagine that inside Henry Posner, he must be wishing that David had broken a few lenses and camera bodies, such that Dave would need to buy some new gear from the small camera store on 9th Avenue. :-)</p>