UKC

Clinging pathetically again to the coat-tails of another CJD thread...(well that thread plus every other thread about camera bags/cases)

I don't "nurse" my cameras. They don't have special padded cases. Usually I just have an SLR with a prime lens, slung over my shoulder - I'll merrily climb, cycle or hillwalk like this, rain or shine (though common sense still plays a part of course - it WILL get sheltered in a bag if it's REALLY heavy rain!).
I keep an eye out for spilt or thrown lager at gigs, and if shooting is not going to be worthwhile, the camera goes into an unpadded cheap rucksack.
That's about it.
Sometimes the edge of a filter gets scuffed. Sometimes I have to wipe a filter clean.
But the cameras seem OK.

I have had 3 cameras die on me in 10 years, and in none of these cases was it anything to do with lack of protective casing.

1: some Fuji compact thing, I fell asleep on a beach and a sand dune formed on me overnight, burying the camera (in its nice case) and actually filling the camera with sand

2: Minolta X-300 - capacitor died of old age (recently revived)

3: Minolta X-700 - mirror locked up, don't know why but am sure it's not to do with it getting a bit dusty or damp.

I dropped my favourite lens at a Sleater-Kinney gig and it rolled back out of sight. I wrote it off on the spot and continued shooting with my zoom. It got handed back to me at the end of the gig, it had been incidentally hoofed around the floor a bit and picked up some new scars, but was fine!


I wouldn't recommend replicating this test, but I just wonder if some people cosset their cameras a bit much?

I'm no opportunist guerilla photographer but I definitely have photographs that I like that I'd have missed had I been precious about bagging the cameras up in cotton wool at the first sign of "trouble".

So I'm wondering a few things here really.
1 - How precious are you about your cameras?
2 - How precious are you about getting a good shot with miniumum faff?
3 - Have you killed many cameras due to not being diligent with putting them in a padded bag (dropping them in a lake doesn't count as I don't think a padded bag would have helped!)?

Questions perhaps don't apply to professionals with top-flight insurance who think nothing of trashing a camera on a pro shoot

In reply to Blue Straggler:

1. Not very, an important factor in buying a camera is how droppable it is
   
2. Don't understant how this relates
   
3. No, never killed a camera, despite my best efforts e.g. dropping 2m onto concrete, driving with camera left on car roof.

In reply to Blue Straggler: Removed Lowepro full of MF gear from boot of car in the Coe, saw a pal i hadnt seen in many years, reversed car to let him park, now where did that lowepro go?? (slightly damaged wind on lever) had a Canon 'sureshot' thingy go 'nuts' on Diadem in winter once, wound all the film through after taking the first photo, i blame the spindrift getting in!

In reply to Blue Straggler:
Not managed to actually kill any cameras yet . . . including the one where the batteries leaked after lying unused in a drawer for ten years, now given it a good clean and it appears to be working.
However, I'm about to start attaching cameras to kites, so this statistic may be about to change. :

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Al is the guy.
He undoubtedly holds the record.

In reply to Blue Straggler:


Pentax ME Super - stolen from car (1989?)
Olympus Mju Film - lost somewhere in Spain
Canon S40 Compact - dropped of pub table in Argentiere, kaputt
Canon S60 - Waterproof camera case opened whilst coasteriing in N Pembroke, sea water screwed it

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Deaths:
Sony cybershot - screen knackered through an impact winter climbing. Probably thrutching leading to a body jam with camera in pocket.

Canon g3 - Stolen.

My 20D goes around my neck to climb and i've havd shot i wouldn't have done if i was taking 'more care' of it.

My attitude is roughly:
It's only a camera. It's insured. It's pretty robust anyway and i'd rather have it available.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

had one jam on me - was on a shoot which was to be my first published stint- fortunately i had another with me

why should you ever want to 'trash a camera on a pro- shoot'

In reply to diablo:

Show me where I said anything about anyone actively WANTING to trash a camera.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

none.

scabby old yashica has become noticeably more scabby in the time that I've had him, if that helps?

In reply to Blue Straggler:

My old Ricoh SLR is feeling a bit poorly, but I don't think it's trashed, it just needs a bit of TLC from someone who knows what they are doing.

Other than that, I have never trashed one...I just use them until I fancy something else and then add them to Dad's collection. Which is often where they came from in the first place

Not that I am particularly precious about looking after them, I've just been lucky so far!

K

In reply to Blue Straggler:

On 3/27/52 Blue Straggler writes:
"Stoopid Speed Graphic! This hood must go!
Scared of the dark dontcha know".

In reply to Mystery Toad: Get back to your cell psycho!

I once dropped a bag and destroyed a nikon d200, 17-55, 12-24 and an sb800. At the time I think I was pretty annoyed The 12-24 was the worst, pretty much broke into 2 pieces :-P

I also managed to break a d2h :-P wore the shutter out though so at least i got my moneys worth!

Oh yeah I broke the battery tray on a fuji s3, superglue fixed it though so the camera didn't die.

In reply to Blue Straggler:
I killed one cos it was in the pocket of an arcteryx jacket with a "watrproof" zip. Sadly the sealing on the pocket was more effective so it dorwned
and a couple of weeks ago I dropped one of the top ridge of Cabeza del Condor and it fell 1500m
nice

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Have you been out in windy sandy conditions much? I haven't used slr much but have lost a couple of lenses to grit. There's a hideous grinding noise when you try to focus and that seems to be the end of the lens.
Apart from that I just sling it over my shoulder and bash it about. It only costs a few quid so it's not worth worrying about.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I bust an £100 olympus point and shoot in Sell Gill Holes whilst caving, pissed wet through. Since then Ive used Fujica STX 1's bought off ebay at £20 a time, completely manual SLR, never let me down, lots of dings and scrapes but still working.

I had a Sea & Sea underwater camera dragged off my wrist whilst retreating very scared from the valve in Naden Reservoir, it went through several hundred yards of pipe, floated across the reservoir for a week and I picked it up on the far bank, pictures came out ok and then I sold the camera on ebay.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I didn't really kill it, but had a Fujica waterproof camera bought for caving. After about 5 years or more the soft rubber bits started melting, no chemical contact either. I eventually contacted Fuji asking about it & they admitted it was a fault & offered to redo it for about £70, which was about what the camera originally cost. Needless to say I refused their offer & still have it in, & slowly becoming one, with a plastic bag.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Min's just bolloxed mine, and she's lost 2 Sony video camcorders too. Don't ask.

Features has kindly offered to bring one back from Canada for me, so I'm thinking Olympus/Canon? Any opinion?

In reply to Mike C:

Someone drowned a Leica 111 series when canoeing round Scotland years ago, rinsed it out with fresh water then sent it to leica who fixed it. It all depends on the camera.

Not really killed any cameras for years, last one was probably my Ilford Sportsman in the 60s that fell a long way in Scotland. Lots of niggles on various ones, wind on on Voightlander does not like taking three shots at a time, think the clutch is loose. Rewind on Rollie 35 played up, fixed with a spot of superglue.

In reply to Blue Straggler: A nice Olympus will emerge from the bottom of the Glacier Blanc in the Ecrins at some point.....

In reply to Blue Straggler: I lost one camera to a leaky bottle. I loved that thing.

In reply to Blue Straggler: I have only killed one; dropped it while climbing in Pembrokewhen the clip on the padded bag came unclipped It was a Pentax ME Super, and landed lens first, turning a nice 28-80 zoom into a wide angle. Only damage to actual camera was a crack in the mirror, so I carried on using it with another lens for the rest of the weekend before getting it repaired. It worked fine for about two years after, but then mirror started hanging up in very cold conditions.

I have had about half a dozen others (mostly point and shoots) die through misuse and neglect.

In reply to Blue Straggler: Mangled an Ixus APS whilst thrutching up some manky chimney section in the Tyrol. It was attached to my harness and I forgot it - until it went crunch! And it was in a padded bag.

Still take my cameras climbing with me. However the DSLR stays on the ground.

In reply to Blue Straggler: I cant afford to trash anything

Having said that it gets a fair bit of abuse, only time it stays in the padded bag is when skiing/snowboarding to and from taking photos. I was initially very scared of breaking stuff, but I've caught edges going pretty quick and landing straight on the bag and nothings broken yet.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

One of the happiest moments of my climbing career was during an ascent of Axis at Carn Barra. There had been a certain amount of argy-bargy about an abseil rope and which team was going down first. We had won this debate and abseiled down, and I was just starting up when the leader of the rival team began his ascent, sporting an absurd foam football on his harness, containing (as I subsequently learned) his priceless camera. He had hardly started his descent when the football detached itself, whizzed down and bounced high off the belay ledge into the sea. Impressive level of camera protection – I’m sure the camera was still in perfect shape as it trundled around the seabed- but a bit of a Pyrrhic victory as it turned out.

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Surely "descent"?

Did you cackle at his misfortune?

Had you thought the foamy thing had contained something other than a camera, at the time?

Did they climb better than your team ?

In reply to Blue Straggler:

maybe i misread what you said (am quite good at that )

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Descent, indeed.

I cackled only inwardly. At the time I had no idea what the foamy thing contained. I had never seen such an absurd object before. Nor since, really. Does anyone really carry cameras encased in foam footballs on sea cliffs?

jcm

i managed to drown my olympus mju in snowdonia on my ML training even though it was inside my gortex jacket, which shortly after i had it repaired for leaning back on it whilst at an indoor wall.also also spilling vodka on it didn't help the zoom motor very much either. my cameras normally live in my pocket and i now like my waterproof pentax stash it and forget about it!

All these reports of cameras that suffered terrible trauma but still worked for years afterwards....before finally yielding. Makes me think twice about buying second hand!

This thread reminded me of a holiday in Corsica a few years ago where my friend was proudly testing out his new 3mp Fuji compact. There was a problem with the battery compartment in that the sprung contacts were slightly bent and the camera would lose power intermittently. I waded in with my 'specialist' repair skills and tried to re-bend it using the handle of a fork (resourceful, I thought). Seconds later the battery terminal snapped off was jetissoned across the campsite never to be seen again. This did not go down well.

On another occasion I was exploring my new second hand olympus OM10 manual SLR, trying to get the focussing screen out (why?). The screwdriver slipped and gouged a deep scratch across the screen. Still useable but annoying!

Suffice to say I have learned my lesson.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I rested a camera on top of my car whilst resting at a laybay in the Lake District. I think we'd just cleared Hardknott Pass at the time and were heading west. After taking in the view I drove off with the camera still on the roof. About a mile down the road the penny dropped, but too late...

In reply to DaveH:

After 2 years of reasonable care taken climbing with my nice olympus camera and only a few scratches from a careless bouldering accident i managed to total my camera on a night out on the Piss in Newcastle after falling on top of it!! lol Strange! Lucky it was insured!