Things you shouldnt do with camera kit

oldgit

oldgit

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I just did a dumb:wacky: thing at the zoo.

Today was a beautifully sunny autumnal morning.
So I decided to take 3yr old to zoo (he loves it there). Snapping hapilly away with my 70-200 with occasional use of the 1.4xTC.
My son runs up to me and states "I'm hungry". Not unusual, infact totally expected, so being prepared I fish out a small bag of biscuits and dole a few out. Off he potters to stare at the Meercats.
A little time passes whilst I attempt to bag a few more shots. He wanders back up and says "I've had enough", dumping a half mauled chocky bikky in my hand.
Being a reasonable chap I look around for a bin to bung it in.... not one in sight. So I do the next best thing and pop it in my coat pocket.
Somewhat later I take the 1.4TC off and pop it in my pocket for safe keeping.... oops.

No harm done really, but it's gonna take an age to clean the TC. :shake:


Anyone else done daft stuff and willing to admit it?
 
Anyone else done daft stuff and willing to admit it?
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I'd be more than happy to admit them but I wouldn't know where to start. :LOL:
 
Nice story Paul! I am off to the Zoo on Monday with my 4 year old. Must remember to take some poly bags with me :D

About a year ago I lifted up my camera bag to put on my back in a cafe with a concrete floor but hadn't tied bag properly. Lens drops out and breaks into a squillion bits. That was a blessing in disguise though really - I replaced with an L glass and changed my pictures overnight.
 
The culprit... I blame it all on him. :)

the_culprit1.jpg
 
LOL. I've told this tale before, but it's pretty apt for this thread.

I once removed the focusing screen from a brand new Nikon F4 and attempted to blow a hair off the screen (knowing full well it was a dumb thing to do) and managed to deposit a huge gob of spit on the matte side of the screen which dried in a horrible gooey mess. I couldn't live with it and took it to my repair guy fully expecting to have to fork out for a new screen. He disappeared into the back of the shop and five minutes later returned with the screen as clean as new. He never charged me either, but for months afterwards, I had to endure... "Gobbed in any good Nikons lately Cedric?" whenever I saw him. :D
 
Joe, there's a story about monopods and lens hoods to tell here isn't there? :D
 
Not amusing (well, not for me anyway), but since the Santa Pod meet, the lens hood is jammed on my 70-300 lens. I've shredded my fingers to bits trying to remove it. It won't fit in my camera bag with the lens hood on. Just as well I'm replacing it anyway!
 
I thought both CT and oldigt needed new titles :D
 
Cheers...:razz:

:)
 
I will never fully recover from dropping my 1series down a flight of concrete steps to top it all off it didnt have a lens or body cap on.... :(
 
DreederUK said:
I will never fully recover from dropping my 1series down a flight of concrete steps to top it all off it didnt have a lens or body cap on.... :(
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ooops!
Bit like being kicked in the crown jewels by a kangaroo then?

At least my blunder was resolved with a careful ~20 mins with cleaning cloths.
 
Amazingly enough, the camera still worked after I picked it up and stopped crying... with a slight fault (had to map focus to * button to get it to focus at all), but all the pictures I took after the incident were just fine...

Got it serviced/repaired when i got home anyway, it still shows the battle scars with scratches to the body but works as good as new, the resale value will have taken a tumble :(
 
I took my 430ex off the camera on thursday, it slipped out of my hand and bounced on the tarmac. Batteries popped out but apart from a few scuff marks it seems okay.

Also back in August, I did a lens change on the beach and managed to get a bit of seaweed or something on my focusing screen so tried to get it off with the brush on the lenspen and then using cotton buds when we got back. I've ended up marking the focus screen but it doesnt seem to have affected the camera too much. CT was a star and gave me assistance over the phone and I found a camera shop in Hull who sold a hurricane blower. Still miffed about the marks on the focus screen though :/
 
Darksaber said:
I took my 430ex off the camera on thursday, it slipped out of my hand and bounced on the tarmac. Batteries popped out but apart from a few scuff marks it seems okay.

Also back in August, I did a lens change on the beach and managed to get a bit of seaweed or something on my focusing screen so tried to get it off with the brush on the lenspen and then using cotton buds when we got back. I've ended up marking the focus screen but it doesnt seem to have affected the camera too much. CT was a star and gave me assistance over the phone and I found a camera shop in Hull who sold a hurricane blower. Still miffed about the marks on the focus screen though :/
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I've never attempted to take any marks off the focusing screen with a lenspen.

Never.

Not even when I got my 350 and on its maiden voyage I noticed a mark in teh viewfinder.
I didn't get home and attempt to knock it off a couple of days later....marking the screen.

I then didn't go back to Jessops and ask them to change it.

And they didn't.

And I didn't get another 350D.

Honest.
 
lol

maybe i should have taken mine back to currys :p

i didnt try the lens cleaning end of the pen, just the brush.
 
Not long after the above didn't happen....I took my family to Formby beach.
My daughter was digging some sand and my wife and son were sat on the picnic blanket.

I'd just changed lenses (shielded from the wind, but still on a beach :eek:), and I pointed the camera at my wife and son, with my Sigma 70-300 on.
I lined up an absolutely corking shot of the two, had one eye closed and was just about to squeeze the shutter when I heard a 'thud' and felt something on my forehead and face.

My daughter had thrown a clump of sand at me for a joke.

If ever a parent has wanted to kill their own child, that was the moment. I nearly cried. She didn't mean any harm bless her, but I was mightily cheesed off. We got back to the car, by which time the sand had definitely dried (it was pretty much dry anyway), and I didnt move a switch or a thing on it, and got it all off with a lenspen brush. It wasn't as bad as I thought, and the sand didn't get anywhere it shouldn't.

But I really nearly did cry.

And could have easily killed my daughter...lol
 
I managed to slip and throw my D200 onto some rocks, quite a ways & with some force. It was the camera which took the brunt of the blow, followed by the flash - it landed in such a way that the lens took very little impact.

Anyway, although the flash base cracked (nothing a bit of araldite didn't fix) the camera was absolutely fine - not even scuffed.. And them was rough rocks!

Oh oh oh, and I've managed to lose more than a few of my filters from careless handling and // or windy conditions - but that's in part because I use teeny rear gel filters. Fiddly buggers, them.
 
Darksaber said:
Also back in August, I did a lens change on the beach and managed to get a bit of seaweed or something on my focusing screen so tried to get it off with the brush on the lenspen and then using cotton buds when we got back. I've ended up marking the focus screen but it doesnt seem to have affected the camera too much. CT was a star and gave me assistance over the phone and I found a camera shop in Hull who sold a hurricane blower. Still miffed about the marks on the focus screen though :/
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Focusing screens are really easy to replace. I know I've done it myself. All you need is a steady hand, a pair of tweazers and a dust free room (obviously).
I was flogging my 300D (to get the 20D) when was overzealous in removing dust
specks on the screen. So bought a new one for £10 inc P&P and in the space of 2 mins had it fitted. here's how (although this description is goes way overboard)
 
Back in the 17th Century when I owned (briefly) a Canon A1, I was sunbathing (read 'getting very drunk') on a mate's boat off Key West and somehow dropped the camera into 25ft of sea water.
Since I was very drunk and could actually see the camera down there (very clear water), I decided to try and recover it.
I spent the next hour diving down and trying to get it back up, eventually succeeding (and sobering up in the process, but having started, not being willing to admit defeat in front of my mates). After a 10-minute rinse in fresh water, I put it up on the deck to dry out and forgot all about it for the rest of the day, fully expecting it to be ruined.
It worked fine the next day and every day thereafter until I sold it on to someone who knew the story.
He still has it I think and it still works...
 
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