My First Near Disaster

[Freester]

Down at West Bay this evening shooting a mate of mine bouncing his trials bicycle around the sea walls and on the rocky jettys. (Photos to come later )

Mounted my 580EXII on my Tripod and positioned it on the rocks for some off camera flash action. Quite a few shots later there was a gust of wind that blew over the tripod. It disappeared down between the rocks.

I hastily retrieved the flash, now separated from the tripod, and made an inspection.

A couple of big gouges / scratches in the 580 EX II but it is still working fine. The tripod and my new Manfrotto grip head are scratched to the metal. The only thing broken is the little foot that comes with the flash. I think this breaking actually saved the flash from any serious damage to the hotshoe foot.

Ahh well it could have been worse. The gear might have ended up in the sea.

Must be more careful next time :bang:

PS Anyone know where I can get a new flash foot thingy?

 

[Rob 80386]

ouch, lucky it didn't end up in the drink

have you trued ebay, for te part in question

 

[Barrysprout]

Could have been worse, but unlucky all the same.
Item number 200428417490 on evilbay. Maybe a bit of a wait from China but at that price you can get a couple.

 

[Lensflare]

Working at the seaside....all you need to do is take an old bag of some sort (pillow case?). It folds up to nothing....at the seaside there are plenty of stones/sand to make your own sand bag to put over the base of the tripod. Saves it getting blown over - water in a dry bag works too if you are on rocks! You don't need to take the water, there is plenty there.

 

[Freester]

Yeh cheers for the advice on the flash foot.

I was just being stupid. In the 'zone' getting some OK results. Working quickly, moved the tripod / flash. I should have placed the legs so that there was a wider base and weighted it all down. But I didn't think. Hopefully won't make that mistake again.