Ouch!!!

[Jonathan]

I went camping in the Flinders Ranges over the weekend through to ANZAC day. It's turned out to be a very expensive trip unfortunately. I got up at sunrise each day to make the most of the early morning light to photograph near the area I was camping in. But in my rush on Sunday morning I forgot to do up the zip on my Lowewpro backpack and flung it over my shoulder as I left the car. The next thing I knew the backpack was a lot lighter and there was 3 cameras, lenses and rolls of film all over the road. My F80 took a big impact as it bounced across the road along with the 80-400 lens that was attached. The camera seems to be fine apart from a few scratches on the battery grip (which probably saved the rest of the camera), but the lens is in pretty bad shape. It's virtually broken off near the aperture ring and all the Vibration Reduction mechanism is cactus, but the optics seem to be OK. I took it to the local Nikon man this morning and it's on it's way to Sydney for quoting on repairs, but so far it's going to cost "over $1k" so he tells me, so it's probably going to cost at least half the price of a new one to fix it. It's a bit disappointing for this to happen but it's not the end of the world, at least all my other gear survived without any damage. It's just annoying that the most expensive piece of equipment in my bag was the one thing that got damaged. I'm going to modify the backpack so it can't happen again. I've had a close call in the past when my compact digi cam was left on the ground after I left the zip partly undone, so I should of known better.

[iceman (Mike)]

ah man, that's terrible.. sorry to hear it Jonathan.

My favourite part is this though:

on my Lowewpro backpack

Wouldn't happen with a Tamrac, striker!

If the optics survived, you think it'd be much cheaper to repair than buying a new one.. surely the optics are the most expensive part in a lens?

[Octane (Humayun)]

Jonathon,

My sympathies, mate.

I had a similar experience last year. I had just exited Sydney Airport at the domestic terminal and was helping an old lady with her luggage. I flung my Canon Crumpler bag (with my camera and a bunch of lenses) over my shoulder, to make it easier to help her with both arms free, only to realise that my brand new Canon EF 75-300 IS lens had leapt for freedom. My heart froze for a second as I felt the change in weight on my shoulder. I had inadvertantly forgot to do the strap up on the bag.

Thank goodness the lens is built like a brick you-know-what-house, and the only damage that it incurred were minor scuff marks.

See what happens when you help little old ladies at the airport?

All the best with the repairs.

Regards,
Humayun

[ving (David)]

holy cow!
sorry to hear ya talk of woe mate

[Mikezoom]

Ouch indeed Jonathon, hope it does not cost too much. Every time I hear a story like this it makes me shiver.



I imagine that if you kept it without getting it repaired it would be a good lense for taking pictures around corners.

Mike.B.

[Jonathan]

You were lucky Humayun, I think I would have been lucky too if the lens wasn't attached to the camera. I don't know how my lens got damaged so heavily without pulling the mount out of the camera, or at least bending it. I would have preferred the camera get smashed to pieces than the lens, that's much cheaper and easier to deal with.

Originally Posted by iceman

If the optics survived, you think it'd be much cheaper to repair than buying a new one.. surely the optics are the most expensive part in a lens?

They're not 100% sure the optics are OK yet, but I sure hope so otherwise it's probably a throw away. The VR system is probably a significant cost in the lens and it needs replacing in mine. This has to be done in Sydney using a special piece of equipment. If that's going to cost heaps I might see if they can screw it back together without the VR parts and use it like a normal lens while I save up for another one.

I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, because these things can happen but I might look into getting insurance to cover this sort of thing in future.

[iceman (Mike)]

Did your other lens cry in sympathy as it took photos of its smashed up buddy?

[Jonathan]

almost

[Striker (Tony)]

Sorry to Hear Jonathan...how up setting this would have been.

I know it can easily happen.

lol @ Mike...I saw that comment...hehe

[acropolite (Phil)]

Johnathan, I had a mate do the same thing to a lens, he knocked it stepping over a log. His house insurance paid for a replacement. If you have insurance it may be worth checking your policy.

[Jonathan]

I don't think it does Phil, but it's worth checking out. Thanks anyway

[mickoking]

Once upon a time I was a photographer in the RAAF. One day I was photographing the interior of a new building. I attached my trusty Hasselblad to the tripod and proceeded to measure the colour temprature of the ambient light then suddenly , heard a crash. The 'blad had fallen off the tripod onto the as yet un-carpeted concrete floor. After my initial heart attack I checked the camera and it seemed to work fine, after processing the pic's it seemed the camera, it's lens (and me) were fine