Awww, for Pete's sake... I dropped the friggin' light meter!

[Murray@uptowngallery]

I have read of many many cameras being sucked into the slipstream during aerial photography...(which means bye-bye camera)...you know what it feels like to stick your hand out the window of a car at highway speed, so I guess it must be far worse to stick a camera out the window of an airplane (you know, the open type of plane used for aerial photography, for the benefit of those who can't figure out how to open the window in Boeing and Airbus types).

 

[eddym]

I have read of many many cameras being sucked into the slipstream during aerial photography...(which means bye-bye camera)...you know what it feels like to stick your hand out the window of a car at highway speed, so I guess it must be far worse to stick a camera out the window of an airplane (you know, the open type of plane used for aerial photography, for the benefit of those who can't figure out how to open the window in Boeing and Airbus types).

When I did aerial photography, it was usually in an old Piper Cub or similar small plane that was capable of circling at relatively low speeds around the target area, doing maybe 40 knots. At that speed the slipstream was not too strong. I kept the camera on a neckstrap, or in the case of a Linhof 220 that I sometime used, a wrist strap. Never dropped one. I also kept my seatbelt fastened!

 

[Doremus Scudder]

Let's see...

A 200mm lens once insolently jumped out of my photo vest near the top of Mt. Thielson in Oregon. It rolled about 200 yards down the scree slope till it was retrieved by an alert hiker behind me. He returned it with a few dings and a loose front element. Got that tightened up and it still works fine.

I left a bag full of Nikon stuff on top of my car and drove off. It hit the pavement; I did not even notice. Some moments later, some jerk comes racing up behind me honking and flashing his light. What an idiot, I though. Only when he pulled alongside and showed me my camera bag through the window did I sheepishly pull over and thank him profusely. Luckily, no damage other than a dinged filter ring on one lens.

After a strenuous hike in the Eureka dunes in Death Valley, I returned to the car as it was getting dark. Set my tripod on the ground, stowed my 4x5 and filmholders and pulled a well-deserved beer out of the cooler. Only the next morning did I notice that my tripod was not in the car. I returned to the location, but no luck. Fortunately, I had a spare with me and managed to find a cheap used replacement at a camera store in Las Vegas. I still have that one.

My spot meter also jumped out of my vest pocket once and hit the ground hard enough to kill it. Quality Light Metrics to the rescue in that case (where you should send you meter if it won't work properly...). That ended that trip though. Now I carry a spare Pentax spot meter with me.

I've managed to only dump over a couple of 4x5 cameras. Luckily, nothing but cosmetic damage. One dousing with a "sneaker wave" was thwarted by my quick-thinking wife and beautiful assistant, who threw her windbreaker over the camera. We both got soaked.

I feel guilty of polluting the environment for the number of lens caps I have "littered" down canyons, in rivers, etc.

Not so bad for 25 years of photography though.

Best,

Doremus Scudder

www.DoremusScudder.com

 

[Markok765]

I accidentally hit the release thing on my tripod, and my pentax crashed on the floor.

 

[domaz]

Took a nice hike and bike with my Pentax 6x7 and light meter out to a secluded waterfall in a national park. Climbed out next to the waterfall as far as I could. Setup a tripod, took a meter reading with my Minolta meter and then somehow dropped it into the creek. Kind of ruined that outing. It floated in a pool by the waterfall for a couple minutes until a finally got a stick and retrieved it. I took out the batteries immediately and took it apart when I got home to let it dry. The meter readings have been just a little off ever since.

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Oh, I forgot the Kodak Medalist cut film/ground glass back from eBay. Stinky mildew smell. I put it on the roof of the car to get some sunlight, forgot it & got chased by a bicyclist who found it in the street and asked if I wanted it. I guess he was being polite because he wanted it (?).

I've done that with a number of coffee cups too. He can have those.

The casting was cracked, but not the glass (?!?). I filled the cracks with epoxy & touched up with flat black paint.

I thought I was lucky until I tried to install it...the sides were no longer perpendicular to the back & it didn't fit the camera body any more.

Luckily I found another on eBay that somehow I got for 1/3 of the price of the last one I priced on eBay. No mildew this time!

I unscrewed the casting/back from the glass/filmholder part & I'll be able to hack that onto something else...so I'll have two cameras that can use those weird (Recomar-like) single metal filmholders.

 

[MikeSeb]

Took a cart full of various and sundry gear-stuff out to a location so I could pretend to be Richard Avedon In The American West--you know, blown white backgrounds; stark, lined faces. While rolling the cart the couple hundred yards to my setup point, apparently my Sekonic L-358 bounced off into the street. Was picked up by one of the crowd of kids at this location, and the little imp buggered off with it. I wonder if he ever figured out what it was....

Can't find my Bogen monopod with RRS QR head. Put it down somewhere--no friggin' idea where or when.

Dragged my Zone VI-modified Pentax Digital Spotmeter out of the back of the SUV, onto the concrete. They do not bounce. Amazingly, it still works 100%, but the calculator dial binds a little so I can no longer turn it easily with my index finger.

Common thread here: not having stuff stowed away properly before and after use. I am too absent minded and too easily distracted not to have my s--t properly packed!

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

 

[Removed Account]

While mixing a batch of Ansco (Formulary) 130 at 3am I learned that a 1 gallon jug does not hold 4 litres of developer (or anything else). Should be OK a little more concentrated by 250ml... On the same topic, it's very hard to tell if powders are fully dissolved in an opaque brown Delta jug. Note to self: mix in appropriately sized clear containers, then transfer to appropriately sized storage containers.