My passenger was not phased.......

Chuck_P · May 12, 2012

....but I had the s__t scared out of me today----had to get on the brakes hard to avoid a collision while on the way to go photographing. Inside the pack, my Horseman 4x5 L-frame monorail, a 210 Rodenstock Sironar-N and Nikon 120SW lenses. The pack is belted in tight, but the tripod slammed the glove box, but it's ok. Anyone else ever had such an experience?

tkamiya · May 12, 2012

Yes.... I experienced that long time ago. Since then, I put anything heavy in the passenger side foot well or in trunk so that in case of accident, it has less chance of becoming a projectile.

removed-user-1 · May 12, 2012

Oh yes. Once years ago, riding around Oregon with a friend, my Nikon on the back seat, my friend decided I wasn't stopping quickly enough. So, she yelled "STOP!" at the top of her lungs. I did, in fact, have things under control but I slammed on the brakes, thinking there was something I had missed... Camera went onto the floor, of course. Everything was fine except that the plastic lens hood took the brunt of the impact and was quite shattered. I love lens hoods. Two other times they have also saved cameras and lenses that I dropped.

Old-N-Feeble · May 12, 2012

STOP everyone... DON'T PANIC!!

zsas · May 12, 2012

Chuck - Thankfully I have not had the misfortune, glad you are safe!

Chuck_P · May 12, 2012

zsas said:
Chuck - Thankfully I have not had the misfortune, glad you are safe!

It was just one of those deals, previously, every time I buckled that pack in it seemed kind of silly, but it paid off. The sturdy L-framed Horseman, was not as much of a concern, I think the big payoff was the lenses, I can see where they maybe could've been damaged if the pack hit the dash the wrong way, even though I have them packaged the best I can.

BradleyK · May 12, 2012

My beloved F2AS took a tumble off the roof of a taxi cab (impatient driver in a hurry to score his next fare) at Hartsfield Airport a number of years back. Beyond a nice big dent on the top of the DP-12, a crack across the same, a small dent near the frame counter and a bit of black paint removed, the the camera survived intact. In fact, I used the camera until 25 December 2010, shooting my last roll of PKM with the body in Yahoo Country's (the province of Alberta) Jasper National Park. The camera was officially retired at that time.

DWThomas · May 12, 2012

Many, MANY years ago, I placed an SLR, big lightmeter and tripod on the back seat of my car. The seat had a cushion that sloped toward the back and it sort of cradled the stuff -- what could go wrong?! As I passed through a neighboring town, a cat ran out in front of me. Now I'm not crazy about cats anyway (and less so since) but I instinctively planted a large foot on brake pedal and it slid the contents of the rear seat into the well in front of the seat.

No apparent damage was done, but it has helped me remember to anchor things better. My preference is to have them on the floor, either in front of the passenger seat if I'm alone, or in the well behind the driver's seat if I'm not alone, or stopping where I want them less visible. That way the most they can do is slide a bit without a sudden change in elevation. It can be a challenge with a small car and a bunch of large gear.

c.d.ewen · May 12, 2012

A few years ago, the old diesel Suburban had an injector problem, and couldn't make it up a hill. A towtruck operator hooked it up, and winched it up onto a flatbed. Just as the 'burb reached the top of the flatbed, the winch gave way, and the truck went flying backwards off the flatbed with the winch cable still attached. The driver went running downhill, after the truck, and I ran and dove under the front bumper of the flatbed, expecting the 3-ton 'burb to snap the winch cable, which would then snap back and cut the driver in half. Fortunately for him, the front wheels of the 'burb hit something, and the truck turned and smacked into a guardrail, backwards, at about 30 mph.

The 12x20 Korona and the No 10 Cirkut, both in their Pelican cases, and the V8 Deardorff, in its' Calzone case, as well as the two Orvis reel cases full of lenses were thrown every which way, landing on their sides, upside-down, etc. Everything survived absolutely intact.

I considered it a near-death experience.

Charley

Old-N-Feeble · May 12, 2012

c.d.ewen said:
A few years ago, the old diesel Suburban had an injector problem, and couldn't make it up a hill. A towtruck operator hooked it up, and winched it up onto a flatbed. Just as the 'burb reached the top of the flatbed, the winch gave way, and the truck went flying backwards off the flatbed with the winch cable still attached. The driver went running downhill, after the truck, and I ran and dove under the front bumper of the flatbed, expecting the 3-ton 'burb to snap the winch cable, which would then snap back and cut the driver in half. Fortunately for him, the front wheels of the 'burb hit something, and the truck turned and smacked into a guardrail, backwards, at about 30 mph.

The 12x20 Korona and the No 10 Cirkut, both in their Pelican cases, and the V8 Deardorff, in its' Calzone case, as well as the two Orvis reel cases full of lenses were thrown every which way, landing on their sides, upside-down, etc. Everything survived absolutely intact.

I considered it a near-death experience.

What I intended to say is Oh Shit!! on many levels.:eek:

lxdude · May 12, 2012

c.d.ewen said:
Everything survived absolutely intact.

Including the Suburban?

lxdude · May 12, 2012

CPorter said:
The pack is belted in tight, but the tripod slammed the glove box, but it's ok.

Except the tripod is now asking to ride in back.

Vaughn · May 12, 2012

I was bicycling from one end of NZ to the other with my 4x5. I kept my lens in the right front pannier (the idea was if I crashed, I'd protect that side). The camera pack and pod were on the back of the bike -- on top of the rear rack behind the seat...seemed to be the safest place.

On Christmas Day, I lost control in deeper gravel on a gravel road and drifted off the road on a curve and into a bunch of rocks. I went over the handle bars -- so much for "protecting" anything! I waited a few days to get the courage to go through all the camera equipment, but all was fine.

Vaughn

paul_c5x4 · May 12, 2012

Driving across the flatlands Illinois, not a hill or policeman in sight and very little traffic. Had the throttle pegged somewhere around the 60 mark and just minding my own business... On hitting the outskirts of a one horse town, I slowed to 30(ish) and watched the long line of trucks parked up on the adjacent railroad. Decided to turn off the main street and over the level crossing. As I went over the rail tracks at around 30, it suddenly dawned on me that this part of Illinois wasn't quite as flat as I thought. The road dropped by about ten feet and I was doing a Dukes of Hazzard kinda stunt. The front bumper gouged a lump out of the tarmac and all the luggage in the back impacted on the roof - Thankfully, it was a rental car and no lasting damage was done to the contents.

jp498 · May 12, 2012

If you've got ABS brakes, sometime when you're not carrying camera gear or have other cars near you, get going about 60-70mph and put the brake pedal to the floor and keep it there till you stop. Be sure your seatbelt is extra tight. If your brakes are good, it can be a pretty physical deceleration. A newer sporty car with good tires on a good surface, and you'll wonder why your eyeballs didn't pop out.

j-dogg · May 12, 2012

Back in my drag racing days I had rigged my Nikkormat with a shutter cable in the back of my car, 1994 Ford Probe GT with 100-shot nitrous.

Car would snap off a 13.4 @ 105mph roasting through 2nd gear, the one time I had a good launch off the tree was when I had my tripod standing up in the hatch looking forward, was doing 1/30 sec on a 35/2.8 to blur the surroundings. Got off the line on motor, hit the spray in 2nd gear and the whole assembly fell back onto hard metal because I had removed the interior from the front seats backward to shave weight. I thought for a split-second I destroyed my transmission (did on the last pass of the night at the top of 3rd gear @ 100-ish, Mazda G25M-r's just aren't made for that kind of power) but realized I only destroyed my camera.

As in typical 60's Nikon F-mount fashion, everything was fine. Lens and body survived, I still shoot the exact setup to this day.

lxdude · May 12, 2012

j-dogg said:
Back in my drag racing days I had rigged my Nikkormat with a shutter cable in the back of my car, 1994 Ford Probe GT with 100-shot nitrous.

More than one reason it's called laughing gas.

Car would snap off a 13.4 @ 105mph roasting through 2nd gear, the one time I had a good launch off the tree was when I had my tripod standing up in the hatch looking forward, was doing 1/30 sec on a 35/2.8 to blur the surroundings. Got off the line on motor, hit the spray in 2nd gear and the whole assembly fell back onto hard metal because I had removed the interior from the front seats backward to shave weight. I thought for a split-second I destroyed my transmission (did on the last pass of the night at the top of 3rd gear @ 100-ish, Mazda G25M-r's just aren't made for that kind of power) but realized I only destroyed my camera.

As in typical 60's Nikon F-mount fashion, everything was fine. Lens and body survived, I still shoot the exact setup to this day.

Still, sounds like a coupla bungee cords wrapped tight woulda been a good idea.

Wade D · May 13, 2012

I didn't really appreciate the ABS brakes in my Grand Cherokee till a few weeks ago. I was coming home from a day of shooting doing around 60. Just about to pass an onramp when out of nowhere another SUV comes flying in from the right and merges almost into me. I hit the brakes hard and avoided a collision by inches. Luckily the cameras and my favorite border collie were securely belted in the back seat. No damage to either but 2 90lb.sacks of concrete I had just bought bent the rear seat back a bit. Now I fully respect those great ABS brakes!

mrsmiggins · May 13, 2012

Painful memories.
I have a small Yaris and the rear cargo area behind the back seats is a good spot to pack the LF gear. Any heavy braking, and provided the vehicle stays upright, the gear remains in place - no problem.

And so it did a few weeks back when, while on my way out towards Kinglake, I spooked a fully grown adult kangaroo on the side of the road. I wasn't going too fast - thankfully, braked hard, but the roo got confused, ran into me ( instead of away from me) and stumbled off with an obvious broken leg. I called for a ranger and hung around while we tried to find it, before it was put out of its misery.

....that put me off for the rest of the day.

c.d.ewen · May 13, 2012

lxdude said:
Including the Suburban?

Just needed a new rear bumper. He paid for the repairs and the rental truck, of course.

Fortunately, this happened at 2 AM in the middle of nowhere, with not another car in sight. I had pulled off onto an adjacent section of brand-new highway that had not yet been opened. I always wondered what the highway guys thought - "Road's not even open, and we've got to replace a section of guardrail already".

Charley

Chris Nielsen · May 13, 2012

A friend with a Mazda 6 4wd turbo decided to show me how good his ABS is, I didn't hear anything but later found my brand new F80 was broken. Not happy

lxdude · May 13, 2012

c.d.ewen said:
Just needed a new rear bumper. He paid for the repairs and the rental truck, of course.

Fortunately, this happened at 2 AM in the middle of nowhere, with not another car in sight. I had pulled off onto an adjacent section of brand-new highway that had not yet been opened. I always wondered what the highway guys thought - "Road's not even open, and we've got to replace a section of guardrail already".

Charley

My passenger was not phased.......

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