What is the most expensive photographic item that you've lost?

Huss · Jul 12, 2021

I never lose anything. Until I do.
Today I looked for my Zeiss 18mm slide on optical VF. GONE. No idea where, turned my place upside down.
Checked how much they are going for - about $500. Five freakin hundred dollars.

Why couldn't it have been my plastic CV VF? Those are worth a nickel. But no..

I am presently in the grieving process, and will accept flowers, cards, candy and cash. Not necessarily in that order.

Trask · Jul 12, 2021

The one that I'll admit to is a Baierfoto adapter to fit a Hasselblad finder onto a Rolleiflex body. It's just....gone. And it's not like it's an item I'd mistakenly leave sitting around somewhere. To make matters worse, Baierfoto ( http://www.baierfoto.de/tlr_engl.html ) appears to have gone out of business in November 2020, perhaps a victim of the pandemic. I think that other companies are now making similar adapters, but this was a really well-made one; sorry to see it go.

——
And, 18 hours later, spurred on by this thread, I found my Baierfoto adapter. It was hiding amidst other stuff, not in a box. So thanks to Huss, I am re-united with this particular item.

madNbad · Jul 12, 2021

Pulled everything out of my safe, including the shelves and turning it over looking for my TA mini soft release. Then I realize I gave it away.

mshchem · Jul 12, 2021

I lost a brand new pair of glasses, I think my mischievous Cat Pistol Pete knocked them off a nightstand into a wastebasket. My bad, I am wary of such possibilities, maybe my glasses and the viewfinder will turn up.

Auer · Jul 13, 2021

I loose my mind quite often, nothing expensive..

MarkS · Jul 13, 2021

I left a Zone VI-modified Pentax Digital spot meter in the field somewhere. Went back the next day looking for it but it had snowed overnight...The most accurate meter that I've ever used (when shooting landscapes anyway). 11 years later I still haven't replaced it.

MurrayMinchin · Jul 13, 2021

I've been lucky and haven't lost anything except for a couple of cheap, under performing tripods I bought in my early days which ended up getting chucked into the river.

Tom Kershaw · Jul 13, 2021

I lost a very new and reliable standard cable release once, no idea where it went. The other item was an electronic shutter release for the Nikon F100.

GarageBoy · Jul 13, 2021

One of the shutterbug writers (may have been Roger Hicks) said he didn't trust domke vests after a 21 2.8 m elmarit fell out of the pocket

removed account4 · Jul 13, 2021

Auer said:
I loose my mind quite often, nothing expensive..

+1
a long time ago...

dpurdy · Jul 13, 2021

I lost a Pentax spot meter out of my car.. with someones help. I left my newer Pentax spot meter on a picnic table in a national park. Went back the next day and it was still there. I left my Rolleiflex on the top of my car and drove into town from a beach location. It was still on my car when I pulled into Safeways for a deli sandwich. I one in and bought the sandwich before I looked on top of my car. thank you luggage rack.

Huss · Jul 13, 2021

GarageBoy said:
One of the shutterbug writers (may have been Roger Hicks) said he didn't trust domke vests after a 21 2.8 m elmarit fell out of the pocket

yeah, my VF fell out of a Fogg bag. I was a dumb-a$$ to buy one when I first got into Leica, and fell for all that life-style marketing BS. They are not good bags, but cost a bu-- load.

eddie · Jul 13, 2021

I lost a set of Rolleinars for my 3.5F about 10 years ago. I think it's on an island in the French West Indies but, as is usually the case, will turn up when I'm searching the house for something else I've misplaced.

Ian Grant · Jul 13, 2021

Got to be my Leica M3 and 50mm f2 Summicron, I left it on a train. I was very tired fell asleep and woke up at my destination leaving the camera on the seat next to me. When home I made a phone call and luckily the camera had been handed to station staff at the next station and I had it back quite quickly on the next train.

Ian

Trask · Jul 13, 2021

My second post here — does getting your camera gear stolen count? If so, then having my Nikon S3 and 50mm, 28mm and 105mm lenses all stolen in Bukavu, Zaire, in 1975 tops my list I was there for Peace Corps training, and a fellow volunteer left his window open; the thief came in, jumped the wall into my room (we were in cubicles in a big hall), and made off with all the photo gear and my Zenith shortwave radio. Bizarrely enough, the radio was recovered, and sent across the country to Kinshasa to PC HQ for safe keeping until it could be returned to me, but reportedly someone broke into the HQ and the radio was stolen again. Guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

Huss · Jul 13, 2021

Ian Grant said:
Got to be my Leica M3 and 50mm f2 Summicron, I left it on a train. I was very tired fell asleep and woke up at my destination leaving the camera on the seat next to me. When home I made a phone call and luckily the camera had been handed to station staff at the next station and I had it back quite quickly on the next train.

Ian

You are so lucky!

madNbad · Jul 13, 2021

Does selling gear to KEH count? If so, I've lost enough over the years to buy a couple of M10Ps.

GRHazelton · Jul 13, 2021

I left my Manfrotto 3001 tripod with the 3 axis quick release head on the window sill at my booth in a restaurant. I didn't realize I'd lost it for some time. Sadly the restaurant didn't connect the tripod with the diner who'd paid with a credit card and contact me. I was able to replace it with a good used example.
Many years ago my Father left his gadget bag with his (now my) AsahiFlex IIa and a wide angle lens, the normal lens and the 83mm fl.9 tele at an overlook on the Skyline Drive. He realized what he'd done in a few minutes and miles, and, wonderful to say, it was still there.

Saganich · Jul 13, 2021

Left a Rolleiflex 3.5 K4 hanging on a coat hook under the bar once. Luckily I was the last one to leave that night and got it when they opened.

Donald Qualls · Jul 13, 2021

I apparently misplaced a like-new Autoknips (self timer that attached to cable release socket), in original plastic snap-latch box. Had it on a shelf in my dining room (which was also my repair workspace and "machine shop"), and then it was gone. Or maybe it's still in one of the boxes of photo stuff I haven't completely emptied, but I'm pretty sure it was gone before my move...

gone · Jul 13, 2021

I hang onto the gear. It's the shots that I miss and lose.

Helge · Jul 13, 2021

Donald Qualls said:
I apparently misplaced a like-new Autoknips (self timer that attached to cable release socket), in original plastic snap-latch box. Had it on a shelf in my dining room (which was also my repair workspace and "machine shop"), and then it was gone. Or maybe it's still in one of the boxes of photo stuff I haven't completely emptied, but I'm pretty sure it was gone before my move...

Aren’t they all like new? No one ever used them. They are horrible to use.
I have several.
They have to be calibrated or else they will put insane pressure on the release spring or not trigger at all.
When it’s finally working, they put an inordinate amount of lever tension on a screw socket that was meant to hold a flexible cable.
Not only when they just sit there but especially if they are bumped, which they will be in the situations where self triggering is usually used.

Why weren’t they just put on a cable with a clip or cold foot?

bdial · Jul 13, 2021

For lost and not recovered a Gossen Luna Pro light meter, many years ago, in a field in Irvine California. The replacement cost was quite dear to me at the time.
Lost and recovered, a Nikon F on a tour bus in San Francisco, I called the tour co and they were able to get it back to me.

We are in good company, Yo-Yo Ma left his cello in a taxi once; Yo-Yo Ma Forgets Cello in Cab

DonW · Jul 13, 2021

30 years worth of negatives and chromes. My first wife had a very serious and violent mental condition. Something told her she needed to destroy all these images. Along with a very extensive record collection.

ic-racer · Jul 13, 2021

Road America race track 1980s lost my Yashica 124G lenscap.

Maybe it is my working style. I usually only have a single camera and lens on me when I leave the house and my tripod is pretty big, not easy to misplace. Never have I hauled around a big bag of 'gear and lenses.'
If you only have a single lens with you, you always have the correct lens; it is the only one you have.

What is the most expensive photographic item that you've lost?

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