Dumb mistakes I have made

[ksmattfish]

Yesterday I was having problems with the viewfinder on my 20D. Everything was blurry, and it was hard to see through. I examined the lenses (both front and rear elements), the mirror, and the viewfinder surfaces, and couldn't see anything wrong, so I started to assume that my eyes were just really tired. About halfway through the day I realized that the viewfinder diopter was turned all the way in one direction (I normally keep it at -1 or -2 clicks). Doh!!!!

Post your dumb mistakes so that others may learn.

 

[SLOShooter]

Changed the ISO setting for night shooting, didn't change it back the next day for some landscapes. Turned out all grainy.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Processing some important B&W film for a client I put it to wash and proptly forgot about it. I remembered some hours later only to find that I had put it on the hot tap and the emulsion had melted and floated off.
I spent the rest of the night trying to think up a good excuse. The real one was that my wife went into labour and gave birth to our second son whilst the film was washing - but i didn't think that the client would believe me. I told him the lab had screwed up and got away with it

 

[terri]

Gosh…I have so many.

Off the top of my head, there was that time I convinced myself that my fastest lens, a Pentax 85mm 1.8, was broken because my camera suddenly wouldn’t fire. It had worked fine till I put that lens on. I took it on and off a few times and was breaking into a cold sweat before I realized I had the camera on "manual" and the lens was set to "auto"… :blushing:

And the first time I developed film (Matt will remember this one) I carefully poured my developer into the tank and then inverted it without putting the tank lid on…slosh! About 2/3 of my film developed perfectly, though. :mrgreen:

 

[Mitica100]

I shot an entire roll while in Rome, by the Colisseum. A day later, after 'finishing' the roll I pushed the Rewind button and opened the cam to put in another roll I realized -with horror- that there was no film. Camera didn't have a film window and no manual rewind, so...

 

[darich]

I've done the same as SLOShooter so many times i couldn't count!!!
Adjusting the ISO for dim light then forgetting to take it back to 100. There should be a dial or marker that displays the current setting...or am i just looking for excuses??
hehe

 

[Unimaxium]

Had a blurry viewfinder, thought the diopter was set wrong, but actually the viewfinder lens was just dirty Just the opposite of your problem. Ok, well maybe it's not that dumb.

 

[Meysha]

There should be a dial or marker that displays the current setting...

Hahaha! I reckon there should be a big sign out the top of the camera - like a flag - that tells you what you're set to. It's sooooo frustrating!! (hmm maybe we should mass email canon complaining about it - then something might be done)

Ummm I've done heaps of stupid dumb things with my cameras - like opening the back of my Holga with film still in there... d'oh! I swear I thought I'd taken it out the night before. Those evil film pixies are back. :-(

 

[LizM]

1600 ISO, 1/120 sec, F4 for an early evening football game (I HATE dark color jerseys). Started snapping the next morning and then chimped and wondered what the @#$(&%^ happened - the display is all white!!! Then the "Doh!" hit me and I fixed the settings.

 

[Dweller]

Pull up a chair..

spending all day taking shots of hummingbirds only to find no film in the camera (I was abotu 14 at the time and using my dads camera)

Waiting for hours for a fireworks show to start, cranking out a roll of film to find out the film had not been loaded properly

Forgetting to hold down the little rewind button and breaking the film by forcing the rewind handle

Shooting in the rain with nothing to protect my camera (survived unscathed fortunatly)
ISO setting wrong

Waking up at some horrid hour to catch hot air balloons launching, spending an hour or two getting shots, then realizing I forgot to load the camera.. (quite a few years after the first incident.. but I still do it hehe)

But the good part is I almost always learn something from the mistakes.. and thats the point, right? hehe

 

[Digital Matt]

How about this:

Pack up all the camera gear and rush to the beach to catch the sunset. Get out, start putting the backpack on, have an oh no second, realize I have no CF cards, so I run home, grab them, get sidetracked, leave them on the kitchen table, and drive back to the beach, where I get out, and repeat step A. all over again.

DOH....

I did drive home, get them, and still make it back for some interesting shots, but I was pretty angry at myself

 

[Nikon Fan]

How about this:

Pack up all the camera gear and rush to the beach to catch the sunset. Get out, start putting the backpack on, have an oh no second, realize I have no CF cards, so I run home, grab them, get sidetracked, leave them on the kitchen table, and drive back to the beach, where I get out, and repeat step A. all over again.

DOH....

I did drive home, get them, and still make it back for some interesting shots, but I was pretty angry at myself

:lmao: Ouch Matt...I've done the same thing...just not twice

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Today I left without a battery in my camera.
I've shot lots of shots with some keepers with small jpeg

I make it a habit to "reset" everything

ISO 100
f/8 on Av
125 on Tv
f/8 125 on M
RAW
CF empty and in camera
Charged battery
One Shot focus
The kit lens on the body

 

[HoboSyke]

I have done the ISO thing and shot on higher ISO's then nessecary.
Also forgot to change metering on occasions. So many options its hard to keep track of them all, all the time. Which isnt a bad thing. lol.

 

[Marctwo]

I've done the ISO and WB but my most serious mistake was sleeping with a rugby player's girlfriend.