Ever dropped your camera? How sturdy are modern dSLRs?

[Remi M.]

I dropped my d70s of my desk when it was just a few months old. I forgot that the camera was plugged into the computer for file transfer when I grabbed it of the desk. The cable snagged the camera out of my hand mid grab and fell a little over 3 feet onto a hard floor.
The only thing that broke was a circuit board that controls the flash. I didn't care much as I never use flash, but Nikon fixed it under warranty anyway.
When I got the camera back I bought a flash card reader. A little safer and allot faster transfer speeds.

 

[digital flower]

Last year when I was in Florida I put my D70 on top off my car which has a slightly sloped roof. It had a 28-200mm Sigma lens (which is real big and heavy) on it. I walked over to the other side of the car opened the door got something out and slammed the door. The camera rolled 3 or so times on the car and landed on the driveway. My friend and I just looked at each other, I might have said "Uh-oh". I picked the camera and it and the lens were fine. We both agreed that was amazing. A year later he was asking me if he should get a D70 or a Rebel. I didn't give him any other advice but "remember that time in Florida". He got the D70.

I put my P&S Nikons through some sh!t, too. I posted about that in this thread:

Whats the most damage youve done to your camera

There is some funny things in that one :mrgreen:

 

[Garbz]

My D200 has been smacked into a cliff face when I went rockclimbing once. Hey it's the reason I bought it over the D70 My old FE has been dropped from the first floor of an apartment. $100 at the time to repair the mirror. Oh and it needed a new lens.

 

[Sweetsomedays]

Not so far (knock on wood). I have camera armor on my cam also since I shoot outside so much and just wanted a bit of extra protection. My husband says I treat it like my third child I'm so careful...I guess thats a good thing lol

 

[Funky]

hmm....i dropped my alpha a100 off my roof when i was shooting a thunderstorm, ir rolled down the side and fell into some grass! the lens popped off but thats about it. i had my ccd cleaned because i was shooting with 30 second exposures and i got dirt on my ccd....ritz camera charged my 70 bucks to clean the damn thing. doesnt the new sony dslr coem out in september? i might have to pre order.

 

[jstuedle]

I dropped a D!X on a concrete floor a few years back. The factory strap slid off my shoulder and the camera hit lens down. The lens shade shattered, but all else is still in service today. I also had a server pour a 2 qt. pitcher on the same camera, different lens. The camera was resting back down on the table, diet coke pooled in the lens covering the first element. Wiped it off and it kept going.

 

[DeepSpring]

I dropped mine once. I got a new tripod and I didnt realize how the mount worked I guess. I thought it was latched on, I let go and it falls to the floor. My nice soft carpet floor was completely empty except for one barbell handle, which of course it landed on. It broke the lens mount on my 28-90 kit lens but luckily my camera was fine. Lens still works, only thing is I have no control over aperture, I can't even tell what the aperture is.

 

[skieur]

I have never dropped either a still camera or video camera in several decades of media work. I always secure the strap around my shoulder, elbow, arm, neck etc. Even if the camera slipped out of my hand, it would not hit the ground.

The only close call I had was almost going over the edge of a canyon to catch a lens in British Columbia when I was 11.

skieur

 

[DSLR noob]

Only time it happened I blame a chair. I tossed my camera into a lawn chair on someone's back porch and it has a hammock like curve to it that I expected to catch the camera. Well he didn't tell me it was an elastic material and out bounced over the armrest on the other side and smack down onto the concrete. (a foot and a half to 2 foot drop) Camera and kit lens(was attatched) are fine.

 

[Jon, The Elder]

In 40+ years I've never had that problem. I did however, have a neckstrap catch on something once and did a nifty juggling/dancing routine to save it.

I then threw away every damned neckstrap I owned and have used handstraps exclusivly for the last 20 or so years. Also my back and neck pains were magically gone.

 

[neea]

Ah neck pains... I got my 300mm days before going to Mexico. After 2 weeks I could hardly stand to carry my camera bag around anymore. Seeing as my bags a slingslot it works best on the left shoulder and is awkward and unstable on the right. Lots of pains from that.

Just got my new XTi on the weekend. It's been bumped around a bit already. I believe the problem is neckstraps that are too long. Whenever I bend over or am climbing fences or trees the camera kinda likes to swing all over.
If my boyfriend seen that he'd shoot me on the spot.
I'm considering some body armour for sure!!!!

 

[wesd]

Managed to drop my 300D today, fell out of my small, cheap and nasy case which I hadn't done up properly onto the floor, only about 2-3 feet. Thankfully all seems to be working fine, though there's a couple of bits of dust/dirt in the viewfinder (doesn't seem to affect pics!)

Have you ever dropped you camera? Did it survive the fall? How sturdy are modern dSLRs, what with carefully positioned mirrors, prisms etc. that could be damaged/dislodged? I presume they can withstand a few drops/accidents, though I have no plans on dropping it again!

I was in a motercucle accaent on the highway a couple of days ago, my cannon S3 IS was in my backpack, and was unharmed. Minor damages to the bike, and me thatnk god.
Wes

 

[1JP]

I don't even want to think about dropping the SD14 :lmao: On the other hand, my P/S Olympus's I have and have had took some nice beatings in their lifetimes
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[CameronBrown_Photography]

yeah, on my birthday this past year i was out for maybe 10 minutes with a new lense and i slipped on the ice and broke the lens, also broke the camera for a $350 fix. sucked

 

[1JP]

yeah, on my birthday this past year i was out for maybe 10 minutes with a new lense and i slipped on the ice and broke the lens, also broke the camera for a $350 fix. sucked

I don't even want to think about that :meh: