Whats your saddest lost/damaged kit tale...

wandererz

I just found out today that all my gear is lost. Not that i had much or any great gear, but i just started building up my kit a few months ago.

bye-bye, 450D,
goodbye kit lens,
goodbye 55-250mm,
bye-bye 4x 4GB cards
bye-bye lowe-pro satchel
goodbye filters, hoods
goodbye even to my old mates the cleaning tissues

oh well, at least i still have the BlackRapid strap to console myself......

whats your saddest lost kit tale??

Tallon

What the hell happened?

wandererz

Was taking out some stuff from the car, set the bag down next to the rear wheel, got a call on the phone, was chatting away, picked up the other stuff, locked the car ...beep beep.

Took the elevator up to the apartment, realised two days later my camera gear was neither in the house nor in the car....


oops...

problem is... i'm off next week to south asia ...uggghhh!!!

feel like choking.......

Tallon

man that sucks so much, sorry to hear it!

dazftw

I lost the eye cup on my 350D :[

Mycroft H

I sat on my old fuji compact and broke the lens. It says zoom error now.

Not a patch on your on your events op, that was really unlucky

Borderfox

Lens hood into the waterfall in Glendalough

AnimalRights

Had my 1st camera a 400D less than a month when I bought that and my vid cam to a gig in Sligo, they were in 2 seperate bags and I was going from 1 cam to the other covering the band, I was very drunk and leaving the bags on the table in the venue, woke up next morning with the 2 bags and when I went to get the 400D the bag was empty, the lens on it was the 50mm 1.8.

Also at a gig in the summer and yes you guessed it was drunk I fell asleep sitting down on the stage and fell down face 1st to the floor with Cam and flash in my hand, the plastic flip on the flash broke!

I hope there are no more stories to tell.

Saint_Mel

I had a 400D and a few lenses robbed out of my car ... which was parked in my driveway ... on Christmas night!
Feckers also made off with an Athlone Town jacket :mad:
Thievies dont even take Christmas holidays!!!

Having said that though, when I bought replacements it kick started me into the hobby properly!

smelltheglove

My lens hood has mysteriously disappeared, but I have had a terribly unlucky week not only with the camera, Hmm, broken kit lens which i love due to 2 yr old who is most likely responsible for the lens hood also..... Voluntary loss of lights since they gave my poor (cant say little) nose a shock!

Thats just camera wise this week alone!:(

Placebo

40D got stolen with 50mm and 17-85mm and other bits and bobs.

smelltheglove

Guys I happily have gotten my stuff insured with photoshield who now also do a direct debit scheme so for a tenner a week give or take you can be insured for all situations!

Paulw

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Feckers also made off with an Athlone Town jacket :mad:

And I thought you had to pay people to take one of those.

Me, thankfully, touch wood, I've been good enough with my gear. Haven't lost a single piece of kit, and haven't had anything stolen.

But, like smelltheglove, my gear is well insured, also with Photoshield.

wersal gummage

smelltheglove wrote: »

Guys I happily have gotten my stuff insured with photoshield who now also do a direct debit scheme so for a tenner a week give or take you can be insured for all situations!

this, however, would probably not be a great deal for the OP. S/he would need to be losing a 400d once a year just to make it worth while paying the tenner a week.

I've got all my stuff covered on my home insurance - I'm not 100% certain - but I think it costs me about 30 or 40 euro extra a year. Am covered if anything is lost, broken or stolen anywhere in Europe.

njburke

I borrowed a D300 recently.
Casually, at 7AM my wife mentions that our two year is wandering around downstairs with a camera.
No bother,says I, its only the yellow plastic spider man camera.
No she says, its one of the black ones,the big heavy one.
Little fecker had the body cap off and was peering through the viewfinder with a junk of toast between his teeth when I dashed downstairs, bit of jam on the LCD but nothing a bit of a wipe wouldn't cure.

P.S best not mention this to the D300s owner.

Paulw

wersal gummage wrote: »

I've got all my stuff covered on my home insurance - I'm not 100% certain - but I think it costs me about 30 or 40 euro extra a year. Am covered if anything is lost, broken or stolen anywhere in Europe.

That's as long as you don't earn a cent from your photography. For anyone doing any commercial photography, you need professional insurance, since your home insurance won't cover you.

[-0-]

I was about to start a similar thread.. very sorry to hear about your situation OP. That's absolutely awful.

I bought a 450D during the week, and also bought a new car last week... someone literally just tried to steal the car with all my gear inside it. Luckily I caught them in the act and kicked the living snot out of them. I need a new tripod now though, as I broke it off the wanker's head.

I'm so glad I left my jacket in the car. It's the only reason I was going back to it.

melekalikimaka

i keep losing lens caps....

Kintarō Hattori

I lost a lens cap in the Phoenix park on sunday for about an hour. Thankfully I realised I'd left it while sitting down and it was still there when I went back for it.

Nothing too major thankfully.

al_

wersal gummage wrote: »

this, however, would probably not be a great deal for the OP. S/he would need to be losing a 400d once a year just to make it worth while paying the tenner a week.

I've got all my stuff covered on my home insurance - I'm not 100% certain - but I think it costs me about 30 or 40 euro extra a year. Am covered if anything is lost, broken or stolen anywhere in Europe.

And there's a €200 excess too, so every loss is costing ya an extra €200 outta your own pocket.

Fionn

a good while back, i became the proud owner of a EOS 1 DS - didn't have it too long before the mirror failed, did an event with the failed mirror which ruined nearly all the shots, cost a packet to get fixed sold it on afterwards.

whats it with small children and cameras???

"Now if i turn this - wonder what will happen?"
:eek:



start them young eh?

CraggyIslander

Years ago I was canoeing in Katherine Gorge in australia, stopped to take a few pics and dropped my Canon 1000N (film camera) in the water. Thankfully wasnt a deep part, so could retrieve it..... camera was fecked for the rest of the trip tho (last two weeks of 1 year trip, pheeewww)

Got the camera fixed when I got home and still have and use it for some b/w stuff :-)

trishw78

bought a close-up filter in the NY about 10 years ago. slipped outta my hand and into the Hudson River 2 days later. and now it rests between Battery Pk and Liberty Island somewhere

Howitzer

My worst was getting out of a car and my lowepro nova back was open.
It cantilevered around the strap points and tipped out my cam and lens.
400d+kit --- my whole world at the time!

Landed on the edge of the lens - and *crack-tinkle*, glass everywhere.

Phew - it was only the glass of the uv filter. It absorbed most of the blow.
Have to leave a filter in place permanently to keep bits together - but other than that I survived the ordeal.

artyeva

years and years ago in art college had my camcorder, SLR, flash and 3 lenses taken when our house was broken into. in total they robbed our entire music collections, 3 stereos, 2 feile tickets, 2 full sets of SLR kit, 3 pairs of levi jeans,(??!) 2 tellys, 2 VCRs, 2 camcorders, 4 tripods, the iron, the toaster, the kettle, the microwave....

the house was always let out to art students (even my tutors had lived there when they were in college). the gardai at the time told us that it was broken into every year as thieves always knew that art students had fancy stuff lying round.

i didn't give a crap bout the gear but there were photos of a family christening in the camera that were going to be a gift for the kid's mother. Gutted.(still - even though she's 15 now!!!)

smelltheglove

artyeva wrote: »

years and years ago in art college had my camcorder, SLR, flash and 3 lenses taken when our house was broken into. in total they robbed our entire music collections, 3 stereos, 2 feile tickets, 2 full sets of SLR kit, 3 pairs of levi jeans,(??!) 2 tellys, 2 VCRs, 2 camcorders, 4 tripods, the iron, the toaster, the kettle, the microwave....

the house was always let out to art students (even my tutors had lived there when they were in college). the gardai at the time told us that it was broken into every year as thieves always knew that art students had fancy stuff lying round.

i didn't give a crap bout the gear but there were photos of a family christening in the camera that were going to be a gift for the kid's mother. Gutted.(still - even though she's 15 now!!!)

a friend of mine was renting a house as a student too and it was broken into, he was shocked to come home and see his wardrobe raided but I guess these people know the students are fashion conscious also so will have expensive clothes!

PCPhoto

Hmmm... where do I start ?

long long time ago in a far away place (Cork) .....got a call from one of the lads saying he had some free tickets to an Ireland game and would I be interested.... fair enough, I'd drive .

had my camera gear in the boot of the fiesta van windows blacked out - anyway went to another friends place in carpenterstown and decided it would be faster to get to get the dart to the game (traffic) ...quick drive to the local station - park car and away .... after game ...pub - non alcohol for me ... and decided to stay out for the night in town.... returned back to the car the next day - door ripped open, watching them on cctv camera ..... took 12 mins to get all my gear out (approx 20K worth - there was no insurance companies available in Ireland at the time)

then....
5yrs ago .... was dying with a cold came home from work,(8-9pm) threw my gear into car and went to bed - I was driving (Dublin-Cork) early in the morning....I get up and goto car only to find everythings gone (7am)..approx 10K worth.... took the gardai hours before they arrived to inspect the car and they wouldnt release it to me so I couldnt even goto Cork that weekend.... I print off loads of posters saying Camera gear "lost" please call (Blah blah blah) ...3am I get a call from someone saying they "found" my camera gear and they'd give it back to me for €50 - I said fair enough but I'm not meeting you at 3am ...call me in the morning (I'd rather loose the money/camera gear than meet some scumbag - an probably his mates - at 3am)

Hope that makes you all feel better !!! (theres always someone out there that has been in a worse situation).

Another story - was taking pics of a guy on the street - things got aggressive blah blah blah ... I turn to go off after confrontation - 5-6steps later I bash into a postbox - damaged a wideangle 16-35mm f2.8 and cut my ear (or maybe it was the guy that did that...it was all a blur)

al_

PCPhoto wrote: »

I print off loads of posters saying Camera gear "lost" please call (Blah blah blah) ...3am I get a call from someone saying they "found" my camera gear and they'd give it back to me for €50 - I said fair enough but I'm not meeting you at 3am ...call me in the morning (I'd rather loose the money/camera gear than meet some scumbag - an probably his mates - at 3am)

So what happened, did you ever meet him?
Ever get the gear back?

Schlemm

melekalikimaka wrote: »

i keep losing lens caps....

lost one in the sea one time running around having the craic and miraculously found it!! I'm due to lose the one off my diana any day now, it keeps falling off...

gorilla_image

That sucks man, I know your pain. I've had simlar stories. Lost an old manual Ricoh with 3 lenses in '02 when I left it in a taxi, and only realised 2 hours later! I haven't got any better, put down my tripod next to my car about two weeks ago in Sandycove point, carried on shooting for a while, got back into my car and drove off, almost got back to City Centre when I realised that I had left it behind, turned stright back, back someone had picked it up. It's useless to them - no quick release plate. It wasn't a fantastic tripod now, but it worked. So bought a used manfrotto 190 Pro with 3way head off adverts.ie for €50. Yay! So you can use this as an excuse to get new gear. Even better, you could buy Nikon!

daycent

I had to cut off a 50mm 1.8 last week with a snips after it got stuck on the body. The front element had fallen off just before that. They are fragile little things..:( That's about it.

wandererz

[-0-] wrote: »

I was about to start a similar thread.. very sorry to hear about your situation OP. That's absolutely awful.

I bought a 450D during the week, and also bought a new car last week... someone literally just tried to steal the car with all my gear inside it. Luckily I caught them in the act and kicked the living snot out of them. I need a new tripod now though, as I broke it off the wanker's head.

I'm so glad I left my jacket in the car. It's the only reason I was going back to it.

[-O-] I like your "Can Do" attitude - Someone after my own heart. About 5 years ago i "walked in" on a burglary of my car in my driveway with about 10k worth of IT kit in it and had a go that the **** as well.

It's just too bad i don't know the wanker who has my current stuff.

It's not been a good year for me, started of by getting a 4GB memory card wet first week of Jan. Which had about 1200+ of my best photos of Scotland, the New Years eve (hogmanay) gig in Edinburgh and all sorts of weird and wonderful things.

In the past i've also drowned an original Canon EOS Rebel 35mm which was hanging from my neck while crossing a river.

The reason i posted the original question is because we all learn from these experiences - so keep them coming.

wandererz

wersal gummage wrote: »

this, however, would probably not be a great deal for the OP. S/he would need to be losing a 400d once a year just to make it worth while paying the tenner a week.

I've got all my stuff covered on my home insurance - I'm not 100% certain - but I think it costs me about 30 or 40 euro extra a year. Am covered if anything is lost, broken or stolen anywhere in Europe.

I kinda agree with this if you are an amateur, like me. The last time i did something so catastrophic was the 35mm Rebel about 10 years ago almost to the day.

So a tenner a week x 52 x 10 - in my case it works out better or almost the same to just replace the kit i suppose.

I guess it's also a chance for a refresh to that new 500d at tax free prices while i'm in Hong Kong next week :mad: :rolleyes:

jackdaw

AnimalRights wrote: »

Had my 1st camera a 400D less than a month when I bought that and my vid cam to a gig in Sligo, they were in 2 seperate bags and I was going from 1 cam to the other covering the band, I was very drunk and leaving the bags on the table in the venue, woke up next morning with the 2 bags and when I went to get the 400D the bag was empty, the lens on it was the 50mm 1.8.

Also at a gig in the summer and yes you guessed it was drunk I fell asleep sitting down on the stage and fell down face 1st to the floor with Cam and flash in my hand, the plastic flip on the flash broke!

I hope there are no more stories to tell.

Don't to that with the MARK DEUX!

Cabaal

dazftw wrote: »

I lost the eye cup on my 350D :[

I lost the eyecup off my 400D, such a little thing so annoying!

RoadRunner

I recently just got one of those waterproof/shockproof (olympus tough) point and shoot cameras to compliment my trusty 40d for use in hazardous conditions.

Well I had about 10 photo's taken with my new camera when out boating on the river shannon it got knocked in

Thankfully it still works perfectly because it's completely waterproof

But sadly, despite the fact that it still works, no one was able to swim to the bottom of the shannon to actually find it

Bummer, but technically it did it's job, it took the bullet saving my more expensive gear.

homerun_homer

Mine isn't too bad but from about 3 months ago. I don't know how or where but I lost/misplaced my Nifty Fifty. I used it to photograph a gig for a radio station and met some girls, went back to a house for drinks. Left my camera bag tucked away. The bag was bulging with the 2 lens', lens hood, external flash and camera so when I got a taxi at 6am I noticed no change.
The rest of the weekend I was checking out the pics on my camera since I had no laptop with me and never once did I notice that there was more room in the bag, most likely because there was no room still. It wasn't til the following Thursday when I was about to make my way to galway to see and photograph a gig that I realised the 50mm was missing. I searched and searched and it still hasn't shown up. I had to buy a new one since I needed it.

If you're going to lose a lens or Kit then a 50mm isn't the worst since it's cheap. Now if it was my 10-22mm I bought in NYC for the bones of €650 then there may have been tears.

duffarama

My story is pretty tame, sold a camera and a few lenses at the DCC auction a few weeks back. As part of the kit I sold an OM 28mm f3.5 which was on the camera when I dropped it to the club.

However, I remember getting everything ready in the house, and an OM 28mm f2,8 was on the camera. Which i removed and placed somewhere in my bedroom. I still haven't found it... It's bugging me.

kumate_champ07

[-0-] wrote: »

I need a new tripod now though, as I broke it off the wanker's head.

I hope it was an expensive tripod(that didnt break easily!)

phog

Two stories for me

1. I purchased a 2nd hand lens (70-300) last year, I was heading to Glasgow recently and to reduce the weight I was carrying I took the lens out of my camera bag and hid it at home, unfortunately it's still hiding.

2. I headed to the Clare Glens last week and dropped my tripod, the head hit a rock, bounced and hit another one then it went in two seperate directions . It wasn't an expensive one but it did the job. I glued it together but not sure if I'd trust my gear on it.

KarmaGarda

Phog, that first story is quite funny! Reminds me of stuff I do. I put stuff in a "safe place"... and never remember where that place is! I usually come across it when doing a massive clean up about 6 months aftwards. Thankfully nothing has happened to my photography equipment yet, but I don't have a too much.

But these stories have reminded me... I haven't insured my stuff yet... mmm... think I'll start looking into that before something like this happens to me!!

RE*AC*TOR

Was at the World Barista Champs last year. My bag containing 400D attached to 50 1.8 got trampled on by myself and another gentleman in the Italia 90-esque celebrations on the announcments of the finalists.

The 50 1.8 was kicked in, front element was sideways, lcd on 400D cracked.

Quackles

I didn't fold down my best tripod properly and threw the baby's pushchair into the car on top of it.. crunch.. broken tripod It was only a 40-50 euro hama one, but still, I was gutted. Still haven't replaced it Also, I keep losing the little plates for my lesser tripods. I have a thing against tripods, apparently.