Updated - Well it happened - Camera fell / broke

[bnk190]

While shooting at a hot air balloon rally the D700 and 24-70 took a fall of about 8 ft to the ground. It landed on grass but we haven't had a ton of rain so it is hard ground.

Right now damage appears to be just to the 24-70 and the lens hood jammed at an angle. I can't get it off nor can I adjust the focal length. I am guessing that is due to the lens hood.

I tried the 70-200 on the camera when I got home and that appears to be ok.


I will contact APS about repair but even though the camera appears fine should I send that in for them to check over?

Of course EAA is next week so that trip is either canceled or I am renting equipment.


Update: I was able to get the lens hood off. The zoom for the focal length is very stiff and frees up at 50 mm to only get stiff going back to 70 mm. Perhaps the lens took the brunt of the fall. The lens hood is broken as well.

 

[catalyst]

Ouch!

Sorry to learn this, Brian, and hoping that everything will work out OK. Another vote for the protective value of always using the lens hood. :smile:

If your D700 is OK with other lenses then it should be fine.

 

[bnk190]

Right now I am more upset at myself. We were at a balloon rally and on a hill. I had the tripod angled for the hill. A gust of wind came up and down it went.

I have insurance on everything so I'm not worried about the cost. Right now it's more the frustration and hassle of repair etc.


I will check more tomorrow but the 70-200 seemed fine. I have a 50mm I never use that I can test with as well.

Right now though it's been a long day and off to bed.

I guess the saying is true. It's not if you are goind to drop it / have it tip over but when.

I baby everything I have so that makes it worse.

 

[Kingfisher]

Sorry to hear this. I always cringe when this happens to someone on the forum.:frown::frown:

I got into the habit many years ago of keeping my cameras, lenses, and bags on the floor/ground to avoid this problem and it works really well. A funny thing happened to me on a shoot last week. The client I was shooting for would pick up my lenses after I placed them on the floor and put them on a nearby table. After a few times of doing that she asked me why I place my lenses on the floor after changing them. My reply was they probably are much safer on the floor because they have less distance to travel if I drop one. She got a kick out of my answer and fully understood the logic. It was good to see another person extremely concerned about the safety of my gear. Good people to work for!!

 

[bnk190]

Sorry to hear this. I always cringe when this happens to someone on the forum.:frown::frown:

I got into the habit many years ago of keeping my cameras, lenses, and bags on the floor/ground to avoid this problem and it works really well. A funny thing happened to me on a shoot last week. The client I was shooting for would pick up my lenses after I placed them on the floor and put them on a nearby table. After a few times of doing that she asked me why I place my lenses on the floor after changing them. My reply was they probably are much safer on the floor because they have less distance to travel if I drop one. She got a kick out of my answer and fully understood the logic. It was good to see another person extremely concerned about the safety of my gear. Good people to work for!!

I do the same. When changing lenses I am always on the floor, ground etc and I change them in the camera bag.

 

[bnk190]

What is in a camera that could be damaged from a fall that may not be seen? Sensors, motors etc?

 

[Kingfisher]

What is in a camera that could be damaged from a fall that may not be seen? Sensors, motors etc?

Lens mount can be knocked out of plane (adjustment), same with mirror assembly. Probably nothing wrong with it. Do some focus chart testing, oh God I can't believe I'm saying that. Or just shoot some real world shots and if it is where you are happy with it, leave it alone. If you feel it might be a bit out don't be afraid to send it to Nikon for a looksee.

 

[Anthony747]

Brian, From what I understand APS will not touch your 24-70, Nikon will not allow them. See Don's post #65 at: The link

 

[Butlerkid]

My camera and 24-70 took a tumble last year. I also had my gear insured.

The front end of the 24-70 took the brunt of the fall. It was out of round, causing trouble zooming. Who knows what else was jarred out of spec!

The camera body appeared to be focusing just fine.....but in actuality the mirror was out of alignment resulting is slightly soft photos.

My advice is to send them BOTH in, especially since you have insurance!

I sent mine to Nikon since the camera was new, which did no good because it was impact damage. Next time I'll certainly send anything needing attention to APS.

 

[olshroom]

Brian

I did exactly the same thing with my D700 and Tammy 28-75mm lens. I was photographing a wedding. But mine did not fall on the grass but concrete. The lens was bent and cracked at a 45 degree angle. Fortunately I had insurance to cover my camera equipment. Good luck on your repairs.

 

[bnk190]

why oh why do I already see a nightmare coming. I spoke to my local camera dealer where I bought it from. If it goes back to Nikon I will go through them. The horror stories I have read here about Nikon's customer service doesn't leave me impressed. My thought is going through the dealer they have contacts there and deal with this all the time. At least that is what I am telling myself. They already told me I will be out the lens for 6-8 weeks by time all is said and done.

What sucks is I have EAA the week of July 29th and then we are already talking about canceling up coming trips since it was all planned around photography. I'm not sure I have rental insurance on my plan and at $80 a week, plus insurance plus shipping the rental would get expensive quickly.

Should I send both the camera and lens to Nikon or the lens to Nikon and the camera to APS?

 

[Kingfisher]

why oh why do I already see a nightmare coming. I spoke to my local camera dealer where I bought it from. If it goes back to Nikon I will go through them. The horror stories I have read here about Nikon's customer service doesn't leave me impressed. My thought is going through the dealer they have contacts there and deal with this all the time. At least that is what I am telling myself. They already told me I will be out the lens for 6-8 weeks by time all is said and done.

What sucks is I have EAA the week of July 29th and then we are already talking about canceling up coming trips since it was all planned around photography. I'm not sure I have rental insurance on my plan and at $80 a week, plus insurance plus shipping the rental would get expensive quickly.

Should I send both the camera and lens to Nikon or the lens to Nikon and the camera to APS?

Send it to Melville and let destiny take its course. Don't believe all the crap you read on the net. I recently sent in my 200/2 for am AF squeak and Melville did top notch service and I had my lens back in my hands round trip 14-days. Everything perfect except substandard packing. Look at it this way, you have a 50-50 chance of getting it back right.:biggrin:

 

[Butlerkid]

Send both camera and lens to the same place...

 

[olshroom]

You might consider renting a lens for you trip..

 

[bnk190]

I have decided yesterday that both the lens and camera will be sent back to Nikon. I'm just not going to trust the camera until it gets the look over.

I will go back to the D80 which was my original camera for the time being.

As far as renting I'm looking at $300 a week for a D700 and 24-70. I'm hoping I have rental insurance on my policy but I couldn't find it listed so I'm guessing I don't. If I do then it's a no brainer. If I don't then the cost is going to be way too high. Not related to this at all but I spent the day in ER on the 12th so I am also waiting for the flood of medical bills to be hitting my door.

I did try to make a deal with the local camera shop where I bought both of these items. Let me trade them in on a new D800 and a new 24-70 lens. In return I will follow through on the repair and they just keep the camera and lens when they get it back. I was told they will give me about $700 for each which I laughed at. They stated their trade in is 50% of retail market.

No thanks I'll pass and work on that word I often have problems with called patience.

 

[Kingfisher]

I have decided yesterday that both the lens and camera will be sent back to Nikon. I'm just not going to trust the camera until it gets the look over.

I think this is a wise move as you would always be second guessing your decision. It will be back in your hands relatively fast and your wallet will be a little lighter as I don't think this would be covered under warranty.

 

[bnk190]

I think this is a wise move as you would always be second guessing your decision. It will be back in your hands relatively fast and your wallet will be a little lighter as I don't think this would be covered under warranty.

All this will cost me is $250 for my insurance deductible. You are correct that a warranty wouldn't cover this. This is the entire reason I went with the commercial insurance policy.

 

[gnagel]

I've had nothing but positive experiences with both Melville and APS. If the equipment is under warranty, I go through Melville. If it's not, I go through APS.

Usually, I get my gear back within two weeks from Melville. I get it back even sooner from APS.

Best of luck...
Glenn

 

[bnk190]

Update. Per APS they do repair the 24-70 2.8 so it will be driven to them tomorrow with the camera for them to check out / repair.

 

[Diggedy]

I sometimes look at my monthly insurance payments and shudder, but its posts like this that makes me appreciate them!