Prevent accidents, always check your camera gear before heading out

Donald Willemsen wrote on Tuesday 15 September 2020 at 11:24  | reply

Forewarned is forearmed.

Still, one small comment: Nando, you give good advice and in doing so you give various examples where you say that it is better to pay a bit more for good equipment than to get by with cheap stuff.

Cheap is often expensive in the end, as a well-known saying goes. But amateur photographers with a limited budget also want to protect their camera and lenses, bought after saving for a long time, against possible damage. So they logically buy somewhat cheaper equipment. They may reason that a little protection is better than no protection.

You, as a professional photographer, are able to earn back an investment (and quite rightly so, by the way), but amateur photographers do not have that possibility, or much less so.

I would like to see tests carried out and published of all kinds of materials, from cheap to expensive, also indicating how good the quality of these materials is.

Every month you see test reports of cameras and lenses in the various magazines. You never see tests of, for example, camera straps.

Nando, I am happy with your article. People cannot be warned often enough about the countless pitfalls 😃.

"Prevent accidents - always check your camera gear before you head out" I nowadays see most people walking around with a camera in their hand without even wearing the strap around their neck that also falls under "accidents" their own fault, of course, but apparently it's fashionable in all the photography magazines you see this new hype. It's just like those yogurt photos of flowing water awful, nature doesn't look like that I had hoped it was temporary but no such luck !!

A bit of a flat article. Even when you're on assignment and your cameras are hanging in and around your neck....someone just walks into them. No matter how careful you are. Put it on a tripod...well ..then a solid surface edg is of course your own responsibility.
Even if your camera is safely on a table....someone will just knock it off.
Accidents can't be prevented. Cha-ching...
Photo-shooting greetings Robert

Nando, I also have a SpiderPro with such a nice pin construction. My Canon 6d MkII with Tamron 28-300 lens is hanging from it. I did secure that pin with glue because when I went for a ride on my bike with this construction (still without glue), the pin unscrewed due to the movement and my camera tumbled onto the asphalt. About 1.5m above the Earth's surface and the still present force of attraction ensured that I could at least write off my polarizing filter. After examination, it turned out that the camera and the lens had otherwise survived the damage. Compliments to Canon and Tamron, then. And that my insurance covered the damage. Lesson learned, at least.

Paulussie wrote on Tuesday 15 September 2020 at 17:09  | reply

What happened to me is something you don't think about very quickly.
In winter, out and about with my F801 with a Tokina 28-80 2.8 around my neck.
At some point it becomes pleasant in the sun, I pull the scarf from my neck, the camera strap flies along, over my head, the whole thing dives straight forward onto the ground (a piece of grassland, luckily). Only the lens hood cracked, it took the impact.
Since then I've become even more careful, but it still went wrong once more, in a similar kind of situation as described above. In Rotterdam, where I was born, visiting. The one from Noordereiland to Rotterdam centre had been demolished, and the municipality had made a platform there to look out over the river beautiful view of, among other things, the White House.
Seemed like something for me, so I stepped onto it; Mirror-smooth! They had forgotten to treat the wood.
The first step I took onto it, I immediately went down. Camera in hand, so catching myself with the other hand didn't really work, so the camera still hit the ground, but not too hard, only the polarising filter (77mm, so expensive) broke.
In this case I held the municipality of Rotterdam liable, which they did indeed accept.
Accidents cannot be ruled out.
Caution remains necessary, good equipment is expensive.

Very good tips. I am already careful, but it is still good to see it all listed once again.

Some time ago I was photographing at the Pannerdensch Canal. My camera was on a tripod. It was standing about a metre from the bank in the water. It did not take long because a cargo ship came by. Due to the enormous waves that were created then, my tripod (which I had weighted down anyway) slowly sank crooked. Fortunately, I was standing right nearby and saw it happening. Just in time I managed to grab my tripod and thus prevent everything from ending up in the water.

Kind regards, Leidy

@Martin : I actually do like long-exposure photos of flowing water, the sea, a waterfall etc, a matter of taste

I’ve experienced it, being about to leave, just taking the batteries out of the charger and putting them in the bag and then getting distracted for a moment and you pick up your camera bag and the zipper isn’t closed, camera with lens bounces right out, the lens took a hit and then I grabbed it just before the camera hit the ground.
That was a shock, the majority of the costs were paid by the insurance but you’d rather not experience it