I just realized I've broken 5 lenses! How about you?

I was at the hockey rink and during an intermission shooting a bikini contest on New Years Eve. The Zamboni had just resurfaced the ice, I stepped onto the ice and my feet went out from under me in front of 10,000 or so fans. there I was parralel to the ice camera in one hand and 80-200 f 2.8 lens in the pocket of my vest. I landed on the lens like a sack of manure. the crowd gasped thinking I had broken my hip. Luckily the lens hood took the brunt of the fall and was badly misshapen. yhe lens and I survived and I still use it today. Whew close call
2)-Dropped a Kiron 80-200 lens on the cement while fumbling to attach ot to the body. filter smashed and something inside still rattles but the lens still works - close call as well

I have never dropped and broken a lens but I do lose lens caps

Just to be safe - I only buy broken lenses. The odds of breaking a lens twice goes way up! Are you selling any of your broken lenses? I pay in broken US Dollars...

I have lost just one lens cap, do I get an award?

Nothing recently but back in the good old days of film a gadget bag strap opened and the bag, which I hadn't closed, tumbled down the stairs I had just climbed. Hasselblad 500CM and Canon EOS 3 bodies and lenses cartwheeled out in slow motion. Luckily the only damage was a smashed A12m back and a couple of nasty gashes on the Canons.
Once at a wedding I also learnt the hard way that my ribs are not as tough as my Sigma 12-24. I slipped and fell onto it, the lens was fine but I cracked a couple of ribs.

Oh man! Two falls on a lens. I thankfully have never broken a bone or had any serious bodily injuries so I guess that's a plus, my luck isn't that bad after all.

Bhowdy, that sucks! I would have cried too. When I didn't have money to replace my camera (or insurance) I used to have reoccurring nightmares of my camera drowning. It was always different too. Now that I could afford a new one (though lord knows I don't want to have to buy one) I don't have those anxiety nightmares any more. LOL. In fact I gave my old body away to a long distance friend who had broken his. Makes me so happy to see his new shots with my old pal.

chasrich wrote: Just to be safe - I only buy broken lenses. The odds of breaking a lens twice goes way up! Are you selling any of your broken lenses? I pay in broken US Dollars...

How does one make US dollars MORE broken?

Only one, after dropping it two different times on the concrete floor at a hockey rink. After the second time it was OK til the next winter when I was focusing and felt something give and everything went out of focus. It was an old lens that had seen a lot of use so was more of a sentimental loss than a financial one.

Then after I got a cheapie replacement at a camera swap, sometime later the camera did a nosedive (or lens dive?) in between a seat and a concrete wall at another arena... jammed into the camera which is still usable (barely) but has gone into retirement til I get around to maybe some repair someday.

Have had a flying hockey puck bounce off it, that didn't faze it!

icepics wrote: Only one, after dropping it two different times on the concrete floor at a hockey rink. After the second time it was OK til the next winter when I was focusing and felt something give and everything went out of focus. It was an old lens that had seen a lot of use so was more of a sentimental loss than a financial one.

Then after I got a cheapie replacement at a camera swap, sometime later the camera did a nosedive (or lens dive?) in between a seat and a concrete wall at another arena... jammed into the camera which is still usable (barely) but has gone into retirement til I get around to maybe some repair someday.

Have had a flying hockey puck bounce off it, that didn't faze it!

Hmmm another rink story. Not to self: Never bring camera to a rink of any sort.

I managed to do the same type thing in a canoe, etc. etc. But I've spent hours in hockey rinks so I guess those are the odds. Over the years I dinged up the lens so much the built in lens hood was permanently jammed (which I liked better, the hood quit sliding in and out so that took care of th!)

I've had lens caps pop off and disappear too (because they wouldn't stay on the dented lens hood). I definitely got my money's worth out of that camera and lens.

edit - Luckily I never had Rob's misfortune but how I avoided it I don't know, usually they roll out the carpet for the ceremonial puck drops and presentations of giant fake cardboard checks, but the photographers are usually out on the ice...

icepics wrote: I managed to do the same type thing in a canoe, etc. etc. But I've spent hours in hockey rinks so I guess those are the odds. Over the years I dinged up the lens so much the built in lens hood was permanently jammed (which I liked better, the hood quit sliding in and out so that took care of that nicely!)

I've had lens caps pop off and disappear too (because they wouldn't stay on the dented lens hood ). I definitely got my money's worth out of that camera and lens.

Lens caps? What are those?

None at this point but only been shooting 18 months. Hoping to never post a lose but I know one will come at some point.

Sharon and I have spent a lot of time shooting in hockey rinks and luckily only minor incidents with cameras or lenses as casualties.

fbicking wrote: None at this point but only been shooting 18 months. Hoping to never post a lose but I know one will come at some point.

It's not as bad as you would imagine. Just embarrassing:whistle: when it's someone else's.

In my 40+ years shooting I have broken a few, I never kept count except for the first one. Which was an old Pentax smc 35mm, that was broken at a Sex Pistols show. Someone slammed into me hard ripping my strap and it landed lens first, with the guy on top of it. After that I lost a few others either rock climbing, missing the bags when I was 3 sheets, a few of them tossed at the bag and a miss. I have been rough on myself and my equipment in my earlier years, but hell as I look at it being totally safe in life is no fun.