Have you ever dropped something important, and watched it roll towards the edge of precipice? You know there is nothing you can do to stop it, but you still have that instinctual drive to dive after it?
Yeah, that TOTALLY happened to me yesterday. Me and Chris went for an early morning hike at Wet Beaver creek. We arrived at the trailhead at 5:00am, and hiked in getting great morning views like this:
About 4 miles in, we found a nice outcropping, looking out over the canyon. We decided to take a rest, and Chris did some posing: 
When we got ready to hit the trail again it happened. My (apparently) poorly secured camera slipped off of the strap holding it to the backpack. It hit the ground about a foot from the edge of our little outcropping. And I thought "If I hurry, I could grab that." And then that little part of me that my mom tried to cultivate during my youth spoke up and said "Ummm... ARE YOU STUPID!?!?!" So I watched my prized Canon G9 camera roll and disappear over the edge. My heart dropped with it, and I'm sure a few expletives escaped my lips.
We looked over the edge, and saw no sign of my beloved. I was determined to find it. I climbed my way as far down as I could, looking at any little shelf or outcropping for the black case that I had held a few minutes before. Eventually, at about half-way down I got to a point where I could go no further. There was a dirt path another 200 or so feet below me, and after beating my way back up to Chris, we decided to find our way down to the creekside. We meandered down the trail until we spotted a place with no major cliffs, and after some cactus-filled bushwhacking, we finally made our way down the water. And after some further creek-side bushwhacking through non-dog-friendly terrain, we found our way below that fateful outcropping.
Surprisingly enough, Chris found the camera within about 5 minutes. I expected the worst, but also surprisingly the camera had no visible blemishes. Apparently my case is better at padding falls than I had thought. When I turned it on though, the damage became clear. The LCD was cracked, and gave off only a faint glow. After some testing it was clear that it was capable of taking pictures, but was unable to display them.
Here is the test shot to prove it. You see that little bit of vegetation in the center? Right above that is the outcropping whence the camera came. All told, probably about 300 feet from trail to landing:
Now comes the fun part of finding either a replacement screen, or somebody who can repair the damage without costing me more than the camera is worth.
What a day!
16 comments:
I remember years ago, in Indiana, I stopped along a country road to take some pictures. Somehow I drove away with the camera and extra lenses and whatnot in a bag on top of the car. 20 or 30 miles later I discovered my error, went back and found nothing. A check with the local sheriff's office revealed that someone had found the bag on the road and turned it in. No damage. Love those Hoosiers!
Tom,
Much sadness for you but cameras have a genetic predisposition to falling. Me, helicopter flight with General bigbrass late 60's. Leaned out to get shot of side of Huey in flight with General in the door, it zigged, I zagged, down went Lieca, no retrieving it. And I became superfluous to the flight. I know that doesn't help your G9 situation but understand, it couldn't help it, just bad genes.
I can imagine your pain/rage/frustration as you watched your camera go over the edge. Hope the LCD is not too expensive to have replaced. If so, you have a write only camera (geek humor, forgive me).
Catalyst - gotta love the people who actually turn in found items! They are becoming a rarity today.
Tony - In the end nobody was hurt during the hike which is what really matters. Thankfully we could track down the offending camera. That sucks that the Leica wasn't so lucky. The Leica was probably a much more spendy camera to boot. :)
Dagny - :P Hoping to get read/write capability out of it yet! I'm sure the parts aren't terribly expensive, but the labor will generally kill ya. I've got six or seven messages out to repair and parts centers to get estimates on the damage. :)
I don't know whether to say "WHEW" or not....
GrannyJ - Whew is definitely in order. :) Nobody was hurt, and I kept myself from leaping off of a cliff. That's a pretty good day!
Now Tom ... if your camera jumped off a cliff would you do it too?
I said that in my best "Mom" voice.
Sara - :P I would seriously consider it, that is for sure.
Laughing at Sara's remark.
I would have FLIPPED. It would have been a close call, getting my sense together and not diving after it.
Sorry about the screen. I do hope you can get it fixed without a major cost.
Melissa - In the end it is just a thing so not worth diving after, even if that was my instinctual reaction.
After looking at canon's website, it looks like they are unning a deal where if your repair is too much you can buy a refurbed G9 for $250 or a refurbed Rebel XT for $275, so I know I can get a g9 back for at most $250...
Not great news, but at least it aint another $500 camera. We will see what the repair center says.
Oh Tom. I am so sorry! Rich just went out to some creek today with a friend who dropped their BRAND NEW camera (like bought yesterday new?) and killed it dead...luckily he bought it at Best Buy and paid for the accident insurance and it will be totally replaced for free...Kind of reminds me of that time I decided to juggle that case of Rich's lenses...
ugh...makes me a bit ill...
A death of a camera is a very sad thing indeed...
Tom, I too have lost a camera to an accident. Light tripod, windy day, me taking a self timed photo of myself.
Sorry the G9 wanted to take the fast way down! Hope they can repair it for you, that was a cool camera!
Sadira - Sad - Yes, but it provided a valuable lesson about how to secure my gadgets. :)
Rich - I'm sure they will repair it. It should be arriving at the service center tomorrow. I just hope it is done in time for the photowalk!!
Great story! My heart goes out to you. I just discovered that my Nikon D50 is malfunctioning, and I cringe to think of the cost to have it fixed.
I see you're here in Prescott. Cool! There is an artist reception at the Grayleaf Galleria this Friday (Aug 22nd 5p-8p)- if you can come I'd love to meet you.
Melanie - I feel for ya. Thankfully I knew what was wrong with the G9, so could price shop a little before hand. Unknown malfunctions are worse for sure!
Not sure if I can swing the gallery this friday, but I will try. :) This is the gallery on Granite street, but the wild iris coffeeshop, right?
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