Hi board,
yesterday I had a very scary experience with my D300 & my one month old 24-70mm
f/2.8 lens. I want to start off with saying that I.m very careful with my
equipment. I'm fanatic about how I mount my lenses & general care of my
equipment. My equipment on the general, at least my lenses, tend to look mint
all their lives with me. Anyone who's seen my 70-200VR, my 300mm AF-S & even my
lugged around for a month with family on vacation visiting us 17-55DX - -
neither has a single scratch on them. They all look brand new from when I got them.
Anyhow, here is my story.....
Yesterday I met up with my photography group (we've created our own little group
here in L.A.) The evening before I got the cameras ready & did all my pre-checks
etc. On me I had my D200 with the 17-55DX mounted & on the D300 I had the
24-70mm f/2.8. In my backpack I had the 10,5mm Fisheye & the 300mm AF-S in case
I got a chance to do macros. I also had a Nikon extension tube & a couple of
TCs. I'd rather over pack these days than go without....
Anyhow, meet up was the Huntington Library & Botanical Gardens in Pasadena. A
lovely place. Unfortunately hours are not the best for photography & L.A. tends
to be a tad too sunny for this type of photography...
Anyhow, I had parked the car & walked just about all of the parking lot up to
the entrance, a bit of a distance just ask Shun...., on my body I had as usual
my cameras criss crossed my chest. The guys think I look like a gunslinger with
bullet rounds across my chest. ;-) D200 facing one direction (left) and the D300
the other (right) at about hip level.
I'm right by the steps to the entrance where I'm meeting up with one of the guys
of the group & his daughter & grandson, I see they can both see me coming, &
we're smiling a greeting when - - - - out from my hip shoots my 24-70mm lens!
Out of the camera mount. It flies about 6 feet straight out, Lands in under a
park bench, bounces & lands. We're all three of us in chock. Anthony, 8 weeks
old, needless to say does not pay attention to this. But Mike & his daughter
Christine and I we're just in chock. Mike picks up the lens. We're just in
chock. My heart is racing needless to say. Freaking out is probably the most
appropriate way of putting it. My heart is beating at a million beats a second
(OK slight exaggeration here). All I can remember is going - - - how did this
happen?!?!?
I'm fanatic about listening for the click & will even remount if I feel the
click is not good enough.
Anyhow, we look at (inspect) the lens & it seems OK. I remount it in front of
them and we all hear it click in. Mount looks fine. I try to focus the lens - -
it works (I hope).
When I got home my husband didn't even ask about the lens. He already knew it
had taken it's maiden flight. Needless to say I have checked my photos. & they
seem OK. I'm frantic about my focus & I have posted a few not especially good
shots in this gallery http://lilknytt.zenfolio.com/p775773965/ if anyone wants
to take a look. I'm not much of a landscape photographer, but I'm trying to get
a feel for it. L.A. is really not the best place for landscapes & I mostly shoot
birds these days.
Shun has recommended I have the lens checked out & he felt I should share this
with the board. I e-mailed Shun last night as I was still "freaking" out over
the whole thing.
I want to point out a things in this.
1. I am fanatic about hearing the "click" when my lens is mounted. I will now be
even more so.
2. Checking that it's truly correctly mounted will now be triple checked by me.
3. A NC or UV filter will in this kind of situation be of great help. My Nikon
NC filter took a bit of a beating, but it has saved the front threads of my
24-70mm. The filter front threads got flattened where it hit, That would have
been the lens front threads if the filter was not there.
4. I will from now on always carry my lens hoods reversed over the lens until I
shoot. I had the lens hoods reversed on both lenses & I swear that the lens hood
softened the impact greatly of the lens against the cement/asphalt.
I'm hoping I won't get blasted here for this. I'm sharing this as a form of
theraphy for me & with the hope that it might well help others on the board as
well. I don't believe this has anything to do with the screws on the 24-70mm in
my case. They seem tight & correctly screwed in. Something Shun reminded me of.
If you've read all this through - - congratulations & thank you for lending an ear.
Lil