So what dings, scratches, etc. have you caused your baby so far?
 

my view finder has so many little hairline scratches. it looks like someone used their shirt and cleaned it in a circle :\

i know i didnt do it because i always use this microscope lens cleaner cloth my dad gave me which is used on these dental microscopes which need to be 100% spotless. they are like these huge thousand dollar machines.

also, i was cleaning my LCD with it aswell, and i was applying too much pressure with my nail to get rid of some crap, and now theres a slight hairline scratch off to the side :(

the lense is 100% fine luckily. which is strange, because my friend threw a big object in the water and basically every single drop of water splashed into my lense/camera :| i was so angry.

there are some lil paint off scratches on the black aswell where the eye peice is. i wish i was more careful with the camera :(

maybe if the focus ring problem keeps up then i can get a new one.

I took off the mount on the camera body that the viewfinder assembly mounts onto on my Canon XL1s, in order to put a rubber grommet between these two pieces so the viewfinder would slip and slide so easily. Somehow or another, I snapped these two metal pins that hold the mount in place clean in half. It's okay, 'cause there's also four screws that serve the same function, but I still feel like an ass, especially since I don't even know when it happened. I only realized this like a few months ago, and I performed the surgery way before that.

A few abrasions on the plastic cover on the handle, too.

I never scratched, dinged bumped any of my cams---ever. :)

I always keep them clean by keeping my hands clean.

There was this German Rangefinder camera, though. I had it in a bag and the bag broke. The cam hit the sidewalk and smashed in many pieces. :(

Never mussed up one of my dv cams, but once I had this beautiful Yashica 'vintage early-80s' 35mm film SLR camera, which I was transporting in my backpack. I had a pickup truck in those days, and often I used to put my backpack in the truck bed because of lack of room in the cabin. Perfectly safe, usually.

But one other thing I used to do was lower my tailgate, because of wind drag which would make the truck shake at higher speeds. Unfortunately, one day I put the backpack back there but didn't notice that I had earlier lowered the tailgate. Don't ask.

Anyway, a day later I did get a call from someone who had found the backpack. It apparently fell right in front of them as we were getting on the Interstate. Strangely enough, while the backpack was torn up, I did recover everything in it including some film I had, but mysteriously and magically the camera wasn't found.

I guess the guy kept it. Dirtbag. Well, at least I got my homework back (this was in high school).

Man I miss that camera now.

I've managed to get some crap on the inside of my XL1-s eyepiece. But since it doesn't affect the video I haven't bothered cleaning it.

I also managed to get crap on the focus ring and inside of the viewfinder in my D30. God only knows how I did that. Likewise, although its annoying, it doesn't affect the output. So heh!

Boy David you sure put a cam to the test... you sound like a good candidate for an underwater housing... get one of those and leave it on all the time LOL.

When I first read this post I thought, "this is the guy with sand under the focus ring right?"...

Sand, scratches, and water exposure... get an Ewa-Bag... LOL.

stop making me more sad :(

not to mention when filmin in the woods as i was directing one of my friends on a big hill, the camera on the tripod fell over on the GROUND.

luckily it was in a big pile of leaves, but boy oh boy was there lots of dirt on the rubber eye peice. that thing attracts lots of dust as is.

David--I noticed the same scrathes on the eyepiece, though I've tried to be careful with it. Honestly though I rarely use it simply because I find it too small to find focus with. Must be some soft plastic covering it or something. Be careful with the sand, though, it gets EVERYWHERE!

Peter

I heard someone saying at some point (maybe on this forum?) that your camera equipment should be coverable under your homeowners insurance.

Anyone know if that's true?

I was shooting a cooking show with my xl1s when the DP wanted a straight down shot into a pot of boiling chili... The camera slid off the head and splashed into the boiling chili and covered us all in spicy third-degree burns... the audience thought it was a gag and was laughing as we fought over a can of Reddy-Whip spray whipped cream to cool the burns...

Now my focus ring is making a weird grinding noise...?

Ok seriously now I want to put in my endorsement for a GOOD tripod. I listened to so many people say the tripod doesn't matter and then I read the above statement about the pod falling over. I got a set of Gitzo sticks with a leveler and it's pretty easy to set that thing up so that a tank couldn't topple it... get a good, sturdy set of sticks.

Cameras are covered under home owners insurance, subject to the deductible. You can also purchase a Whole Risk Rider which offers first dollar coverage, more money, but worth it because so many people have $500 and $1,000 deductible on their home owners. Check with your insurance agent for your terms of coverage.

I was at a restaurant with the crew, just having finished a shoot. A waitress walked by with a tray and a glass full of water got dumped directly on my XL1. And this was just after I got it back from routine maintenance.

The restaurant owner offered to pay for any damage. Fortunately nothing bad happend to the camera and it functions perfectly fine.

On another job I had to hand my camera over to a Navy loadmaster for a flight to the USS Abe Lincoln. Didn't realize that there's no such thing as "hand carry" on a Cod flight to a carrier. Got to the ship and the viewfinder was bent, and one of the rubber pads on my Lightwave mic mount was torn. Superglue fixed the rubber pad. And Canon fixed the viewfinder when I sent it in for annual maintenance. Unlike the restaurant, the Navy didn't offer to pay for any damage.

I did find out that the XL1 is nearly impervious to the aircraft carrier's surveillance radar that usually screws up the picture for other video cameras. Everyone else had their gear wrapped in tin foil. I didn't have time to do that -- but the video still came out clean.

By the way, since then I got a Kata bag for the camera. Reliable protection from clumsy waitresses and carrier landings.

Dean Sensui
Base Two Productions

omg and i thought my camera tipping over on the dirt was bad.

I sent my cam to Japan for some fixing and it came back with scratches on the back of the LCD....what were they doing?

But they did put in brand new heads and control panel for free....very nice of them since nobody else wanted to help me and my 3 week old already malfunctioning cam. Never buy a cam in Korea, even if you do get a smokin deal...