wow, lens scare!!
 

Got off the plane with the ex3, I guess I bumped the lens ring that locks the lens in place, cause next thing I know I heard a crash and the lens hit the floor. LUCKILY, my matte box hit fist, and saved the lens from any damage. The matte box is fine too. I really dodged a bullet as this is the beginning of my trip to AK to cover the iditarod with this thing.

Zowie!

Who are you working for?

Any chance I can get you to go to the Bush Co and say hello to everyone for me?

Scary that that could actually happen. I'll have to keep an eye on that in the future. Thanks! (good luck with your shoot)

2, Workin with shirley on the trail.

Ian,

My XS lens came off my EX3 for no 'apparent' reason not too long ago. Thankfully I was holding both the lens and camera when it happened.

I was shooting a doco for a number of consecutive days. Camera in and out of the bag a few times per day can easily unseat the locking ring. However, the lens locking switch on the side was in the lock position.

Nothing broke, I just held up a public presentation of scholarships to university students in front of about 60 people for about 2 minutes (well i told the speaker to hold off for a moment till I gave him the OK). I sat down sat a table and calmly (maybe a little bit of nervousness) assembled the camera & lens together, checked a rough back focus and I have never encountered this problem again - and my camera was in and out of the bag just as often for the remainder of the shoot.

I now check the lens/camera assembly as part of my camera preparation routine.

Glad to read that all is OK with your lens.

Actually the same thing happened to me too. I was walking around the BIRTV trade show a few months back and my Canon KH-20 lens fell off the front of my EX-3 in the way you describe. Luckily I was able to take it over to the Canon booth for a quick test. It was a bit scuffed but seems OK.

Dan

I had this happen many years ago with a UVW100 BetaSP. The lens was a total loss. Ever since then I have been careful to check lens bayonets. Its not such a big deal with 2/3" lenses as the cable stops the lens dropping to the floor. You could attach a thin wire or rope from the lens strap to the cameras front shoulder strap loop if you feel that your lens might come free.

You all may know this, but there is a lock for native lenses on the lower right side, half hidden by the grip. My EX3 arrived in the box with the lock off and the rotating lock almost completely open. I was lucky to notice it before a disaster happened.

I am not aware of this, there is a lock OTHER than the ring that locks it onto the camera?

The ring lock on the left side is the mechanical device that holds the lens secure, on the right behind the handgrip you have a small switch which locks the ring lock. A safety a it were.

The so called lock behind the hand grip is not a lock, it just wedges a small brake against the locking collar, you can still rotate the collar but it will have some resistance.

BTW. Many of you may have heard of my unfortunate accident with my new EX3 camera, the whole lot hit the ground and the lens snapped in two. The inner construction of the lens leaves a lot to be desired, so many plastic parts which just fell appart on the fall. I did manage to buy a replacement lens (£1050) which fortunately my home insurance company paid for. I was fortunate with my insurance on this occaision but was advised to take out a professional equipment policy, which I have now done. My advice here is to make sure you have a professional equipment insurance policy that covers all your equipment and of course public liability.

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/aa/RIPex3.html

Check your equipment for lens tightness and make sure all the locks on your tripod are seccure. The tripod socket on the EX3/EX1 is not the most robust, my camera survived the fall without a scratch because I had the DM shoulder mount on it, without it I am 95% sure that the tripod socket would have been ripped out of the camera.

Have fun.

Glad everything is safe! The beautiful things about protecting your lenses is that most of the "protecting devices" are items you should probably have anyway...such as the matte box, UV filter, etc. I'm even getting a UV filter for my wide angle. Easier to clean too.

JS

I had the same thing happen as with David and Dan, and I think it's because the "lock" is not really a lock at all but just a wedge, as Vincent says. I'd thought it was from friction from the sides of the bag, but I'd been shooting for quite a while before the lens just plunked off: luckily my hand was right under it at the time. Unluckily, unlike David, I didn't immediately re-do flange focus and lost some shots to out of focus.

I took out my EX3 from it's hard case after a flight and when I fired it up it "felt" odd, when I looked my lens locking ring was open.
But because I have a Matte box with Bars conected to the camera itself the lens could not move forward and fall off.
Lucky as I was standing on concrete about to start a shoot!