A Stressful Wedding SDE + Busted Lens
 

I couldn't decide whether this post should've gone to the MKII forums but since my accident happened during a wedding, I guess it will go here.

My wife and I shot a wedding this weekend and decided that we would put together an SDE with just a 2 person crew. Most insane idea ever. Here's a rundown of what went wrong:

1. Showing up at the wrong church
2. Slider malfunctioned
3. Got a leg cramp from walking backwards with the Steadicam
4. Bride's dog licking my lens LOL

and worst of all...

I dropped one of the Mark IIs right before the ceremony! Although the camera cage protected the mkii, my 16-35mm 2.8 snapped apart and ended up in 2-3 pieces. I had spent at least 3 weeks trying to balance the mkii, 16-35mm and steadicam while hovering between 9-10lbs of total weight. So when I popped in the 24-70mm, the rig was floating all over the place and I had no time to even make basic adjustments to the sled...

I've attached a couple shots of the busted lens. Does anyone have experience with getting your lens repaired by Canon? We really started shooting wedding vids 2-3 months ago so none of my equipment is insured (only have GL insurance). Do all of you have insurance on your gear? It looks like the electronics board was ripped out of the lens along with the rear plastic housing.

About 2 hours before the showing, I was starting to have doubts about whether it was possible to put together an SDE. 2 man crew, busted lens, multiple locations and working with mkii footage (i.e. pro-res'ing time)... we were beat by the end of the night.

Steph * Andrew SDE on Vimeo

Sorry about your lens breaking! Let us know how much canon charges to repair it.

The SDE didn't appear to suffer to much from the lack of the balanced steadicam, or functioning slider. It looked good although you are able to tell the steadicam is off balance, the client isn't going to notice / care. Good story and edit.

sorry to hear about the lost. Base on the picture at lease you can savage the lens hood. It still look good.

haha, thanks Thanh. I was able to salvage both the lens hood and lens filter. I actually bought a new 16-35mm from B&H since I have a shoot this weekend.

Canon's Irvine, CA repair office is actually close by so I'm going to drop off the lens next week and see how much it'll cost to fix it.

Raymond - nice recovery, the SDE came out great! Did you use anything beside the the 24-70 for the rest of the night?

That sounds real stressful but u survived! I think it can be fixed as long as the lens groups are intact. Good luck!

Art - Thanks for the kind words. This was our very first SDE so I'm sure there's a lot we could do better next time. The 24-70 stayed on the Steadicam and I used a combination of 50 1.8, 70-200 2.8 and 300 2.8 for the rest of the night.

Sean - Fortunately, the Irvine Canon repair center is 45 minutes from my home so I'll be driving by next week to have it looked at. I did notice a chip in the rear glass element. The front glass was protected by the lens hood. :)

I'll let you guys know how much the repair will cost.

Raymond,

Great job... especially under the circumstances. Looking at that lens makes me want to cry, and it's not even mine. I mean it's not like it was the 50mm f1.8 - but the 16-35 f2.8. ouch!!! Good luck - I hope the lens can be repaired without too much pain.

I'm impressed how many of you guys are shooting weddings with the 5D. That would really make me nervous with so many one chance shots.
Raymond, nice job. I especially like that you didn't do too many small dof shots. The steadycam was kinda rough in places but added energy I really liked.

Hey Don - Thanks for the comment. Shooting with the 5D can be a bit of a challenge but it's forced me to really plan out the shots and be ready for just about anything.

I try not to flood our videos with any specific type of shot (i.e. small DOF, steadicam, sliders ect). We've found that picking the right tool is just as important as the shot itself. Of course, a lot of credit go out to the dvinfo boards and all the indivduals who are so generous with their advice and critiques.

Ken - I almost did cry when the lens dropped but it took everything in me to hold it together and shoot the ceremony. :)

What a bummer of a day.

To me the lens looks repairable but depends on the glass. When we had our Nikon D2X the lens actually broke off the mounting plate, looked very similar to yours. It was a 17-55 lens. Got it repaired for around $150.00 Good luck with it....I know it must make you sick.

We have all of out high end gear insured. There is just too much risk to not have it insured. Check around and get a few quotes. Business equipment has very limited, if any, coverage under your personal homeowners or rental insurance policies.

It only cost you $150 to have it repaired?? I was ready to spend up to $800 if Canon could it get it back to working condition. I noticed a little nick on the rear glass but the front glass is ok. Hopefully the interior elements are ok. We're sending it to Canon this afternoon to get a quote.

I thought the same as you and even thought it wasn't repairable. I was shocked when they gave me the quote. It may have even been $120.00. For a $1400 lens that was a no brainer. Mine did not involve any glass damage though. Keep us posted, would be interested to know the final outcome.

Just dropped off the lens at the Canon service center in Irvine, CA. We were quoted just a bit over $300 to fix the lens. This is assuming that the interior elements are ok (which is likely considering how I dropped it and where it broke). Apparently, these lenses were designed to break off at a specific weak point in order to protect the camera.

Canon is going to open up the lens and make sure everything else is in working order. They said the lens should be ready in 7-10 working days so I'm really excited to get it back. Considering how much the lens is, I don't feel sick to the stomach anymore after breaking it.

Not that you wanted to spend $300 bucks but glad it's going to work out for you.