A $745 Mistake

by | Sep 7, 2019 | Stories & Expeditions | 0 comments

Bang!

Have you ever seen a lens fall off a camera at waist height and land onto a wooden floor? And better yet, a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens?

Up until Reece & Stacy’s wedding, I hadn’t either.

I’m still impressed with the build quality of that lens. Even from that fall, there was not a crack, not a dent, not a scratch. It already did have some scratches from two months previous when, attached to a 7D Mark II, it slid out of my car onto the gravel, mountain road when I opened the door to retrieve it for a photo of Pikes Peak. Thankfully, just a couple of scratches from that time.

But this time?

Moving into the reception area to photograph the grand entry of the bride and groom, I suppose I wasn’t thinking much about the grand entry. I was more preoccupied with the disturbing clicking noises coming from the inside of the lens and and odd frame-shifting going on in the viewfinder.

My lack of basic care for my equipment, slowly developed from years of familiarity with it, had caught up with me.

After the wedding, I sent it in for a repair estimate. $789 was the best price I could find. So, instead of repairing it, I sold the damaged lens for parts and put that money toward buying a new one.

Still, in total, dropping that lens cost me $745.

A costly mistake.

Obviously, I’m not planning on making that mistake again. But I wasn’t planning on making that mistake in the first place. So, how did it happen?

The lens fell off the camera.

And how did it fall off the camera?

Because the lens had evidently not been “clicked” on all the way when I attached it.

And why had the lens not been “clicked” on all the way?

Because I was in a hurry.

Ouch.

Ok, lesson learned. Don’t make the mistake I made. Save yourself $745. The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every on that is hasty only to want.

And the difference between diligence and haste? As much as that could be discussed, ultimately it’s a distinction made at the heart level. A distinction that is up to the individual to determine.

At any rate, here are some of my favorite shots from the wedding, some of which were taken with the 70-200mm while it was still working. Smile 

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  1. Shoutout to Royal Camera Repair - Lenspiration - […] 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM – I dropped the lens. No glass was shattered (it’s an incredibly tough lens… it…

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