I Dropped My Camera
A few weeks ago, in British Columbia, my camera took a fall. Not just one of those “Oh no, a light tap onto carpet” kinds of falls, but fully slid from the back seat of my (stationary) vehicle onto asphalt. This was a roughly 2 ft-ish drop straight onto the pavement, and I genuinely had a moment in my mind that I can only describe as the mental version of nails on a chalkboard. The feeling of being just a foot out of reach, unable to intervene as the camera fell and inevitably bounced once before landing flat, was pretty painful.
A little backstory, I had been traveling for weeks and the inside of the vehicle was a mess. I’d placed my A7IV with the 70-200 GM II mounted on the floor in the back, because I didn’t want it to fall off the backseat onto said floor (lol). I was bringing a friend along on a drive, so I went to clear out the front passenger seat, moving everything to the back. What I didn’t take into account was that I have those nice plastic husky floor mats, the ones that are designed to catch debris and liquid and keep it from running onto the carpet. Unfortunately, it turns out cameras slide quite easily on that material.
The camera had slid up against the inside of the door while I was driving, which I was oblivious to. As I opened the rear passenger door, then moving to the front passenger to begin migrating things, I heard the slip. The camera was midair right about when I turned to look. This was devastating.
Amazingly, both the A7IV and 70-200 GM II are fine. I spent about an hour shooting with and inspecting them directly after, and have used them extensively since. I was amazed at the time and still am, it was not a light fall. The only explanation I can come up with is that luckily I had the lens hood mounted as though I were shooting, and the initial impact was directly onto that lens hood. If you can imagine, the camera slid out of the back seat like a diver sliding off a diving board. Headfirst, straight down. Normally that’d be the worst case, but if you’ve ever seen the lens hood of the 70-200, that thing is beefy and has a good amount of flex. I’m pretty sure the hood saved both my camera and lens by flexing just enough to absorb most of the impact. Thanks, Sony!
After the initial impact, the camera fell a lot like a demolished building or felled tree, landing upright and leaving a bit of marring on the bottom rear left corner of the camera. Overall, I’m honestly amazed at the lack of damage. I’d also like to point out a few things:
I’ve never dropped a camera - I’d like to think this was a fluke. I wear a peak design wrist cuff 100% of the time when shooting
I have insurance - This is a good opportunity to stress the importance of that. This lens and camera combined retail at about $5,300 right now. Even knowing I would be covered, that kind of waste would still be heartbreaking.
Camera gear is tougher than you think!
Below is a shot of the only visible bit of damage I could find on the camera, the aforementioned marring:
