Gear failure? How many have had it happen?

swanseamale47

swanseamale47

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wayne clarke
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I'm courious to know how many have actually had a camera or lens die on a shoot?
I'll start the ball rolling, with 3 Nikons in one day (film) back as a press photographer, mind they did have a hammering and out in all weathers, I was shooting a horse show, and the shutters just went one after the other, very odd. I had a fouth body(different nikon model) and carried on.
And I've had two memory cards die, one I lost some holiday pics, the other I was able to recover.
Oh and one lens aperture clap out, had to shoot wide open with that lens, until I got the back-up out.
 
I had a Canon 5D fail with the mirror dropping off whilst on photo holiday. Luckily I had a spare body. Impressively, despite the 5D being really quite old and bought secondhand, Canon agreed to fix it for free without any fuss.

I had an old FD lens aperture fail a couple of years ago - again luckily I had a spare to dig out.

One SD card failed, but it was fine after a format.

I dropped a lens onto concrete, so more stupidity than gear failure.
 
Had the E.V.F fail on a Sony A7III in the middle of shooting an elopement about 18 months ago.

Had a Nikon D750 give a card error in the middle of shooting a wedding a few years ago. Replaced the cards but still the same same error, replaced the battery same error. Put the camera away and it worked fine the next day and never gave the same error again.

Over the years have had memory card failures with Sandisk, Lexar and ProGrade cards mostly S.D cards but also back in the day Compact Flash cards as well.

Also way back in the day I killed my Nikon D7000 and a Sigma 10-20mm by walking into my tripod while it was on a jetty and it ended up swimming in Lough Erne.
 
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At an awkward time, none.

In film days, I always wound and released the shutter several times before loading the camera. I picked up some problems at that stage and would change to spare kit. These two always passed the test...

Leica and Rollei from right.jpg
 
Last year I put some cheap plastic extension tubes on my old Canon EF 35-80mm f4.0-5.6 lens for a looksee then, on trying to remove the extension tubes I sort of twisted the lens in half! Not really gear failure pre-se but oh dear. Thus I bought the newest Canon extension tubes after that palaver. The poor lens just lies there now, a victim of cheap-china and over eager amateur photographer.
 
I put a roll of film into my Olympus OM-2 and the slots got caught in the screw inside the back. 40 shots later I realised what had happened!
I was shooting a friend’s wedding at the time.
 
Had a card failure - a cheap CF card (I say cheap - it was a 2GB card but was more expensive than a 256GB card today!) Not had a SanDisk card or thumb drive fail. Yet!
 
Boots said:
I had a Canon 5D fail with the mirror dropping off whilst on photo holiday. Luckily I had a spare body. Impressively, despite the 5D being really quite old and bought secondhand, Canon agreed to fix it for free without any fuss.
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Same issue, but I was right at the very top of The Shard with one of the architects while it was still under construction. Taking a picture of the cleaning gear when the mirror fell off my 5D and my viewfinder went blank. Finished off the tour with a backup Panasonic G2 and Canon had the 5D repaired at Fixation for free.

I also had the shutter fail on a Sony A7II at the end of an afternoon taking pictures around Westminster a couple of years ago - that body became a write off.
 
Boots said:
I had a Canon 5D fail with the mirror dropping off whilst on photo holiday. Luckily I had a spare body. Impressively, despite the 5D being really quite old and bought secondhand, Canon agreed to fix it for free without any fuss.

I had an old FD lens aperture fail a couple of years ago - again luckily I had a spare to dig out.

One SD card failed, but it was fine after a format.

I dropped a lens onto concrete, so more stupidity than gear failure.
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I had a strap fail on my old Fuji film camera back in the day, I was getting off a coach and it dropped lens first onto the pavement, flattened the metal lens hood, smashed the UV filter and fired a frame off. Camer and lens worked fine after (I still have it)
 
I've experienced one shutter failure (Nikon), a battery failure, and a few card failures (SD/1 XQD). But I've killed/damaged more than that over the years (lens dropped off cliff, kit drowned when kayak swamped, kit dumped out of tailgate onto concrete, scratched sensor, etc, etc.).
 
I've had a couple of lenses fail.

In my DSLR days a Sigma f1.4 failed leaving the aperture wide open and more recently my Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 lost the ability to focus if the zoom ring was moved. Both were repairable.

My Sony A7 recently threw a wobble but is back working and I think the wobble is forgivable as it's 11 years old, has had quite a bit of use and has been used in just about every weather possible.

I think my most serious complaint is the kit coatings blebbing or going sticky. My Panasonic G1 started to go sticky and my Sony A7 started to bleb. The manufacturers must know what'll last and what wont but I suppose things aren't built to last 10 years or more these days.
 
Had a Bronica S2 jam up on me, had to go for repair.
One workplace had a bunch of Nikon F2s in the kit cupboard, they were forever in and out of service. In fairness they took an absolute battering.
Of my own gear, only my mid 1960s Rolleiflex T has ever let me down, something broke or disengaged and the shutter wouldn't release. A week in Cameratiks in Edinburgh, it has never faltered since.
 
Last year my then 5 year old Fujifilm X-Pro2 had a shutter failure on holiday. Luckily I had a X100F with me and used it s a backup but couldn't use any of my lenses. Never thought about the need for a backup camera since I am not a professional but from now I think I'll bring one on photo holidays at least. The X-Pro2 is now fixed and works fine since.
 
Only ever had card failures and fortunately was always backing up to a second card.

GC
 
I've had a shutter fail.
I've had a camera main circuit board die
I've had a lens AF motor stop working
I've had a lens aperture control stop working.

Fortunately, a backup camera and a certain amount of lens overlap meant was able to continue without too much difficulty. I also retire equipment on a rotational basis.
 
During bridal prep my wife’s Sigma 24-70 focus mechanism failed spectacularly. We had a spare (worse) lens that got us through the day.

And one card failure that I managed to recover all the files from. That was a pain but not a disaster.

The thing about photography, is that pros often catastrophise about gear failure, card failure etc but with a basic level of preparadeness, it’s relatively stress free.

For the failed lens, I instantly gave the Mrs my 2nd camera, for rest of prep and there was a very old body and kit lens in the car. So we grabbed that lens for the rest of the day. Perfect? No. Did anyone notice? No.

For the card. I was using single card slot cameras, but it was one of 3 cameras, and even if we’d lost everything on it, I doubt it would have been noticed by the B&G. As it was, nothing was lost.
 
A very long time ago my Pentax ME Super stopped working, don’t remember exactly what it was but I think carrying around strapped to the back of my motorbike didn’t help it
Had an absolute nightmare getting Dixons to fix it, was still under warranty, took something like 6 months to get it back if I remember correctly it was fine after that and I still have it
Haven’t had any camera gear fail on me since and I do use them a lot but look after them
Had an intermittent problem with my R5 but never actually lost any shots because of it, lived with it for a while then contacted Panamoz and Canon who were great and it was sorted and is perfect now :)
 
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The worst one for me was the shutter failing on my old 1Dmk2 whilst I was shooting an event. My trusty 20D saved the day.

I have also had the shutter fail on my old 5D, but that was just when I was out and about. And related to the previous post, I've just had a roll of film back that had been through my Pentax ME, and nothing has been exposed.
 
Had a canon compact which didn’t like red wine and passed away and a non oem battery in a Fuji xt3 which swelled up - just managed to get it out with no damage to camera.
 
The film transport system jammed on my old ME Super years ago. I still have it and will have a go at fixing it one day.
The shutter on my EOS 50D jammed whilst on holiday in Iceland in 2016. Luckily had an EOS-M as a backup.
Got a 7Dii to replace the 50D.
Had a close look at the 50D shutter a while later and could see that a blade had got crossed over. Somehow managed to flick it back into place without damaging it and it’s worked fine since.
 
I bought a new 5d Mk 4 from HDEW a few years ago. I didn't use it much for a few months (winter) but when I did dig it out again began to realise that the battery was draining over a period of a few days even when it was switched off. I followed all the advice from HDEW and then Canon about how to switch off correctly as if I was an idiot, but it still kept happening. It went to HDEW's Canon specialist repairer under guarantee who "fixed it" but actually hadn't. It then went to Canon who agreed it did have a fault but wouldn't replace it because it was bought grey. So it finally went back to HDEW who sourced a new body for me.

I sold it straight away and thus began my Olympus "journey".
 
Since I bought my first SLR (Canon) in 1973, I have never had an equipment failure but then I have only bought new from reputable dealers. The 5D4 was the most recent Canon but a few of the lenses were Sigma and they have been OK as well.

Dave
 
In fifty three years of photography (and probably forty plus cameras), I've only ever had one failure so I think I've been very lucky.

This was with a used Olympus OM1n I bought in 1979 so I could use a motor drive with it - the earlier OM1 I had wouldn't take one.

I think the motor drive was a little too much for it as it broke a little cam lever in the bottom of the camera that advanced the film.
 
Can't for the life of me remember what the problem was but my Olympus EM5ii developed a fault which had to go to Olympus for fixing and TBF their repair service was good.

I frequently have flash trigger failures but then I do use them in harsh conditions.
 
None of my stuff is pro stuff, but two of my compact cameras died on the same day.

One was my original Pentax Optio 550. At this point it was literally held together with duct tape as some of the screws had mysteriously come out.

Because of this, I'd replaced it with some sort of Panasonic Lumix, but I didn't really like the Lumix so was still using the Pentax. And it just sort of... gave up.

The Lumix was another story. Not quite sure what happened with it, but I *think* I accidentally switched it on in my pocket and the lens tried to pop out, but couldn't due to limited space. It just got stuck partially extended. Didn't reset when turning it off.

We were out for a day at The Silverstone Classics event, so I just took the rest of the shots on my iPhone.
 
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swanseamale47 said:
I had a strap fail on my old Fuji film camera back in the day, I was getting off a coach and it dropped lens first onto the pavement, flattened the metal lens hood, smashed the UV filter and fired a frame off. Camer and lens worked fine after (I still have it)
Click to expand...
I had the strap fail whilst out cycling with my Pentax ME (30+ years ago). The camera bounced along the road collecting a few cosmetic dents, & denting the filter ring. apart from the hot shoe coming off I never noticed any issues with the camera or lens & continued to use both for several years as my only SLR (I did have other lenses but none of that focal length).

On another occasion I was involved in a motorway smash with my SLR loose on the floor of the car. The lens (a cheap zoom) had a huge amount of wriggle afterwards, but does still function. I think the camera was OK, but I can't remember for sure

More recently I've had a fair number of lenses become intermittent in their electrical contacts & have brought used lenses where the aperture or focus seized almost immediately.
 
Focus mechanism on my Pentax FA 77mm f/1.8 limited jammed in Austria in early June, should've noticed the abnormal sound it was making in manual (manual went before AF)...
currently undergoing repair

SDM failures on my DA*16-50 and DA*60-250 lenses.

Cameras mostly reliable - the odd mirror wobble on the Pentax K-1 and Mamiya 645 but that's it.
 
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