I'm not devastated any more!

[Ivanturas]

I don't know how many of you may remember this or even read me, but besides my day-to-day job as a videographer, I'm also a volunteer wildland firefighter/rescuer.

Today, while rappelling, this happened:









There's a bunch of errors on my side, starting from becoming overconfident on carrying it during these operations. I've been into other training, wildfire and rescue assignments, and never had an issue. Usually have it clipped to a Peak Design V3, but this time it just failed on me, and I had no fallback attachment to it. Fell about 30 meters and crashed against rock. All I can do now is learn my lesson and figure out how the heck am I gonna do my job, without having a budget to replace it. And you know... I really liked this camera. It was one of the favorites I've ever had, if not my all-time favorite.

 

[MrFotoFool]

So sorry about your mishap. Obviously no way to send that camera or lens to a repair shop, they will have to be replaced. Maybe you will get a good deal on a used setup, either from this site (under marketplace) or an online used dealer?

 

[Deleted Member 5045]

There's no doubt about it, it's destroyed!

 

[Cαscαdian]

We'll take it as good news that only the camera fell that far to the rocks!

 

[Ivanturas]

We'll take it as good news that only the camera fell that far to the rocks!

I must admit it was the longest descent I've ever done... In order to avoid any accidents, I had to concentrate really hard to avoid thinking about the camera and focusing on properly handling ropes, carabiners & knots until I reached the bottom.

 

[Ivanturas]

So sorry about your mishap. Obviously no way to send that camera or lens to a repair shop, they will have to be replaced. Maybe you will get a good deal on a used setup, either from this site (under marketplace) or an online used dealer?

There's a limited online market where I live, but step one will be to save some money. Will probably have to work on postproduction only for a while. Maybe selling my gimbal, mics and other stuff would help raising what I need; with no camera, I don't have much use for them anyways.

 

[Jeff A]

So sorry Ivan. Huge loss. What model was it and which lens was on it at the time? I've always enjoyed seeing your photos.

 

[Ivanturas]

So sorry Ivan. Huge loss. What model was it and which lens was on it at the time? I've always enjoyed seeing your photos.

Thanks for your words! It was an A6400 with an 18-105 f/4.0 G OSS. It may not seem like much to some, but to me, it was the best I could afford. And I loved working with them! Really nice camera, and a truly awesome lens.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Sorry to hear that Ivan! You took that camera into some risky locations and got great shots with it. I hope you can find a used replacement for a decent price.

 

[Ivanturas]

Sorry to hear that Ivan! You took that camera into some risky locations and got great shots with it. I hope you can find a used replacement for a decent price.

Thank you. It'll take a while, but I'll find something. Maybe I could settle with a ZV until I can save more.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Damn that sucks. Not insured I guess.

 

[Paul stuart]

Bad news ,i own the peak design v3 clip also hope i do not suffer this fate, but not many cameras live to tell the tale from a 30ft drop ,sorry for you.

 

[Ivanturas]

Damn that sucks. Not insured I guess.

Nope. Not for the lack of trying though... there's not many options for insuring this stuff where I live.

Bad news ,i own the peak design v3 clip also hope i do not suffer this fate, but not many cameras live to tell the tale from a 30ft drop ,sorry for you.

Just make sure you're nor relying exclusively on the clip. It's not actually reliable, just convenient, quick. But I'll never ever again use it without a secondary method, like a strap to avoid it from hitting the ground when the clip fails. Because it does fail, a lot. After this happened to me, I started googling and I'm far from the only one.

PS: 30 meters! That's about 100ft.

 

[AlphaWorld]

That's a real shame, but better than the camera fell than you - if you'd fallen 30m onto rocks it would have had a bigger impact on your life. Drives home that the rescue teams are taking real risks when they go out to help people in danger.

I hope you can find a replacement at a reasonable price. Maybe use an R100 series to start with? You can get quite decent images out of an R100, and they are a lot more compact.

 

[Ivanturas]

What exactly failed? I use a PD V3 for an A7R-III and 24-105 on my belt and the only problem I ever had was my own fault. Did it break? Did it not lock in? It'd be good if you could tell us what to watch for since it's a fairly popular accessory.

You should also let PD know. They have top-drawer CS and I'm sure they'd love to hear if one of their products is faulty.

Edit: I did searches (Google and Bing) for Peak Design Capture Clip failure and several other terms, and can only find one from the Pentax forum where the user had a problem due to the way he mounted it. Can you point me to the other ones? I carry my cameras over concrete and would like to know more. I usually wrap my hand around them when I walk, but this makes me nervous.

Unfortunately, I didn't even notice when it fell. I was fully focused on safe maneuvering, and weren't for a colleague that told me, I wouldn't habe ever known until I had already reached the bottom.

 

[Ivanturas]

Oh. So, was it broken then when you got down, or doesn't it lock in anymore, or...? Trying to understand what happened. Those of us who use them would really like to know.

It was attached to my belt. I didn't notice when it got unhooked, but a colleague next to me did, or at least he saw it falling, as did some people at the bottom of the canyon.

The actual clip was still on my belt. My guess is some of the equipment may have rubbed against the release button.

 

[Ivanturas]

That's a real shame, but better than the camera fell than you - if you'd fallen 30m onto rocks it would have had a bigger impact on your life. Drives home that the rescue teams are taking real risks when they go out to help people in danger.

I hope you can find a replacement at a reasonable price. Maybe use an R100 series to start with? You can get quite decent images out of an R100, and they are a lot more compact.

Yeap. Also, it could have hit someone down the line. I'm assuming being hit by a speeding mass of metal and glass does not feel good.

 

[Ivanturas]

You know the release button locks? It's a 1/4 turn of the button itself.

That's why I think it'd have some major movement between the straps and whatnots. Or maybe it was something else. I can't say for sure, sorry about that.

 

[Ivanturas]

I can't describe the bliss of having the friends and family I have... unexpected birthday present.

 

[DarrellC]

I don't know how many of you may remember this or even read me, but besides my day-to-day job as a videographer, I'm also a volunteer wildland firefighter/rescuer.

Today, while rappelling, this happened:

View attachment 26718

View attachment 26719

View attachment 26720

View attachment 26721

There's a bunch of errors on my side, starting from becoming overconfident on carrying it during these operations. I've been into other training, wildfire and rescue assignments, and never had an issue. Usually have it clipped to a Peak Design V3, but this time it just failed on me, and I had no fallback attachment to it. Fell about 30 meters and crashed against rock. All I can do now is learn my lesson and figure out how the heck am I gonna do my job, without having a budget to replace it. And you know... I really liked this camera. It was one of the favorites I've ever had, if not my all-time favorite.

Wow! So sorry this happened, and thank you for your service! I don't think gaffer's tape is going to fix this.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

That's great that they pitched in to replace your a6400!

 

[AlphaWorld]

Yeap. Also, it could have hit someone down the line. I'm assuming being hit by a speeding mass of metal and glass does not feel good.

I am not going to test that theory…

 

[Ivanturas]

I am not going to test that theory…

Would be fun to do so though... If we don't get any news from the guy below, it means the cam turns into a deadly projectile.

That's great that they pitched in to replace your a6400!

I'm blessed. I'm not even religious and feel truly blessed.