Luckiest Digital Camera In The World

General
1

So, there I was, after my Coker taco’ing incedent the other day, racing home to put up the video I was lucky to capture.

Got home, (7 minute drive) and was looking through the ol’ station wagon for the camera.

My heart sunk

I was carrying the camera, during my ride, with the chest strap of the camelback going through the belt loop of the camera case (for waist-side carrying). I remembered that the ground was super muddy by the car, and in order for my to get my camelback off, I had to remove the camera…BY SETTING IT ON TOP OF THE CAR :astonished:

I hopped in the car, and took off back down the road, already counting the camera as gone. Funny thing, the thought of losing the camera did not really bother me too much (as I break or lose stuff all the time, and I’d eventually get one to replace it) but I was so heart broken that the clip was gone forever, or some jerk was watching it at his house.

I counted the camera as gone, and with no personal information in the case, had low hopes. (I think more people would return the camera than keep it…so I’ve put personal info in my case now, and recommend to everyone to do it)

My only chance was that it was still morning on a not too great day. I figured the chances of someone grabbing it were low, but the chance of backing over it, or it sitting in a mud puddle for 25 mins were great.

I could see the turnoff to the park up ahead. I could also see something on the road. Cars were swerving to miss it, either by driving over it between their wheels, or driving around it.

There was my digital camera, in the case, in the middle of the lane of traffic, on a pretty busy road (a heavily trucked road, I may add)

The camera had flown off the top of my car as I accelerated and turned left onto this busy road. How busy? When I pulled my car over, and got out, I had to let 5 cars drive by before I could run out and swoop it up.

Whew!

Although, I sure wish I had a new camera, and finding this one doesn’t help me out any in that field.

Note: Don’t put anything on top of your car, especially if it’s $700 worth of stuff :o

2

whew that was lucky! (or as Wallace and Gromit would say ‘a close shave’)

3

Whew. I’m glad you got it back!

When I was in high school (a stretch now) I bought a pewter gift for my girlfriend’s birthday. Guess what I did upon climbing in the car (I was a relatively new driver)? Several miles later at up to 55 mph, across a huge high bridge and a river, through traffic, I stop at the next store… to find the gift sitting on top the car, right where I placed it. I hadn’t even missed it!

:roll_eyes:

4

Very lucky indeed! Was the camera unscathed from the fall?

When I was about 14, I took some snapshots while on holiday and then absent-mindedly hung the camera with the carrying strap of the case off the tailfin of my father’s Austin Cambridge. Cars had tailfins in those days. Five km into the next road stretch fellow road users pointed at the car corner. Still not realising what they pointed at, and not being able to see it, we stopped and recovered the camera just fine. The strap was stuck behind a chrome lining. At the time, my camera was at least 3 months salary (3 months worth of pocket money, that is).

Klaas Bil

5

The front section is coming away from the back section
The memory card door is broken off

These two were remedied by elastic bands (makes for an expensive looking camera :frowning: )

There is a pretty big dent in the side of it (I think this is why the two halves want to seperate)

This is from being in a camelback and being in many wipeouts. I even took the camelback off once to do trials, set it nicely on the ground, and then fell on it, foot first (I think this is where the dent came from)

Even with all this damage, the camera survived ‘the incident’

6

I always do a walk-around of my car after a ride. I do the walk-around to make sure I haven’t left anything on the car, behind the car, beside the car, or under the car. I’m a bit paranoid about leaving stuff even though I have never left anything yet.

That’s a lucky little camera. That video shot of the Coker wheel flexing is priceless. I’m glad it wasn’t lost.

I also keep my camera in an Otter Box when I carry it with me on my unicycle. I have crashed and landed right on the camera case and the camera had no damage. Pelican also makes similar cases. Think of it as armor for your camera.

7

It looks like many of us are willing to risk our cameras by bringing them on the trails (not counting having them ride on top of our cars). John Childs is very thorough in the protection of his camera, but it slows him down when it comes time to take a shot. Mine lives in my butt-bag, and has been okay for several years. I did fall on one once, at the first MUni Weekend, which Roger Davies documented on his web site (scroll to bottom):
http://web.onyxnet.co.uk/Roger.Davies-octacon.co.uk/muni.htm

In 2000, we went to Cedar Point amusement park in Ohio. We were sitting in one of the restaurants when the couple at the next table asked about my camera. “I have one of those,” He said, “Wanna see?” And he pulled a ziploc bag out of his pack. The bag contained about 100 bits of metal and plastic, none of which was over about 1.5" in any dimension. It seems his camera had gotten away from him while he was riding on the Magnum XL200 roller coaster (http://tinyurl.com/2n27e). This is why the park doesn’t want you to bring your camera on rides!

When opened in 1989, the Magnum was the tallest roller coaster in the world, and the first one over 200’. I am now a member of ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts), and adhere to their club rules of not taking pictures on rides when it’s prohibited.

8

I do end up wasting time fumbling with the Otter Box to open it up when I want to take a picture. The two latches on the box are what cause the fumbling. The Otter Box is waterproof and the latches close the box very tightly to create a waterproof seal. I’ve been thinking about removing the latches so the box would be quicker to open. I don’t need the box to be waterproof so I don’t need the tight fitting latches. All I want is a hard case around the camera.

9

One of those fat broccoli-style rubber bands might do the job just as well, and might be faster to remove. I have a couple of Pelican cases, and those latches are so hard to work that it hurts my fingers. But they are great cases!

10

Re: Luckiest Digital Camera In The World

Is the aforementioned video up yet? Here or on LUC’s site? Also, someone mentioned that the coker wheel “flexed.” Is this true?

My friend was doing “coker trials.” Quite unintelligent of him of course. He took a drop of about 7 inches (2 pallets worth), a bit to the side, and the three of us present at the time saw the wheel visibly flex a few inches from true. We all feared he had tacoed the poor rim (too bad it wasn’t a U-turn rim), but somehow the wheel had popped back into its original shape. Quite a spectacle. Wish I had a camera.

11

My friend…it certainly ‘flexes’

12

I just figured out a solution. If I remove the gasket in the case the lid closes easier and the latches don’t latch as tight. With the gasket removed it is much easier to open the Otter Box.