Lost my gear

[radhak]

I'm only mourning here now....

While returning from a vacation in Toronto, Canada, I lost my camera bag last week. Somewhere in Buffalo, NY, near the airport, probably at the Noco gas station there, when fueling up before returning a rental car.

It had most of my gear inside - a Nikon D90, a Tamron Lens 17-50 2.8mm, a Nikon Prime 35mm 1.8mm, a Nikon Lens 70-300, an SB600 flash, a bunch of filters, a remote trigger and four 16gb cards.

I have beaten myself no end, after I called all places for a remote chance of getting it back, all in vain.

While I bought all my gear used, all of it together was worth a fortune, at least to me. I don't know if I'll be able to replace it in the near future.

In the meanwhile, I'm amusing myself by looking at the various options open to me now that I have to start afresh. Maybe going full frame, the D600 or D610? Or even switching to Canon? (Do they have any FF at the same price range ?) Though frankly, I don't have any reason to go away from Nikon.

 

[Paladin3]

Man, that sucks ass. I lost a bunch of gear twice in separate car accidents over the years and both times it sucked.

The first time was me putting a car into a guardrail on a raining freeway. The back window broke out of my hatchback and a bunch of gear flew out onto the freeway to die.

Second time someone carjacked my brand new car with a truck full of gear. The guy eventually rolled the car a few hours later and I had to collect the smashed gear from the wreck at the wrecking yard.

Back in college I left an entire bag of gear on the front bumper of a friends Jeep. He drove home before I called him and it was still there wedged between the bumper and grill.

Ha, almost forgot I dumped my motorcycle with a bag of gear on my back on the way back from a newspaper assignment. When I hit the road the bag came flying over my shoulder and I heard the dull thud of it smashing against the ground even with my helmet.

Well, gear is made to be used. If you are afraid of breaking or losing it you will miss a lot of photos. Still sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[CuriousMike]

Majorly sucks.

But now you get to buy new gear.



Man, MFT, APS-C, FF ... Canon/Nikon/Fuji/Panasonic/Olympus... Sony... there is a LOT of good gear out there now.

 

[radhak]

Whoa Paladin! Forget lost gear, you have collected a ton of disasters for one person! I hope, like you, I'll look back at this with equanimity some time in the future.

For now, it only looks like a totally avoidable loss for which - unfortunately - I can't blame anybody else :|.

But you are both right about the choices available in the months to come, (maybe next year). That's something to look forward to.

 

[Syborg1211]

Dang, these stories are going to give me nightmares! Good luck with finding a suitable replacement to your gear! FF is pretty awesome for portraits!

 

[blastingcap]

I'm only mourning here now....

While returning from a vacation in Toronto, Canada, I lost my camera bag last week. Somewhere in Buffalo, NY, near the airport, probably at the Noco gas station there, when fueling up before returning a rental car.

It had most of my gear inside - a Nikon D90, a Tamron Lens 17-50 2.8mm, a Nikon Prime 35mm 1.8mm, a Nikon Lens 70-300, an SB600 flash, a bunch of filters, a remote trigger and four 16gb cards.

I have beaten myself no end, after I called all places for a remote chance of getting it back, all in vain.

While I bought all my gear used, all of it together was worth a fortune, at least to me. I don't know if I'll be able to replace it in the near future.

In the meanwhile, I'm amusing myself by looking at the various options open to me now that I have to start afresh. Maybe going full frame, the D600 or D610? Or even switching to Canon? (Do they have any FF at the same price range ?) Though frankly, I don't have any reason to go away from Nikon.

Oh man that sucks, but you can take this opportunity to switch systems as you said.

Mirrorless is the future for almost everyone, due to the overwhelming advantages of EVFs, cost reduction, and size/weight reduction. Right now CaNikon's scale is so big that they are still cost-competitive, but they can't keep it up forever, mirrorless cameras will undercut them in price eventually due to their lower costs. Only a few holdouts like birders and pro sports photographers really need OVF+DSLRs for the foreseeable future, due to EVF lag. As EVF refresh times get faster, they will start to get "good enough" for more and more people.

With EVFs you can superimpose pretty much anything--live histogram, levels, zebra stripes/focus peaking, etc. and costs should go down if you remove the mirror, pentaprism/mirror, and PDAF/metering sensors and bring them onto the actual imaging sensor. That means fewer moving parts and things to calibrate, too.

Yeah you can sort of get by with LCDs which are basically the same thing as EVFs but more susceptible to glare from bright sunlight, and it's less stable to hold a camera at arm's length rather than bracing it against your head.

I'd go Sony's Alpha mirrorless cameras like the a6000, as Sony appears to be the strongest profitable company in the mirrorless camera space and treats imaging as a core business (they make imaging sensors for a lot of companies, including Nikon). CaNikon don't seem to want to cannibalize their DSLR sales so their mirrorless efforts are half-hearted at best, and Ricoh/Pentax and Samsung have practically no market share or third party lens support. I'm hesitant to recommend buying Micro Four Thirds gear. Olympus and Panasonic keep losing money in cameras and it's unclear how long management will allow that to happen--Panasonic's CEO has made it clear that all divisions need to make 5% ROI or get spun off. The short term solution is to hide their camera losses with the profitable video division, but that's like throwing dirty laundry under the rug--eventually the rug won't be big enough to hide the problem. Olympus's camera division hasn't made money in seemingly forever.

 

[Spoooon]

Sucks! :'(

Now though... time to go full frame. You get to shop with the added benefit of more experience and a better idea of what you really need.

 

[Paladin3]

Whoa Paladin! Forget lost gear, you have collected a ton of disasters for one person! I hope, like you, I'll look back at this with equanimity some time in the future...

I was working at various newspapers during those times, but I've got other stories I didn't mention:

Left a Canon T-90 with 20-35/3.5L on top of my truck while shooting real estate exteriors. Drove to the next house and it had slid back to wedge against the camper shell. It was fine.

Had a couple of players at a football game come out of bounds, one of them swept my feet out from under me and I landed on a Canon F1n and 135/2. Ripped the lens off the camera, leaving the mount behind.

Burned a hole in a nice Domke F-2 bag at a fire I was covering. Also gave myself a hotfoot at the same fire standing in place too long on hot coals, IIRC, hehe. My wife would buy me a bag every Christmas because about a year was as long as they would last.

Collected lots of spit in various lenses over the years taking photos of people who didn't want their photos taken. Some of my friends weren't so lucky. A guy I know was covering the Rodney King riots in LA when someone dove by, leaned out the window and grabbed the strap of a camera he had over his shoulder. He was drug for a good distance before he got free. Another friend was kicked in the gut by someone and laid out while shooting looting the same day.

Got a nice dent in a the trunk of a 3 month old car from a baseball at a Single A baseball game. I think they let journalists park close to the field on purpose at that ball park. Shooting baseball is something I miss more than just about any other part of the job.

I bounced a few cameras back in the day when you could actually do that with something like a Canon F1 or Nikon F3. Today I have to keep my digital gear wrapped in a cloth diaper and strapped into an approved child seat. People talk about calibrating their lenses and I laugh at how rough some of the gear we used was.

I used to be pretty rough on flash units too, but I was fond of Vivitar 285/283 units back then and they could take a beating. I'd buy them used at garage sales or in pawn shops so I always had 2-3 available at any one time.

I tried to keep overlapping lenses back then too. If something broke on assignments I had to be able to keep shooting. Some of the shooters I worked with would have 4-5 bodies in the trunk, backup beater lenses in case their primary stuff broke, multiple flash units, extra cables, a small lighting kit, and 50-60 rolls of film easy.

We used to say things like "F8 and be there" and shoot 400 speed Tri-x or T-max even outside in daylight. Details like focus wasn't as important as getting the shot on some assignments. I had an editor who would say "good enough for government work" while editing negatives almost daily. We turned in some rough shit back then, hehe, but we got the shot or got chewed out.

 

[snoylekim]

^^ Wow . Reinforces the adage to 'never buy used gear from a pro ' ..especially a PJ, because they USE it !! I'd heard the pentaprisms leave quite a mark ...

 

[JohnnyRebel]

I'm only mourning here now....

While returning from a vacation in Toronto, Canada, I lost my camera bag last week. Somewhere in Buffalo, NY, near the airport, probably at the Noco gas station there, when fueling up before returning a rental car.

It had most of my gear inside - a Nikon D90, a Tamron Lens 17-50 2.8mm, a Nikon Prime 35mm 1.8mm, a Nikon Lens 70-300, an SB600 flash, a bunch of filters, a remote trigger and four 16gb cards.

I have beaten myself no end, after I called all places for a remote chance of getting it back, all in vain.

While I bought all my gear used, all of it together was worth a fortune, at least to me. I don't know if I'll be able to replace it in the near future.

In the meanwhile, I'm amusing myself by looking at the various options open to me now that I have to start afresh. Maybe going full frame, the D600 or D610? Or even switching to Canon? (Do they have any FF at the same price range ?) Though frankly, I don't have any reason to go away from Nikon.

You should start a "If I was starting over again I would get a...." thread.

 

[radhak]

You should start a "If I was starting over again I would get a...." thread.

Yup, I should; throw some ideas around.

 

[Euchrestalin]

You might be able to file a claim with your homeowner's insurance company. While you won't get full value it's still something. I have my camera gear insured under my rental insurance policy.

 

[Rottie]

Ouch I feel your pain about your lost gear. Anyway I think you can stay with Nikon but different full frame model. Good luck.

 

[MongGrel]

You might be able to file a claim with your homeowner's insurance company. While you won't get full value it's still something. I have my camera gear insured under my rental insurance policy.

Yeah, I was going to ask if insured.

Would lighten the loss a bit.

 

[radhak]

Since I only have a generic HomeOwners Insurance (ie, not specifically for my photo equipment), with a $1000 deductible, I'd rather not file a claim.

Especially since there's a lot to worry about when dealing with Insurance agencies: see here or here.

 

[JohnnyRebel]

If I was starting over.....

My "one" camera couldn't be a full size DSLR, due to price and size. I couldn't afford the best lenses along with the camera I'd really want - plus it all would be too big to carry all the time. So, once I start to compromise on size I'd settle in at one of two camera systems...

1) Fuji X-TI. IQ is very good and really nice primes are half what FF would cost. The f/1.2 portrait lens almost makes this system worth it by itself. The only downsides for me are compromise on subject-isolation and tracking AF. Probably the best APS-C size sensor system out there. Added bonus is a pretty good Velvia simulation. Final over-the-top bonus being the well executed external controls.

2) Olympus OM-D E-M1. Biggest plus vs the Fuji is the 5-way VR. Users report the difference being unimaginable until you try it. Really nice primes at pretty good prices (especially vs full-frame). Negatives - even smaller sensor size and similar AF tracking weakness as the Fuji.

Honorable mention(s) - The D7000 refurb is a steal right now.

Also, for me, AF speed, tracking performance, and overall system speed is paramount. The Nikon V1 (still available as a kit for $249) meets my immediate needs better than either the Fuji or the Olympus. I pull out the D7000 every so often for planned shoots, but would be very happy with the V1 as my only camera.

- Johnny

 

[blastingcap]

If I was starting over.....

My "one" camera couldn't be a full size DSLR, due to price and size. I couldn't afford the best lenses along with the camera I'd really want - plus it all would be too big to carry all the time. So, once I start to compromise on size I'd settle in at one of two camera systems...

1) Fuji X-TI. IQ is very good and really nice primes are half what FF would cost. The f/1.2 portrait lens almost makes this system worth it by itself. The only downsides for me are compromise on subject-isolation and tracking AF. Probably the best APS-C size sensor system out there. Added bonus is a pretty good Velvia simulation. Final over-the-top bonus being the well executed external controls.

2) Olympus OM-D E-M1. Biggest plus vs the Fuji is the 5-way VR. Users report the difference being unimaginable until you try it. Really nice primes at pretty good prices (especially vs full-frame). Negatives - even smaller sensor size and similar AF tracking weakness as the Fuji.

Honorable mention(s) - The D7000 refurb is a steal right now.

Also, for me, AF speed, tracking performance, and overall system speed is paramount. The Nikon V1 (still available as a kit for $249) meets my immediate needs better than either the Fuji or the Olympus. I pull out the D7000 every so often for planned shoots, but would be very happy with the V1 as my only camera.

- Johnny

I was trying to make do with a V1 but the lack of hotshoe and some other stuff made me supplement it with a Sony a6000. I would not recommend the Fuji as their AF is too slow. The Oly E-M1, Sony a6000, and Panasonic GH4 are the three best autofocusing mirrorless APS-C cameras right now. I ruled out the Oly/Pany because I figured that getting just 1 more stop of usable high ISO wasn't worth it (compared to the Nikon V1). If I was going to upgrade, it had to be at least 1.5 stops. The Sony a6000 is about 1.5 to 2 stops better than the V1, so that sealed the deal for me.

 

[JohnnyRebel]

I was trying to make do with a V1 but the lack of hotshoe and some other stuff made me supplement it with a Sony a6000. I would not recommend the Fuji as their AF is too slow. The Oly E-M1, Sony a6000, and Panasonic GH4 are the three best autofocusing mirrorless APS-C cameras right now. I ruled out the Oly/Pany because I figured that getting just 1 more stop of usable high ISO wasn't worth it (compared to the Nikon V1). If I was going to upgrade, it had to be at least 1.5 stops. The Sony a6000 is about 1.5 to 2 stops better than the V1, so that sealed the deal for me.

Yes. With the D7000 I'm pretty well set. Every camera is a compromise, and I just plain don't like Sony so I never consider them. The V1 is near perfect for me, but not everyone shoots like I do. I haven't missed a "real" flash, because I shoot natural light with reflective modifiers. The V1 flash is plenty good for fill-flash (for me). When this is not enough, I pull out the D7000.

Johnny