ChrisLange said:
My cameras get treated well, most of the time, but there's no telling what might happen when I'm out.My Rolleiflex has smacked off the corners of tables and walls when making quick turns with it off my shoulder, it's fine.
My Nikkormat FT2 has fallen onto concrete numberous times, aside from a tiny crack in the mirror, which is invisible in the viewfinder, it works perfectly.
My Pentax 6x7 has fallen and slammed into a lot of stuff. I think it causes more damage than it receives.
My F4 has been used as a weapon as part of a dodgy situation I had in Vyborg, Russia. I was being followed down a back alley by a suspicious looking fellow, who was yelling at me in Russian, apparently paying no mind to my shouts of "NYET" and "ÄLÄ NYT". I had my 85/1.4 Ai-S on the camera, with the large metal screw-in hood. So when I was faced with no exit, and him looking like he was about to take a knife or something out of his pocket, I took the camera by the vertical grip and slammed the hood into the guy's nose. He doubled-over and I took off running back to the central square. The 85 is no worse for wear, and the F4 is still in consant use. The hood has a unnoticeable flat spot on the base, which I think is more from the camera being set down on the ground, than anything else.
My Hasselblad has been smacked around a bit, but it shoots like new. It's a 500C from 1962, which I had overhauled in December of 2010.
The only camera I've ever had break on me was my Yashica Electro35 GS, which sufferes from an internal electronics issue common to that model of camera.
My first camera was a "Ricoh Singlex TLS" (that I got for my 13Bday in 1973), with a 55mm lens. During the early 80' I felt down from a waterfall deep into a pool here in Israel, with the camera hanging on my neck.. That same day, I returned home, got some alcohol and small screw-drivers and opened the camera completely, I have dried and cleaned the camera, knowing that I have nothing to loose. After putting the camera back, all worked as required, even the exposure meter was working!.. just got a small hit on the filter thread and that was all. I always remember that day with all the table full of screws.. I guess that no camera in these days would survive a dive like that one, that required me to swim to reach a place I can stand and put the camera out of danger.
