Sunday, June 05, 2011

Taking A "Break" From Photography???

For the third Saturday in a row I found myself in Kerrville, right on the banks of the Guadalupe river.
The crescent moon rose into a gap in the trees while we were on break (lucky timing!) so I shot this:


Unfortunately, this will be the last photo from my main camera for awhile:
Apparently my backpack wasn't closed all the way, and while pulling it out of the truck my DSLR flew out and hit the street in front of our house.
It landed hard and I was really scared by all the flying pieces, but they turned out to be just the lens cap and battery.
The only damage as far as I can tell right now is a big piece of rather crappy plastic that forms the grip, which has a big rip in it and torn screw holes.
By holding the battery in manually I was able to take pictures, so there is hope.

If I can get a replacement for the broken part, I can install it myself.
If not, I can probably repair the grip piece anyway with some epoxy and kevlar fabric.

The anti-dust sensor shaker/image stabilization mechanism isn't sounding right, but I recall hearing it's a common thing with Sony Alphas that have taken a fall so I'm not going to worry until I do some research. Something about the sensor mount getting knocked past it's zone of proper travel or something. An easy fix, I hope.


I guess the main thing is, of all the parts that could have gotten wrecked, the grip is probably the best choice.
Viewfinder, LCD, lens, flash, controls, etc, are all fine, so with a little structural repair or replacement I'm hopefully going to have it back in action fairly quickly and cheaply. I'm crossing my fingers as hard as I can that insurance won't need to enter the picture and I won't have to ship the camera off for repair, although I know of a really good place with good reviews and low prices.


In the meantime I can always shoot some infrared black and whites with the F828.
And the camera in my new phone has been surprising me every time I use it--like for the 2nd pic above, which I emailed to myself for this post.
Or maybe I'll buy some film tomorrow and finally get around to playing with my father's delightful German "Kodak" from the '50s...

I have options.

3 comments:

Dave said...

Sorry about your camera accident...

That is a great picture of the moon. As a point and click guy, I am never able to get a shot like that. We have so many great views of the moon and stars out here but I haven't taken the time to read the manual or practice much.

Bruce said...

Ouch, that hurts all the way up here in Fort Worth. Good luck with the repairs; don't want you out of action too long.

Keith Alan K said...

Thanks, Dave. I've always been a night-shift person so it made sense to learn how to shoot in the dark.

Bruce--A day later, and I'm leaning towards fixing it myself. Complex plastic(?) reconstruction is a hobby I've always meant to try.