babying your equipment

[FWW56]

I wonder if some of us are too easy on our cameras and equipment? I must admit that I do try to take care of what I have, however my passion for action photography puts me in some pretty hostile environments. As a result I subject my stuff to some very extreme conditions.

Several times per week I'm out with one of my sons shooting stock cars at dirt tracks. For those not familiar with this here you will find extreme dust, sometimes heat or cold with possible rain, vibration and in general very harsh conditions.

This past weekend found us at a remote race track in central Pa. I posted myself at a vantage point on a mound just inside the first turn where I've gotten some very good captures in the past. On this particular night a spin and resultant crash sent an out of control car in mine and my sons direction. These cars where traveling somewhere approaching 90 to 100 mph range when the incident occurred. While shooting these events one of the first things that you learn is to keep one eye open on the traffic coming into the turn. In this case we saw the incident unfold and had plenty of time to react. The major glitch was that there was no real point of "egress".

My son and one of the firemen went to the right off the bank and I went to the left. Fortunately nobody was injured however with all of the rain lately there was a moat surrounding this mound that provided such a good vantage point. My son and the fireman went through the aforementioned moat and each of them lost one shoe. The fireman was lucky that he had his boots on which made it easy to find and retrieve his footwear my son was not so lucky and lost forever one of his new shoes.

I however didn't fair so well. In my hasty retreat I attempted to jump over the "moat" and something happened. Being on the other side of 50 I must come to grips that I cannot run as fast, jump as high and in general accept the fact that I'm not in my 20's any longer (I guess I should start acting my age). Anyhow, I ended up face first in the "moat" clutching my Pentax k100d, Metz 60CT4, my hotshoe flash in my hip pocket and all of the attendant accessories, Wein Safe-Sinc etc. The result was not pretty.


(photo by Jim Balentine)



Here is a shot of the car after it came to rest. We were standing just about where the rear end of the car is now. In the background my son can be seen with the grey shirt holding his camera with a Metz and if you look closely you can see what appears to be the "swamp thing" amidst the crowd. That would be me.


(photo by Jim Balentine)

To be continued.......

FRANK

[FWW56]

Although there were no physical injuries I did loose my glasses and watch. My watch is gone forever and somehow somebody managed to find my broken glasses and retrieved a small amount of my pride too.

On to the subject of the title of this thread.

As I stated in the title I think that sometimes we are a bit anal about our prized possessions and although I believe that respect for the equipment and due care should be exercised, I also believe that you should get all that you can out of it as well. And believe me I do!

Below are photos of my equipment once I got home and began the process of trying to salvage what I could of it, even if it was only the cords.

I didn't look very promising.




















After fashioning an oven from the refrigerator in my shop by unplugging it and placing a 100 watt light bulb in it, I proceeded to disassemble the components and remove all batteries and place all parts into my makeshift oven.

After leaving all of this alone for about 16 hours I gave it a go. The oven idea appeared to work with all of the mud dried and crumpling off at this point. I began by taking a thin piece of wood and gently scraping the bulk of the mud from all of the parts beginning with the Metz battery pack. Once the bulk of the mud was removed I began brushing with auto detailing brushes, compressed air and window cleaner. As I finished each part I tentatively tested each and amazingly everything worked.

After nine hours of cleaning it appeared that I was in business again.

To be continued.............

FRANK

[FWW56]

Now for the true test. I had another event to cover in Pgh on Saturday. I shoot as a freelance photographer and submit the shots to many of the racing publications as well as the larger web based services. 500+ images later it appears that the operation was a success. Time will tell but the camera at least was due for it's semi-annual cleanup at the local shop and with somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 shutter clicks on that body I've had my eye out for it's replacement for a while now.

After seeing thow well the Pentax and Metz have held up after such extreme conditions, I most definately have to look within their respective catalogs for my next replacement / upgrade.

the following shots are of the same equipment after their first venture out of the bag since the incedent.

















FRANK

[R. House]

Great read...and photos to document this experience. Looks like a outstanding job on the cleanup.

[Songman45]

Very interesting read indeed. Great save. I'm glad you had the forethough to first kill the current then to dry the equipment before the rescue. I'm glad everyting came back to life and everyone got out okay.

[Padre]

Wow, an action adventure with outstanding documentation, have some karma!

[Gary Mayo]

Ok that is camera abuse. I think you should be reported! lol

[footskelly]

Great article and pics. Have some Karma

[Eero Makela]

Like they say the camera is only the tool for the job. As long as the pictures get save that is all the matters. But in this case it is also good that the equipment get a second or 10th chance to work some more.

[OzzyJim]

Gday Mate,

I had a bad experience with my K10D about 6 months after I had purchased it, I was photographing the outside of a winery in the Barossa Valley and dropped the camera from about 2.5 - 3 feet. It bounced along the bitumen for a further 2 feet til it stopped against a 4WD tyre. Although it sounded like a bucket of bolts, I picked it up had a quick look and keept shooting. The only thing that happened was that the shake reduction switch was turned off (easy fix) and a few small scratches on the body (See beow). Is it only pentax cameras that are this strong?. Sorry about the poor quality had to shoot the pics on a video camera.

[ames]

wow, at that rate care to come over and clean the ill designed corners of my hall bathroom?

glad everything came out right, hope you were able to replace the glasses swiftly !

[hotrod4x5]

Amazing! You should contact Pentax and Metz, they might like to feature you in an ad!

[gaopa2]

Ummmm..... very interesting series. Not any equip. I would want to buy used! ;~) Cheers, Bill P.

[Rodeoshooter]

Such is the life of a photographer. Sometimes we get caught in a moment where life is more important than the shot or the equipment. I am very happy to hear you are safe and well. You can replace your equipment but not the son or father. I am glad to hear drying the equipment worked so well.

You did a great job the documenting and presenting the story. Have some K for a great job.

Thanks,

[FWW56]

Well here it is the middle of February and living in the North Eastern United States the winter doldrums having set in pretty deep by now. Two more weeks 'til March 1st, winter HAS to end soon!

Anyway, I was just poking my nose around the site and came across this thread of mine from last summer. I was surprised at how many views it has had, this is the second most viewed thread in this category.....ever!

Back to the update. When this indecent happened, the K100d had about 40,000 shutter clicks on it and to date there are over 65,000. Although I intended to send it out to be serviced I never got around to it. The fact is that I resumed shooting with it the same day that I finished cleaning it. With the aggressive schedule I keep I just didn't have time. During this period I was shooting at least two events per week. And as evident in the photos of the aftermath, I get every bit out of my equipment.

I did send the lens out to be "professionally" cleaned due to some dirt within the lens not related to the mud bath. The service tech was not able to get the lens apart because of corrosion from the brine in the mud, so that would be one casualty. I've since picked up another Pentax lens the 28-200 I think to replace it and have been using it as a replacement. The K100d body, Metz 60CT4 and the Promaster flash are still "clicking"

I'm glad everybody has gotten a kick out of my story and I really appreciate the responses.

As soon as we get out of our winter slump and business picks up I'd like to pick up a K20d. That will give me a chance to see what all this weather sealing stuff is about and relegate the K100d to a well deserved back up role.

FRANK

[Ben_V]

Originally Posted by FWW56

As soon as we get out of our winter slump and business picks up I'd like to pick up a K20d. That will give me a chance to see what all this weather sealing stuff is about and relegate the K100d to a well deserved back up role.

FRANK

Frank, the K20 will be a big improvement for you. Add one of the Pentax sealed lenses and you can give it more mud baths and cleaning under the shower, too. It is amazing, that the humble K100 turned out to be that robust...

Ben