A few weeks ago, my neighbor and her son were here, and we were chatting in the living room. We weren’t really paying attention to J.P. setting the table for dinner until we heard a loud “THUNK!” I looked over to see J.P. picking up my camera off the floor, and I think my heart stopped for a second or two. It had been in the bag you see above, and it wasn’t completely zipped when he grabbed the top handle to move it. The flap opened and BOOM!
(For the record, I alwaysalwaysALWAYS zip the bag when it’s closed. Or if I leave it unzipped, I make sure it’s wide open so there’s no risk of this exact scenario.)
I didn’t yell or get upset. I don’t think I even really said too much other than, “Does it still work?” But the temperature may have dropped a few degrees, because suddenly the neighbor was anxious to get out of here. She got J’s shoes on him, and they were gone in about two minutes. I was afraid to look at the camera, but J.P. was able to take a few shots and all seemed well. Whew!
My relief was short-lived. I took a few shots of my own, and it really did seem fine. But then it was just done. Ack! More stopping of the heart. Pleaseletitjustbethelens, pleaseletitjustbethelens. With sweaty palms, I changed lenses. Thankfully, the camera was fine —it was just the lens that was a goner.
The bad news:
- My favorite lens was dead.
- I had a session scheduled and needed a replacement.
The good news:
- As lenses go, it was relatively inexpensive.
- The camera still worked.
- It wasn’t my fault!
J.P. had no problem ordering me a new lens, and I even got him to spring for an upgrade from f/1.8 to f/1.4. It wasn’t until I tried to remove the UV filter from the old lens that I noticed this:
Hmmm . . . that explains a lot!
