So it took me 3 weeks to dish out some pretty good damage to my new D810 camera, and hopefully a lesson learned.
Whilst on the popular and touristy black sand beach, close to Vik in Southern Iceland, I had mounted the camera on a fairly stable tripod, complete with an older, hence far better quality, zoom lens and Lee filter system – no sooner had I bent down to reach into my camera bag for a fully charged battery than a gust of wind sent the entire setup falling to earth. If it had just landed on the course sand it wouldn’t have been such an issue, but I had it on a large rock, some five feet off the ground – of course it fell in between two other large rocks with a gut wrenching sound!
I scrambled down before the unpredictable tide could do more damage, only to find that everything was still attached where it should be. The camera was still powered on, and other than a chipped ND filter, nothing looked in too bad a shape. That is until I noticed a bunch of scratches and three or four cracks in the camera body – ouch! But did it still work as it should and would it get me through the next five weeks of my European adventure?
Tripod: only scratches
Lens: no damage
Lee mount: a slightly bent install pin
Lee filter: a chipped corner, with no scratches
Polarizor: no damage
Camera: cracked body, sticking viewfinder cover, inoperative flash
On this occasion I was very lucky, but extremely stupid. It had been continuously windy the entire time we had been in Iceland so I should have known better, and this wasn’t the first time my camera/ tripod setup had took a tumble. The last time my D7000 and lens became permanently separated!
Now waiting to get the camera body back from Nikon, hopefully in full working order.