My huge 7D/Tokina 11-16 tragedy

[Steve Witt]

Was gonna shoot this morning. Packed my nice camera bag with all lenses and my 7D with the Tokina 11-16 attatched. Stopped to put the packed camera bag in the trunk of my car and set it on the ground... then got distracted as I see a FedEx package off to the side of the front door of my house. I thought that I better put that inside, so I walk away from the bag still on the ground behind my car. Returned to my car less than 3minutes later...got in and backed over it. It was smashed and compressed between the bottom of the car and the driveway, Not run over with tire thank goodness.

The Tokina broke off near its mount and rear lens element, The 7D got scratched and has a ton of debris on the sensor. Took that to a camera shop to get the sensor cleaned (Its there now). I think the Tokina may be a gonner but I wanna make sure. Elements are in tact and not scratched. Who/where should I send it to? Here's what the Tokina looks like now. (Nothing else in the bag was damaged as far as I can tell)

[Dennis Stevens]

Bummer, hope it can all be repaired.

Sort of like when you lose your 50 page term paper because you didn't click save. A mistake you usually make once.

[Jerry Porter]

ouch!! That sucks. I would try and get the lens fixed just to see how much it would cost. On the bright side (for me at least) I got to see what the inside of a Tokina looks like......

[Chris Hurd]

In the long run, it's just hardware. Much, much better situation than having it be a person or a beloved critter.

[Jonanthan Carr]

One reason I only use pelican cases.

[Jonathan Shaw]

OOoch,

Well Duclos can put them back together and turn them into a PL mount maybe they can do it.... My gues would be the replacement price could be less than repair.

Alternatively one word: Insurance

[Lee Ying]

So sorry to hear that Steve.
Just a thought though, you may want to check with credit cards that you bought the items with. Sometimes, these credit cards carry insurances on the purchased items within certain period.
Tokina has a good reputation for warranty coverage; they would calibrate your lenses for free during the first three years, which many people don't take advantage of. I would check with Tokina and see what they can do.
At this point, you really got nothing to lose. Good luck.

[Casey Floyd]

hard cases for the win?

who did you buy the camera through?

[Steve Witt]

Got the 7D at BestBuy.

[Greg Chisholm]

I watched in amazement as one of my fellow photogs backed over his(the stations) camera smashing it to bits. The stationed obviously insured their gear. He kept his job... after all, it was an accident. Since than i always do the "idiot check" before I put the car in reverse.... double check to make sure the gear is really in the car. Also, I watched a brand new ikegami slide off the trunk of the car where my partner had placed it. It dropped about two feet, hit the ground.. flipped over once... then the lense snapped off at the mount... toast. Since that day, I have never put the camera anywhere but on the ground next to me unless i have one hand on it.

It's the little distractions when you're loading the car, like noticing a package or a question from your kids, that can start the chain of events leading to disasters like these.

Be careful out there!

[John Richard]

So sorry Steve. I remember you were possibly the one I or someone else gave the lead of Canoga Camera as having stock when you were hunting your Tokina down - maybe they have a suggestion?

Definitely one of those moments when the F-Bomb word could be understood.

[Chuck Spaulding]

Sorry to hear about your accident. I guess in the overall scheme of things not that big of a deal.

Having a system or procedure for always dealing with you camera the same way can really help you get into to good habits and hopefully avoid mishaps like this. I'm probably a little like Greg in this regard, if my camera is out I'm always touching or can see it on the tripod etc.

But as much as this sucks, thanks for sharing this with the rest of us, hopefully it will prevent others from having a similar story.

[Bruce Foreman]

Send it to an authorized Tokina facility for an estimate. I've heard of L series lenses being put back together where they broke apart at the lens mount.

I had a friend came out of a wedding, put his Hasselblad 500C with Strobonar on top of his car while he opened the passenger side door for his wife. He climbed in and drove off, as he got up to 40MPH he heard something roll off the roof of the car.

Sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach told him what that was.

He drove back slowly until he could see wreckage in the headlight beams. Wreckage was all Strobonar flash, fortunately. Only damage to the Blad was some engagement of shutter actuating mechanisms between lens and body and the rapid wind crank was totally "chewed up".

Two years later we were using that camera while he was in Texas on a visit and it had not seen a trip to a repair shop yet.

This happened a few decades ago.

Jack Barney, are you out there somewhere?

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

I remember two friends beside the big River Po in Italy. One of them was driving a big Mercedes towing a large boat filled with expensive fishing gear and there were bags of professional camera equipment inside the car.
He reversed the boat up to the steep waterside boat launch and placed it in park, with the engine still running to check the river and back of the trailer. It was a hot day and so the car windows were left open.

He then asked my other mate if he wouldn't mind climbing in the car for something. So he did so, then quickly closed the car door again and stood back beside his friend.

Unbeknown to the friend, he had inadvertently knocked the gear lever into the wrong position when he had climbed into the car.

Moments later, as they stood chatting, there was a sudden creaking and whooshing sound behind them as the big Mercedes sped past them both, pushing the boat in it's wake.

The river in that place was fast, turbulent and deep, and they just stood in open mouthed astonishment as the whole car filled with muddy water and quickly sank 30ft to the bottom of the river...dragging the boat into the darkness as well!

The only trace left of this sudden tragedy, were a mass of fizzing bubbles swirling in a cauldron on the surface of the river...

I think the amount of expensive camera gear inside the trunk and back seats was worth even more than the Mercedes!

[David W. Jones]

Storm Cases for most of my gear.