I promise I’ll get to slightly less boring things in the near future, as soon as I finish chronicling web site failures and hosting issues (and who knows what else at this rate!), dear loyal readers, 1 or 2 that you are. But since sleep and I don’t seem to be friends lately, I figured I’d regale you with the run in I had with luck today. (Of the bad variety.)

Among some of the things I’ve run into in the past few weeks, I had a ton of sensor gook, and it’s shown up in about 600 pictures now which makes me feel like an idiot. I kept thinking I had gotten it in the lenses only to see that I hadn’t. And then realized one of my lens’s polarizing filters is gone. Filters don’t just fall off. The viewfinder rubber piece has fallen off as well. So while these things were irritations, today was just bad.

After five years of owning my lovely Nikon D100 SLR camera I dropped it for the first time today. Usually I’m pretty paranoid and careful about my camera, but today carelessness and stupidity prevailed. I did not close my camera bag after taking a few shots with it, at which point camera hit pavement when I dragged my bag out of the car.

Ugh.

I think the sound must have stopped my heart for a moment.

The LCD protector cracked straight off the camera, but luckily nothing was damaged there. It will be a simple matter to replace. Took a few experimental shots and everything seemed to be fine aside from a loose lens. About a half hour later, upon a further “just in case” inspection, I found that loose lens was actually half off the camera’s body lens. Apparently 2 of the 3 grooves that attach the lens to the camera had been snapped off with the impact.

Much gnashing of teeth ensued.

After many hours research, I found that all is not lost and I might not have to spend $130 to replace something due to my stupidity (Instead of investing in a new lens!!). More hours of searching, and I finally found what I believe is the replacement part for the mount. With a few fancy screwdrivers I can probably do the repair myself for $30.

I’m still bracing myself to the discovery of more subtle damage to the camera body. But hey… with most of what’s happened in the past month there’s been a good side to these things. Once I had taken care of things with the broken lens I started researching lenses in general and the possibility of purchasing a new one altogether. It’s been on the list of things “to do.” (ie, maybe in the far future)

I’m embarrassed to say that as the owner of a fancy expensive camera, my knowledge of lenses was rather vague and lacking. Atrocious. I took steps to begin remedying that today and I also found a few pretty inexpensive lenses that I’m excited to add to my gear. (“Gear” sounds so professional..ha.) The $500 macro lenses were making my heart flutter, and not in a good way! The highly recommended $115 Nikon 50mm sounds wonderful though.

Also happy to report that I’ve been reading up on technique and the basics have come back fast. Reading it alone was making my head swim, but actually applying it has made a big difference. Also getting to know my camera better than I had before. I guess the penchant for obsessive research I’ve acquired over the past few years is paying off!

So here is the shot I took today before the terrible incident with the camera. Was planning on going out to the arboretum, but the weather was crazy storms and hail. It cleared up a bit and after waffling I decided I’d definitely go out. Turned around halfway there when the weather got bad again, only to drop my camera.

Yeah, this post is huge. And I’m not a bit tired yet!

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