Your lost/destroyed camera/chase equipment stories

[James Gustina]

I've yet to lose or damage anything major that wasn't a car while chasing (knock on wood), but did manage to gum up an older tripod. May 25, 2012 on the first storm of the day before it crossed the warm front near Russell. I didn't have my tripod weighted down at all and thankfully my crappy mid-range camera wasn't screwed on yet because inflow sent the tripod airborne into a drainage ditch. It lost a few screws that made it never quite as sturdy again and I essentially avoided using it after 2016.

Sent from my VS996 using Stormtrack mobile app

 

[John Farley]

Actually now I do remember one chasing-related incident - a couple years ago, I somehow lost the connector cable between my lightning trigger and camera without realizing it at the time. When I ordered a replacement cable, I ordered two so if it happens again I have a spare. Worst part of this mishap was I could not use the lightning trigger for a week or two at the height of the Southwestern monsoon.

 

[Paul Lemery]

I had spent the night in Pampa, TX with a high risk day ahead. The first tornado warning surprised me at 6:30 am. It was not far out of town so I took off after it. I continued to chase through Wichita Falls, then to Cleburne, TX and then to Oklahoma City. It wasn't until around 10:00 pm when I started to think of getting a hotel that I remembered that I had left everything back in the Pampa hotel room. UGH! To make matters worse, the day was a huge dud with no tornadoes.

 

[Ethan Lang]

I was executed a core punch and my side window got smashed out by hail and afterwards I was moving quickly to get ahead of a large tornado when my gripper mount became detached and allowed my camcorder to bounce out the window and dangle by its hdmi cord

 

[Dave C]

These stories are amusing, if sad.

I lost a lens cap on a chase. $8 gone, just like that. We will rebuild.

All of my real mishaps have been on other photo trips, maybe I am more careful when chasing or something. Arguably the worst was a tripod, not extended, tipping over in a hefty winter wind and a Tokina 11-16mm breaking on pavement from the 18" fall.

Second worst, a too-fast lens swap mishap in the middle of a field of sunflowers in fading light resulted in the loss of the autofocus mirror on my Canon 6D. Since then, I just shoot it manual all the time or focus in live view. Since it's my backup camera now, not an issue to fix.

Once I started using Canon L glass, it seems like very little damages the lenses, even when a zipper failed on the stairs of a London subway dumping the bag contents. Fortunately the station was not busy and no one was behind me to take the gear, so I was able to recover all with only a scratch on a camera body.

I have lost tons and tons of small accessories that add up over time, but after enough mishaps my gear bags and practices improved to prevent damage and loss. I'm sure something else will happen, and my biggest fear by far is theft.

 

[Tony Laubach]

Left an older Nikon DSRL on the hood of my car during the 2009 Plainview TX tornadoes. It sat on the windshield wiper for a bit, fully in view on my dash cam, til I hit a bump and bounced it off. Lost the lens and camera body. Fortunately, after hearing horror stories about chasers having insurance issues, I had taken out a business policy listing all my big gear, thus they covered the damage. Claim was about $1400.

Laptop on my desk at home took a spill when an over-zealous cat dash onto the desk, landed on the laptop, and slid it off the desk and crashing onto the ground. The screen was damaged and I had to replace the hard drive, but I was able to do all that for a little less than $300. I still have the laptop, although I no longer use it for chasing.

Laptop and dash camera this past May when I was t-boned by a woman who ran a stop sign shortly after the Arkansas City tornado. I was able to get those items paid for a replaced by their insurance company. They also forked out for mounts and installs that I lost in the crash.

 

[Quincy Vagell]

No major losses, but a few mishaps come to mind.

I mount one or two Sony Action Cams on the roof of my car during most active chases. Once I had one rip off at a high rate of speed (combined with a strong, perpendicular crosswind) in western Kansas. 6/27/14. I turned around and drove by the area twice, but couldn’t see the camera anywhere. I finally got out on foot and literally ran along the road before I found it. The camera was still recording, but the plastic case was broken and the metal mount was scuffed up. It was salvageable though.

It happened again in the spring of 2015, but that time I wasn’t recording and the case only suffered a small chip. I still use it to this day and I haven’t lost a camera from the roof since.

In 2015 I had a tripod flip over in strong winds in eastern Colorado. My camcorder suffered a dent very close to the lens, but it still works just fine.

I drove into a hail storm (was golf ball size and quickly getting larger) in 2017 and pulled over. In a panic I floored it in reverse on the shoulder since I was on a divided highway and couldn’t turn around. Next thing I know, I was scraping up against a gaurdrail. Surprisingly the damage was relatively minor after I touched up the scratches.

 

[Drew Terril]

Only one that really comes to mind for me (and it was a $2400 uh oh) was just being stupid when trying to hurry back onto the pavement on a chase in 2015. Snapped the left side axle shaft on my rear axle, and in a way that actually broke the axle tube itself, where the backing plate bolted into the axle tube assembly. So instead of needing a $200 axle shaft, I needed an entirely new axle assembly, but was able to use the ring and pinion and differential from the old one, which probably saved me from an additional grand or so. It was more of a freak thing than anything, but I still take more care when going from the dirt/mud back onto the pavement.

I haven't broken any cameras/camcorders yet, thankfully.

 

[kevin-palmer]

I've had plenty of mishaps with photography gear, but none that I can think of while chasing.

One time my camera got dunked in a creek, but it survived and the lens was still somewhat functional after drying it out.

A couple winters ago I was shooting in very deep snow. I was pushing my tripod down trying to find a solid layer to rest it on. But this caused the legs to spread out and crack the center of the tripod.

After buying another tripod, last fall I went on a backpacking trip in the mountains of Montana. I set up my camera next to a lake. When I went to sleep I took my camera into the tent (good idea), but left the tripod in place (bad idea). The next morning it had completely vanished. The wind picked up overnight, and I thought the tripod had to be at the edge of the water, but it was nowhere to be found.

 

[Ethan Schisler]

Had my first major run in with camera damage this year, luckily the cost of damage was about $40 USD. I was filming the Sterling City, TX tornado with my Sony A7SIII and 24-70mm F/2.8 GM lens. The inflow knocked over my manfrotto weighted tripod as I was reaching for my other camera with wide angle lens. Luckily it landed in rocks and just jammed the lens hood down onto the lens. I used wire cutters to remove the old hood as it was permanently lodged onto the mount. Bought a new hood and works as good as new. I briefly had a heart attack though thinking I had destroyed a nearly 2500 dollar lens. The camera itself had a smallrig cage on it, so no damage, not even a scratch to it.





Hopefully that is my last and only story of such over the next few years.

 

[Jeff House]

Some of these $1,000+ losses are straight horror stories. Do you laugh, cry or both?

Mine is quite minor. Left a weather radio and map on top of a payphone circa 1995 before many cell phones. Remember the old school?

After library data check and/or watching Walmart TVs, the chase is on! If one needed an update, call a friend from a payphone. Friend was probably looking at radar on a home dail-up connection. Pain!

 

[Ethan Schisler]

I guess the other one I can add to the list technically was my FDR-AX100. I had been in about 4 different hurricanes with it (Dorian being the last) and it had (to be completely honest) gotten beyond drenched during that time in both wind, rain, and surge flooding. The power button developed an afinity for turning on and off rapidly when not plugged in. I continued to use it for the rest of the 2019 winter with no issue. I swapped the battery out and the problem went away for a month or two only briefly reoccurring.

Ended up posting it for sale on Marketplace over the winter and still ended up getting more than I needed out of it. The guy that purchased it said he didn't care about the water damage and was more than happy with the purchase upon following up with him, so that was good.

I'm glad I got rid of it as it likely wouldn't have lasted another hurricane chase and the prospect of a $1500 paperweight didn't resonate with me, but then again I'm also sad because they are actually more costly now than when I bought mine in 2016 on discount (I had indeed looked into another as I loved mine). Sort of a horror story I guess with a good ending?

I'm not too keen on getting my equipment wet anymore with having all mirrorless bodies now. Any hurricane video I shoot will likely be with Iphone or Galaxy phones as they are cheaper, shoot 4k 60p still, and rather expendable compared to a professional camcorder.

 

[B. Dean Berry]

1999 - Some gigantic JVC over-the-shoulder VHS camera took on water and let out the magic smoke and ate my footage from Hurricane Dennis is VA Beach.. I got it at a thrift store for $50.

2003 - Put a 1993 Pontiac Sunbird through a fence in Virginia on an F0 tornado intercept. Punched the oil pan, and destroyed the oil pump instantly. I only paid $350 for the car, and got $400 at the scrap yard, so $50 profit?

2018 - Ruined a crappy JVC Everio 720p handicap, shooting snow of all things. $90 Used.

2021 - Went to Ohio for MRGL storms and accidentally knocked a drink over on a 2nd gen WxWorx box. Oops. $25 from Ebay. This was replaced with another 2nd gen unit that I had, and then a WR10 3rd gen WxWorx unit from Ebay for $80 on a desperation sale.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Had another one in 2021 to add to this:

August 8, 2021: A gust front blew over my tripoded brand-new video camera onto rip-rap next to the road, breaking off the LCD screen. I had bought the camera mainly for winter weather work (my previous camera had major focus issues during snow), so I managed to break it before I could even use it for its intended purpose. Sent it off for repairs which cost $600.

 

[William Monfredo]

I attended a friend's family reunion at Custer State Park, SD and decided to take a "relaxing" chase afterwards to observe thunderstorms south of Pierre, SD on July 23, 2010. Phones off, no radar, just mesmerizing, waving grasslands, thunderstorm, and sky...until I neared I-90.
I thought I was dreaming when literally cantaloupes of ice began falling from the sky at Vivian...driven by 80 + mph winds! (One of the few times out in the weather that I was actually worried.)
In 2010 money, I had 5K + of damage to my vehicle with huge hits to the driver's side of the windshield. I drove back to Pierre the next day to get new glass. At the time, I felt a great deal of frustration; the only consolation came later, when one of the stones (not mine) set the record.