Toronto Photography Meetup Group

This is a story/anecdote for your enjoyment and disgust... nothing technical and no questions here:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/avirtualunknown/2804434059/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3027/2804434059_02eb69fc8a.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt=""></a>

I was on my way home from volleyball and decided to take some shots around town on the way back. I took a 360 degree panoramic night scene from a street median, and some shots of the building above, all in the St Lawrence Market area of Toronto.

While shooting the Novotel, I noticed something stirring to the right of the shot above. It was a raccoon that started climbing a wall by the parking entrance. I was in the middle of the long exposure (my shutter was open) when I saw him. I waited until I heard the shutter closed and then took the camera off of the tripod to look through the viewfinder. No good! You can't shoot a little raccoon who is 15 meters away, with an 11-16mm lens.

I grabbed my EF 50mm f/1.4 and swapped them. I was in a hurry to catch up to the raccoon who started to take notice of me. At that very moment, a friend of mine came walking around the street corner. I ran up to the 'coon and got only one decent shot (not yet posted).

Satisfied that I had captured acceptable images of both the building and the raccoon, I put my camera in my pack and grabbed my tripod and folded it up as my friend and I walked down the street.

The following day, I came home from work and wanted to go shooting. I repacked my bag and found something was missing. So it turns out that the image above was my last shot with my Tokina 11-16mm because I set it down on a ledge after changing it out.

I returned to the location where this all went down and I found the lens hood laying on the ground; but no lens. None of the local businesses had any lost+found submissions from the previous night.

I hope that someone found it and is enjoying it or sold it or gave it someone who knows what to do with it. My greatest fear is that some drunkard (The Esplanade where I was shooting is a bar-filled street) found the lens and pitched it like a baseball.

But yeah, it was not turned in and I only had it for about a month.

Damn dude. All for a stinkin racoon. The worst I've done due to hasty lens changes is get dust in the sensor

The worst memory I have is from a particular scenic shot I was trying to take, with a 20d and a 70-200 2.8, mounted on a sturdy tripod.
I can't remember where I was buy it was on a cliff somewhere, while travelling in Europe for work.
I steadied the camera for a shot and stood there enjoying the view for a bit. I wasn't right at the edge.
I went back to my backpack for a second to take out something, and a strong (i mean really strong) gust of wind blew.
The tripod fell forward, the 70-200 did a face plant on the rocks, glass flying in every direction. the 20d was fine, scratch free, but the lens was destroyed.

No choice for "none of the above"?

I've had some stuff taken from my office, but that doesn't count since it was stored rather than out shooting with it at the time.

The one thing I REALLY hate losing though is tripod mounts...lose the mount and the tripod is useless.

Sorry to hear about your missing gear.

I think that falls under the theft option in the poll... because a theft is unlikely to occur while you are 'using' your gear. That would be more like robbery... and i guess robbery would fall under confiscation?

I had almost all of my gear stolen from my car -- never again! I don't leave anything valuable in the car anymore -- although the new car is much more difficult to break into, and has an anti-theft sysem which the old car did not have. But, if I am bringing expensive stuff with me, it goes inside with me now.

I almost forgot my entire pack once at the zoo -- started walking away from lunch, and realized I had my camera in hand, but no backpack -- thankfully it had been barely 2 minutes, and my pack was still under my chair where I left it.

I've also lost small inexpensive parts due to forgetfulness, etc.... for example, at a TPMG event, I left the aperature holder for my lensbaby at a Golden griddle, and ended up having to re-order it. Thankfully only a $9 part.

anyhow... it happens!

I had my P&S and my iPod stolen at the same time a couple of years back. I was at a restaurant and upon leaving I could find my jacket. I went to the washroom, and found it laying on the ground with the goods gone. Ever since then, I take all my valuables with me EVERYWHERE.

Did you by chance pay for that lens with a Royal Bank Visa or debit card? They have an awesome 90 day theft/loss/damage insurance policy that you can claim your Tokina on. Some other credit/debit cards may have a similar deal. AFAIK there's no deductible.

I think I did pay for it with Royal Bank VISA!!

Thanks dude. I am going to check it out.

I almost lost my Manfrotto 190XB with 486RC2 head once. I was at High Park and put it down standing on the floor at the one restaurant place and totally forgot about it when I went out with my friends. We were out for about 2hours I think? Then I realized that I forgot it and ran back. Luckily it was still there.

Damn dude. All for a stinkin racoon. The worst I've done due to hasty lens changes is get dust in the sensor

You already said this yesterday.

Sorry to hear of your lost, hope you can get something out of it through your card. Good Luck.

Anti-theft is a bold claim. Theft deterrent is more accurate as it limits theft to only experienced thieves.

As for the rest I agree woith you. Until cameras have GPS tracking and retinal scanners you will have to guard your gear like it has legs.

I left my lens cap lying around somewhere in the house and I can't find it!

I lost a lens cap at the detroit auto show. fell out of my pocket i think.

A bunch of AA batteries and my lenspen when i ran across a field with my gadget bag open.

Lost a lens cap while on the Aerosmith ride at Disney World in Florida. Must have been the first or second loop-de-loop!

There's an Aerosmith ride at Disney World? Weird. I wouldn't have put the two together.

It would be awesome if the seats were shaped like Steven Tyler's lips.

(edited because I originally wrote 'Disneyland'.. which is of course the smaller version in California)

I'm not sure how awesome that would be. I wouldn't want any of my body parts near Steven Tyler's lips. Though the advantage of modeling the seas after his lips is that they wouldn't have to scale up the size of the lips by much!


I was in Italy a few months back and I was changing filters on a bridge over the Tiber river. A strong gust came up and flung the case of the c. polarizer into the water. I know it's only a case but it seriously made it inconvenient. I had to leave my polarizer on practically all the time because I was afraid of scratching it. lol

Yeah, me neither!

fixed in bold, and I know she's not Aerosmith but I wouldn't mind any of my body parts touching HER lips

I "lost" a lens that was never even in my possession. Was supposed to be shipped from the U.S., but it never arrived. The parcel service that was used had no trackimg feature. Can't explain what happened - possibly lost in mail, or seedy seller...?... no evidence for either though, so I'll never know. Was an expensive, naive mistake. Only gonna deal locally now, and within Canada at the very least...

I was at the bank of the Merced River in Yosemite with my 5D and 24-70L lens mounted on a tripod. the ground was sandy and sloped. After one capture I let go of the camera to reach for my bag and ended up watching in horror the tripod started to tip forward like a timber. luckily I had a lens hood on and that's the first thing that hit the muddy ground. After the camera hit the ground the tripod continued to do a 180 flip. When it was all settled, I ended up with wet sand and all over the camera. Luckily I was far enough from the river that the camera did not fall into the water. I didn't touch anything except detaching the camera from the tripod and put it away in the bag. The plan was to let it all dried up first then I blow all the sand away with the blower. And to my surprise, there was not a scratch on the body nor the lens! Since that time, I always use a lens hood and never let go of the tripod unless I am sure that it is sturdy enough.

thats my ultimate fear and knock on wood it doesnt happen.

problem is the market for used photography equipment here is nothing like it is in the states (probably just because of the population differences), sometimes you have to suck it up and buy from the states, or else you'll go grey from waiting for a canadian to sell what your looking for.