Well, 7:30AM...I am getting home from shooting all night downtown. I'm dead tired. And I'm walking in my garage to elevator carrying a stack of mail, my bookbag with my camera stuff, and my camera bag.

Of course its my camera bag thats loose and falls. It hits the bottom of the bag, and I think...not too big a deal, the bottom part was totally empty, so a cushy impact.

I get upstairs and pull the camera out. It has the 70-200 on. I check the mount, feels stable, not loose. I check the camera, turns on.

I take of the lens cap...wait a minute...its kinda crunchy. I smashed the UV filter on the front

I carefully got all the broken glass out, and threw the ring away. Away a lot of canned air and some love..its good as new....cept for a tiny spot where the coating got nicked...but just the coating. I took a bunch of test shots and it doesnt affect the image.

So, I'm a little bummed. It was a flawless lens, like all my others..but now it has a little battle scar.

 

Dang dude, that sucks.

If I end up buying the same bag as you, I might as well use that bottom part to hold some bubble wrap just in case.

At least it wasn't too serious right?

 

Yikes! Sorry to hear it.

 

Oh man you are SO LUCKY!

 

It wasnt a huge or a hard drop...just hit in the damn right spot.

I'm trying to figure out if having the stupid filter helped me, or I would have better off not having it on.

All I know is when I saw all that shattered glass at the front of the lens my heart stopped. I didnt think my front element was cracked...I was just scared the filter scratched the shit out of it.

 

Tough break.

I had a similar incident with my 20mm. I was rushing for a shot, and stuck my 20mm F1.8 (Sigma) in my jacket pocket. Later I crouched down, and it slid out and landed on the concrete. First thought: 'Wow, that was stupid'

It landed diagonally, I guess, which crunched the lid on, broke the glass, and also bent the filter a bit. I had to twist it off with pliers. The Lens, however, was totally unharmed.
I've always kept filters on over that - but perhaps more to just to avoid the accidental fingerprint or crap flying through the air from landing on the lens.

- Frank

 

damn

hmm.. suprised i didnt see you last night, i was jetting around downtown last night.

 

Did you see a matte black mercedes with a big camera crane on top and 4 biker cops driving all over the place?

 

no, dont think i did.

 

You would have known if you did

We were mainly on Broadway, the 4th and 6th St bridges, and Grand Ave.

 

I would have had to change my shorts if I opened up and saw the shatter. With the filter better that it was there this time, I've stopped using UV filters unless I'm going to be somewhere that may blow stuff into it.

 

Like I said in another thread...I keep them on, but unscrew them when I shoot, unless I feel I need them. just added insurance.

If you look straight into my lens, it looks good as new. You have to look at an angle in light to see the newly made little blemish.

I'm over it...it all works, its all good, I made a boo boo and it could have been way worse.

 

mine broke during moving from apt to apt as well... broke the filter as well =\ no scratches to the kit lens though =\

 

That is freaky. I did the exact same thing Saturday night. My camera was in my bag, nice and secure, I had my 50mm lens and UV filter/cap on and I dropped the bag maybe 2 feet. Heard no noise whatsoever. Next morning I take it out of the bag and my cap is off and I see shards of glass all over the bottom. UV filter cracked and I had tiny specks of glass and dust all in the lens

 

Sounds like the filters shatter easily at any shock to the mounting ring. If that's the case we'd all be better off storing our lenses with filters off and only the lens cap on.

 

I would say it depends on the make of the filter. Say one from B+W with thicker glass than most and a brass ring, might hold up better.

 

I typically buy B+W exclusively..and this was one was another German company but I cant remember the name. I just know that were out 77mm B+W when I bought the lens. Which was like...um...4-5 years ago-ish? It was of a decent quality.

When it comes to my gear...specially the optics, I dont do cheap

 

Pay 1k or more for a lens then put a $20 filter on it, don't see how some people do it. B+W is always the better choice. But Hoya and Heliopan have been catching up with them. Main thing for digital is to have filters coated for digital use.

Damn that reminds me, I have to get a 67mm CirPol.

 

Heliopan, thats what I had on it.

 

At least it wasn't as bad as you (or I, lol)

All I thought when I saw the thread title and your name was

"HOLY #(&$%)!!! Sarlacc just jacked up his new D3!!!!"