Once again, gravity wins. Yesterday, Saturday, April 25th, I took the fall I have always dreaded. After turning my left ankle on a small, unassuming pine cone, I tumbled onto an asphalt "fire lane" inside the college campus where weekend walks typically take place. I went down hard, and since I wear a Black Rapid camera sling (older model) where my camera rides on my right hip, both camera and my 70-300mm lens took a pretty rough hit. So did my right knee and especially my right hand, wrist, and shoulder. My left shoulder was already hurting, probably due to moderately severe left neural foraminal narrowing, C4-5, and chronic tendonitis, but my whole body took a hit.
First thing, check the camera. The articulating screen was wide open, the UV filter was smashed, and the threads were jammed into the lens. More on that later. Second question, was I able to stand back up? It was a serious question. I probably spent close to 30 seconds adjusting slightly and thinking about it. My car was 1/2 mile away. I got up slowly, stood in place to get my bearings, took a photo of the pine cone and started walking toward my car. I learned long ago that when you're hurting, if you can do it, walk rapidly, even if it hurts more to do so. You’ll get to your destination quicker. I didn't look at the camera again. I walked quickly with my eyes focused on the ground in front of me.
Once I got home, checked my wounds, and calmed down, I realized that the AF/MF switch probably popped off from blunt force. I also looked up a local camera store I used to go to with some frequency when I lived in these parts in my previous life some 40 years ago. I believed they did camera repairs. I decided to drive back as close to the scene of the crime as possible, park my car, find the switch, and see if I could get the filter cut off by a "professional" because it was clear I lacked the proper tools.
I found the switch. At first, I was looking near a wrong pine cone, then I saw the broken glass from my UV filter, and bingo, there it was.
Before getting into my experience at Woodland Hills Camera, here are some pictures that were taken before the fall. Nothing too exciting.
A panoramic of this tree's canopy. The green was outstanding. This is a honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), likely the 'Sunburst' cultivar.
And, according to Google, this is also a Gleditsia triacanthos. The colors were a spectacular contrast to everything else around.
Before the walk, in fact as early as Friday evening, Google's Gemini AI was calling the predicted weather, "gray soup." Here's a shot of the soup. It was 60º F and very fall-like.
A male monarch butterfly on narrowleaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis). The orange in the background is Eschscholzia californica, the California poppy.
In this post, from March 28th, I commented that I had no idea that artichoke plants could reach 7 feet in height. Add to that, I don't believe I ever saw an artichoke flower before. This was basically the end of my picture taking for the day, so you get a bunch of artichoke flower images.
Bees were loving them.
After that I walked 0.10 miles and my left foot met up with this little demon of a pine cone. This picture was taken after I got up, regained my composure (sort of), and was taken more for testing the camera than it was for this story. You'll see in a moment that this was taken through a shattered UV filter.
When I went back to the campus and found my AF/MF switch, I also pocketed the pine cone. It's sitting on my desk, on front of me and Junimoon (she's sound asleep in my lap).
Here are a couple of shots of the camera taken with my phone before I decided to trek for the switch and check out the camera store.
The missing switch.
The damaged filter. In the second image, you can see how the filter became "fused" to the lens. This lens was over $700 when I bought it in early 2013. Replacing much of any of my camera equipment poses an issue now due to obsolescence. Mirrored DSLR cameras are becoming or have become a thing of the past, and the current evolution is in "mirrorless" cameras. A mirrorless camera is a digital, interchangeable-lens camera that lacks the internal, moving reflex mirror mechanism found in DSLRs. Light passes directly through the lens to the image sensor, which feeds a live image to an electronic viewfinder (EVF) or rear screen, allowing for smaller, lighter, and quieter cameras. To come close to what I have now in replacing it with a mirrorless camera and lenses would be, for me, a small fortune. A guesstimate would be $7,000 to $8,000.
Woodland Hills Camera, now Woodland Hills Camera and Telescopes. They've apparently been there since 1952. I was probably last in the store around 1986. While I'm extremely grateful that the tech there cut off my destroyed filter and he did so in less time than it took me to go back out directly in front of the store to get the AF/MF switch from my car, the tech and another dude standing behind the "front" counter treated me like an interruption as opposed to a customer or potential customer. At first, the guy just glanced at the camera and said, “no way, it would be cheaper just to buy a new one.” I sort of sheepishly said, “It’s just the filter,” and he interjected, “I know that!” So, I added, “The lens is still working. I took pictures, but I don't have a proper tool to remove the filter.” Then he took the lens off the camera body and went in the back.
I thanked him for cutting the filter off. They didn't charge me (nor did he say what he was going to do), but I was dumbfounded by how rudely I was continuously treated. I even brought up the prospect of replacing equipment I owned, but that was also an annoyance as opposed to a potential sales opportunity. He mentioned options, but it was from the perspective of... I know this and that and you don't as opposed to being open to a sales perspective. As opposed to being courteous.
I made the additional mistake of saying, “ I don't suppose it would be possible to put another UV filter on over the damage.” He acted like I was a total moron. Meanwhile, a couple of hours ago, I took the only other 58mm filter I have, an ND32 filter (Neutral Density 32), which reduces the amount of light entering the lens by 5 stops, and carefully checked to see if it would attach to the lens without screwing it on all the way. I based this on carefully looking at the camera and these two images. It works just fine, not perfect, but it doesn't need to be perfect. I'm ordering another UV filter later today. Less than $9.
Here's the AF/MF switch back on the camera.
Silently falling down
Bringing hope of future to the children...
PS... Juni still be snoozing but I'm hurting quite a bit and I suspect the problems from fingers almost to my elbow, right hand, wrist, etc. are going to hang out for awhile, so time for an exit from this desk and treats for Juni for the interruption. Ah, the things we'll endure for a kitty in a lap.
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