So I had my camera dump over on a tripod today. Blatant stupidity on my part, I leaned it against something with the tripod legs closed (though they were at least fully collapsed) while I was doing something and then had a truck pass and shake the bridge enough that it came loose, dumped over onto concrete and then flipped down to a lower concrete area. Essentially a tip over from collapsed tripod height onto concrete and then maybe a 3 foot roll off drop onto more concrete. In a world of plastic crap I can tell you a K20D fares ok, not as well as my old Super Program which was made out of the proper material for a camera, but enough that I am satisfied. Guess which lens was on it, of course my most expensive mint condition SMC-A 50mm 1.4. It hit so hard the focusing screen latch popped open and the Katzeye screen came loose inside. Luckily that was ok after I reinstalled it by hand in the dark and re-bent the tab that I over bent putting it in (thus allowing it to pop open).
I consider myself lucky actually since both the lens and the camera are still 100% functional. The camera has some stress cracks and a dented area and a lot of scuffing near the shutter release button right on the seam, It doesn't appear to even be damaged enough that the water resistance is compromised with the way it cracked. I'm actually glad that it was this lens on it in hindsight, its the lightest of my A series being the smallest, and its 49mm filter ring area is smaller than the grip for the focus ring which is what saved it. The camera twisted as it fell and didn't hit lens first, and It hit hard enough to ever so slightly dent the metal (more of a deep scratch) and scuff up the grip, but it still works 100% functionally with the exception of the silky smooth focus ring now having spots that are tighter than others, and some odd noises as you turn it, especially really fast. I think the focus ring is slightly out of round now, thankfully this doesn't seem to matter. If I owned new plastic fantastic lenses Instead of old A series Pentax glass it woulda been in pieces, it was a hard hit.
After a moment of panic and then a bout of depression when I saw and felt the damage, I find myself somewhat philosophical about the whole thing, I realize I was too worried about equipment I couldn't afford to replace (when you can even find certain A lenses in like new condition) and it was costing me some of my camera fun. With the type of pics I take and as often as I am out, I will inevitably destroy equipment through accidents that just can't be avoided if I'm going to take the risks to get the shots (wading calf deep in a river and climbing a wet cliff both with camera) So I have a sort of acceptance that even my most loved and perfect lenses and cameras over the years will be killed off.
The second thing I realized is that I am poor and I will always be, if this had killed my camera id be done for at least several months if not a year before I could afford another even used. So wheras I was going to someday sell this K20D when K-5 prices came down to the 300-400 range, now I will simply add it to the lineup and keep the K20D as a backup, and maybe buy a few more K20D's as the price continues to fall, its a good camera. Same with lenses, I hate to feed peoples lens buying addiction with another reason, but now especially with my favored old A series which are a limited commodity, every time i see a really minty one come up at an affordable price, I will buy it simply so when I kill one off I have a spare.
The one thing I can say for a fact is I will never ever buy new, the prices are a joke on both the good lenses and the bodies and its just too damn easy to have any little accident break it, and that's assuming it doesn't fail on its own first. If you can't afford to replace it, you can't afford to own it, I will live by that.
Here is the unedited (just re-sized) shot I almost killed my equipment getting, not even that impressive but then I quit after the first shot when I dumped it.