[rprii]

I never go anywhere without my K10D. And, since I am visited by a lot of birds and wildlife, my K10D, with Sigma Bigma attached, always sits in a Pelican bag, along with several other lenses, on the table in my breakfast nook. If I have been shooting, I leave the bag open so I can quickly grab the K10D. Otherwise, it is zipped shut.

Yesterday afternoon, a friend called to advise that a Red Shouldered Hawk I have been following was at one of his local feeding spots about a mile from my house. I quickly ran to the nook . . . Pelican bag was closed . . . I grabbed it and, unfortunately, it was not zipped shut!!!!

K10D, Bigma attached, and most of the lenses went flying through the air . . . kind of like a traffic accident . . . seemed to take forever . . . I was frantically trying to grab things but to no avail. K10D/Bigma hit the floor so hard that it poked a hole in the, fairly thick, vinyl tile . . . . . . fearing the worst and with a feeling of despair, I bent over to pick up the K10D . . . to my surprise, there was absolutely no damage to the Bigma and only a very small, cosmetic crack in a corner of the baseplate of the K10D . . . . . . I quickly went outside to take some test shots and am happy to report that everything is fine!!! . . . all the other lenses, all Pentax, including a 10-17 and 50mm 1.4 also checked out OK!!!

Biggest problem was that it took me about 20 minutes to find the lens cover for the Bigma . . . it actually flew about 10 feet through an entry way, over and onto the couch in the family room!!

Have been shooting all day and switching lenses . . . still no problems!!! Thankyou Pentax for a GREAT product!!!

[FireMate]

Oh man! I would have had a heart attack! It's like how I felt when I dropped my camera with the flash attached still two nights ago, except a 100x worse I bet! Congrats on still having a functioning camera however!

[pixelpruner]

Wow.... i think i would have taken a really really fast sh*t while my K10D was flying through the air LOL!

[WMBP]

Have been shooting all day and switching lenses . . . still no problems!!! Thankyou Pentax for a GREAT product!!!

I know how you feel. A month ago, while walking at the lake near our house, I took a simple misstep and fell, hard, while holding my K10D. As I was falling I tried to twist my body so that I would take the fall and the K10D would land on me. Didn't work. The K10D did touch the ground and got a scratch on top of the pop-up flash; the lens hood also got a slight scratch. I banged my leg badly and also pulled a muscle in my chest and I hurt for weeks. But the camera was okay.

I'm glad that the camera is not too fragile. But it's surely NOT unbreakable and I think you and I both were lucky. The only sensible policy is to treat it as if it were made of crystal. Just got back from the Colorado Rockies. I can tell you that I picked my steps through the mountains with great care!

Will

[khardur]

I banged my leg badly and also pulled a muscle in my chest and I hurt for weeks. But the camera was okay.
...
I can tell you that I picked my steps through the mountains with great care!

Will

Ouch!

I've been much more careful with how I carry my stuff and how I walk around obstacles since an incident a few years back - walking down a rock path shortly after it had rained, and I had my tripod slung over my shoulder/around my back... slipped on moss on the rock, feet went up like a cartoon, landed flat on my back on the tripod (rock underneath that)

I rolled around in pain for what felt like 5 minutes before I actually got up. No major damage to me, but the leg on that (now replaced) tripod never did fold up completely ever again...

[MikeH]

my K10D and DA21 recently took a dive onto an ashphalt road from chest height. Only cosmetic damage, two small scrapes in the plastic exterior. No damage to the lens (the camera rolled, pivoting around the lens).

Prompted me to immediately buy a Camdapter strap!

[stewart_photo]

(snip) Yesterday afternoon, a friend called to advise that a Red Shouldered Hawk I have been following was at one of his local feeding spots (snip)

K10D, Bigma attached, and most of the lenses went flying through the air (snip)

Have been shooting all day and switching lenses . . . still no problems!!! Thank you Pentax for a GREAT product!!!

Oh, stick to the important stuff. Did you get the picture of the Red Shouldered Hawk?

stewart

[rhermans]

don't even dare to think that this would happen, great to know that the k10d can take that kind of beating

[squarerigger]

Wow - what incredible luck. After I read this post I went straight to my camera bag and zipped it shut. Often I leave it unzipped with the cover just resting on top to keep out dust. Lesson learned - always zip the bag. A couple of seconds to unzip the bag is a small inconvience compared to the potential loss.

I am very pleased most folks came away from their near disasters with only a few scraps and still functioning gear. I guess it's like a new car, sooner or later your going to get that scratch or dent. After you do, it's kind of a relief.

[rprii]

Oh, stick to the important stuff. Did you get the picture of the Red Shouldered Hawk?

stewart

Here are a few quick shots . . . overcast day, bad lighting, but still a few keepers. This guy is only a few months old . . . plan on keeping my eye on him.

[MikeH]

I like the third bird. The first two have some pretty awful purple fringing/CA!

[rprii]

I like the third bird. The first two have some pretty awful purple fringing/CA!

Yeah, you are correct. I really was just posting them as some quick shots of the hawk . . . wasn't really posting for a critique . . . did not do any PP to clean them up . . . did not even crop to highlight the hawk . . . guess I should have known better . . .

Also, find it interesting that the fringing is not nearly as evident on my Viewsonic 2230 as on my laptop . . . one of the obstacles we face is ensuring that any shot looks good on all monitors . . . :>)

[Dr_Watso]

Yeah, you are correct. I really was just posting them as some quick shots of the hawk . . . wasn't really posting for a critique . . . did not do any PP to clean them up . . . did not even crop to highlight the hawk . . . guess I should have known better . . .

Also, find it interesting that the fringing is not nearly as evident on my Viewsonic 2230 as on my laptop . . . one of the obstacles we face is ensuring that any shot looks good on all monitors . . . :>)

I don't mean any offense whatsoever, but I had no idea the bigma had such a chronic CA problem... How often does that show up to this level?

[benjikan]

Here are a few quick shots . . . overcast day, bad lighting, but still a few keepers. This guy is only a few months old . . . plan on keeping my eye on him.

Did you shoot in Raw or JPEG?

Ben

[matix]

I like the third bird. The first two have some pretty awful purple fringing/CA!

Must have been a tough lighting shot, have not seen any noticeable PF on mine to date, have several hundred shots and love it.

Hope he stays around that bird, he sure was watching you though.

Phil

Shot from last week in Cairns... formation flying, note that the middle gull has had his wing slammed by the one on the right leaving it frazzled, who now has his left wing out of synch. No crash and burn though.... The Bigma is a beast, but does a fine job.