How hard do you use your camera and how has it held up?

[evikne]

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I always treat my camera and lenses very carefully, because I can't afford to replace them, and probably can't afford to have them repaired either. I'd rather sacrifice myself, since hospitals are free in this country. Several times I've slipped on the ice and fallen, then I twist around so that I end up at the bottom and the camera lands softly on top of me. I once fell against a tree and broke a finger trying to protect my camera. And once I fell into the water and just managed to keep one arm with the camera above the water, while I went under myself. But the camera was fine! And it still is. 😄

Edited November 17, 2023 by evikne

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[charlesphoto99]

18 hours ago, evikne said:

 And once I fell into the water and just managed to keep one arm with the camera above the water,😄

I did this once at night, accidentally walking into the kiddie pool at the hotel. Thankfully the water was only three feet deep, and I didn't fall over. My hand holding the M10 went straight into the air, I can tell you that! 

[Jeff S]

Happened to me with my first serious camera purchase, a Canon EF,  in 1974. I was walking across a field covered with pristine recently fallen snow, when the ground gave way and I was almost chest deep in freezing cold, swampy, water. Hand with camera above head immediately; not easy to get back to ground level in this position.  Getting back into car with water-laden boots, soaked and stinking clothes, was memorable..  but at least the new camera/lens was unscathed.

Jeff

[jakontil]

On 11/18/2023 at 2:18 AM, Al Brown said:

What @adan said: "I have never had a Leica M (digital or film - camera or lens) fail due to how I used it". Word. My abuse is on par - snow, sand, succotash.

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are those scratches on the viewfinder glass? looks  pretty bad AI

[KFo]

I don't baby the M10P at all.  I go, it goes.  One thing though; in spite of claims here to the contrary, I do not get it wet beyond the most misty showers.

[dugby]

On 11/18/2023 at 3:33 AM, evikne said:

I always treat my camera and lenses very carefully, because I can't afford to replace them, and probably can't afford to have them repaired either. I'd rather sacrifice myself, since hospitals are free in this country. Several times I've slipped on the ice and fallen, then I twist around so that I end up at the bottom and the camera lands softly on top of me. I once fell against a tree and broke a finger trying to protect my camera. And once I fell into the water and just managed to keep one arm with the camera above the water, while I went under myself. But the camera was fine! And it still is. 😄

Not sure what your profession is…..  if you’re unfamiliar with what osteoporosis is, you may want to google it.

[RexGig0]

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I learned a harsh lesson when my M10 was still new. A fumble resulted in a fall from shoulder height, onto brick pavers, while I was loading things into my truck, for a photo-oriented day trip. The wrapped camera was among an armload of disparate items, rather than inside a bag. Though a neoprene camera wrap prevented visible external damage, the LCD display showed a dismayingly sickening green screen, with static. Because I had a Nikon D5 with me, and my wife was ready to leave, we proceeded with the planned trip. (She, too, is an avid photographer, the mentor who persuaded me to start serious photography.) Later in the day, I verified that snapping a pic did not produce an image on the SD card. My M10 required a few months of healing, at Leica Camera USA in NJ. This has been my only significant damage event, with M cameras, since I bought my M10 in April 2018.

I started serious photography some time in 2009, and, have been fortunate regarding significant damage to cameras, while I was using them, since that time. (A flood event affected cameras and lenses that were at home, in 2017, while I was not present to intervene.)

I have had some bad fortune with SLR and M lenses, but have run out of time to type anything more.

Edited November 19, 2023 by RexGig0

[charlesphoto99]

7 hours ago, Al Brown said:

The pictures were worth it. The glass can always be replaced (already confirmed with Wetzlar about the price), the images not so.

I do not baby my gear, absolutely no reason to do so.

I've never babied my gear, but I've also never seen scratches on an M front window like those before. 

[jakontil]

17 hours ago, Al Brown said:

The pictures were worth it. The glass can always be replaced (already confirmed with Wetzlar about the price), the images not so.

I do not baby my gear, absolutely no reason to do so.

 

10 hours ago, charlesphoto99 said:

I've never babied my gear, but I've also never seen scratches on an M front window like those before. 

I dont actually baby my M’s but yeah all things considered i dont abuse ‘em either

 

11 hours ago, RexGig0 said:

I learned a harsh lesson when my M10 was still new. A fumble resulted in a fall from shoulder height, onto brick pavers, while I was loading things into my truck, for a photo-oriented day trip. The wrapped camera was among an armload of disparate items, rather than inside a bag. Though a neoprene camera wrap prevented visible external damage, the LCD display showed a dismayingly sickening green screen, with static. Because I had a Nikon D5 with me, and my wife was ready to leave, we proceeded with the planned trip. (She, too, is an avid photographer, the mentor who persuaded me to start serious photography.) Later in the day, I verified that snapping a pic did not produce an image on the SD card. My M10 required a few months of healing, at Leica Camera USA in NJ. This has been my only significant damage event, with M cameras, since I bought my M10 in April 2018.

I started serious photography some time in 2009, and, have been fortunate regarding significant damage to cameras, while I was using them, since that time. (A flood event affected cameras and lenses that were at home, in 2017, while I was not present to intervene.)

I have had some bad fortune with SLR and M lenses, but have run out of time to type anything more.

the reason why i need to take care of my stuff, frm where i live, M digital is quite a hassle to fix and takes more time than anywhere else

wont push my luck

[Topsy]

I have 3 M9s in various conditions but all with 2nd Gen replaced sensors and whilst I have never babied my cameras I now treat these M9s more carefully as they are my favourite cameras and they are difficult to replace or get repaired timely.

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I do use them but these days I'll not take them out in rain or snow anymore.

[newtoleica]

I use a half case on the camera, a screen protector from new, ensure that straps can't rub, either have the camera in a wrap/full cover OR carry it in a small compartment bag. lenses have UV filters and are carried in small (Olympus OM) leather pouches when not being used.

I don't 'baby' my gear, but it's very expensive, hard to get fixed and I want it to last. So it gets treated very well.

[Harpomatic]

I don’t treat my Leicas any different than anything else I use: I don’t abuse them but I don’t fret. They’re insured, so I can simply use them as intended. I still haven’t broken any, but I have broken a couple of lenses - one was hit by a heavy closing door while the camera was hanging off my shou. Didn’t think anything of it, then found out later while shooting that the aperture ring was knocked out of place…I still have to fix that, I’m using my spare 50 in the meantime!

[RexGig0]

I generally keep hoods affixed, on my lenses, while shooting. Plastic/composite hoods will flex, to absorb impact, then will normally return to proper shape. Metal hoods will bend or crumple, to absorb impact, but may not return to proper shape. I have yet to damage a carbon fiber composite hood, but know that some carbon fiber products can be very strong, but brittle if impacted or stressed in some specific ways. (Some high-end telephoto lenses use carbon fiber hoods.)

A threaded step-up or step-down ring can act as a miniaturized short hood, if the lens is designed to accept threaded filters. Filters, of course, protect in a similar way. A sharp impact, however, on the rim of a filter, can “peen” the threaded parts together, making it difficult to remove the damaged filter, which might be obstructing the view through the lens. One of my early instructors would show a picture of such a damaged, stuck filter, which interfered with one of her clients photography, during a trip led by this instructor. To be clear, I am not advising against using filters. I routinely use colored filters, when shooting monochrome, and other filters, as needs dictate, but do not always use a filter, when shooting.

Base plates seem to be easily damaged, and I consider myself to be clumsy, when changing batteries and memory cards, raising concern that i might drop and lose one, so, I preemptively bought a spare M 240-series baseplate. For the M10, I have a Really Right Stuff tripod mount, that fits in place of the base plate, so, could serve that role, indefinitely, until such time as I could replace an M10 base plate.

Having done so much shooting at night, especially when I had the added duty of evidentiary/forensic/crime scene photography, during my public service career, the hoods of my lenses have bumped into objects, more than once. 

[maidenfan84]

On 11/17/2023 at 11:09 AM, adan said:

I have never had a Leica M (digital or film - camera or lens) fail due to how I used it.

Including these two M9s - the Canon AF lens locked up for a while, however.

News event: 2014 Ouray CO ice-climbing competition -5°C/23°F

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And then there was my "Jackson Pollock M8" (and the same 21 Elmarit as in picture above) - caught in a shower of white-wash during a college initiation event:

 

On 11/17/2023 at 11:09 AM, adan said:

I have never had a Leica M (digital or film - camera or lens) fail due to how I used it.

Including these two M9s - the Canon AF lens locked up for a while, however.

News event: 2014 Ouray CO ice-climbing competition -5°C/23°F

 

And then there was my "Jackson Pollock M8" (and the same 21 Elmarit as in picture above) - caught in a shower of white-wash during a college initiation event:

that’s amazing! How did you protect the lenses and the bodies from fungus, etc after such a moisture intense experience? 

[adan]

Colorado is natively quite dry (median humidity 30% or less) - there are times when fallen snow here doesn't even melt; it sublimates directly to vapor in the next-day's sunshine (and then blows away on the winds).

All that desert in between the Pacific and the Rockies, plus the Sierras, suck the moisture out of the west winds before they get here (except for the discrete storms themselves).

In the particular case of that first photo, it was below freezing (as mentioned, 23°F), so the famous Colorado dry "powder" snow did not melt on the cold-soaked cameras (little actual water to get into things). I just brushed off the "dry" snow with a standard photo brush (and my mittens), before getting back into a warm car where it would have melted.

Somewhat the same for the white-wash - it was completely dry within a minute or so, spattered thin like that. I left it dry until I could wipe it off at home with a barely-moist washcloth.

14 years later, there are still a few tiny slivers of white in the slits of the 21's aperture/focus-ring knurling.

[Topsy]

Last week while out on my weekly Dartmoor Photowalk one of my M9s started to act weird. It was cold (around 3 deg) and when I took a shot the camera really struggled to re-cock the shutter it sounde like a motordrive whirring away, to stop it I had to remove the battery. This happened four or 5 times before I stopped using it (I did try a fresh battery but no change). The shots I took were all ok but it put me in a mood for the rest of the walk.

When I got home I tried it again but just the same, however, after a couple of hours in the warm of the house it started to work fine again so I put it out in the cold again afr an hour and it still worked so I put it in the fridge (in a sealed bag) for an hour and then the problem returned.

Since then it has worked fine but I haven't had it out in the cold since and I am now not confident in it for the colder weather so I found (thanks to @M9reno) a pristine condition M9-P which I now have so I am back up to 3 bodies for field trips.

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[LocalHero1953]

My cameras and lenses are tools, and treated as valuable tools: used for the purpose they were intended, but protected and maintained wherever feasible.

I have certainly damaged stuff by carelessness: I threw an Apo-Summicron-M 75 onto the cobbles outside Parma Cathedral; the focus ring locked and it had to be returned to Wetzlar for rebuilding. My SL and 24-90SL was on a low tripod when a young grandson pulled it over - the lens hood is cracked, but that's all.

When I'm photographing plays and rehearsals I usually keep my backpack somewhere handy, which may be on the floor. When changing lenses, I drop them back in the pack without caps - but always with hoods (the Leica SL zoom front elements are especially vulnerable to scratching without their deep hoods. My SL/SL2-S bodies often get sensor dust as a result of rapid lens changes in such environments, but I give the sensor a (rocket) blow before each day's use.

My only camera that was destroyed by use was a Praktica STL2, which fell apart from dust and grit after a few trips to Africa and the Middle East.

I have two large format cameras, but anyone into large format has to be a competent woodworker or machinist or bodger - there's nowhere to send them back to for repair. 

[Herr Barnack]

On 11/19/2023 at 11:04 AM, Al Brown said:

There's always a first time. I have seen a Leica M that has fallen into dogshit the other day.

Shit is a hazard in street photography and in other situations. 

When shit - dog, human, bull or otherwise - is a hazard, always keep a packet of these in your pocket or camera bag:

https://www.amazon.com/Clorox-Disinfecting-Travel-Wipes-Package/dp/B01IAIPH7Y/ref=sr_1_11?crid=3ABPZF1A0U9VC&keywords=sanitizing%2Bwipes%2Bdisinfecting%2Bpacket&qid=1706723110&s=hpc&sprefix=sanitizing%2Bwipes%2Bdisinfecting%2Bpacket%2Chpc%2C93&sr=1-11&th=1

Problem solved, shoot on!

Edited January 31, 2024 by Herr Barnack

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[evikne]

30 minutes ago, Herr Barnack said:

Shit is a hazard in street photography and in other situations. 

When shit - dog, human, bull or otherwise - is a hazard, always keep a packet of these in your pocket or camera bag:

https://www.amazon.com/Clorox-Disinfecting-Travel-Wipes-Package/dp/B01IAIPH7Y/ref=sr_1_11?crid=3ABPZF1A0U9VC&keywords=sanitizing%2Bwipes%2Bdisinfecting%2Bpacket&qid=1706723110&s=hpc&sprefix=sanitizing%2Bwipes%2Bdisinfecting%2Bpacket%2Chpc%2C93&sr=1-11&th=1

Problem solved, shoot on!

In my case:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=first+aid+kit&crid=VQHMRBAM4HNM&sprefix=first+aid+kit%2Caps%2C113&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

[Herr Barnack]

My M-P 240 has held up very well - the only time I had to send it in to Leica NJ was to get the rangefinder calibrated after I dropped my camera bag and knocked it out of alignment.

I got it on 4-2-15 and have made 61,017 images with it to date.  I would expect it to easily go to 300,000 exposures before needing any major work or needing to be replaced.  It just keeps going...