pic: Pittsburgh - 1114 breaks the camera

Originally Posted by Dan 1038

Agree 100%, a simple $9 UV filter can save a $1000+ lens from scratches and light impacts - a very smart investment for anyone with an SLR or high end video camera.

With the filter on you can also wipe rain drops off of it with just about any cloth and not worry that you're damaging the lens.

I would also add another one and that this is more for still cameras obviously and that is if the camera is off the table and in you're hands then the strap is around you're neck, no exceptions. then o matter what happens it can only fall as far as the strap, and when changing lenses don't do it from standing height.

For video and stills I would also say never leave a camera on a tripod for ANY period of time unless you are behind that camera. It can fall over, be blown over, bumped over, anything can happen in any environment, tripod doesn't mean "secure".

So far I have only had two accidents, BOTH were primary preventable, had I been wearing proper safety boots I would not have slipped on the icy downhill sloped sidewalk and landed the way I did bumping the lens hard (and my right hip which still has pain today) and the second accident was a tripod accident, 30 seconds I turned my back on it at a tree planting event last spring and a bit of wind came and it lost it's balance and toppled over, luckily onto wet grass so the impact was absorbed and only some damage to the casing which epoxy is still holding it together to this day.