From: geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen)
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 92 20:10:22 GMT
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Subject: Camera toughness (Re: How do they know?)
Summary: 
Followup-To: 
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Keywords: 

drraymon@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca (Darrell Raymond) writes:
>  Just for the record, though, the best robustness story I have seen so far 
>was about a guy who was shooting publicity photos for the US Air Force.  The 
>plane he was in got into trouble, he and the pilot had to punch out at over 
>30,000 feet, and he "dropped" his R4.  When they eventually found it on the 
>desert floor, he picked it up, and the shutter and mirror operated normally
>(no glass was left intact, of course).  I think Leica even repaired it under 
>their usual policy. And if they hadn't had such a policy, no doubt they would
>have repaired it anyway, just for the publicity value.


Here are some other robust camera stories for rec.photo's past, saved
because I thought they were amusing.

The airplane one is common enough that it almost sounds like an urban
legend....

Here we go:

=====
From: brian@crg8.sqnt.com (Brian Godfrey)
Date: 5 Jul 90 17:38:38 GMT
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems, Inc

In article <1990Jul3.165733.1294@cbnewsm.att.com> ka1gt@cbnewsm.att.com (robert.m.atkins) writes:
-suprise it worked. By the way, the spotmaticis a very rugged camera. I once
-dropped it from the back of a Land Rover (english Jeep) onto the highway at
-about 40mph. Not only did it still work, but the fall removed a speck of dirt
-from the focusing screen which had been bothering me for months.

   After reading endless "toughest camera in the world" stories (and writing
one or two of my own :-) I have to say that this is the best so far. Thanks
for sharing it with us. 


=====
From: Grant.Cunningham@p5.f222.n105.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Grant Cunningham)
Date: 7 Jul 90 14:39:08 GMT
Organization: FidoNet node 1:105/222.5 - The ASL Faction, Oregon City OR
 
I think the all-time winner HAS to be the Leicaflex SL2-MOT that fell
out of a jet fighter, 10,000 feet up, into the desert. It was found
a year later--the meter still functioned, the back had remained light-
tight, and Leica offered to repair it for free. The photog in question
opted for new gear........


=====
From: ems@Apple.COM (Mike Smith)
Date: 1 Aug 90 03:09:23 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA

>   I once heard about some fellows who were using a Nikonos out in the
>woods. ...

Another Nikonos story:  A custom car painting shop liked to do dramatic 
shots of cars in the process of being painted.  The camera, of course,
would accumulate alot of paint during the day (with period lens cleanings...).

They would, at days end, dunk the camera into a bucket of solvent to wash
off the thick layers of paint.  The shop owner is reputed to have said:

"The solvent ruins the O rings, so we have to put a new set in every day,
but it sure cleans up the camera and doesn't seem to hurt it any..."

It was, of course, a Nikonos ...


=====
From: dsp@polari.UUCP (Don Smith)
Date: 1 Aug 90 21:33:03 GMT
Organization: Seattle Online Public Unix (206) 328-4944

   Once there was a fellow who had get some shots inside a chamber
where a person was spraying a foam onto some widgit, the foam was
designed to disolve glass. So the photographer brought a bucket of
"foam solvent" and dipped the camera in it every so often.

   I've also heard of medical photography being done where you have
that trusty bucket of alcohol handy to kill the cooties on your camera.

> It was, of course, a Nikonos ...

    Pretty much says it all,
                       Don


=====
From: jack@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin)
Date: 22 Jan 92 18:41:48 GMT
Organization: COMANDOS Project, Glesga Yoonie

geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen) wrote:
> bjs@RUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Barry Sherman) writes:
>> I believe it was here in rec.photo that I read this quote, attributed to 
>> a famous photojournalist whose name I forget, and probably slightly mangled
>> by my memory:
>>    When going on location I always take both my Nikon and my Leica.  That 
>>    way if one of them breaks I can still use the Leica.

[one of the above stories posted by me in response to Barry's comment
deleted]

And some more:

Someone here mentioned still being able to use his Crown Graphic after an
elephant had crapped on it, and that the same type of camera had been used
by a cornered war correspondent in Korea to beat an enemy soldier to death
with (no information about how serviceable it was after).

A photographer doing air-to-air shots for the USAF lost his Leicaflex SL2
at 30000 feet in a collision above the desert.  The camera was recovered,
intact enough for the film to be developed and for repair to be possible.

The most I've ever done is drop a Leica IIIA several feet onto concrete.
It kept on working with no problem except the dent in the back shifted the
pressure plate, reducing the depth of field.

-- 
Geoff Allen          \  Macintosh Old-Fart Memory #111
uunet!pmafire!geoff   \
geoff@pauling.inel.gov \           400K floppies
Newsgroups: rec.photo