In the true spirit of learning from others mistakes I wish to
present the first story of some of my biggest bone-head moves
involving cameras and the outdoors. It is also a challege to
others to share your tales of woe so that others might learn
( and laugh at you ).
About the time of the first Gulf War I was working on an island
in the Pacific.
I was working with a few military types who also happened to be
scuba divers, dive masters and diving instructors. They took
tourists out diving as their part time job off-duty. They asked
my co-workers and I if we'd like to come along and go snorkeling
off the dive boat while they conducted the tourists on dives.
I wasn't a certified diver at the time so all I could do was
snorkel from the dive boat.
I brought a waterproof camera with me. I bought it not so much
for underwater work but because being waterproof, I thought it
would make a good camera to take fishing, etc. It was really
meant to be that type of camera anyway since it was only rated
waterproof to about 12 feet.
This was the first time I had used it. It is the first camera I
bought that had a motor drive of any sort, automatic film loading
and rewind.
This was a typical dive where the first dive trip was a deep one
followed by a shallow one. The divers took off for the depths and
my co-workers and I began snorkeling. Since this was un-sheltered
water we bobbed up and down a lot and there wasn't too much to
see or shoot until the divers began coming back up. None the less
I shot a little less than a whole roll of film.
The boat pulled up anchor and we moved over a reef inside a harbor.
Now this was more like it! I could easily reach the bottom and
saw lion fish, staghorn coral, sargent majors, a spotted eel. I
began taking pictures but quickly reached the end of the first roll.
I hurried back on board the boat. This might be a once in a life
time experience and I wanted to capture it. I quickly dried the
camera put in a new roll of film, closed the back and heard the
motor loading it. I got back in the water and began snapping
pictures again. After a while I began to worry about running out
of film again but since I hadn't heard the motor rewind the film
I knew I still had shots left. Soon we got the signal to get back
on the boat and got under way.
After we got everything squared away I picked up my camera to dry
off the case with a towel. I looked at the frame counter...
nothing.
I hadn't even got one picture. I thought this can't be true, the
shutter was working, etc. On my SLR if the film isn't loaded the
shutter doesn't work more than one time, period. I took a chance
and opened the camera. Sure enough, the end of the film was sitting
there unloaded.
Well, I figured that I had suffered enough that day but more was
yet to come. I got back to the place I was staying in and began to
shower. I took my snorkeling gear into the shower with me to wash
off the saltwater including the camera. I hung the camera by it's
strap from the showerhead. The next thing I hear, whack, the camera
has fallen and hit the shower floor.
The camera had a small chunk knocked out of the back of the case
which was part of the hinge. I examined it and thought that it
might still be water-tight, if it worked at all, since the damage
wasn't near the seal but I didn't risk it. It stayed dry the rest
of the trip.
On a plus note, I contacted the maker, Minolta and described the
part I needed and told them I had broken it. I was expecting a bill
for half the cost of the camera considering how replacement parts
are usually priced. They sent a new one, which was escentially the
entire back of the camera, for no cost. Evening knowing that I had
broke it. What a great company.
I've since learned to load the film well past the indicated position
when loading it and to always look at the frame counter after
loading the film.
