Your biggest WDW photographic disaster?

[marni1971]

Letting the deluge get the better of my 3 chip DV cam on the evening of Epcots 25th. It spent the whole desert party on the table with the tape door open trying to dry out and not throw error warnings up. Missed some great video ops front and backstage during that hour, and the wide angle converter constantly steamed up right up to the start of RoE, adding some atmoshperic fog to my Promonade shots.

A/C in the car caused the same problem - and I had to ride the ToT in our own private AGV and not be able to record the clean audio. At least I`ve remidied that now and got a 3MOS HD SDHC camera as well.

 

[rmax205347]

My worst experience at wdw was when I was waiting in line to meet lilo and stitch and just as I got up there and handed my camera to the cast member the battery in my camera dies, it was a sad day

 

[PhotoDave219]

I've dropped a favorite lens on day 1 of a 12 day trip on the floor of the MK Barber Shop. Had to spend the rest of the trip being creative with the other lenses.

I've lost hundreds of pictures due to using crappy Lexar memory cards (but recovered them with software - thank you Dave for that life-saving advice many years ago).

I've had the little mirror doo-hickey inside my camera get stuck at the wrong moments.

This last one was not a WDW disaster, but it's the most disappointing thing that's ever happened to me photography-wise. I went whale watching for the first time in my life a few weeks ago. I was taking all these great pictures of the scenery while waiting for a sea creature to emerge. Finally, out of no where, about 100 dolphins surfaced and surrounded the boat. It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen. But of course, at that very instant, the focus on my lens locked up completely and I couldn't push the shutter down. After much anger and fiddling I was able to loosen it up...just in time for the dolphins to disappear. *sigh*

I can say with all honesty that every single photo mishap I've had has been a result of my own laziness and negligence. I am horrible with my camera equipment. I toss it all in a bag together, no lens caps or anything. I just can't be bothered with stuff like that when I'm switching lenses so often. I am lucky when a lens lasts me more than a year. All of them are scratched all to hell, dinged, and dented.

You really should spend the extra $30 and get the glass filter to go over the front element....

 

[Laura]

You really should spend the extra $30 and get the glass filter to go over the front element....

Well I have UV filters on some of them. But one of my lenses I've bent so bad it won't even take a filter anymore :lol:, which blows because that was my favorite one to put a circular polarizer on. I'm not gonna whine about it though. My own fault.

 

[Victoria]

The biggest challenge I encounter regularly is dead batteries. Such a simple thing, but it can really put a wrench into the day.

Before high capacity memory cards came out I used to run out of space all the time. Now I have two 8g SDHC cards so it isn't an issue anymore.

I also forget to change back settings ALL the time. It is such a careless mistake too. I always get so annoyed with myself after about 10 attempts at one pic and then it dawns on me that the settings are all off. :hammer:

 

[PhotoDave219]

Well I have UV filters on some of them. But one of my lenses I've bent so bad it won't even take a filter anymore :lol:, which blows because that was my favorite one to put a circular polarizer on. I'm not gonna whine about it though. My own fault.

I expect a story and a picture of that debacle.....

 

[Laura]

I expect a story and a picture of that debacle.....

I'm not interesting enough to have a great story. :lol: I'm just klutzy and careless.

Actually though, I just went and looked at that lens again, and I forgot that the last time I used it I WAS able to get a polarizer back on it...by breaking the bent piece of the lens off. :lookaroun

Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures and I needed some blue sky in my beach pictures. :lol:

 

[PhotoDave219]

I'm not interesting enough to have a great story. :lol: I'm just klutzy and careless.

Actually though, I just went and looked at that lens again, and I forgot that the last time I used it I WAS able to get a polarizer back on it...by breaking the bent piece of the lens off. :lookaroun

Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures and I needed some blue sky in my beach pictures. :lol:

So i was Photographing in a river on Labor day.... slipped, fell, SHATTERED the filter on the front. Had to find a dry rock to break the rest of the filter out in order to keep shooting.

 

[CoryonFire]

In August, I was at the Poly on my first night in WDW. My tickets didn't start until the next day, so I spent the night touring the MK hotels and was planning on shooting Wishes from the Poly beach. I was SO excited to be in WDW that I simply didn't think, and A) left my cell phone at Ft. Wilderness which is a whole different story, and B) I shot the first 2/3 of Wishes with my DSLR set to ISO 800. My camera handles high ISO very well, but when you're doing 13 second exposures of fireworks, the noise is a plenty. So, I only had 2-3 shots that I could salvage from that night. Always next time!

 

[PhotoDave219]

Well then there was the night Shuttle Launch time exposure where i shot it at f/16 instead of f/22. Looked like a Nuke went off at the pad.

 

[RiversideBunny]

.... I toss it all in a bag together, no lens caps or anything. I just can't be bothered with stuff like that when I'm switching lenses so often. ....

You really should spend the extra $30 and get the glass filter to go over the front element....

Or a lens hood.

 

[EPCOTPluto]

My photographic disasters? (Digital Point & Shoot)


My batteries dying on EPCOT's 25th. Basically, I was juggling between two pairs of 97% dead batteries.

Forgetting my camera during a trip to DAK. Joy.

Bad flash in some of my MNSSHP pics back from 9/18. The flash just didn't want to work as well as in previous nights.

Lost images thanks to crappy SD Memory cards. :brick:


..... I am sure there are more. I just don't want to remember. :dazzle:

 

[Monorail_Red]

Last summer my camera ate sand at the beach, a day before I arrived at WDW. :brick:

 

[jen2009]

When we were there in March, we were given a special photopass card. We used it for everything we took pictures of. Got home and forgot to go online and get the pictures activated. We lost so many great shots. We are going to make up for it in December by reusing the photopass for our official honeymoon in Disney. :sohappy: :xmas:

 

[Lakermouser]

Disaster

1995 WDW trip- My wife was using my Canon AE-1P while I used the camcorder (Remember the huge VHS types?). We were at MGM Studios and she says to me "It says that I have taken 34 pictures, should'nt it be done?" This is with a 24-exposure roll. She had never engaged the sprockets on the film roll. Of course it was my fault but we lost a day of pics of the kids. Thank goodness for digital media.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Did i mention the time i grabbed a backpack bag out of the truck and flung it over my shoulder?

It was unziped.

A D1x and a 300 f/4 went flying across the parking lot of the Contemporary.

It was only a 300 dollar repair and the lens was unharmed.

 

[wdwmagic]

Did i mention the time i grabbed a backpack bag out of the truck and flung it over my shoulder?

It was unziped.

A D1x and a 300 f/4 went flying across the parking lot of the Contemporary.

It was only a 300 dollar repair and the lens was unharmed.

Ouch Dave -- nightmare.

Amazing it wasnt more damaged. Good testiment to the build of the D1

 

[5thGenTexan]

Since I havent had the privilege of visiting WDW since 1992, I really haven't had a disaster there. However, a couple of years ago we went to Sea World in San Antonio where I decided I would take a picture. Well, the batteries were fine, I didn't drop the camera, no water disasters. The night before I was looking a pictures on the laptop and forgot to put the memory card back in the camera. So, I had a perfectly functioning camera with no memory card and Sea World doesn't even offer an overpriced card in thier stores. I was stuck with a disposable for the day.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Ouch Dave -- nightmare.

Amazing it wasnt more damaged. Good testiment to the build of the D1

And somehow i managed to get it to work to shoot fireworks that night.

Rob had to drive us home, i was a basketcase. This was 2004.

 

[EPCOTPluto]

..... I am sure there are more. I just don't want to remember.

Oh yeah, one more...

My first camera (a Nikon CoolPix L12) took a nice flying trip in EPCOT once. You know that one bump on the Test Track? :dazzle:

Fortunately, the camera was retrieved the next day. I was able to save the memory card, which surprisingly was still in its original place, but the camera was a total loss. Cracked screen, the zoom lens were bashed in, and several buttons were gone. Must've hit asphalt.


P.S. 4k of posts!