Today I had the opportunity to shoot an indoor polo tournament. Traditionally polo is played outside on vast amounts of acreage (the equivalent of 9 football fields). This was an Olympic-size dressage ring, plenty of room for 8 horses and riders (4 per team) to go chasing after a largeish ball and whack it with an oversized mallet into the opposing team's goal.
Well, another photog and I were shooting. I had the D90, the 18-200mm and the SB-910 in hand. We were standing several feet to the side of one such set of goalposts when a player took a penalty shot on the goal. As in the goal we were standing next to. Hell, there was nowhere else to stand and get decent shots. And even at stupidly high ISOs and with the SB-910 going full power, I still got precious few images worth keeping. Anyway...
All of a sudden this huge white thing appears in the viewfinder (no didn't get a shot) and my trusty lenshood just exploded. No other word for it. I only found about half of it in the aftermath. Amazingly, the lens itself, the D90 and even more miraculously the SB-910 all survived intact. Of course the player responsible apologized profusely and I continued to shoot the remainder of that chukker, but it was still a nerve-rattling experience.
The moral of this story? Be incredibly careful if you're ever shooting polo or any other sport involving projectiles. And get a lenshood, even though the other photog wisely said 'Yeah I usually don't use a lenshood when shooting indoors'....well guess what bud, that lenshood saved my ass and some $2500 in gear.
@ mike_311...nope but looks like I better get some...
@jomari...I was looking through the viewfinder so yes, the back of the camera hit my face but it was more like a sharp push. It didn't leave any marks, but the noise of the lenshood being smashed to bits was something else. I was stunned but relieved that the lens *knock on wood* didn't seem to suffer any permanent damage. Camera OK and flash too.
WOW Thank goodness for that hood!!!! State Farm ins, has a policy to cover ALL photo equipment @ incredibly CHEAP prices... I haven't bought it yet (we're talking $10 - 12 a month... lost stolen broken etc... My freind has it I've investaged it, It almost sounds too good to be true, I can't remember the name of it, but after dropping my strobe Twice on a concrete road during senior pix shot... well I need to give it a try!!! strobe still working.. (another shoot this afternoon) I hope no more hit the ground shots!!
WOW Thank goodness for that hood!!!! State Farm ins, has a policy to cover ALL photo equipment @ incredibly CHEAP prices... I haven't bought it yet (we're talking $10 - 12 a month... lost stolen broken etc... My freind has it I've investaged it, It almost sounds too good to be true, I can't remember the name of it, but after dropping my strobe Twice on a concrete road during senior pix shot... well I need to give it a try!!! strobe still working.. (another shoot this afternoon) I hope no more hit the ground shots!!
Can anyone here advise as to this?
I've tried insuring my gear, but can't find anyone who'll do it for less than $100 a month, and frankly, I'd rather self-insure at that rate.
I had a bit of a close encounter with soccer a few weeks ago...
Did the girls game and our defender decided to clear a ball out of bounds, RIGHT AT ME!!! I managed to get a shot RIGHT before I had to dive out of the way.
Glad your face is okay!
I have some of my cameras insured as an extension of my home contents insurance, which would normally only cover them at home. Extra premium and specified equipment, the deal rolls over each time I renew my annual policy. Actually, I need to update the specifics as I don't even use some of what's covered and some of what I do use isn't nominated.
snaffles, glad to hear this all worked out for you! I was shooting some kids archery class once and had a close call. Moral: Do not stand behind the targets, even way far back...
Glad your face is okay!
I have some of my cameras insured as an extension of my home contents insurance, which would normally only cover them at home. Extra premium and specified equipment, the deal rolls over each time I renew my annual policy. Actually, I need to update the specifics as I don't even use some of what's covered and some of what I do use isn't nominated.
I was wondering about that, piggybacking it onto my house insurance. Will have to look into it.
@ Ray...yeah apart from the camera-shaped indent on my face, I'm fine ;-)
I have £10k of cover anywhere in the world on my uk home insurance, only added £50 a year whole policy is £400 a year for £250k rebuild cost and £50k contents
Actually I am covered, to some extent, for my camera gear - under house contents. But that policy was drawn up 5 years ago so I would have had just the D40, the 18-200 and maybe the 50mm. Added a little bit more since. Anyway I don't plan to lose any sleep over a new lenshood, just be a helluvalot more careful when knowing I'll be around projectiles.
