P#23 Q2G: RIP Canon 5D

Learning it the Hard Way

Scott Stulberg: I have learned quite a bit from my photography mistakes, and my Canon 5D, which is now in my black museum of ruined equipment, is a perfect example. I was just in the Galapagos doing a photo tour about two months ago and I was shooting a girl.

I was leaning down right at the shoreline. She was with all the sea lions and it was a great shot. A wave came up, tackled me over, flipped her all over the place, and my Canon 5D was instantly ruined. My big mistake was being a fool thinking the wave wasn't going to come up and crash into me.

The second thing on that particular trip was that I did not bring a backup camera because I had sold it waiting for the new Canon 5D Mark II. Because of that, I had to borrow cameras from the people on the trip for the rest of the trip -- and I was the photography leader. It was a little embarrassing, it was a little humbling, and it was extremely frustrating.

There were some Canon 5D owners who let me use their cameras, but I also had to use lesser cameras that did not give me what I was used to. Needless to say, I was very unhappy. But these are the kind of mistakes you don't ever make again, so I have two Canon 5D Mark IIs on order and I will never, ever again travel without a backup camera body.

In Summary

It's always important to learn from your mistakes. Scott Stulberg learned the hard way that it's always a good idea to bring a backup camera while traveling. His Canon 5D will remain in his "black museum" to remind him of that fact.