[Closed] How sturdy are DSLRs?

I stuff my SLR into my rucksack whilst riding. I tend to store it in a slightly padded bag towards the middle of the rucksack. Despite a few crashes it's still fine. My thinking is that there's no point having a nice camera if you aren't going to take it out and use it.

-j

My thinking is that there's no point having a nice camera if you aren't going to take it out and use it.

Exactly - it will be fine unless you land right on it somehow - how many times have you crashed and landed heavily on your back?

I've taken out various cameras for the last 10 years, and DSLRs for the last 5 years (EOS 350d, 30D, and a 7D) with assorted lenses and assoicated crap. None of them have ever suffered any damage at all from dirt, rain, snow (when boarding), or crashes (including various ones that have put me in hospital). They are pretty robust.

Anyway, assuming it's insured if you break it you'll get a nice new one!

For what it's worth I used a Camelbak Hawg, and the smallest lowepro case that fits the camera.

My Nikon D70S would reject (as in not be able to read) the memory card if it got a knock on something hard. It never had any problem with being thrown around/dropped while in a soft case, so it was clearly a square-edge thing it objected to. The D5000 that replaced it appears unaffected by similar carelessness.

Have Canon D1s Mk3's so no worries whatsoever. Having said that I don't take them out unless I wanted do a photo shoot as I've a Canon G9 which will be more than sufficent for 95% of my needs. As long as your DSLR is packed away sensibly it should be fine but remember to guard against moisture

My many years old 10d has been bombproof- fallen on (literally fell over with cam in hand and landed on camera), it's been in my camelbakl many times.. Through falls and all sorts of weather and its been on many hols etc getting battered. And it still looks and works a treat. The 10d does have a metal sub-frame though which helps, the very bottom end ones are prob not quite as robust.

I've dropped most of mine and not been able to see a mark, and someone parked their car on my D300 a few weeks ago with no effect apart from a crooked lens hood 🙂

I landed on a D100 with a 70-300 lens attached to it last year. Proper half somersault and landed on my head then back.. Cracked my helmet, popped the camelback bladder and got concussion.

I bent the lens but the body was fine. My body hurt for a few day though...

Got a canon 450D. Carried it with me regularly and owned it for a few years and never failed me, including quite a few falls etc. Do tend to carry my kodak compact more these days though.

I believe that these cameras are designed to be carried all round the world, in different extremes of environments and as such they are pretty hardy tools..saying that, I do have it covered on my household insurance.

My d50 has had a kicking still takes brill piccies.

I think if you was to buy a lower end dslr such as an Olympus etc then you might find that they arent quite so tough. Canons after sales service is 2nd to non. I've heard of people getting sensors on 5 year old cameras being replaced foc. They do stuff like that because they don't break.

What ever you do make sure the camera uses SD cards and not CF ones as the microscopic pins in the camera's card reader bend at the least provocation and it costs about 150 squid to get it replaced; either that or always use the same memory card and download with a USB cable.
A really c**p piece of engineering and Canon should be ashamed of themselves for using a clearly inferior system!!!

That crap that lots and lots and lots of pro's use Canons with crap in them lol.

I wish DSLRs were anywhere near as tough as some old film cams. Don McCullin had an old Nikon F that was hit by a bullet, yet still worked! My old FM2 has been dropped onto concrete, rained on, covered in sand mud and all sorts, is 30+ years old and still works perfectly. THe only ones that seem to come close are the top-end pro bodies, and they cost a fortune. Can't stand this flimsy plastic modern shite. Give me some metal! My F5's viewfinder is made from titanium, so there.

and not CF ones as the microscopic pins in the camera's card reader bend at the least provocation

given the way the card slides down a channel I wonder what that [b]provocation[/b] might be ? However, I always use the USB cable with my camera as it's way faster than my card reader and leaves the card and its contacts safely undisturbed 🙂

It's the case that can make a difference: Lowepro, CCS are two good brands, other makes are out there but the construction & fabrics can let them down. I've used CCS for years and dropped 35mm slrs & DSLRs without damage so far.

What ever you do make sure the camera uses SD cards and not CF ones as the microscopic pins in the camera's card reader bend at the least provocation

Had cameras with both types and yet to have a mishap with a CF card

Very hard to force one in the wrong way round, suppose crap quality cards could be a problem though
You can always get a CF to SD adapter, Delkin make a good one and write speeds are the same as you would expect from a SD card (not as fast as a CF usually)

Had cameras with both types and yet to have a mishap with a CF card

isn't that what he said ?

You can always get a CF to SD adapter

but it won't fit inside the camera...

Ohh. Breaking stuff. I'm an expert on this. 😉

I've got a Canon 400D which I've had from new. I carry it strapped to my chest usually, but I do just chuck it in my Camelbak without a case from time to time.
It's been soaked (more than once) and covered in finest Swinley Forest grit taking [url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/sets/72157622586802385/ ]THESE PICS[/url]
I've crashed on it quite hard, cracking the plastic rim of the lens
And just before I took this pic
[img] [/img]
I'd actually thrown it down the road at about 15mph trying to take a low down, backward facing shot. (I kicked it out of my hand, pedalling)
That bent the flash hot shoe, but I just bent it back again.
I've dropped it a couple of times too, but it still takes shots like this
[img] [/img]

In the 2-3 years I've had it it's just had the sensor cleaned. I think I've taken around 20,000 shots with it. When it dies, I'll go and get another Canon because this one seems tough above and beyond the call of duty for a 'starter DSLR'

I bought it to use. So I use it.

Just one thing I wish I had done is get a clear filter for my main lens, becasue it's been scratched more than once. That said, can you see any evidence of the scratch on the 2nd pic above? No. Me neither.
🙂

What ever you do make sure the camera uses SD cards and not CF ones as the microscopic pins in the camera's card reader bend at the least provocation

My 400D takes CF cards. No problems with it at all, although I do usually use the USB lead as SFB says.

Out of interest then, which selection of favoured lenses do you take with you.

Ok. If you push the card in slightly squint i,e,don't press it in dead centre you damage the pins.
When I got my wifes one repaired the guy in the repair shop said he orders spares by the half dozen because he has to repair several a month!
SD cards have normal contacts not silly little holes to line up.

Just one for me, 9 times out of 10 - Sigma 17-70 f2.8. I don't need a big zoom as I'm usually shooting in forests and the f2.8 Sigma is faster then the f3.5 Canon equivilent, which again helps in low light. I've got a 55-200 Tamron, but I've never taken it out riding. I do sometimes use my Canon 50mm f1.8 prime which is a wonderfully sharp lens.

Ok. If you push the card in slightly squint i,e,don't press it in dead centre you damage the pins.

You've gootta be a right bloody cack handed gibbon to do that though! The card slides in on guides FFS!
I'm world class at breaking stuff and I've not even come close to doing that on the 400D or the Canon compact I had before it.

Ok. If you push the card in slightly squint i,e,don't press it in dead centre you damage the pins.

I just tried to do this and failed. On my D300 there's 25mm of insertion into the guides before the pins engage.

That said, can you see any evidence of the scratch on the 2nd pic above?

Yes. It's caused an optical aberration which has obliterated the right-hand leg of that man's fork.

cack handed gibbon

Love it! 😀

I use the Canon G11 and ive flown over the bars a few times
and works perfectly, i have this in my Camelbak Outlaw

One thing you should worry about more is the Lens/lenses
Also keep the camera and lens seperate to pack easier

I broke the kit lens bayonet on my Nikon D40 by dropping it out of my rucksack onto a concrete floor. One of the plastic pawls that secures the lens onto the body came off. I managed to repair it with superglue, but it was never the same again (and I eventually had to get a new lens). I think that if I'd had the camera in any kind of case, it'd have survived.

The fact that lots of poeple have not had problems with CF cards does not alter the fact that too many have and that it is inherently vunerable (it only needs to be a tiny bit off square to damage the pins) and lets down an otherwise superb setup.

but it won't fit inside the camera...

Delkin's new SD-CF adapter is SDHC compatible and can be fully inserted into any device that takes CompactFlash cards

Oh yes it does...

Elf, I use Canon D1's Mk3's which ARE pro cameras and are built like tanks and are proper cast metal bodies, in other words they are very very robust! Just like F5's. I used to use EOS1vHS when shooting film and those too are built like brick-shit houses. The CF cards are perfectly fine and I've never ever suffered any problems with them , just like the vast majority of pro's too.

chickenman - Member
The fact that lots of poeple have not had problems with CF cards does not alter the fact that too many have and that it is inherently vunerable (it only needs to be a tiny bit off square to damage the pins) and lets down an otherwise superb setup.

My DSLR uses CF (Olympus E500) and it isn't possible for the card to go in "not square" without some heavy handed abuse. I use a CF card reader in the laptop to download images so cards are in & out of the camera a lot, I'm sure if it was possible to put the card in "not square" I'd have managed it at some point.

For riding I mostly use an Olympus Mju SW, which is one of the little compact shock & waterproof jobbies, has been dropped & works, and after a canoe capize in Derwnet water has shown its waterproofing when the rescue boat from Hawes end marina picked up the kids I was with and left me to swim to shore!!! Cracking piece of kit.