Night Shot : The last shot I took before I dropped my camera

Many of you might be using your Digital SLR to shoot in extreme weather conditions, but it’s unlikely that you’ll drop the sophisticated piece of equipment. I did so recently with my Canon 5D Mark II + Canon 17-40L f/4.

I bought this camera last year. Though it has a sluggish autofocusing system that is nearly useless when you try to auto focus in very low light, but still it works perfectly for me and its a wonderful camera. The weather sealing of the camera that is not as good as the 1D series, but not that bad either. Canon beefed up their weather sealing and now it features a better magnesium alloy exterior with rubberised grip surfaces. So let’s get back to the main topic.

While I was shooting some night landscapes with moon light through the window of an old guest house in a remote area of Himachal Pradesh, I accidentally dropped it from more then 15ft, right into a pile of snow. It was all dark and I didn’t hear the sound of my camera falling as well. I thought probably it had fallen into the water stream that was right next to the guest house. I wasted no time and ran down to find my camera and saw it lying in a pile of snow and slush. I took it to my room and started cleaning it. I removed the battery to avoid any electrical damage. Cleaned it for the next half an hour with my friend laughing at me.

So after cleaning it, I was surprised to find 0% damage and found it in complete working condition. I still think the snow saved it, but it sure is a water resistant (not waterproof).