Have you blundered lately?

[xpatUSA]

. . . I have. A total classic. Couldn't sleep so, around 4 am, I decided to order some IR filters on eBay. Bought three 77mm threaded filters for my . . . 72mm threaded lens . Probably returnable but, being eager, yesterday's email from eBay said:

"SHIPPED: B + W Step-Up Adapter Ring 72mm Lens Thread to 77mm Filter"

[Polar01]

Any screw in filter I always purchase 77mm then use stepup/stepdown rings if I need them.

Cheers: Allan

[Mike Buckley]

My wife blundered 31 years ago...when she married me.

[John 2]

When I went to the local farm shop recently I found it being manned by the farmer's son. Ever chatty I said "Mum and Dad not around today"? "Nope" he said "Gone on a Mystery Tour". "Anywhere nice?" I said. He never turned a hair.

[RustBeltRaw]

I rented a 70-200mm f2.8L II IS USM and a 1.4x teleconverter for shooting a race last summer. I figured I'd be waaay back, so I plonked down about $190 in rental feels to get a 448mm (1.6x crop camera with 1.4x teleconverter at 200mm) focal length. Then they declared essentially all areas open to photography, so my best shots of the day came from an 11mm on a remote camera, and my own 50mm and 100mm lenses.

[rpcrowe]

I blundered the other night. I had been playing with the + and - , flash exposure compensation previously and I neglected to zero it out before I put away the camera. My first couple of shots were underexposed (I had -2 stops dialed in). I realized that by pressing the Quick Control Button.

The one thing that I love about my 7D (I don't know if other cameras have this type of feature) is the Quick Control Button. Pressing the button shows me graphically virtually all of my camera parameters.

Another nice thing about the Quick Control Button is that my old eyes can read all of the parameters without wearing glasses. I don't like wearing glasses when I shoot but would need them for adjusting camera parameters, except that I can make all of my adjustments right on the Quick Control Button display.

[Andrew76]

I'm becoming very good at forgetting to charge batteries. Camera batteries, AAs for flashes, AAAs for triggers - all of them. And I don't know why! I even remind myself to charge the batteries, then I show up, and everything's dead.

[Polar01]

A blunder I do is, forget to switch the camera from U2, (Nikon) which is programed for 3 shot HDR and wonder why after 5 or so shots why is one under exposed, one over exposed, and then one correct exposure, and then the light blub comes on.

Cheers: Allan

[Shadowman]

Took a tripod on a 60 mile trip, forgot to bring the mount.

A few months ago I transferred a days worth of shooting to my laptop (new camera), software didn't recognize the RAW files and I had already deleted the photos from the card. Had to use a recovery program to retrieve the files from the card.

[dabhand]

Went out in a rush the other day to catch the tide, got the gear out to shoot and OOOOOOOOOPPPPssss - found out the sdcard was still in computer from downloading last set.

Quick panic and then a bit of clear thinking - my in car opportunity sony rx100 uses sd too, so a quick dash back to the car and format and the day was saved.

[shreds]

Busy shooting a wedding, changed lenses, carried on shooting…..all seemed ok, metering etc etc, then after half a dozen shots, I glanced at the screen to find nothing!

Lens had not locked on properly but the electrical connections had continued to partially work giving the impression of nothing wrong! The only time in over twenty years of shooting with Nikons that this occurred.

Luckily, I recovered and no one was any the wiser, but I always carry two bodies/lenses around my neck now as insurance in such situations.

(I learnt many years ago when presenting, never to panic….just keep going…..they don't know what is going on in your mind or with the kit, as long as you can come up with the goods at the end of the day!)

[Kris V]

Went out in a rush the other day to catch the tide, got the gear out to shoot and OOOOOOOOOPPPPssss - found out the sdcard was still in computer from downloading last set.

Quick panic and then a bit of clear thinking - my in car opportunity sony rx100 uses sd too, so a quick dash back to the car and format and the day was saved.

Sounds familiar.
Camera in the car, battery fully charged, spare battery in pocket, SD card in laptop - at home.
I was going to take photos at a community event, but driving back home (27 miles) was unfortunately not an option.
I had a little older Olympus P&S with me - but it uses XD cards!
Used it anyway, so I got at least some snapshots of the event.

[IzzieK]

This is a loaded question!

[flashback]

Nice thing about digital, there' a lighty-up screen that shows all the info including battery status. However, on my old Nikon FM2, the numbers advanced each time you advanced the film. Of course there didn't have to be film in the camera at the time. So I spent a lovely day in the woods, hiking, shooting wildlife. Got a couple of really great shots of a Goshawk that took down a Ruffed Grouse (Partridge for those that have hunted them). Of course with no film in the camera the shots were moot.

[GrahamS]

I blundered the other night. I had been playing with the + and - , flash exposure compensation previously and I neglected to zero it out before I put away the camera. My first couple of shots were underexposed (I had -2 stops dialed in). I realized that by pressing the Quick Control Button.


The one thing that I love about my 7D (I don't know if other cameras have this type of feature) is the Quick Control Button. Pressing the button shows me graphically virtually all of my camera parameters.

Another nice thing about the Quick Control Button is that my old eyes can read all of the parameters without wearing glasses. I don't like wearing glasses when I shoot but would need them for adjusting camera parameters, except that I can make all of my adjustments right on the Quick Control Button display.

I could have posted this, word for word, Richard, but you beat me to it!

[xpatUSA]

However, on my old Nikon FM2, the numbers advanced each time you advanced the film. Of course there didn't have to be film in the camera at the time. So I spent a lovely day in the woods, hiking, shooting wildlife. Got a couple of really great shots of a Goshawk that took down a Ruffed Grouse (Partridge for those that have hunted them). Of course with no film in the camera the shots were moot.

Reminds me of the time I rented a Piper Cub from Waynesville, Ohio and flew to Cincinatti. Passing over the King's Island amusement park got some great shots with stick between knees, MTL3 stuck out the window and horizon tilting alarmingly. Some good shots of downtown Cincinatti and even film left over for the trip back to UK.

On my return to Lincoln, discovered that I had failed to engage the holes on the sprockets correctly and, although the numbers had advanced with each swish of the lever, the film dideth not and remained virgin until I pulled all the film out in a fit of pique.

[mknittle]

I went for a walk a week or so ago only to find the camera had no memory card.

[tbob]

This will only be a problem for those of use living in climates really too cold for human life.

Last weekend I went out to shoot landscapes. It was minus 25C when I left the house, however once the sun came up I figured the sunlight would be enough to keep the camera warm (black camera/thermal warming etc) This has worked for me in the past.

At dawn the rays of the rising sun produced some really interesting light/shadow patterns on the drifted snow. So I got out of the truck, set up the camera on the tripod and took some shots. And of course being environmentally conscious, and stupid, I turned off the truck. Twenty minutes later, just as the light was illuminating the prairie and clouds I wanted, the camera froze solid. And of course the truck, being a diesel, was stone cold and it was going to take ten minutes of driving before it produced enough heat at minus 25 to thaw the camera and then ten more minutes before the camera thawed out . So morning of shooting done.

Lessons: 1)the feeble rays of a rising sun are insufficient to warm a camera and 2) leave the truck running so I can at least salvage something by warming the camera

[shreds]

Reminds me of the time I rented a Piper Cub from Waynesville, Ohio and flew to Cincinatti. Passing over the King's Island amusement park got some great shots with stick between knees, MTL3 stuck out the window and horizon tilting alarmingly. Some good shots of downtown Cincinatti and even film left over for the trip back to UK.

On my return to Lincoln, discovered that I had failed to engage the holes on the sprockets correctly and, although the numbers advanced with each swish of the lever, the film dideth not and remained virgin until I pulled all the film out in a fit of pique.

Nothing recent, but the worst failure ever….a real once in a lifetime opportunity…..got special permission to be in a stupendous position that no one else would ever be allowed into for a one off event (pulled loads of strings and more to get there), and yes, the old sprocket engagement failure. I could have cried. Of course, I couldn't tap any one else for their shots due to the exclusive location. That was definitively the worst.

The Werramatic was never trusted with a roll of film ever again, although it is still in that dark drawer to which it was consigned decades ago. (Shame, it had a wonderfully silent leaf shutter)….but once that trust is broken…..

[Colin Southern]

Busy shooting a wedding, changed lenses, carried on shooting…..all seemed ok, metering etc etc, then after half a dozen shots, I glanced at the screen to find nothing!

Lens had not locked on properly but the electrical connections had continued to partially work giving the impression of nothing wrong! The only time in over twenty years of shooting with Nikons that this occurred.

Reminds me of the time I was the event photographer for an international artist. I was only anticipating the concert shots, but then got the word afterwards that she'd like some "meet the fans" shots too.

First blunder - 24-70 still in the car, so only 16-35 or 70-200 to choose from.

Second blunder - went with the 16 to 35, but do you think the darn thing would focus? (**That moment when you have to say to the artist "Sorry, technical difficulties!"**). Turned out to be lens needed another small twist to lock on.