Frozen Nikon 600Mm F/4.0G Falls 4 Meters To Frozen Tundra, Breaks In Half

July 13, 2013 by Udi Tirosh 13 Comments

As a photographer I cringe any time I see a broken piece of gear, but this one totally threw me of the chair.

Photographer Daniel J. Cox was leading a photography tour (if you can call this type of freezing weather a “tour”) at Churchill (Manitoba, Canada) with the aim of photographing polar bears. One of the photographers on the expedition sadly dropped a $10,000 600mm f/4.0G Nikon lens on the frozen tundra from about 4 meters. The lens literally broke in half. The image above shows the results.

“This year it seems it must have frozen fairly fast. When it does the ice is smooth and holds no snow. It’s simply beautiful with the blowing ice crystals, the marble colored surface and the setting sun on the horizon off to the west. One of our guests got so excited one afternoon she dropped her lens from the buggy. It wasn’t pretty. Her lens of choice was a Nikkor 600mm F/4 and it fell 12-14 feet onto the frozen tundra, breaking completely in half. She was an amazing sport and shared her grief by mugging for the camera”#

Here is amazon’s picture of the lens complete for referanace:

Frozen Nikon 600Mm F/4.0G Falls 4 Meters To Frozen Tundra, Breaks In Half

Luckily the lens was insured, though I would not want to be the agent getting this call.

[Another Phenomenal Season of Cape Churchill Polar Bear Photography via Nikon Rumors]

About Udi Tirosh

Udi Tirosh is the Founder and Editor in Chief of DIYPhotography, he is also a photographer, a relentless entrepreneur, a prolific inventor and a dad, not necessarily in that order

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BlueRaccoonDog

Really cumbersome lens based on my experience, Really soft wide open and actually very fragile. I turned it on a tripod mount for a panning shot and struck a barrier I unknowingly moved next to. Lens was alright, but a 2 inch dent and some paint transfer is what I was left with :/
- Richard Tack
  
  Ran it into an immovable object and it got a dent. What did you think was going to happen?
  - BlueRaccoonDog
    
    For a lens that costs $10k new I expected the construction to be a bit better than a $100 used lens that a friend dropped from about a metre and walked away fairly undamaged.
David O’Sullivan

A bit of super glue and she’ll be fine!
Terry

When visiting China I lost my Boss’s brand new 135 S Noblex Panoramic camera with 4.5/29mm Rotar lens, left it in the back seat of a taxi :(
- 54343
  
  well proves you are a moron….
scubadiv3r

‘Tis but a scratch!
Ralph Hightower

Whoops!
J

Did anyone else notice that the original article is dated November 23, 2010?
Andrea

She was an amazing sport and shared her grief by mugging for the camera
…
Luckily the lens was insured

’nuff said
Kpentax

typical nikon crap….. can´t even stand a bit of cold…..
- John Ryan
  
  Kpentax…show me where a Pentax 600 f/4 was in the same environment, fell the same distance and survived
Ursula

i have canon 400mm f2.8 that was trampled upon by a 400kg male grizzly last winter. onyl a few scratchs in the white paint.. still works like a charm.