Camera Disaster

I'd planned a special treat yesterday for the kids (and for Amelia). I got the kids dressed up and took them on a photo shoot - to get some nice pictures to make a frame for Mother's day. Well, the kids were doing well... we drove downtown to take some pictures. I was pretty excited because I just got my new telephoto lens for my camera. After taking a few shots at the paramoutn, we went to the Minter Memorial to take some shots. I decided that I didn't have enough room to maneuver for the telephoto lens, so I put the regular 14-45mm on the camera and we walked a block or so to the waterfall. That is when disaster struck >sob<

The area is enclosed by buildings, bushes and design, so I wasn't worried about the kids running off, so I focues on just Eleanor for a few minutes. She kindly sat still while I took this picture:















I liked the shot, so I calle MH and Ethan over to arrange a posed shot. Ethan wasn't all that happy about sitting still when there were rocks, leaves and trash to throw into the fountain nearby, but I set the camera down on the bench and picked him up and put him where I wanted him. Then I stood up and... stepped back... and...



The neck strap for the camera was caught on my leg and the action of standing up pulled the camera off of the bench and sent it crashing into the pavement!!! I screamed. I literally screamed. I think I startled some passers-by and the kids asked me, "What's wrong, Daddy?" Daddy just busted his expensive camera! Shaking, I picked up the camera and tried to snap a photo. Nothing. I turned it off and back on. The power-on screen came up.... that was a good sign... I looked into the view finder... it showed the f-stop and light meter reading... that was a good sign. I inspected the camera body and lens... a few dings... I breahed a sigh of relief. My anxiety lessed a bit and I tried to take the picture of the kids I'd just framed. However, much to my consternation, the Auto-focus didn't work. Nuts. I tried to manually twist the focus ring and it didn't even change the focus one bit. Experimenting, I took this picture:


















While it doesn't look too bad at that resolution, here it is close up...


















So... drama aside, I damaged the focusing capability of my primary lens. Grrrr...
Thankfully, I have the telephoto lens in the mean time. I'll just have to back up 5 feet to take any picture I want to get. If anyone wants to part with their 14-45mm Zukio Digital SLR lens for an Olympus EVolt E500 for a decent price... let me know. *sigh*


- sadly yours, jeff