My camera dropped from about waste level onto a stone floor today. I’ve been carrying it around in a plastic grocery bag, so I look more like a homeless person than someone with an expensive camera. However this bag was falling apart and one of the handles partially gave way and the rest of the bag slipped out of my hands. I didn’t have the lens cap on at the time either.
After a while, I gathered myself and inspected the camera. There was a big crack across the glass. However, I have a UV Filter on the lens, so hopefully it was just that part which was damaged. Unfortunately, the filter was stuck on the lens. I couldn’t unscrew it at all. So for the whole afternoon I tried to screw the filter off. I went to a hardware store and they didn’t want to help at all, then I went to four camera stores. The first store tried, but couldn’t. The second store referred me someplace else. The third store had a guy which wasn’t afraid, so he took the lens off and started banging it against the table and tried prying the filter off, glass was falling out all over the table, but still not all the way off. Forth store, the guy walked out of the building saying he’ll be right back; I think he went to someplace with a lot of tools. After about five minutes, he was back with the lens off and the rest of the camera looking in perfect condition! He said he had to use screwdrivers, hammers, pliers. I gave him the rest of my Hungarian money ($3 or so) even though he didn’t want any. Seems to be working fine right now; I think the UV Filter on the end took all the damage. So that’s the drop test for the Canon Digital Rebel XTi.