Photographer’s Images Prove that Bear Was At Fault for Breaking Rented Gear
Depending on your subject matter, it can be a very good idea to take out a damage waiver when renting camera equipment. Wildlife photographer Andrew Kane learned this recently after renting gear from LensRentals for a shoot in Yellowstone. Here’s his account of how the borrowed equipment ended up broken:
Luckily for Kane, he had a second camera hanging around his neck that he used to captured what unfolded. The bear proceeded to push his camera and tripod over and give it a few stomps for good measure:I recently rented a D4, Wimberly head, and 600VR from you, and the day before yesterday, I had a little bit of an accident. I was photographing a coyote here in Yellowstone and I followed it into the woods about 300yds away from the road. As I am taking pictures of the coyote, I heard twigs breaking behind me, and as I turned around I saw it was a grizzly bear. I picked up the tripod with the D4 and 600 on it and slowly started to back away. The bear got closer and closer as I tried to back up. When the bear got to within 20 yds. of me, I bumped into a brush pile that I could not lift the tripod over, so I had no choice but to leave the gear and continue away from the bear.
After retrieving the camera, Kane found that it still functioned properly. However, the lens mount was bent and the camera had developed a severe case of back-focusing.
The Damage Waiver Bearly Covered This One [LensRentals]
Image credits: Photographs by Andrew Kane
