I'd like to talk about everything that has to do with the death of my shutter..
As of yesterday afternoon, my camera is broken. The main mirror hinge is broken, which means if you take a picture 4/5 of the shot is black. The shutter doesn't move up properly on one side since the plastic hinge is broken. I've done plenty of reading over the past two hours to figure out what the heck happened and what I'm looking at to get this replaced.
This blog (written in Europe) has nifty pictures and all the nitty gritty details of how I could solve this problem.
http://canonrepair.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/canon-eos-40d-broken-main-mirror-repair/
Now, why would this break on me?
Well, I'd have to obviously conclude I took way too many pictures. That is NOT a bad thing. I've had my camera for over a year now, and my main point is that over this course of time I've learned how to work my camera through a process of trial and error. This method of learning requires hands on experience, which therefore implies that I am actively taking photos of whatever is going on. And I'm not a pro by any means, I'm not to that "wait for the perfect shot" stage in my life. I take pictures of EVERYTHING.
With that approach, I've taken so many thousands of pictures (literally thousands) and this has taken a toll on my camera's life. To be quite honest, I worked that camera hard. Possibly too hard. But I'm very happy for what it's done in my life, and all the photos and memories it has captured.
This leads me to point out something fairly obvious. Taking care of things is a pain, but you don't realize the reward of taking good care of such things until you have had a bad experience from a not taking good care of items.
For example. If I thrashed my Honda, odds are it would break down MORE than what it's done on me over the last year. But, by taking good care of it I don't have to go through the nightmare of replacing stuff that I don't even want to think of. Same goes for electronics. Sure, you drop your phone as you get out of the car, but the less you do that the less chance you're going to have a cracked screen or some other problem. (:
My camera is broken, I'm quite sad about that. But I don't feel bad, mainly because I put it to good use and I'm not in a rush to fix it.
To conclude all this, I'd like to point out that had I not taken so many photos, my photography skills and success would have suffered. Had I "slowed down" my approach to photography, I'd still be learning things that only happen when you find out the hard way. (trial and error). I know a whole lot more about my camera than I did 50,000 shots ago.. And somewhere along the way I've got some sweet shots that make me feel accomplished.
Last picture that my camera took?
Okay, the joke's on me.. I "broke" the camera, literally. But we do make for a cute couple (:
