My trusty camera gave up the ghost inside the old Sunrise Mall food court

I was deep in the Sunrise Mall in Sacramento last Saturday, trying to get a shot of the sun coming through the broken skylight over the empty pizza stand. The light was perfect. I went to adjust my settings and the whole camera just died. No warning, no flicker, just a blank screen. It's a Canon Rebel T6 I've had for eight years, and it's been through a lot of dusty, damp places with me. I had to finish the trip using my phone, which just isn't the same for capturing the textures and the scale of those spaces. It got me thinking about how we document these places. Do you stick with tried and true gear that might fail, or do you rely more on newer, maybe less robust tech? Has anyone else had a key piece of equipment fail right in the middle of a good explore?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_karen22d ago

My old Nikon D90 did the same thing in an abandoned hospital. Screen went black right as I found the old operating theater. I carry a backup point and shoot now, a cheap one from a pawn shop. It's not perfect but it beats using a phone for those wide shots.

lopez.mason21d ago

Yeah that backup camera idea is smart, @the_karen. Reminds me of this time I was hiking and my main camera just died, battery connector was fried from the cold. Had to use my buddy's old film camera he brought as a joke. The shots came out weird and grainy, but in a cool way that my digital stuff never does. Makes me want to grab some cheap film camera just to throw in the bag, you know?