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How bad is it for camera gear to have it constantly moving and shaking?

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Cameranoobie

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Just wondering. Last night I was taking pics and we had to take the quad out to our destination. I hopped on the back with my z7ii with the 70-200 S attached to it in it's Thinktank slingshot bag and it was protected from accidentally banging the gear along something. But since we were on rough terrain, the camera and lenses was still constantly moving up and down from the bumps. I did my best to keep it perfect still from moving at all but it was near impossible. The gear wasn't shaking furiously but obviously a lot more than having the gear on a table perfectly static.

How much do you think high end gear can take when it comes to stuff like this? Constant vibrations, movements, shaking up and down, left, right. TIA.
 
the kinds of motions you describe are generally not all that bad for precision equipment. What is bad is a sudden stop from hitting something hard. You want to have padding between lenses and cameras in the bag to not have any sudden shocks.

what is worse than vibration is sudden temperature changes. Fortunately we don't get those all that often.

Sometimes things are tricky though. One of my engineering colleagues had a high priced, top of the line, Leica camera in the 1970's. When he took it on airline trips between the US and Europe, even when he had it sitting on a seat next to him the whole way, when he arrived, all the cover screws had become loose, so he traveled with a screwdriver to tighten the screws when he got there. Our theory was there was a high frequency vibration in the airplane we could not feel but happened to resonate with the camera body and screw threads. Weird stuff like that can happen. Sometimes manufacturers test for it by attaching a vibration transducer onto something, varying the vibration frequency and filming how the device behaves. It sure is weird to be watching a video of that, everything is peaceful, and suddenly the screws slowly rotate and come out when a resonance frequency reached. I mention this mainly to point out manufacturers generally do testing to see that things stay together as intended. although sometimes it goes wrong.
 
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Cameranoobie said:
Just wondering. Last night I was taking pics and we had to take the quad out to our destination. I hopped on the back with my z7ii with the 70-200 S attached to it in it's Thinktank slingshot bag and it was protected from accidentally banging the gear along something. But since we were on rough terrain, the camera and lenses was still constantly moving up and down from the bumps. I did my best to keep it perfect still from moving at all but it was near impossible. The gear wasn't shaking furiously but obviously a lot more than having the gear on a table perfectly static.

How much do you think high end gear can take when it comes to stuff like this? Constant vibrations, movements, shaking up and down, left, right. TIA.
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I suspect the camera will suffer considerably less than you will.
 
Cameranoobie said:
Just wondering. Last night I was taking pics and we had to take the quad out to our destination. I hopped on the back with my z7ii with the 70-200 S attached to it in it's Thinktank slingshot bag and it was protected from accidentally banging the gear along something. But since we were on rough terrain, the camera and lenses was still constantly moving up and down from the bumps. I did my best to keep it perfect still from moving at all but it was near impossible. The gear wasn't shaking furiously but obviously a lot more than having the gear on a table perfectly static.

How much do you think high end gear can take when it comes to stuff like this? Constant vibrations, movements, shaking up and down, left, right. TIA.
Click to expand...
While cameras are designed to handle reasonable abuse, vibration and general banging around expose any design or manufacturing flaws. So I try to limit the exposure to such treatment as much as possible. Also, whether it is a problem or not, I don't like to hear my camera rattle when I gently shake it - from in-body image stabilization components for example.
 
OpticsEngineer said:
the kinds of motions you describe are generally not all that bad for precision equipment. What is bad is a sudden stop from hitting something hard. You want to have padding between lenses and cameras in the bag to not have any sudden shocks.

what is worse than vibration is sudden temperature changes. Fortunately we don't get those all that often.

Sometimes things are tricky though. One of my engineering colleagues had a high priced, top of the line, Leica camera in the 1970's. When he took it on airline trips between the US and Europe, even when he had it sitting on a seat next to him the whole way, when he arrived, all the cover screws had become loose, so he traveled with a screwdriver to tighten the screws when he got there. Our theory was there was a high frequency vibration in the airplane we could not feel but happened to resonate with the camera body and screw threads. Weird stuff like that can happen. Sometimes manufacturers test for it by attaching a vibration transducer onto something, varying the vibration frequency and filming how the device behaves. It sure is weird to be watching a video of that, everything is peaceful, and suddenly the screws slowly rotate and come out when a resonance frequency reached. I mention this mainly to point out manufacturers generally do testing to see that things stay together as intended. although sometimes it goes wrong.
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Thanks for the insight. What would you say is the best way for me to check for damage? I'm pretty certain I did not cause any but with such expensive gear I am so overly worried.
 
GeoffRG said:
Cameranoobie said:
Just wondering. Last night I was taking pics and we had to take the quad out to our destination. I hopped on the back with my z7ii with the 70-200 S attached to it in it's Thinktank slingshot bag and it was protected from accidentally banging the gear along something. But since we were on rough terrain, the camera and lenses was still constantly moving up and down from the bumps. I did my best to keep it perfect still from moving at all but it was near impossible. The gear wasn't shaking furiously but obviously a lot more than having the gear on a table perfectly static.

How much do you think high end gear can take when it comes to stuff like this? Constant vibrations, movements, shaking up and down, left, right. TIA.
Click to expand...
I suspect the camera will suffer considerably less than you will.
Click to expand...
Okay, so you think the camera and lens is okay from it? It wasn't furious vibrations but still more vibrations than normal and I did my best to soften them.
 
Camley said:
Cameranoobie said:
Just wondering. Last night I was taking pics and we had to take the quad out to our destination. I hopped on the back with my z7ii with the 70-200 S attached to it in it's Thinktank slingshot bag and it was protected from accidentally banging the gear along something. But since we were on rough terrain, the camera and lenses was still constantly moving up and down from the bumps. I did my best to keep it perfect still from moving at all but it was near impossible. The gear wasn't shaking furiously but obviously a lot more than having the gear on a table perfectly static.

How much do you think high end gear can take when it comes to stuff like this? Constant vibrations, movements, shaking up and down, left, right. TIA.
Click to expand...
While cameras are designed to handle reasonable abuse, vibration and general banging around expose any design or manufacturing flaws. So I try to limit the exposure to such treatment as much as possible. Also, whether it is a problem or not, I don't like to hear my camera rattle when I gently shake it - from in-body image stabilization components for example.
Click to expand...
I try to limit the exposure to such treatment as well. It wasn't a long ride of this exposure, about 3 minutes total....90 seconds each way. Oddly when i was in the drivers seat I was able to keep the camera more steady but i also went much slower.
 
OpticsEngineer said:
One of my engineering colleagues had a high priced, top of the line, Leica camera in the 1970's. When he took it on airline trips between the US and Europe, even when he had it sitting on a seat next to him the whole way, when he arrived, all the cover screws had become loose...
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Poltergeist, for sure. :-D

That one that likes to disassemble things.

--
Bye
 
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Since 2005, I've flown, driven cars, ridden in vans, etc. and have never had an issue or any damage. I even had a 40D fall about 4 feet onto the dirt round from a rail at an outdoor restaurant and no problem from the fall.

Kent
 
I don't think you have anything to be too concerned about. In a bag, in a vehicle, it's going to move around but the jostling is softened by the bag, etc., being able to move and it softens the changes in direction, etc. In comparison, to say, bolting it directly to a roll bar to take/record live images of driving the rough terrain.

We don't know specifically what design considerations and testing they do. Or if there is a particular unfortunate combination of vibrations, directions and movements that loosens or breaks something. Nikon and other experienced manufacturers warrant their gear, they build to the expected environments and demands of their user community. Not to say something can't or won't be broken, but it's not likely. If nothing else there's bad feeling and a lot of bad publicity if a bit of gear doesn't meet expectations.

While working in aerospace/defense, the requirements were tailored to the expected use environments. One test was Informally called the "Belgian block" test - simulating being driven long distances over cobblestone streets. This was usually done with an unmanned vehicle on a closed circuit because it was unsafe for drivers. Anecdotally, because I'm not a doctor, nor an engineer, not matter what my job title was, your kidneys may be more at risk than your camera gear.
 
Craig Gillette said:
I don't think you have anything to be too concerned about. In a bag, in a vehicle, it's going to move around but the jostling is softened by the bag, etc., being able to move and it softens the changes in direction, etc. In comparison, to say, bolting it directly to a roll bar to take/record live images of driving the rough terrain.

We don't know specifically what design considerations and testing they do. Or if there is a particular unfortunate combination of vibrations, directions and movements that loosens or breaks something. Nikon and other experienced manufacturers warrant their gear, they build to the expected environments and demands of their user community. Not to say something can't or won't be broken, but it's not likely. If nothing else there's bad feeling and a lot of bad publicity if a bit of gear doesn't meet expectations.

While working in aerospace/defense, the requirements were tailored to the expected use environments. One test was Informally called the "Belgian block" test - simulating being driven long distances over cobblestone streets. This was usually done with an unmanned vehicle on a closed circuit because it was unsafe for drivers. Anecdotally, because I'm not a doctor, nor an engineer, not matter what my job title was, your kidneys may be more at risk than your camera gear.
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That pretty much details what I was trying to say.
 
Moddern Cameras and lenses are remarkably tough and resistant to most anything - except really hard drops and water spray, especially salt water. I wouldn't worry at all.
 
Cameranoobie said:
Just wondering. Last night I was taking pics and we had to take the quad out to our destination. I hopped on the back with my z7ii with the 70-200 S attached to it in it's Thinktank slingshot bag and it was protected from accidentally banging the gear along something. But since we were on rough terrain, the camera and lenses was still constantly moving up and down from the bumps. I did my best to keep it perfect still from moving at all but it was near impossible. The gear wasn't shaking furiously but obviously a lot more than having the gear on a table perfectly static.

How much do you think high end gear can take when it comes to stuff like this? Constant vibrations, movements, shaking up and down, left, right. TIA.
Click to expand...
Bouncing up and down on hard surfaces is not good. I carry an inflatable seat cushion and put it under my bag to soften the impact. Or, carry it on your lap.
 
I carry my gear (typically body + 5 lenses + accessories) in a Mantona biker's bag that's attached to the saddle post. Can swing up and down a bit. Hard thin tyres, no suspension. Only pedal on roads so bumps mostly from street crossings (I wish they made them smooth, what's the problem?) occasional cobblestone etc. Snow is worst after a couple of freeze/thaw cycles. Can make a hard washboard surface. Haven't had any damage in 15+ years.
 
Cameranoobie said:
Just wondering. Last night I was taking pics and we had to take the quad out to our destination. I hopped on the back with my z7ii with the 70-200 S attached to it in it's Thinktank slingshot bag and it was protected from accidentally banging the gear along something. But since we were on rough terrain, the camera and lenses was still constantly moving up and down from the bumps. I did my best to keep it perfect still from moving at all but it was near impossible. The gear wasn't shaking furiously but obviously a lot more than having the gear on a table perfectly static.

How much do you think high end gear can take when it comes to stuff like this? Constant vibrations, movements, shaking up and down, left, right. TIA.
Click to expand...
Before I retired, I did quite a bit with "shock and vibe" regarding ballistic missiles. I wouldn't worry too much about the forces you encountered.

However, there's one consideration not yet mentioned: IBIS/VR mechanisms. I think most lock the mechanism in place when the camera is off, so IMHO no problem there. But one situation of which I'm aware is that, if I remove my Nikkor AF-P 70-300 w/FTZ from my Z 6 with the power on the lens VR will not lock (I think I described that correctly, don't have the doc available to check). So I make sure the camera is off before changing out the lens. I don't know how a lens in that state would tolerate the conditions you describe...
 
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OpticsEngineer said:
the kinds of motions you describe are generally not all that bad for precision equipment. What is bad is a sudden stop from hitting something hard. You want to have padding between lenses and cameras in the bag to not have any sudden shocks.

what is worse than vibration is sudden temperature changes. Fortunately we don't get those all that often.
Click to expand...
I have a parallel story re computer gear. Back around early 1970's I worked on repair and maintenance of data entry systems that were imported to Australia from USA.

Some units travelled by sea transport, others travelled by air cargo.

The sea ones were beautifully reliable, the air ones had problems "forever", usually faulty TTL 74xx series chips and my theory was that the airplane vibration kept flexing the boards and weakened the seals of the soldered in chips and eventually the atmosphere leaked in and caused corrosion and failure.

Against that the sea ones never gave anywhere near as many problems and even the air cargo boards that had socketed 74xx chips never gave problems as they could combat any board flexing by slippage in the socket.

The boards concerned were something like 14 inches square and mounted horizontally so were ideal for causing flex problems.
OpticsEngineer said:
Sometimes things are tricky though. One of my engineering colleagues had a high priced, top of the line, Leica camera in the 1970's. When he took it on airline trips between the US and Europe, even when he had it sitting on a seat next to him the whole way, when he arrived, all the cover screws had become loose, so he traveled with a screwdriver to tighten the screws when he got there. Our theory was there was a high frequency vibration in the airplane we could not feel but happened to resonate with the camera body and screw threads. Weird stuff like that can happen Sometimes manufacturers test for it by attaching a vibration transducer onto something, varying the vibration frequency and filming how the device behaves. It sure is weird to be watching a video of that, everything is peaceful, and suddenly the screws slowly rotate and come out when a resonance frequency reached. I mention this mainly to point out manufacturers generally do testing to see that things stay together as intended. although sometimes it goes wrong.
Click to expand...
Once on a flight back to Oz from NZ we watched out the window while flying to see a bolt slowly backing out of the top surface of the wing. We all survived but when flying over 1,000 km of water it was a bit disturbing.
 
I've only read half the above answers, so if I repeat someone else, just ignore.

Most cameras travel by sea on ships powered by gigantic diesel engines that make the ship vibrate constantly, and sometimes in rough weather. When they arrive, containers are loaded unto trucks that haul them across continents on not so well kept roads etc — you get my point.

They're made to withstand that, and more, so I wouldn't worry.

Good luck and good light.
 
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