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Hung over and tired, a sunrise on a lovely beach, then my (newish) Canon 50D and Sigma 10-20 went in to the sea when I stood up and stretched. Still feeling the pain now 
but getting used to my 60D and new Sigma 10-20 that Direct Line kindly replaced for me after a bit of a fight with them.
When I was in the Himalayas, I came across a rather forlorn hiker who had stopped for a rest on a narrow hillside track, taking off his rucsack and putting it on the ground. It was a salutory lesson on why you place you sack on your uphill side in case it isn't quite balanced as well as you thought...all his gear...and it was a lo-o-o-o-ong trek down.
Had a pentax istd camera get hot and smoked in my hand wail shooting wildlife and off time of coverage by a lot.
was taking to the dealer whom i did a lot of dealing with for so much of my gear for years and he ask if i had it with me
and i did. much to my surprise he took it and hand me a new said taken care of.wow could not believe my luck.
said thanks. guess it pays yo deal with home town shop.
frank.
My Canon 30d with 18-50mm lens complete with tripod took a dive off the cliffs at Battery Point, Portishead a while ago......Camera and lens were completely written off! Fortunately, it was all insured and was replaced very kindly by the insurance company by a 50d and a more expensive lens. It was covered on my new for old home contents accidental policy, downside was the premiums went up the following year, but it was still worth it.
Ade
Driving up a dirt track in Papua New Guinea when we hit a pot hole which sent the camera flying off the dashboard and out of the car window, ending up hitting a boulder by the side of the road. Lens was smashed and the in camera light meter stopped working, but camera shutter still functioned so could still use it with a different lens on.
Burton Bradstock in Dorset ... rogue wave versus a Nikon D70. Camera ceased to function but after a few days in the airing cupboard it was fine again.
My biggest disaster to date is when I was on holiday in West Wales in the late 70's. It was the 2nd day of my two weeks holiday, I was at Cenarth falls for the day, I wandered down to the edge of the embankment to try and capture a waterfall. I slipped and managed to stop myself from falling in but my Zenith EM decided it wanted to carry on into the water!
I decided that I'd only need to take one camera with me for the holiday so that was it photographic wise!
Ken
I had a fair bit of kit burgled and then replaced. After that I was careful to keep my stuff with me - as my car was broken into I was also cautious to make sure I didn't leave anything in it wherever possible. Wind on a few months and I'm sat at home on a day off from work [I'd planned to cut my hedge but it had rained] the day after I was to go up to the Yorkshire Show to shoot that.
I got a knock on my [side] door to be informed my car had been broken into outside the front of my house [and that tall hedge]. I moved the car wondering why anyone would break in given the parcel shelf was removed so that the emptiness of the hatch-back was visible.
Returning to phone to report the incident I finally noticed I couldn't find my camera bag... D300 + 3 good lenses + SB800 + 2 panasonic m 4/3 bodies [a G1 and GF1] a panasonic flash, 2 zooms and one prime - all in the one bag ready for the day after.
I was cursing myself wondering that I was stupid and forgetful enough to have left these in the car. Then I noticed the new iPad on my armchair left charging was just the charger in the wall socket...
I had replaced my side-door with a reinforced one after the burglary and the fitters had put too mortice locks on replacing one plus a Yale lock [with an automatic 'drop']. I hadn't locked the door when I rushed out to my car - I was outside for about 2 minutes...
The insurance company [that was Direct line via Tesco home insurance] were very good and although it took a little while to fully sort out, I've no complaints at all.
The only disaster I've had other than that was switching a 70-200mm lens onto a D200 whilst mounted on a tripod. Because the body was attached to the tripod, the weight of the lens pulled it all over [I won't be doing that again!] The lens was fine but it obviously damaged the contacts on the Nikon body because it wouldn't autofocus with any lens after that. I was due to get shut anyway...
In the early 70s, I bought a black Nikon Body costing £199. [ Think this was the 'mat EL ] wore this cross body with 28MM 2.8 whilst on my motor bike. van in front indicated left turn. drew up to overtake, just as he turned right.swerved to avoid him. and me and the bike separated. Camera goosed, electronics and hard knocks don't mix.
during the next 18 months that it took Nikon to repair using thier " Pro" service I started to work for Gratispool, and as I was working in the shop that was handling my repair, I eventualy got it back.
The cost ? £200 [The boss let me off with the VAT]
Left an Olympus trip in a field, it was three days before I had realised.
Went to look for it, but sometime in those three days the field had been ploughed in.
Eventually found it and dug it out the mud, lens cap missing, UV filter cracked in half, and a few minor dings and marks.
But it still worked fine.
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