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Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-16-07My record with cameras while on granite slabs is now 0-2 in favor of the granite. The first such instance was 2 years ago on the MR while returning to the Portal after going as far as Iceberg Lake with Snowy and Calhiker, and the results were nowhere as severe and final as the second instance, mentioned below (minus the details).
So as to the second instance, during the coming weeks, if anyone finds themselves (deliberately or by accident) wandering along the bottom of the south face of Half Dome (approx. below the saddle and the bottom end of the cables)
and you happen upon a bright red Casio Exilim "card" camera, in whole, or more likely in pieces, which looks like this (front view only),
and if either the tiny blue 2Gig SD chip or the part of
the camera still holding the SD chip is found, I would be more than grateful if you could retrieve the chip (I have full replacement coverage for the camera, so I don't really care about retrieving the camera itself) and contact me here so I can arrange to have the chip mailed to me.
In short, absent the highly unlikely event that someone actually finds the camera/chip while wandering in this rarely frequented area, the 2 weeks of vacation pictures that I took with this camera are lost (most notably, my first summit of Whitney via the MT, and my Tenaya Lake-Cloud's Rest-Half Dome-Happy Isles dayhike -- it was while descending the Half Dome cables during the latter that the camera met its demise). I realize that the chances of someone finding the camera/chip are slim to none, but ya never know...
As mentioned elsewhere, separate TR forthcoming.
CaT
Posted by bobcat, 09-17-07CT,
Sorry you lost the camera.I know it's too late now, but I always put an address sticker on all my equipment, even my hiking poles. The odds are your name might have worn off by the time someone finds the camera, but then, maybe not. Now no one knows who to send it back to. Hope you get it back
_________________________
sherry
Posted by CheckSix, 09-17-07With all the photos on the chip, it would be worth a trip before the first snow to perform a SAR!  With the price drops on the cards, it's worth noting to carry several on such trips.
There are several other forums you can post for assistance.
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/list.php?f=1
Good luck
Posted by Steve C, 09-17-07Man, CaT! That camera has got to be smashed into little pieces after tumbling down that path. Sure sorry for your loss.
But I doubt you'll spring for a trip out from Columbus just to go bushwhacking the back side of Half Dome.
Do you think it tumbled all the way down, or could it have stopped somewhere part way down?
Posted by DocRodneydog, 09-17-07That looks like the place where the Japanese student fell to his death a few months ago.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-18-07bobcat - Thanks. Good idea for my next camera and other equipment.
CheckSix - Thanks for the additional forums. I'll check them out. A personal camera SAR has certainly crossed my mind, despite coming from Ohio. Depends on Skybus airfares and my schedule.
Steve - If the cost were low enough, I'd spring for a trip from Ohio to bushwhack anywhere in the Sierra. I'm guessing the camera went all the way down to the ground. The mountaineering school in Curry Village also said it would probably be in little pieces. When I finally lost sight of it as it was tumbling down corner-over-corner, it was still intact.
DocRD - Yup, the 41-year-old Japanese tourist took the same fall line, but not nearly as far down, from what I remember reading.
CaT
Posted by mjfuller, 09-18-07CaT: Sorry for your loss. You have my sympathy. I was in Australia and my wife left our digital camera in a taxi. Of course the taxi company never found it. It was our trip of a lifetime and now we have very few pictures of it. Luckily I also had a video camcorder with some still shots on it. I was also on Half Dome in summer 2006. I dropped a 2-way radio going up the cables. I was amazed when the radio took a left hand bounce and kept going past the cable bottom and last I saw, it was heading down to the valley floor! Hope you get your chip back.
MJF
Posted by Joel M. Baldwin, 09-18-07I'm sure there's lots of intersting stuff in the debris zone to the north and south of the cables.
( sounds like a good trip to plan . . . )
Posted by ShoelessJoe, 09-18-07CaT, What is full replacement coverage mean? Please explain.
Joe
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-19-07ShoelessJoe - Full replacement coverage means I paid an additional $90 when purchasing a $300 camera that guarantees that in the event of damage or loss (except theft or other third-party insurance coverable event), I get a completely new (or repaired to new status) camera at no further cost to me. In short, in this case, I get a new camera just like the one that went down the mountain -- well worth the $90 investment, since it would have cost me $300 to replace it otherwise. I don't normally purchase these kinds of insurance add-ons, but given the risk in this case (2 weeks of hiking in the California mountains), and my record with cameras on granite slabs (not too good), I thought the investment was worth it this time, and I'm now glad I did it.
Joel - Yeah, it would make an interesting hike, wouldn't it.
CaT
Posted by WAclimber, 09-19-07CaT- sorry to hear about your camera. The best 'insurance' you can get against things like this happening again is to attach and wear the lanyard whenever you are using a camera on high risk situations.
Can you let us know how well the replacement policy works in this case? I tried to collect on one once and learned that I had to return at least part of the damaged product so that they knew I wasn't just selling it.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-19-07WaClimber - I had the wrist strap around my wrist until the camera was safely in its carrying pouch entirely. Normally this procedure works fine. On the cables, it didn't. It was during the 1-2 seconds between slipping the strap off my wrist to zip up the pouch that the camera popped back out of the pouch. I will certainly take extra precautions in a similar situation next time around.
I'll let you know about the replacement insurance when I put in the claim, probably later this week. The insurance is with the camera store itself (Cord Camera), not the manufacturer (Casio).
CaT
Posted by tothetrail, 09-19-07Not that this will help in your current situation, however, there's a device called "Gear Keeper" http://www.gearkeeper.com/
that attaches to your camera case (which should be secured to yourself) and to the camera that is on a retractable thin cable that allows you enough range of motion to take a photo, then it retracts back in place. It's also quick release so if your companion also has a gear keeper, you can hand the camera to him (before going up the cables), he attaches the quick release to his Gear Keeper, and he has the same protection.
I use this for canyoneering and it's one of the best gear management devices I have found.
_________________________
Jennifer
Posted by Richard P., 09-19-07If you look at the way Bob carries his camera, you'll get a really good idea that insures you'll never lose it. I've adopted his method of using a piece of stout string that's long enough so that you can put the camera in your pants pocket.
When carrying the D-SLR, I carry the case with the strap across my left shoulder and the camera on my stomach. I have a mini-carabiner attached to a short lanyard that is attached to the shoulder strap clip on the camera that allows me to take photos without worrying the I'll lose it. I've "dropped" the camera several times, but the lanyard kept it from going too far.
CaT, sorry to hear about the loss. I know how much it hurts when you've lost valuable photos 'cause the card's still in the slot.
BTW: congrats on the Whitney summit. Who's crystal going to go after now? :-)
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-19-07Jennifer - Thanks for the link. Looks like a great idea.
Richard - Do you have a link to the picture of Bob that you mentioned? I'm having a hard time visualizing your setup based on your verbal description (I'm one of those "gotta see it to visualize it" types ... sorry). And/or, a link to a picture of you with your setup would work too.
As for summitting, since I don't have a picture of it, my register entry read something like "Finally!!! Thanks kitkat [my wife], Snowy and Sierra Snail!" (since you and Snowy both tried to get me up to the summit in previous years).
Nice to be off Crystal's list. 
My wife and I began @ 4:50 am, and got to where she had to turn around near the top of the switchbacks above Mirror Lake exactly 5 hours later. After making sure each of us had the gear we each needed to get to our respective destinations, we parted ways at 10:15. I summitted at 3:30, spent a half hour on the summit, departing at 4:00 p.m., and after sludging through the uphill portions of the back side before Trail Crest, finally buzzed down from Trail Crest, arriving back at the Portal at 8:45 p.m. More in my upcoming TR.
CaT
Posted by GigaMike, 09-19-07CaT - Sorry about your camera (and more importantly the pics).
One thing I like to do is use a couple smaller size memory cards versus one large card on long trips, that way if I ever do lose my camera, I atleast have the other cards with pictures on them.
Congrats on summiting Whitney!
_________________________
http://www.digitalalpine.com
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-19-07Mike - Definitely a good idea. When I bought the camera, I had the option of buying two 1Gig chips, but ended up buying one 2Gig chip instead so I wouldn't run out of room so quickly on a long trip. Having used the camera a lot since I bought it, I now know that replacing the chip with a new one in transit would take about two seconds, so I will definitely reconsider this in the future. Thanks.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-19-07I was just thinking that if any of you who live in the area want an excuse to do a day hike in Yosemite before the weather degrades, and would be open to doing a "camera SAR" hike to try and locate my camera (see picture of camera at top of thread), or at least the piece with the little blue chip in it, in the area below the cables noted on the picture also at the top of this thread, I'd pay your (1) round trip gas, (2) Natl Park entry fee (if you don't already have a pass, etc.), (3) reasonable meal costs for the trip, and of course (4) mailing costs to mail the chip to me, if it is found in the camera or in a piece of the camera. This offer would be more for folks who already live closer to Yosemite than, say, for those who live in L.A., but if someone from the L.A. area is already up there anyway, the same offer would apply.
If interested, contact me via PM.
CaT
Posted by Steve C, 09-19-07What I have done on long trips is take my laptop along, and every couple of days, offload the camera chip onto the hard drive. ...only last trip, I forgot to pack the power supply to the laptop
Re: the camera SAR. I'm tempted. I've always wondered how tough it would be to bushwhack down from Half Dome's backside rather than go the roundabout way the trail goes.
Posted by CheckSix, 09-19-07CaT: The weather is changing fast out here in California. A small storm front is heading toward the Sierras (not as far as Yosemite) so the camera SAR effort should be undertaken soon (I'm glad it sparked an interest).
Couple of things as a follow-up: Could you go to Google Earth and locate the POR area (point of rest)? Also, all National Park entrance fees are waived on Saturday 29 SEP 2007 - consider it a NPS holiday!
Anyone taking up this SAR - please be careful.
Posted by icantiwont, 09-19-07CaT:
Sorry to hear about your loss, but I just returned from Kearsarge Pass restocking some JMT hikers. They ended up coming off trail because there is an Alaskan weather system moving in.
Not to contradict CheckSix, but it is not a small storm. Although, Kearsarge is over 100 miles south of Yosemite, they are forecasting rain from Thursday through Saturday with the snow level down to 6,000. As we left Onion Valley today the weather was turning progressively worse.
Think of it as an opportunity to go back and do all that hike over again. I hope you get that card back, because I fear that it is not likely. Good luck and be careful should you decide to go.
Posted by Ken, 09-20-07Interesting views on the Yosemite Cams this morning:
http://www.tranquilityimages.com/cams.shtml
_________________________
Bonatti backed off the Croz Spur 7 times before doing it.
He said "Great climbers die in their rocking chairs."
Posted by Gary R, 09-20-07I doubt that the camera is in pieces, though I'm sure its days of being a working camera are over. As far as the weather, unless the camera is likely to get buried or swept away, I wouldn't worry too much about that. Most memory cards can stand a trip through a washing machine and come out in working order, so a little rain isn't going to bother them.
While I'd love to use your offer as an excuse to head to Yosemite, I'm going up later in October so a second trip now isn't feasible; however, if I don't see that you've gotten it back, and weather permitting, it might be an interesting hike and challenge. The HD cables will be down, but it's a great hike anyway.
I agree with Steve C.; I've used digitals since the mid-90's and on vacations or anything where photos are irreplaceable, always back them up on something besides the camera. You can lose the camera. If you use the "multiple memory card" strategy, you can lose the memory card. Memory cards, while it's not too common, can get damaged or corrupted, occasionally even beyond the ability of photo recovery programs. If a laptop is not feasible, there are ~$100 solutions like Photo Safe, which is essentially a portable small hard drive with a card reader. In places like Yosemite Valley for example, you could use one of the internet machines at the lodge to upload the photos (they have card readers) to a storage website. A last resort would be to stop in at a photo processing place every so often and copy the photos to CD. Most always, your photos will arrive home intact and all the "paranoia" will be for nothing, but if something happens, you'll be glad for the precautions. Plus, the peace of mind is worth something.
_________________________
Gary
Photo Albums: www.pbase.com/roberthouse
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-20-07Steve - I don't have a laptop. That's a future purchase down the road perhaps. If you succumb to the temptation to do the SAR, then absolutely don't do it if the weather makes it the least bit "iffy". No camera or pictures are worth anyone's safety. I'm sure that is well understood by all here.
CheckSix - As icantiwont indicated, the storm is a major one, and from dmatt's postings, it appears as if the camera could be getting snow by week's end. The free park entry on the 29th, weather permitting, could certainly be a plus; but it doesn't sound like the weather will be cooperating then.
icantiwont - I will be on the lookout for any opportunity to make a spontaneous long weekend trip back to Yosemite at the earliest opportunity (weather, cheap airfare, time off, and no schedule conflicts all permitting) to see if I can find it myself, provided it hasn't been found by by someone else by then. Otherwise, it will likely be next year, and I'm unsure how a chip will hold up in frigid cold and, more important, long exposure to moisture. I'm not optimistic. Yes, I can repeat the same hikes again with my soon-to-be new camera; but first summits can only be "firsts" once.
Ken - Wow! What a change from a week ago!! So the snow has begun in earnest! Thanks for the link.
Gary - Actually, my wife, who is a photographer, and who was with me (except on my Whitney summit and this one Yosemite hike) has a 20Gig portable hard drive (don't recall what it's called) onto which she daily uploads her photos. I would have uploaded mine to her machine, but we didn't have the necessary compatible hardware to link my camera to her hard drive (her hardware only worked with her camera). The option of buying such a hard drive for my camera definitely was considered as a future option, even before my camera's demise, because I was beginning to run short of room on the 2Gig chip I had, and I couldn't find a compatible chip to purchase while in Yosemite (they had chips, but not the right kind). Anyway, of all the suggestions here, the portable hard drive backup will probably be at the top of the list for future consideration. As to whether the current camera is in pieces, that probably depends on what it hit (rock or sand) when it finally landed several hundred feet below.
Thanks very much to all who have responded so far. This is truly a wonderful community to be a part of!
CaT
Posted by MooseTracks, 09-20-07CaT:
I'm heading to the Valley in a few weeks, and might, depending on conditions, head up that way as part of a loop of sorts. Like Happy Isles to Glacier Point and down the 4-mile trail. If it clears up a bit between now and then, I could maybe swing over the the base of HD, too. I'll let you know.
Then again, I am car camping with the 'rents, so I might sit around and drink beer all day. Hmmmm...
-L
_________________________
Flickr Pics
The stories will write themselves.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-20-07Laura - Thanks a bunch! Sorry ... what's " 'rents "?
Either way, have a great trip.
CaT
Posted by MooseTracks, 09-20-07'rents = parental units; i.e. mom and dad / ma and pop / the muth and the worrier (cuz' I'll always be daddy's little girl!)
_________________________
Flickr Pics
The stories will write themselves.
Posted by TonyC, 09-20-07What I have done on long trips is take my laptop along, and every couple of days, offload the camera chip onto the hard drive.
That's what I do too, but of course then you are always at the risk of your laptop getting stolen or having hard drive failure, which is probably more likely than dropping your camera or having the flash memory card fail.
I suppose the best solution would be to just bring along a bunch of 1 or 2GB flash cards and keep them on you at all times, but that is probably cost prohibitive for most people, including myself. Well, maybe the cost of flash memory will outpace the growth in file size as cameras produce higher and higher megapixel images, and then this will work.
Posted by Gary R, 09-20-07 That's what I do too, but of course then you are always at the risk of your laptop getting stolen or having hard drive failure, which is probably more likely than dropping your camera or having the flash memory card fail.
I suppose the best solution would be to just bring along a bunch of 1 or 2GB flash cards and keep them on you at all times, but that is probably cost prohibitive for most people, including myself. Well, maybe the cost of flash memory will outpace the growth in file size as cameras produce higher and higher megapixel images, and then this will work.
When you have multiple copies in different locations, the odds of everything failing is high enough that at least you wouldn't be kicking yourself later...there's only so much you can do within reason.
But multiple cards really don't solve anything, they just put a different slant on what can happen. That card with your first week's photos on it can get lost; at least you don't lose the second week's, but if you had one large card, you wouldn't have lost it because it would be in the camera. Or the camera could get stolen, and the cards be in the case with it (or not). The car could get stolen with the laptop and camera in it.
Some of those things are just things we can't prevent, but the most likely...camera lost or stolen (not unusual) and lost or failed media cards (not that unusual either) can be thwarted by having a backup of the files elsewhere. Kind of like a spare tire on the car...you may never need it, but it's best not to count on that.
Media is already pretty cheap, so it's better to have enough for all your trip, regardless of whether you go for the large card or multiple smaller ones, and do a redundant backup besides; unloading the media and reusing it, leaving only one copy on a CD or backup drive again puts you more at risk. If I have to erase media cards to reuse them, I'll burn a CD/DVD so there's a copy on the laptop and the CD/DVD before erasing the card.
_________________________
Gary
Photo Albums: www.pbase.com/roberthouse
Posted by Passinthru, 09-20-07While vacationing in Colorado this summer, I found a deal at the Grand Junction Wal Mart====Two 1 Gig cards together for $19.99===bought 4 cards total...............steve
_________________________
When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.
Erasmus
Posted by Sierra Sam, 09-20-07There was an adapter that I bought awhile ago that allows me to download from camera cards to my iPod for back-up when traveling. Having had a few cameras lose the battle with granite (and streams and ...), I try to perform these back-ups frequently. I believe that mine was made by Kensington, but iWay also makes one.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-20-07SS - Thanks. I don't have an iPod, and don't have plans to buy one.
Passinthru - Normally, I avoid Wal-Mart; but two 1Gig chips (if the right kind) for $20 would be worth the hassle. Thanks for the tip.
CaT
Posted by mattyj, 09-20-07A friend dropped my nalgene from about 2/3 of the way up the cables earlier this year. From the way it was skipping and bouncing I didn't think it was stopping till it hit the bottom of the south face as indicated in your photo, but by some miracle it stopped on a ledge 30' down from the main trail. I 3rd classed down and retrieved it, along with as much garbage as I could carry - a lot of stuff had met a similar fate.
When I reached the nalgene, I could see an even bigger ledge below that is out of sight from the main HD trail and had even more garbage on it, but was beyond my scrambling comfort level. Resolved that next time I'm up that way I'll bring a rope, ascender and a couple garbage bags and rap down to clean up as much as possible.
Moral of the story is that your camera may still be up on HD, and not on the ground below, as difficult as that may seem to believe. If the snow from this current weather melts out, you should consider posting on summitpost, supertopo or rc.com and bribing a snake diker into rapping down to the ledge and taking a look on their way home.
If you don't find any takers and are serious about helping subsidize trip costs from the bay area, that would likely entice me to head up there in ~2 weeks (busy until then) for a combined garbage pickup and camera sar effort both at the base of the cables and the base of the south face.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-20-07mattyj - Great suggestions! As I saw the camera topple corner-over-corner at a rapidly increasing velocity by time it disappeared out of sight, I also had a hard time imagining that it could be anywhere but all the way down at ground level. I did a cursory look around immediately south of the saddle at the bottom of the cables, but saw nothing, and presumed at that point that it had gone over the edge into oblivion. I'll post something on the other sites you mentioned. I hadn't even thought about Snake Dyke climbers taking a shot at the area you mentioned, although with the declining autumn weather, I wonder how much longer climbers will be doing that route up the west side at all. That's mostly Yosemite climbing school folks, isn't it? I'm guessing that school only operates in the summer months, but I really don't know that for sure.
If you can safely do what you were talking about trying to do in ~2 weeks, then yes, I'm serious about subsidizing the costs outlined above, from the Bay area, providing someone else hasn't gotten to it first. Paying someone's gas, food, entry fee and mailing costs would likely amount to less than if I came out there myself to do the same thing, even just for a 3-day weekend. As you can tell, these particular set of pictures have a great deal of meaning for me, and I'm not going to give up on retrieving them just yet. My first Whitney summit has been a long standing goal, and the pictures of all that are on that chip. Many thanks!!
CaT
Posted by Passinthru, 09-20-07CaT, I normally avoid Wal Mart also, but was unfamiliar with the stores in town and sent by a friend. The sd cards were made by Kodak, and a fast speed.....what a deal............steve
_________________________
When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.
Erasmus
Posted by mattyj, 09-20-07 I hadn't even thought about Snake Dike climbers taking a shot at the area you mentioned, although with the declining autumn weather, I wonder how much longer climbers will be doing that route up the west side at all.
I climbed it on Oct 6th last year, and had to wait in line for a couple hours at the base of the route. I think there were 6 parties total . . . it's very popular. As for safety, anybody who can competently lead the route should have no problem rappelling down to the ledge and prussiking back up the low-angle slab.
Posted by ep, 09-21-07A climber is not likely to find your camera anytime soon. Snake Dike is on the other side of the dome. There is a climbing route in the vicinity of where you dropped your camera but I'm not sure it's even had a second ascent.
Even if you (or someone you hired) scouted around it may be on a ledge or hidden under brush or talus. It's hard to know without spending the time to look.
The snow from this storm will melt off pretty quickly on that south facing terrain.
A couple suggestions. First, since you seem to have a tendency to lose your camera, take a photo with your name, address, and phone number and always keep it on your memory card as photo #1. Write your name on the body of the camera as well.
A much better suggestion has already been made: Tether the camera to your body somehow so that it can't be dropped. You can do this yourself pretty easily for a few bucks or less.
Posted by markskor, 09-21-07Interesting thread - About 10 years ago, I had a similar experience. This was in the days that camping overnight on the Dome was still legal. I had taken my full backpack to the top, and on descent, a side-pocked opened and I lost my fishing reel...the same fate as your camera...saw it bouncing over the ledge...gone.
Back in LYV, we pondered a "rescue"...using Topos for the best route up. Going all off-trail, we skirted above Liberty Cap...tons of talus and dreaded Manzanita...about 4 hours of a tough grunt to the apron area.
There is a butt-load of trash...about 1500 - 2000 feet below the cables...mostly discarded lunches (Argh!), some jackets, caps, water bottles...broken plastic remains of all sorts of unrecognizable detritus. Alas, after searching for a few hours, we gave up...too many possible places...granite slabs... for anything small and heavy to slide under. FYI, we did take a large trash bag and filled it...could have filled 3 or 4 more easy...lots of trash.
Therefore, if anybody wants to try again, there is a lost Penn SS420 reel up there too...and would like to have it back - but I will not hold my breath.
_________________________
mountain man who swims with trout
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-21-07ep - Thanks for the good "Photo #1" suggestion.
From what I understand, Snake Dikers typically climb Snake Dike, but then walk off the other side down the cables -- right by where the camera fell. Should one of them want a further challenge, mattyj suggested rapelling down to the ledge(s) and taking a look around. I doubt there is much foilage on the ledge(s). Mattyj said he might be willing to do the same (he has also done Snake Dike) some time after the next couple of weeks. I wouldn't expect to find the camera/chip any other way except by taking the time to look around.
There is a lot more snow coming today and tomorrow. See the separate thread I just began posting a Heavy Snow Warning that was just issued (and which is a replacement upgrade of a Winter Storm Watch that had previously been issued for the same area).
CaT
Posted by ep, 09-21-07They're predicting about 6" of snow at that elevation. Then the sun is going to come out on Sunday and it's going to be in the 70s all next week. With the southern exposure that snow won't last long.
You're right it is possible that the camera stopped within a couple hundred feet of where someone might be willing to set an anchor and rap down. Good luck with that.
Posted by Sierra Sam, 09-21-07CaT-
I just got a call from some friends to do some climbing in Yosemite this weekend. We'll have climbing gear so if we end up over by HD, I'll see if I can find any traces of your camera.
Posted by David Ciaffardini, 09-23-07CaT's situation brought to mind a scenario I dealt with a week or two ago on the John Muir Trail, on the way to Whitney. At Woods Creek one encounters a long, narrow and impressive suspension bridge over the creek. Cool! Make for a great photo!
So, with full backpack on, I put my two trekking poles into my left hand and have my new, 10 meg point and shoot in my right and climb the ladder and walk about five paces onto the bridge ready to start shooting. About that time I realize it is a SWINGING bridge that moves quite a bit especially as one gets closer to the middle of the span. I experience the swinging, look down between the wood slats of the bridge floor and feel like Wile E. Coyote at the moment after he runs off the edge of a cliff and realizes there's no more land below his feet. And the bridge jerks back and fourth with each shift of my weight from foot to foot.
So now I want to steady myself and the bridge by holding onto the side cables. But my hands are full and my camera is not tethered to my wrist. I look down and the wood slats of the bridge are spaced exactly wide enough apart to allow my camera to fall to the boulders and water below, and with each shift of my weight the bridge tilts and swings as I try to steady it and myself. I'm suddenly like a man on a tight rope holding my arms out to my side to steady myself.
I want to put my camera into my right hand pants pocket, but it is covered up by the hip belt of my pack. My left pant leg, fortunately, does have a patch pocket part way down the leg and so I stand for a while figuring out a smooth strategy for reaching across (with a full, somewhat top-heavy pack) and pulling back the pocket flap with the hand that still holds the camera and depositing my camera in that pocket without fumbling and dropping either the camera or my trekking poles, or tripping and falling and rolling off the side of the still moving bridge. The simple motion of reaching for the pocket makes the bridge jerk and swing.
Or do I just continue walking slow and steady, hands full, not being able to hold the cables across the long moving bridge that will be increasingly unsteady as I get closer to the middle?
Well, after a minute of so of trying to gain composure, I was able to gingerly steady myself and the bridge and twist and bend and carefully deposit the camera into my pants pocket and then continue across the bridge while using one hand to steady myself with the side cable.
All was well. Just another little part of the adventure of hiking the JMT. No big deal. But the innocuous camera wrist strap is something I will pay more attention to using in the future especially where heights and drops are a significant factor. Thank you for letting me share!
And I truly hope someone recovers CaT's camera and memory card. That quest could be a interesting treasure hunt.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-24-07Sounds great, Sam!
Hope you have an enjoyable weekend.
Let me know how things work out.
CaT
Posted by Sierra Sam, 09-24-07CaT-
While the weather forecast called for severe clear on Sunday, it ended up being a wet and windy day in Yosemite. The wet rock really slowed down the climbing, so I'm afraid that I did not get a chance to hunt for your camera when we were done. Sorry I couldn't help you out, but will try again next trip if it hasn't been located by then.
So much for the billions of tax dollars that we spend on weather forecasting.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 09-24-07Sam,
If it was wet and windy, I'm surprised you did any climbing at all. Although it wasn't wet the day I did Cloud's Rest and Half Dome (and the camera met its demise), it was pretty windy.
I'm thankful for your willingness to have at least thought about trying to look around for my camera.
CaT
Posted by BruinDave, 10-01-07Yo CaT:
Was just up on Half Dome this past Friday (9/28) for a great dayhike, albeit a bit cloudy and windy up top. While up there, I saw a number of volunteers (and a couple of uniformed Rangers) on the saddle between SubDome and the base of the Cables who were assisting a few others who were roped in and lowered down on either side of the saddle. Apparently, this past week was a big, end-of-season clean-up effort there within the climbing community, with a huge number of climbers descending upon Yosemite Valley to pick up trash not only in the various meadows, but also from hundreds of feet down the most popular cliffs. One volunteer said it was his crew's chance to "give back". And, from what I saw, they hauled out a lotta trash -- so much so, that it had to be helicoptered off from SubDome later that day! Maybe one of the volunteers came upon your (hopefully unshattered) Casio, chip, or both. It's worth a shot.
BruinDave
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 10-01-07Yo BruinDave!!
Wow! Thanks!
I immediately called the NPS' Yosemite lost and found (with whom I filed a report re: my camera) and left my info and a fairly detailed description, etc., despite having already filed a written lost and found report. The recorded greeting for that line said that, due to the large number of daily calls they receive, they can only return a call if they actually find your lost item. Notwithstanding, your post gave me a bit of renewed hope that perhaps my camera will be located (and hopefully not mistaken for trash and thrown out without a second look).
Again, many thanks!!!
CaT
Posted by BeachAV8R, 10-02-07Your thread gave me an interesting idea...I pretty much never swap out memory cards in my cameras since they are so huge (up to 4GB)..so I got to thinking maybe it would be good idea to take the first picture of a sheet of paper with my name and address on it, then use the "protect" setting for that single frame so that it never gets deleted. That way if I ever lose the camera or misplace it, that image will always be on there..and perhaps the person that finds it will have a heart and send it back..
(Yeah, I know..you could just engrave your telephone number on the bottom or something....)
Chris
Posted by BruinDave, 10-02-07Hey 'walker:
Just spoke with the very helpful folks up in Yosemite. The event was not a National Park Service clean-up, but rather an annual effort called "Yosemite Face Lift" sponsored by the Yosemite Climbing Association. To give you an idea of the magnitude of this event, over 1,100 volunteers participated last year, donating about 10,000 hours over a 5-day clean-up.
Here's their website: http://www.yosemiteclimbing.org/. The contact name I got was Ken Yager, and here's his e-mail address from the above site -- yager@inreach.com. Good luck to you ... and GO BUCKS!!
BruinDave
p.s. I was also told that on the ABC Evening News next Monday (October 8th), they'll be running a 4 minute bit on the clean-up.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 10-02-07Hey Bruin man,
What valuable information!! Thank you so much!
I just sent an e-mail to Ken Yager with some specifics, as well as a link to this thread, in the hope that he might be able to provide further information or leads. That Facelift event sounds like something I'd volunteer for if I lived a bit closer to Yosemite. Perhaps I can plan a trip to Yosemite next year to coincide with their annual event.
I'll be sure and post here what I hear from Ken.
Again, I'm very grateful for your help and for the leads.
And yeah...! GO BUCKS!!! (The football Buckeyes are like a religion here in Columbus)
CaT
PS - I don't normally watch the evening news on any channel these days, but I will be sure and watch ABC's evening news on Monday!
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 10-03-07UPDATE - Ken replied fairly quickly to say that he forwarded my e-mail to Jesse McGahey, who was the person overseeing the cleanup in the area I had mentioned. I thanked Ken, and copied Jesse on my reply to Ken.
Googling "Jesse McGahey" and "Yosemite" turned up a motherload on him. He took over as the Yosemite Climbing Ranger in May 2006, is a very experienced climber, all around nice guy, and just got married late last month. I was able to get his Yosemite work phone number from the "signature" in his posts on one of the message boards he is a member of, and though a little off topic, here is a link to his wedding web page.
Does anyone here know Jesse? Just curious.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 10-03-07UPDATE - Ken Yager further responded:
I did go through the stuff that they hauled off and did not see a camera and that is why I think it went to the base.
and then in a subsequent e-mail a little later:
I don't think the base got cleaned this year. I thought I had a crew to do it but haven't heard back from them. They may have been too tired.
I asked that he keep me in mind if there is a different outcome once he hears from that crew.
CaT
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 10-15-07FINAL UPDATE - Well, the short story is that the camera has not been found and is unlikely to be found until next year, if at all. Many thanks to those at the CYA Facelift who looked, as well as to others here and on another MB who were going to look, but whose trips were altered at the last minute by unpredictable circumstances, rendering them unable to look. All thoughts, suggestions, and efforts were greatly appreciated!
CaT
Posted by Steve C, 11-02-07I have been watching the weather and conditions, and in spite of the late date, yesterday looked like a good day to go. So I took a day off and hiked up and looked around for the camera.
Unfortunately, I did not find ANY trace of the unique red colored camera. I found maybe half a dozen lens caps, and several parts of camera cases. I found a piece of an old camera body -- just the plastic back, and there was a tiny geared film advance mechanism. Among the few batteries were several that had been part of an attached pair, but the pair had been ripped apart.
So I think any camera going over must explode into tiny pieces when it hits. There are several hundred feet of purely vertical free fall, so they must be going about 80 mph.
I posted pictures from my adventure here (Select the "journal" style in the upper right of the window to see my comments.)
Half Dome Camera search
I also found hats, gloves, a red bicycle light cover, 2-way radio, even a sleeping bag ...and hundreds of water bottles!
The water bottles were the big thing. By the number, it appears hikers are tossing them. I filled a garbage bag with about 80, and carried it out. There were hundreds more that I had to leave. The bottles were a good indicator of the impact zone. It extends for quite a ways along the base, but also for a hundred yards downslope away from the base.
So I think the camera completely disintegrated. Any small parts must be sprinkled around in the bushes, out of sight.
The funny part was the sleeping bag. I found it nearly 100 yards downslope from the base. It was a light weight down-filled bag with a Canadian brand. Even though my garbage sack was full, I fortunately decided to carry it out, too. Soon, the trash bag fell apart due to the brush tearing holes in it. So then I switched to the second bag. It too fell apart pretty soon. So I opened the sleeping bag and zipped my junk inside. This worked well. Part of the descent was so steep and slippery that I had to toss the bag down, lower myself by hanging onto manzanita branches, then pick up the bag and continue.
I finally reached the trail near where it splits between the river route and the half dome main route. Soon after that, I met a guy from Pacifica, and we continued on down to the Nevada Fall restroom, where I was going to dump my load. He took a liking to the bag, and so I told him he could have it. We dumped the bottles next to the supplies behind the restroom, re-stuffed the bag, and he carried it down.
Posted by Steve C, 11-02-07UPDATE - Ken Yager further responded: I did go through the stuff that they hauled off and did not see a camera and that is why I think it went to the base. and then in a subsequent e-mail a little later: I don't think the base got cleaned this year. I thought I had a crew to do it but haven't heard back from them. They may have been too tired. I asked that he keep me in mind if there is a different outcome once he hears from that crew. CaT
CaT, I just spoke to some guy in the "Roads and Trails" department, and he thanked me for hauling out the trash. He said the ranger in that area, Sam from Alabama, had hauled a bunch of stuff ("500 pounds") out of there. And Sam has been laid off for the winter. That doesn't agree with what you got.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 11-02-07Steve,
Thanks very much! Nice pix, too. I'll PM you about some other details. Not sure who Sam the ranger is, but if he's unrelated to the CYA Facelift cleanup folks, then there's no disagreement between the accounts, in that he may have done a separate cleanup himself after the CYA Facelift missed that area earlier this fall. But that's only my speculation. It doesn't really matter, I suppose. I wonder if Sam the ranger (or anyone else) sifted through the 500 pounds of stuff that was picked up to see if there were any valuable items in it?
I was amazed at the quantity of stuff you found, esp. the water bottles. Were these just empty name brand (Dasani, etc.) store-bought water bottles, or were they higher quality, reusable nalgene or hard plastic bottles?
Thanks again for looking and for the report. Your car looks like it was a blast to drive on those mountain roads, too!
CaT
Posted by Steve C, 11-02-07About 10% of the bottles were the heavier nalgene bottles. I found blue, green, red and opaque ones. All the rest were grocery store type water bottles.
Yes, the mountain roads with no traffic are a blast. And Mike Valentine helped me along the way.
Posted by VersatileFred, 11-02-07Steve,
Thanks for your clean up work and pictures. I do have a couple questions.
The bottles were a good indicator of the impact zone. It extends for quite a ways along the base, but also for a hundred yards downslope away from the base.
Are you saying that it is a hazardous area to be in during the summer since you could be a target for falling debris before you get to the base? Did you feel safer now that it is November?
I finally reached the trail near where it splits between the river route and the half dome main route.
Do you mean over by Little Yosemite Valley backpacker camp? Just out of curiosity, where did you hike up from the trail? I remember the flat section of the trail where people get a glimpse of the back side, but that is before the backpacker camp.
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Posted by Steve C, 11-02-07Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention above...
About an hour into my quest, I came to the edge of the bushes, and a clean granite ramp in one section. There lying on top of a small boulder was a little blue memory chip. I picked it up and it looked ok, so I put it in my pocket. I thought if that was what I was looking for, there would be some additional camera parts laying around. But there was nothing. So I figured it was not what I wanted, and spent another hour scrambling all over the place finding bottles practically everywhere I looked. In hindsight, I should have tried it in my camera.
So I had no clue whether the chip was any good, or if it could have been the right one. So I continued on until I was tired, and then headed down.
At home, I tried it in my computer, and it acted dead. Maybe because the computer was just starting up. I don't know. But then I stuck it into my external chip reader that I got for my old computer 4 years ago, and pictures showed up!
But it had family pictures on it. ....but browsing through, BINGO!!! Whitney pictures! And then at the end, Half Dome!
CaT, yesterday was your lucky day! I've got copies of all 545 pictures (1.8 GB) on my hard drive. I'll get your chip in the mail some time next week.
Here are some highlights:
The chip:
Summit shot:
And the very last one:
Posted by HikeUp, 11-02-07Wow!
Posted by VersatileFred, 11-02-07Looks like you found the "tiny blue 2Gig SD chip" mentioned in post #1!
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Orientation Notes for Whitney First Timers
Posted by Steve C, 11-02-07Are you saying that it is a hazardous area to be in during the summer since you could be a target for falling debris before you get to the base? Did you feel safer now that it is November?
Definitely safer. I knew there were only half a dozen people going up that day. With the hundreds on a summer weekend, an object could have come down. ...But empty water bottles wouldn't be a problem, and something heavy like a camera would be rare.
I finally reached the trail near where it splits between the river route and the half dome main route. Do you mean over by Little Yosemite Valley backpacker camp? Just out of curiosity, where did you hike up from the trail? I remember the flat section of the trail where people get a glimpse of the back side, but that is before the backpacker camp.
Coming down in the evening, I came out some distance west of the "y" where the trail to the backpacker camp splits off.
Going up, I hiked the trail clear up to where the granite steps start climbing the quarter dome. I would NOT want to bushwhack up-hill through that stuff!
Posted by Steve C, 11-02-07Looks like you found the "tiny blue 2Gig SD chip" mentioned in post #1!
Yep! 
I hope CaT won't hold it against me for not telling him right away. I just wanted to have some fun with the surprise.
I just can't believe how miraculous it was to find ONLY the chip, lying in plain sight on a small boulder. As if someone had just set it there for me to pick up.
Posted by VersatileFred, 11-02-07Going up, I hiked the trail clear up to where the granite steps start climbing the quarter dome. I would NOT want to bushwhack up-hill through that stuff!
Thanks. Now I have a better picture where you were.
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Orientation Notes for Whitney First Timers
Posted by Beerbrewer, 11-02-07Steve,
Amazing SAR for the chip! Pretty awesome that you found it and I know CaT will be ecstatic.
Congrats!
Adam
Posted by tomcat_rc, 11-03-07very nice OBTW - excellent job Steve
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Posted by BeachAV8R, 11-03-07Incredible.  I guess you had better be careful not to have any uh..risque photos of the girlfriend (or wife) on those cards when you go hiking..
Posted by Wayne, 11-03-07Awesome, Steve C! What a story..and to find the chip.
Wow!
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 11-03-07OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I THINK I'M HAVING A CORONARY!!!!!!! (not literally)
I'M SPEECHLESS!!!!!!!!!!
MY WIFE IS HAVING TO HOLD ME DOWN!!!!!
*pant, pant...* Let me settle down for a while and then I'll reply further after reading all of these posts!
"Thank you!" doesn't EVEN begin to express how I feel at the moment!!!!! You have no IDEA how grateful I am for you to have found this chip!
And yes, that IS my chip (and the pictures of me, etc.).
Pretty awesome that you found it and I know CaT will be ecstatic.
That's putting it mildly!!!!!!
More later ... we were about to run out the door to watch the Buckeyes beat Wisconsin when I did a quick last second check of this MB before shutting down the computer, so I've gotta head out (the Buckeyes game seems so unimportant now compared to this, but gotta go anyway). More later...
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!
CaT
Ohio State 38; Wisconsin - 17 -- What a great day!!
Edit Reason: Added final outcome of Ohio State's win over Wisconsin!
Posted by drhabes, 11-03-07Way to go SteveC!! WOW! This thread has been going on for a long time and to see it end up like this is very rewarding, especially for CaT! Couldn't write (photograph!) a better ending!
Posted by AlanK, 11-03-07Incredible. I guess you had better be careful not to have any uh..risque photos of the girlfriend (or wife) on those cards when you go hiking..
Or yourself, unless you want that kind of Internet fame.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 11-03-07I hope CaT won't hold it against me for not telling him right away. I just wanted to have some fun with the surprise.
Steve - Well worth the wait, my friend! I probably would have done the same if our roles had been reversed! I wish you could have been a fly on the wall at our house when I first saw your post and realized that you had actually found it! I was sort-of like a wild cat on steroids!!
Finding that little blue chip sitting on top of a rock in the middle of all that rough terrain in such a remote place, esp. with the intervening weather and the passage of time since this first happened, is indeed miraculous -- like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. The fact that not even one piece of the camera was nearby is pretty incredible too.
Now that the chip has been found, I'll be going into the camera shop where I bought the camera to get my new "replacement insurance" camera. You can be sure I will take to heart some of the good suggestions mentioned earlier in this post as to better securing and identifying the new camera and its memory chip.
I see the PM icon flashing as I write this, which I assume is a reply from you. So I'll post this so I can read your PM without losing this post here.
Again, thank you so very much! You have made my day, week, month, etc.!! While a chip is only a material thing, its loss had nonetheless been on the back of my mind since it happened, and I feel like a weight has been lifted, thanks to your incredible effort.
This MB is really in many ways like a family. I've never met you, Steve, nor most others here, in person; but yet it's amazing how we all will go to these kinds of lengths for each other, sight unseen. I do hope that we can connect in person some time when we're both hiking in the Sierra.
CaT
Posted by Steve C Steve, 11-03-07Hey CaT,
You're certainly welcome. The satisfaction I have felt was well worth the effort. Heck, just getting up there one more time before winter hits was worth all the effort. Your "needle in a haystack" term is close, but in this case, I think the needle was sitting right on top of the haystack. It's just incredible.
Not sure what else to say -- your sentiments about the board say it so well. And we owe a big thanks to Doug for starting it and keeping it running. None of this could have happened without this board.
Posted by CheckSix, 11-03-07Wow! Double wow!! Triple wow!!!
Blue chip resting atop a boulder - think of the chances.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 11-04-07And we owe a big thanks to Doug for starting it and keeping it running. None of this could have happened without this board.
Amen to that! Thanks Doug!
CaT
Posted by Richard P., 11-04-07Seconding the Wow!
Thanks for mentioning me in your Summit Register sign in!
Awesome work Steve!
Posted by DocRodneydog, 11-04-07This is one in a million story.Ripleys Believe It Or Not kind of stuff. Then again it has been said "There are no coincidences".
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 11-04-07Thanks for mentioning me in your Summit Register sign in!
You and Snowy each tried to get me to the summit in successive previous years; so I wanted to credit both of you for your greatly appreciated efforts.
CaT
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 11-04-07I guess you had better be careful not to have any uh..risque photos of the girlfriend (or wife) on those cards when you go hiking..
Not to worry...
Posted by BeachAV8R, 11-04-07
You're not going to send SteveC up toward Thor to find your missing..ahem..stolen water bottles now are you??
Posted by Richard P, 11-05-07Might be a good excuse for him to get over to this side of the Sierra again.
Posted by josh, 11-17-07Submerged camera holds functional memory card two years after accident
Posted by Steve C, 11-17-07Good story.
The last sentence made me laugh:
but no one ever found the loner who snapped up the couple's misplaced cellphone and ran up calls to Zimbabwe 'til the battery died.
Posted by mattyj, 11-17-07I was just about to drag this thread back anyway.
Before Steve C's trip, I'd gone to the base of HD to look for the camera and cleanup trash. Both efforts failed - apparently I walked right by the memory card without seeing it, and I had to abandon my two teeming trash bags in the middle of the woods when I was unable to carry them further and they were threatening to split open and dump their contents all over the forest. At some point, I will have to return with some heavier-duty bags and finish hauling them out.
Unfortunately for Steve I managed to make quite the booty call when I was out there, leaving him to scour a field of moldy water bottles for part of a camera and a sleeping bag. The stuff's been sitting in a bag ever since, but I finally got around to taking some pictures:
The intact cell phone and one of the FRS radios was recovered from the ledge below the cables; everything else came from the base.
Bigger files & a few more closeups are available in my gallery and Steve also copied them to his Smugmug account so that I could post a few inline w/ my message (the [img] tag requires images to end in .jpg or some such for this site).
Although all 3 cameras (and the lens from camera #4) were all within a 30-foot radius of eachother, I couldn't find a single memory card or camera battery. My best guess is that they separated on impact and took flight. The camera phone I recovered from below the cables did have a memorystick in it, and while I was hoping for spy photos of bikini models, no such luck.
The acute observer will note that while a fishing reel and several cameras were recovered, the reel reported missing by markskor and CaT's camera are both at large. Also, while I don't have any photos (my evidence is somewhere in the hills above LYV), I discovered that while Nalgene bottles are mostly indestructible, the softer plastic caps are subject to a ~50% failure rate when dropped 1000 feet.
One last thing: based on the amount of crap down there, I would recommend wearing a helmet at all times. Personally, I wouldn't get close to the base on a busy summer weekend.
Posted by C McLain, 11-25-07Made the local paper. Great story!
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/222385.html
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Chris McLain
http://www.McLainPhotography.com
"The Mountains are calling, and I must go" -- John Muir
Posted by Richard P, 11-25-07THAT is too cool!
Posted by Ken, 11-25-07That is a GREAT story! Wonderfully written.
How did it come to be?
One of the last lines I found particularly moving, and emblematic of the wonders of this internet:
"The two men have never met, never even spoken on the phone. But thanks to the Internet and some incredibly good fortune, they share a bond that won't be erased anytime soon."
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Bonatti backed off the Croz Spur 7 times before doing it.
He said "Great climbers die in their rocking chairs."
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 11-25-07Unknown to me at first, Steve had called the Fresno paper, and as it turned out, this reporter decided to run a story on the lost camera and found chip. I just now read his story, and thought he captured it all very well. It was also the first time I had seen the picture of Steve by his computer monitor with the picture of me on HD on the monitor. Very nice picture, Steve! I thought that picture summed it up as well as any picture could have.
As we speak, I'm still working on uploading and captioning the recovered pictures onto Flickr in such a way that the various groups of people I know can conveniently view only those portions of my overall trip that they are interested in, probably in the form of a TR that will have links to the various subsections of the overall trip.
CaT
Posted by Steve C, 11-25-07The day after I found the chip, I was so stoked, I called the local paper's outdoor writer. He has written several articles on Yosemite and Half Dome, and wrote a good article about a friend, Carolyn, who has lost lots of weight and now leads Sierra Club hikes. I just thought he might have fun with the article.
He told me the article was coming out last Wednesday in the paper's Outdoor section, then called to say, "Somebody with a bigger paycheck than mine decided it was going to go on the Sunday front page."
I am sorry the article link only shows the silly mug shot picture. The actual article shows the dead tree/cliff shot filling a quarter of the front page. Then on the continuation page, David's shot down the cables is almost as large:
I have copied the paper's front page pdf and stored it here (2.6 MB).
Here are two shots of the two pages in the paper. (Click on them for a full-size image):
 
Edit: Just for cross-reference, California-Trailwalker posted a parallel thread in the "Yosemite News and Discussion Forum". The thread is here: Of Cameras and Granite.
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 11-26-07Steve - Thanks for providing the links to the PDFs of these two print version pages! Definitely more pictures than in the online version!
CaT
Posted by California-Trailwalker, 12-14-07I tried to collect on one once and learned that I had to return at least part of the damaged product...
WAClimber - I wanted to close one final open issue from this thread, namely, how the camera replacement insurance worked out in my case.
Unhappily, it didn't!  The above quote from your earlier post also turned out to be true of my situation, despite the camera salesman at the store knowing me, believing my story, and typing it up in great detail in the online claim he made to the ins. co. on my behalf. The ins. co. still strictly held to their "return an identifiable piece of the camera" policy.
But just like with the camera and the chip, I'm not giving up on this just yet. The couple I assisted from Half Dome all the way back to Yosemite Valley during the 5 hours immediately after I dropped my camera both saw me drop it and saw it tumble down the south face of HD. First, I'm going to try personally writing the contact person at the ins. co., and if necessary, submit sworn affidavits from the couple I helped regarding what they witnessed, along with an affidavit of my own indicating that the circumstances of the disappearance of the camera are clearly not "mysterious", but that trying to get to where the camera (or its component pieces) may be located (on one of the ledges on the way down the south face) would be too dangerous, even if I knew for certain that it/they were there.
I'm also going to take a look at the Exif data from the pictures on my returned chip to see if any of that data would possibly identify the camera in some specific way.
We'll see how it goes. I'm not giving up on the ins. front without exhausting all my options.
CaT
Update - Exif data doesn't include a serial number or anything specific...
#41413-1189997160
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