Almost all of us have broken a piece of camera gear at some point and felt our hearts sink as we looked at thousands of dollars on the ground. However, I doubt any of us have broken gear as expensive as these shattered lenses.
Baseball is a dangerous sport for things made of fragile glass, such as camera lenses. There is a rock-hard projectile flying around at speeds exceeding 100 mph, and when it comes toward a camera, it is often moving so quickly that it is simply impossible to move out of the way in time. And, as you might expect, those impacts are rarely kind to the lens, as you can see in the video above.
Broadcast cameras being struck by errant home runs or foul balls is relatively common, normally happening at least a couple of times every season, but when you consider how much money one of those lenses costs, it can be an eye-watering thing to watch. For example, two common broadcast lenses that have been hit in the past are the Canon XJ72 and Fujinon Digipower 76. The XJ72 is a 9.3-675mm f/1.7-3.45 lens (designed for the 9.6 x 5.4mm image format for 16:9 television) and retails north of $60,000 on the used market. On the other hand, the Digipower 76, a 9.3-710mm f/1.7-f/3.6 lens, retails above $100,000!
So, the next time you drop an expensive piece of gear, just be glad you don't work in television broadcasting.
