Disguising valuable equipment

I must say that I am not by any means a paranoid, just whish to keep my gear for myself rather than giving it away freely for someone I do not want to.

The big Q is: what do you do to disguise your equipment so that it draws the least attention by thieves? Of course, when a big lens comes out of the bag in the middle of a crowded street at the part of the world where standards of living are not too high, then you cannot aviod curiousness. But with smaller lenses and while the gear is inside the bag... what precautions do you take against needless attention?

For now what I do is put black tape all over the camera brands and logos. But it does not camouflage the pro appearance of the gear and the bag.

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Regards,
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Daniel Kékesi
http://www.kekesi.com

Buy a soft sided beverage cooler bag and dress like a nerd... Knee high black socks and wing tip shoes with plaid shorts and "FBI" printed in yelow on a dark blue T-shirt. The crooks will be laughing while ripping you off (grin)

Robert
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http://www.streamlinestudio.com

I have my bag labeled "Extreme Caution: No known antidote"

Get an insurance rider so you don't have to worry about this.

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Jim

Daniel Kkesi said:

For now what I do is put black tape all over the camera brands and
logos. But it does not camouflage the pro appearance of the gear
and the bag.

Click to expand...

The tape-over-Nikon-logo thing was big back in the 70's but I actually find that this is a waste of perfectly good black tape: do you really think the average drug addict on the street can tell the difference between a $100 camera and a $10,000 camera and determine one to have a "pro appearance"? I doubt very much that your average crackhead knows a value difference between Yashica and Hasselblad. The brand and logo thing is only for your discerning photographers out there who probably won't steal your gear anyway.

I typically travel with about $30,000 worth of photo equipment and have never had a single item stolen in over two decades of doing this for a living mostly in third world countries. I put gear in Pelican cases that then fit in regular duffle bags and check them onto flights, my camera bags are the typical Lowepro variety, etc.

The one thing I do is have a canvas bag sewn for each of my tripods by the local dry cleaner so that I'm only carrying a long sack instead of a shiny tripod (and I don't think theives know the value difference between my carbon fibre tripods and a cheap aluminum Bogen either).

Although there are definitely instances of theft out there, I think they are less frequent than many of us worry about.

That tape will leave gooey stuff on your cameras too/
mark
http://www.markpix.com

The only cameras I have seen black tape on are newspaper photographer's. They tend to trade them in yearly on an allowance and want to get the best price for them.

How does using a camera with black tape over the logo increase its trade-in value? I'm stumped.

That being said, most big newspapers own the equipment the photographers use. Many smaller papers provide allowances for gear.

-John

Bill McLeod said:

The only cameras I have seen black tape on are newspaper
photographer's. They tend to trade them in yearly on an allowance
and want to get the best price for them.

Click to expand...

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http://www.schnackstudios.com

Daniel Kkesi said:

For now what I do is put black tape all over the camera brands and
logos. But it does not camouflage the pro appearance of the gear
and the bag.

Click to expand...

I use tape over the Nikon logo and an Op/tech strap. When people ask me what I shoot with, I point to the Op/tech logo and answer Op/tech

When I have to carry my camera in the street I just keep it covered with a cheap plastic carrier bag never gets a second look. The press guys use the tape to stop scuffs on the corners so they get a better trade in.Hope this helps .
Jon

Other forum posts have indicated that a diaper bag with diapers and a baby bottle visible substantially decreases interest.
--
Bob,
'There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.' Ansel Adams
Great Pro1
Casio Z750

They don't care about the "logo" just about protecting the camera from the normal scratches, bumps and dragging about which happens when you have lots of gear banging around. They used to call this "friction" tape for a reason....

Lin

John Schnack said:

That being said, most big newspapers own the equipment the
photographers use. Many smaller papers provide allowances for gear.

-John

Bill McLeod said:

The only cameras I have seen black tape on are newspaper
photographer's. They tend to trade them in yearly on an allowance
and want to get the best price for them.

Click to expand...

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http://www.schnackstudios.com

Click to expand...

I'm looking to travel overseas in the next two months and I plan to visit about 12 or so cities from the US to Spain to Europe. With the recent airline restrictions, your suggestion of a pelican case inside a duff interests me. Could you please tell me which pelican case you use? I know that duff's aren't all that big so I'm curious to know what pelican case you use that fits over 30k worth of gear? Do you use multiple pelicans and duffs?

thanks

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Wil Saxon

Thugs who steal for a living will steal anything, given opportunity. They will even steal a disposable camera, just because they can. They don't care whether model an SLR is. They'll worry about the actual value when they get it to a fence.

Disguisng the bag doesn't work unless you're zipping past them too quickly for them to react and catch them off guard. Given a few moments to watch you, they can tell whether you're holding a bag with somethiing delicate and valuable or a bag of soiled diapers. A less obtrusive bag like an old Domke can keep them guessing as long as possible, perhaps long enough for you to get out of their reach (at least they won't see you coming as easily). A major problem with non-camera bags is that they might not have the kind of straps and construction that can keep someone from just slicing the strap with a razor and taking off with it.

And you'd be surprised how young thieves that canny are. The best defense against grab-and-run thieves is just to make sure your equipment can't be snatched. Straps on everything over your neck or around your waist. Bags kept zipped or snapped. Don't carry more than you can control.

In terms of someone just thumping you on the head and taking your stuff off your unconscious body, my experience is all in the Far East, but I've found totalitarian countries safer than "democratic" ones, and outlying "peasant" areas anywhere safer than urban areas anywhere.

--
RDKirk
'TANSTAAFL: The only unbreakable rule in photography.'

i have never seen a newspaper photographer who give a cr*p about protecting their equipment, because it's not theirs, it belongs to the paper. They always have the most beat up scratched and ugly equipment. I saw a guy pull a 300 2.8 out of his trunk. It wasn't in a case , just naked in the trunk. Never seen anybody with logos taped over, it strikes me as a case of sever weenieness.

K2K

...

If someone wants to steal something, they will, whatever it's a P&S camera or a D200 with a 17-55 and a VR tele...

What I do to minimize the risk is simple:

I try to wear dark/black clothing to try to dispappear in the crowd.

I replace the "Nikon D200" original shoulder belt by a black one with nothing written on it.
But even... The answer is insurance, which I got.

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'Better than a good equipment: a good eye and heart'

If you are really worried about theft; carry your gear in a soft-sided cooler bag. Coleman makes several and there are loads of them imported from China.

A thief is less likely to rip off a bag that might contain your lunch or a six pack of Pepsi, that a bag that sends out signals that it is carrying expensive photographic gear.

I don't have to worry about thrft anymore since I earned my Black Belt in Tempura-Wasabi.

-

Retired Navy Master Chief Photographer's Mate - 30 years service. Combat Cameraman, Motion Picture Director and Naval Aircrewman. I have done considerable comercial photography including advertising, weddings and portraiture.

I have an old WWII Army Radio bag that I put my regular camera bag in. It fits perfectly and no one knows that there is a camers inside. My son traveled all over England and Europe last year using this Army bag with his D-70 inside. He reported that no one showed any interest in this army bag. The only problem was that he liked it so well that I never got the army bag back. The weight of this army bag was only about 1.5 pounds so there was no problem carrying it with camera inside. Cost of this army bag was about $4.00 at a army surplus store. The bag looks like it went through a war and even has holes in it, but works great.

I've never seen a logo taped over by a PJ, but we have a number of local PJ's working for newspapers who do tape their gear for protection. One of our local camera dealers in Denver used to take in sizable amounts of trade-in bodies and lenses from them. I've actually purchased some of this trade-in gear myself still with sticky tape residue on it. Maybe some don't care about protecting their equipment, but the smart ones do. Their assignments depend on the equipment functioning properly and responsibility for proper care and maintenance doesn't disappear just because the equipment belongs to the company. In some cases it doesn't (belong to the newspaper) and equipment allowances are a motivator.

Best regards,

Lin

Kel Toookay said:

i have never seen a newspaper photographer who give a cr*p about
protecting their equipment, because it's not theirs, it belongs to
the paper. They always have the most beat up scratched and ugly
equipment. I saw a guy pull a 300 2.8 out of his trunk. It wasn't
in a case , just naked in the trunk. Never seen anybody with logos
taped over, it strikes me as a case of sever weenieness.

K2K

Click to expand...

Jimsokay said:

I have my bag labeled "Extreme Caution: No known antidote"

Get an insurance rider so you don't have to worry about this.

--
Jim

Click to expand...

hmmmmmmmmm bet that goes over real well when youre getting on a plane lol

Multiple Pelican 1550's inside Patagonia "Black Hole" bags. I used to use "Stuffits" bags but they went out of business so I'm now using the Patagonia bags which seem to hold up well to airline abuse and the baggage carousels which seem to tear things apart with regularity.

Keep in mind, it doesn't take a lot of gear to add up to $30K - a single water housing with dome for a 1DsII runs nearly $9K, add a few 1DsII bodies and you are already up to the low $20's and we haven't even started counting lenses yet.

I've been checking all my stuff on since well before the current restrictions as there is simply no way to carry it all. Now I won't even have the choice...

Good luck/
mark
http://www.markpix.com

Then don't use a cemara bag, there is enough option in other Bags that allow carrying gear around with .... For quite some time, I ;ve use a surplus ration bag ( with some padding added inside ) for carrying my RF setup around, and similar.

If you are weary about looking the part, then at least try not to be looking the part right !!

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Franka