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Camera Thefts on the Streets of San Francisco

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Drugs, Drugs and more Drugs! These users need the money for their next fix. With all the illegals coming in they may be doing it also.

Sorry about your loss. I hope it was insured. The dog idea sounds pretty good.
 
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Potemkin_Photo said:
Osvaldo Cristo said:
fototakerSF said:
I really hate posting this, but feel some kind of warning is needed, and also I think the numbers are increasing.

Being a photographer in my hometown of San Francisco is a pleasure and a nightmare. One must determine locations for photography, plus haul a lot of expensive gear around. Just weeks before I departed San Francisco for España in early December, my EOS 70D camera was stolen while in use on the streets of San Francisco and I was just inches away from my equipment.

I didn't just lose a camera, a brand new tripod, a lens or even the memory card full of images. I lost valuable equipment necessary for my work.
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I am really sorry for your bad experience. I hope you can recover them or part of them. It is a terrible experience not only for the loss but for the increased sensation of threat we start to feel after a such experience. I hope that bad experience does not affect your business or the pleasure to make photography.

You gave some very good advices. They can be useful for many.

All the best,
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I will be heading to San Francisco for the first time in a couple of weeks and now am worried about what to take with me and what is the safest way to carry a camera and or camera bag on the street. This is really disturbing.
 
h2odog said:
I will be heading to San Francisco for the first time in a couple of weeks and now am worried about what to take with me and what is the safest way to carry a camera and or camera bag on the street. This is really disturbing.
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Take a bodyguard . :)
 
h2odog said:
I will be heading to San Francisco for the first time in a couple of weeks and now am worried about what to take with me and what is the safest way to carry a camera and or camera bag on the street. This is really disturbing.
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I would probably get a backpack that doesn't look like a camera bag, and is still useful as a backpack as well. Like the lowepro flipside.
 
Potemkin_Photo said:
Osvaldo Cristo said:
fototakerSF said:
I really hate posting this, but feel some kind of warning is needed, and also I think the numbers are increasing.

Being a photographer in my hometown of San Francisco is a pleasure and a nightmare. One must determine locations for photography, plus haul a lot of expensive gear around. Just weeks before I departed San Francisco for España in early December, my EOS 70D camera was stolen while in use on the streets of San Francisco and I was just inches away from my equipment.

I didn't just lose a camera, a brand new tripod, a lens or even the memory card full of images. I lost valuable equipment necessary for my work.
Click to expand...
I am really sorry for your bad experience. I hope you can recover them or part of them. It is a terrible experience not only for the loss but for the increased sensation of threat we start to feel after a such experience. I hope that bad experience does not affect your business or the pleasure to make photography.

You gave some very good advices. They can be useful for many.

All the best,
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Click to expand...
 
Hello Fototaker

Sorry to read about your misfortune. Losing the images is probably the worse and btw this is why i was never a big fan of huge card ( 32gb and more)

unfortunately I am not too surprised because San Francisco has been very tolerant towards homeless and other kind of hasslers. The smell on Union square in the morning is terrible. The city needs to get its act together.

hope you had some kind of insurance through your home policy or something

H
 
Harold66 said:
Potemkin_Photo said:
Osvaldo Cristo said:
fototakerSF said:
I really hate posting this, but feel some kind of warning is needed, and also I think the numbers are increasing.

Being a photographer in my hometown of San Francisco is a pleasure and a nightmare. One must determine locations for photography, plus haul a lot of expensive gear around. Just weeks before I departed San Francisco for España in early December, my EOS 70D camera was stolen while in use on the streets of San Francisco and I was just inches away from my equipment.

I didn't just lose a camera, a brand new tripod, a lens or even the memory card full of images. I lost valuable equipment necessary for my work.
Click to expand...
I am really sorry for your bad experience. I hope you can recover them or part of them. It is a terrible experience not only for the loss but for the increased sensation of threat we start to feel after a such experience. I hope that bad experience does not affect your business or the pleasure to make photography.

You gave some very good advices. They can be useful for many.

All the best,

--
O.Cristo - An Amateur Photographer
Opinions of men are almost as various as their faces - so many men so many minds. B. Franklin
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Does San Fran allowed concealed carry?

Next time carry and glock and your cam. Even if they get your stuff you can start blasting and then retrieve your equipment at your leisure. Armed photogs might teach these scumbags a lesson in respect.
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This a ridiculous post . Yeah , killing someone for stealing is not only outrageous. It would also get you in jail. Shame on you !

H

--
thedemandingtraveler.org
www.haroldglit.com
www.modelmayhem.com/haroldglit
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The poster is kidding, relax

Texas allows for lethal force to protect property with many restraints. The cost of legal defense is greater than the cost of replacing the property, so it is not commonly used. If the robber points a firearm are produces a knife, ie. threatens lethal force, then all bets are off. Hazards of being an armed robber.

In SFO, most issues can be averted by simply being aware. Same thing on a Paris metro train. Don't leave your camera on a table near a door, even sitting next to you. Have it attached to your body.

--
"Remember, it's the camera, not the photographer!"
 
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Amamba said:
That's a joke, right ? Even the notoriously pro-gun states don't allow the use of deadly force for protection of property - only in life threatening situations. Well, may be TX does, but I doubt that. Even if it's a joke, it's in poor taste.
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There's no maybe to it. Texas does!
 
Sorry this was a reply to Speedex Folder.
 
Camera theft has been huge in Seattle as well. Never leave your camera exposed in your car. People are getting desperate with this economy.
 
Thanks for the warning.

To sum it up there are different kind of gear robbers;

- Stalking (on-line and of or of-line) and hitting whe they think the tie is good.
  • Thus be careful when you post on internet about upcoming travels.
  • Take notice of your surrounding if you really have to leave gear in trunk.
- On the spot decision
  • Take note of who is watching your gear (while you did not ask for such).
  • keep physical contact with your gear in busy places. (just having it in eye sight may not be enough)
The chance of a robbery depends not only on location but also on 'bad luck and the ease of you as victim (for instance dozing of with a camera in your hand in a train while next stop is Brussels ).

The situation in the Netherlands is : Don't leave gear in a car trunk. And on the spot robbers are more common, especially if in big tourist towns. Violent (crack-head) robberies are however rare in the Netherlands. But don't put your camera on a table unless you keep your hands on it. (just looking at it is not enough).

Yes 'trunk robbery' occurs here in the remote country side as well in the city, while the car was parked at residents house. Made me think about walks; with camera in your hand; Tuck it away when you enter your street.
 
Well San Francisco and the Netherlands , two places where I have ZERO interest to go back ;)

and I am always careful when I am somewhere else

H
 
It really isn't just San Francisco, I've seen thefts in several parts of Africa, in Morocco just last November a woman with us had her crotch grabbed by a thief who seized her shoulder bag with an expensive ipad she had been using as a camera. Mexico, 'nuff said.

Yes, we are hyper sensitive travelers and always wear our camera bags across the chest, carry nothing in the hand while walking, use ATMs mid day only and lock cases perpetually.

Nevertheless, it astounds me to see the casual way many people treat their possessions. Be careful out there people - those are mean streets.
 
Had a friend who went to Chicago and he rented a convertible. Left a $600 jacket on the set. Thief cut through the closed roof and took the coat. No surprise.
 
Lenstag is about the best idea I've seen and I recommend to all photographers. Check it out https://www.lenstag.com

If everyone used it and all camera stores checked with them before buying used gear it would make stealing photo equipment much less attractive.
 
+1 to Lenstag, all my gear is registered.

I think it's also wise to never *ever* leave anything of value unattended in a car, let alone camera equipment.

That's annoying when I do dawn shoots and head up for breakfast somewhere afterwards, I have to bring everything. But I'd never change that practice.
My gear never leaves my person.

Sorry for your bad experience, I've known the pain of burglary previously which is even more unsettling.

It sucks having people steal things but things are just things, life moves on. Guns won't do anything for you except hugely increase the percentages on you being shot by one, maybe even your own, maybe they steal that too and you give some nutcase a camera and a gun.
 
Yes, don't carry a gun, but stay out of these cities:

Detroit, St. Louis, Birmingham, Oakland, Memphis, Atlanta, Baltimore, Stockton, Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaulkee, Houston.

They are like New York was in the 70's, before it was cleaned up.
 
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