The best ways to (not) get your gear stolen

[KitH]

Not as such. No deductible, full replacement value, coverage worldwide, covers loss due to theft, loss, accidentally dropping gear off a cliff, etc.  The catch, if you want to call it that, is that claims are reported to the same national database (called the CLUE database) that's used for homeowners/renters policies.  That means if you file too many claims, it can impact you rates and even eligibility for home/renters insurance.  Practically, that means if I break a Speedlite, I'll pay for it myself, but if I have a body and a few lenses stolen, I'll file a claim.

So I guess you're not claiming for the cost of getting that Vaseline off your lenses  -  and that really isn't the sort of thing you want written about you in the CLUE database anyway.    Not when so many of yours are 72mm across. 

[jdramirez]

I've been mulling over having a multipurpose cane/monopod.  I don't need a cane, but as a make shift billy club, it certainly can pay for itself. 

This is probably a given, but you could work out and gain some bulk.  Size can always give the perception of competence... at least when it comes to being physical.  Oh... and be ethnic.  That might help too. 

And occasionally what I do, mostly to keep the camera dry, when it is moist outside is to wear a large sweatshirt and keep the camera underneath the shirt in the belly region.  It is easy enough to lift the sweatshirt up and snap a few photos.  And out of sight, out of mind helps. 

[CowGummy]

In addition to all the precautions talked about here, I would suggest a messenger type bag to carry your gear so you don't attract unnecessary attention. Just take your camera out of the bag when taking the shot, then put it back in and move on. I have one of these and it fits my 5D mark II, 24-70mm lens and a 580EX II speedlight.

http://www.amazon.com/Lowepro-Exchange-Messenger-Essentials-Black/dp/B0035548TQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327789375&sr=8-1

+1 on that Lowepro Messenger bag. Make no mistake, it's not a bag to buy for long hiking excursions and when protection is of biggest concern - the inner and outer walls are pretty thin. Then again, I simply took the inner protective walls out of my old Lowepro slingshot to buff it out and it now serves my purpose perfectly. I can walk through town at night by myself and don't feel the need to worry about my equipment. And for the price those bags are going for you really can't wrong.

[TexPhoto]

But don't be too surprised if your non camera geek (NCG) friends and potential muggers are not aware white means expensive. (I think of mine as cream colored)  In my experience most NCGs will be impressed with big lenses, but the white will not be a factor, or will just confuse them.

They might not be aware that white means expensive, but they would probably be aware that big is expensive.

OK, thanks for letting me know. 

I have never had a problem with gear being stolen, but I am dude, not that big, but not that small.  Anyway, common sense goes a long way.

[dilbert]

Don't invite people to steal it.

How might you do that?

Put your backpack down and then walk 100m away to take a photograph.

Put your camera gear down on a table to sit down for breakfast/lunch/dinner and then walk away to find nourishment.

In all of my travel, I've seen two instances of travellers losing their belongings.

The first was on a boat from the Venice train station to the main island - a lady had left her hand bag open and her purse was easily visible. Even though the boat is full of tourists, nobody is watching it, everyone is looking around to see Venice. She arrived at the dock, looked into her hand bag and there was no purse.

The second was at a major train station. Again the victim was a woman. She was travelling alone, put her bags down at a table and then wandered off to get some breakfast. When she returned one of her bags had gone missing.

In both instances, pain could have been avoided by very simple measures.

As a tourist in a foreign country, unless you do something really silly (like the above two women), you're more likely to get ripped off (because you don't know what the real price of something is) than you are of being robbed.

[DBCdp]

Concealed Carry Permit? .454 Casull is a HUGE detriment to theft!

But on the insurance side of things, be sure to check the deductable. Personal Articles Policy with State Farm is well and good, but it's not for business use and when push comes to shove your claim will probably be denied. Inland Marine with State Farm is for Business use (you sell pictures?) but has a $1000 deductable, hardly helpful if someone walks off with a $1200 24-105. Similar issues with personal property home insurance, if it's "personal property" you use it for personal reasons, taking pics of your kids, zoo, vacation... if you hire out then it disqualifies it. Lie about it and try to make a claim and you could lose your home insurance and be blacklisted, making it hard to get coverage anywhere!

I switched to Travelers this past summer, much lower deductable and everything but natural disaster is completely covered. It's a bit more expensive than the Inland Marine policy at State Farm but has much better coverage.

I was with State Farm for 3 years, first year on Personal Articles Policy...found out they'd deny me if I told the truth that sell the pictures I take or get paid for taking them so I switched to the Inland Marine Policy for 2 years. Then I found I'd have to pay the first Thousand and looked around for something better!

My 2 cents....

[friedmud]

I've carried my gear all over the world and shot in some pretty sketchy places (at night on the streets of Paris comes to mind) and haven't had too many times when I felt I was in real danger of getting my gear snatched.

Here are a couple of things I recommend:

1.  Don't go alone.
  Whether its my wife that's with me or a friend I always make sure to have a "buddy" with me if I can... and I make it clear to my buddy that their job is to help watch my back (literally!).  For instance, crowded subway trains present a problem if you have your gear on your back.  My wife just instinctively moves to stand behind me now to keep an eye on that situation.
   Similarly, when I'm setting up an urban shot with a tripod, I'm all engrossed in what I'm doing and I rely on my buddy to keep an eye on my surroundings.  Also, people are less likely to mess with 2 people than one.

2.  Locks on my bag.  I have several different backpacks but the ones that provide external access to any gear all have little TSA approved locks on the zippers.  Anytime I'm somewhere sketchy or before using any mass transportation I always make sure it's locked up.  I also prefer really shiny gold locks so that thieves can see they are on there and think twice about snatching my bag in the first place.

3.  NEVER set your bag on the ground.  This rule can be a pain but it does work.  Ripping a backpack off of your back is infinitely harder than picking it up off the ground.  If I do set my bag down to get something out of it, I immediately put back on my back when I get whatever it was out.

4.  Keep hands on your gear.
  I was shooting some urban scenes in Seattle a couple of years ago.  I had my camera on a tripod and I was using my remote release.  Even so.. I still kept one hand gripping the tripod... And it's a good thing.  A homeless looking guy (i was down by the water and basically surrounded) came up to me and started trying to distract me by telling me to look at the sunset over there... Or at what his friend was doing.  I stayed calm and KEPT MY HANDS LOCKED on my tripod and camera strap while I calmly continued shooting a few more exposures.  I then calmly put my camera back on my neck, picked my tripod up and asked my wife if she was ready to go and moved off toward a more populated area...

Definitely the closest I've ever come to getting my gear stolen.  My wife was pretty freaked out ;-). BUT I got beautiful shots of downtown Seattle in the waning light ;-)

[jdramirez]

It also helps to be a natural badass.  I was at a club and people were messing with me for a variety of reasons.  All four were on the floor before all was said and done.  You get a reputation for being a bad man... and people don't mess with you.  Just saying.

[corntrollio]

Concealed Carry Permit? .454 Casull is a HUGE detriment to theft!

But on the insurance side of things, be sure to check the deductable. Personal Articles Policy with State Farm is well and good, but it's not for business use and when push comes to shove your claim will probably be denied. Inland Marine with State Farm is for Business use (you sell pictures?) but has a $1000 deductable, hardly helpful if someone walks off with a $1200 24-105. Similar issues with personal property home insurance, if it's "personal property" you use it for personal reasons, taking pics of your kids, zoo, vacation... if you hire out then it disqualifies it. Lie about it and try to make a claim and you could lose your home insurance and be blacklisted, making it hard to get coverage anywhere!

I switched to Travelers this past summer, much lower deductable and everything but natural disaster is completely covered. It's a bit more expensive than the Inland Marine policy at State Farm but has much better coverage.

Photo.net has a good article on the varieties of insurance you can get for camera gear, including Personal Articles Floaters and Inland Marine policies. They also have an affiliation with an insurer with good rates:

http://photo.net/learn/insurance

It's something like $175 for the liability insurance, plus $60 per assistant, which is required if you want the Inland Marine coverage. If you're a pro, you need liability insurance anyway. The rates for Inland Marine are $10 per $1000 with a $150 for $15,000 minimum. The deductible for Inland Marine is $250, which isn't unreasonable.

As DBCdp said, don't lie to your insurance carrier and try to cover your gear under a Personal Articles Floater if you make money through photography. If you make even a dollar selling a photo as microstock, the insurance company can rightfully deny your claim for operating a business with the gear.

[vuilang]

Of course I know that I can get insurance for it, and I probably will.

No 'probably' about it - get insurance.  If a thief wants to take something, they will. I pay $7.60 per year per $1K covered gear.  Low cost for piece of mind...

Could you please send me a link regard to that insurance?

[corntrollio]

Don't invite people to steal it.

How might you do that?

Put your backpack down and then walk 100m away to take a photograph.

Put your camera gear down on a table to sit down for breakfast/lunch/dinner and then walk away to find nourishment.

In all of my travel, I've seen two instances of travellers losing their belongings.
[...]
In both instances, pain could have been avoided by very simple measures.

As a tourist in a foreign country, unless you do something really silly (like the above two women), you're more likely to get ripped off (because you don't know what the real price of something is) than you are of being robbed.

Karl Grobl wrote an article about this in his years of experience as a photojournalist. He suggests using your camera as a defensive maneuver -- if you spot thugs, look them in the eye and take a picture of them if possible, which generally scares them off:

http://www.karlgrobl.com/EquipmentReviews/HowNottoBeaTarget.htm

He also tries to deter casual 3rd world theft from his hotel room by locking down his valuables. It won't prevent a diligent thief who is willing to put in the effort, but it'll be an effective deterrent, much like a bike lock, where a less determined thief will move on to an easier mark:

http://karlgrobl.com/EquipmentReviews/PacSafe.htm

[SPG]

One rule I can't stress enough is never, I mean NEVER, as in NEVER EVER! leave your gear in a car. ever. Even if you're just going into the coffee shop for a "second". I know far too many people who this has happened to, myself included. In my case, I thought my buddy was going to be in the car while I went in. It took all of about three minutes to lose $14,000.
A production company I did a couple jobs for considered it an automatic firing offense for a broadcast camera to be left unattended.
One more pro tip... at hotels leave the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and the TV on if you're leaving any gear or evidence that you have that kind of gear in the room.

[neuroanatomist]

Of course I know that I can get insurance for it, and I probably will.

No 'probably' about it - get insurance.  If a thief wants to take something, they will. I pay $7.60 per year per $1K covered gear.  Low cost for piece of mind...

Could you please send me a link regard to that insurance?

State Farm.  You'd need to go through your local agent, and I don't think they write just a Personal Articles policy, you probably need to have home/renters insurance with them. 

As stated above, it's for personal use only, not business. 

[vuilang]

Of course I know that I can get insurance for it, and I probably will.

No 'probably' about it - get insurance.  If a thief wants to take something, they will. I pay $7.60 per year per $1K covered gear.  Low cost for piece of mind...

Could you please send me a link regard to that insurance?

State Farm.  You'd need to go through your local agent, and I don't think they write just a Personal Articles policy, you probably need to have home/renters insurance with them. 

As stated above, it's for personal use only, not business.

Do you happen to know a good quote/company for business uses?

[neuroanatomist]

Do you happen to know a good quote/company for business uses?

Sorry, no - not something I need, so I've never looked into that.