And for another example, I was in Poland in July of '08 backpacking, and randomly when I was on the train to Gdansk I met a bunch of teenagers going to a festival down the road. Sweet lineup on the last day, headliners were Goldfrapp, Massive Attack, Chemical Brothers, all for about $50, so a bunch of guys and I from the hostel all headed down there.
Bought our tickets online, and one of the conditions written on it (in big bold letters, so it was noticeable in the fineprint), along the lines of "You will be denied entry with a camera over 6MP". I loved my little 8MP P&S I had at the time, so I didn't chance it and left it in the hostel. Another guy brought along his 10MP lumix or otherwise superzoom thingy, he got in fine.
Then once we're in there, I see a bunch of people walking around with 500D and 50Ds, not pros, some were probably barely old enough to get into the concert themselves.
So despite all the rules and clauses and whatever they write, it's always going to depend on being able to sweet-talk the individual security-guard at the time. What the gear looks like will also help, I'd guess you've got a lot better chance of making it in with a 7D and 70-300 DO than a 1D and 70-300L, or a 200 f/2.8 has more chance than a 70-200 f/2.8 (80-200 f/2.8L magic drainpipe anyone?). Being able to talk it past saying "it's not a pro camera" also probably depends on how much of a camera-nut the SG is, in my experience, not many are...
Hi,
My 2 cents (euro cents), is related to concerts here in France...
Been to multiple ones in stadiums (Paris stadium, or the larger world cup Stade de France) as well as sports arenas hosting concerts ... Sting, Santana, Rolling Stones, Genesis, Sade ...
Always the same rules on the tickets : NO cameras ... then at the stadium / arenas, the SG usually let people in with compact cameras ... for arenas, pretty tough and sometimes the guards pick up the cameras inside during the concert when they spot a DSLR, but otherwise for stadiums it is quite easy as it is bigger, especially if you are on the field section that can be crowded ... for the Rolling Stones I managed to get in with a 70-300 IS nonL wrapped in aluminum foil among the sandwiches and cookies in my backpack, and i thought myself lucky, when i spotted couple of L whites on the field (at least a 100-400 for the one closest to me): no ideas how they made it, but it seemed possible ...
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