Is your midrange gear insured?

[Marsu42]

I didn't quite know where to put this question, so it ended up in "lenses" since these are the most expensive items in the bag.

The motive for me thinking about insuring my gear is that I though someone has nicked my 70-300L out of my bag today - but back at home I gladly saw that I didn't take it with me in the first place as I usually do. So: My current gear (camera+lenses+flashes+filters+...) I'm carrying around is worth about €5000, and I'm going to add a 6d+24-70tc totaling about €8000. I bought this gear piece by piece, but somehow it's grown to (for my standard) considerable value, though it's far from the pro 1dx/5d3+f2.8-kits other people have.

Starting as of today I somehow feel that not insuring the stuff but carrying around the greater part of it most of the time is not exactly clever, on the other hand my budget is stretched as it is so I'm wondering if other people insure their "midrange" dslr gear against theft & damage or they consider the real world risk too low to pay for the insurance?

 

[RLPhoto]

I made a point to insure everything. Filters, Softboxes, light stands, the works because those little things stolen at one time add up to a significant amount of $$$$.

 

[florianbieler.de]

I didn't think much about insurance until I got my 5D3. Shorty before I dropped my 500D by accident with a Tamron 17-50 attached, the latter suffered a 200€ damage which is almost like it totaled.

When I got the 5D3 the first thing was to insure everything, well not everything, body, lenses and flash are insured. Small things like sd cards, batteries and so on are automatically included. I also carry around a rough 7000€ in my camera bag and doing that without insurance is not only stupid but downright irresponsible. Getting nicked is one thing and that can happen to anyone out on a photo trip alone if you cross the wrong peoples way but I also wanted it insured just for the case I accidentally drop it again. That 2.5% of the gear value I pay per year is worth it the second you drop it or someone threatens you.

 

[Marsu42]

That 2.5% of the gear value I pay per year is worth it the second you drop it or someone threatens you.

You seem to be German - did you do a survey for the cheapest insurance company, is 2.5%/year the best offer, what company is it? The next step for me would be to search for a company, and I really don't know where to start (again, in Germany).

 

[florianbieler.de]

They all have similar values. I am at Poepping's.

 

[awinphoto]

I would hardly consider the 100L, 70-300L, 17-40L etc as "mid-range", but most definitely (especially since I make my living with my gear) We have a commercial policy through allstate which protects up to $5000 i believe on any one claim, so assuming I dont lose my entire kit in a fire, which then likely my homeowners would kick in there or the like, then i'm good. The 5d3 is my single biggest item, price wise, so i'm comfortable with that.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

I recently lost my 24-70 f/2.8 L MK II costing $2200 ($60 shipping & $115 customs duty), so I can understand the valuable of insurance to a photographer ... unfortunately the concept of Camera/lens insurance does not exist in the Gulf (I guess it is because 90% of the residents in the Gulf countries are expats who go back to their home countries every year and it would be impractical for insurance companies to curtail fraudulent claims.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

I recently lost my 24-70 f/2.8 L MK II costing $2200 ($60 shipping & $115 customs duty), so I can understand the valuable of insurance to a photographer ... unfortunately the concept of Camera/lens insurance does not exist in the Gulf (I guess it is because 90% of the residents in the Gulf countries are expats who go back to their home countries every year and it would be impractical for insurance companies to curtail fraudulent claims.

Although I checked many places, I have not found anyone providing insurance for camera gear in Qatar ... does anyone here in Canon rumours know of any company providing insurance in Qatar?

 

[Marsu42]

They all have similar values. I am at Poepping's.

Thanks!

I would hardly consider the 100L, 70-300L, 17-40L etc as "mid-range"

Well, I concur there are a couple of top range items included (100L, 600rt) but since for every other lens & camera there are cheaper and more expensive offers I consider €5000-8000 still midrange - a 1dx body alone costs that much, not to think of €10k tele primes. But correct me if I'm wrong, I'd happily change my perspective on my gear.

 

[ChilledXpress]

Is your midrange gear insured?

Low, mid and high... it all gets insured, I make no distinctions regarding replacement of my gear.

 

[Marsu42]

Low, mid and high... it all gets insured, I make no distinctions regarding replacement of my gear.

Personally, I'd 100% insure my €10k tele prime, I wouldn't do it with all the low tech stuff I'm carrying around like an mp3 player or a gps logger - that's why I was making the distinction. But good I wrote this thread, I come to realize I've invested a lot of €€€ in this during the last 2 years and it's not worth loosing it by accident :-o

 

[DCM1024]

All of our camera gear is insured by State Farm, but oddly enough, they would not cover my Ipad 4. Apparently that item represents a higher risk than a 5d3!

 

[Caps18]

I'm trying to get mine insured. How would you go about getting an appraisal of the current value?

I have about $5,000-$6,000 US, maybe a little more worth of gear, and even though I am low risk, I've come close to having two fires/explosions at my house so far... Plus the international travel I do, although I usually keep it secure. But, you never know.

 

[Meh]

I assure you, I always ensure my gear is insured.

 

[ChilledXpress]

I'm trying to get mine insured. How would you go about getting an appraisal of the current value?

I have about $5,000-$6,000 US, maybe a little more worth of gear, and even though I am low risk, I've come close to having two fires/explosions at my house so far... Plus the international travel I do, although I usually keep it secure. But, you never know.

I had my agent come to my house... she took photos, copies of reciepts, etc... easy as pie! Covered about 60k worth of electronics and gear under a home/buisness policy. They covered my iPads too.

 

[bycostello]

I assure you, I always ensure my gear is insured.

+1

 

[dr croubie]

Get all your gear, and all your receipts (I hope you still have them), and you'll be surprised.

I buy a lot of stuff off ebay, and i mean a lot (check my gear photos in my signature, that was about 1 year ago and it's probably doubled since then). Being the complete nerd that I am (hey, i'm a gearhead nerd, not a photographer), I went back over my paypal and ebay accounts and worked it all out one day into a spreadsheet. (tip, another good reason to do this is to mark-down all of your serial numbers in case something gets stolen)

I have only 3 big-ticket items (well, 'big ticket' to me, not compared to some of you guys), my 7D and 15-85 (€1800 cost) and 70-300L (€1200 cost), which is about $4000 total.

Then my 'rung down' stuff, 85/1.8, 100/2.0, Samyang 35/1.4, Sigma 8-16, FL55/1.2+EdMika, 430EXmk1, EOS3, Zeiss 300/4.0, Voigtlander 21/4.0, Mamiya 645AF, Vanguard tripod, all of which were between $200-500 each, maybe another $3-4000 to the total.

A lot more stuff just below that, lots of Pentacon Six Zeiss stuff and a few 'nice but not the best' lenses for $50-150 like my Takumar 50/1.4, Jupiter 85/2.0, Shorty McForty and Nifty Fiftington.
Then comes all the crap. Russian lenses for $10-50 each, lenscaps for $2 each from china (I always get lenses without caps, and I'm so fricking OCD that everything has to have a cap, front and rear), filters of various shapes, sizes and colours, step rings from 39 to 106mm and down again, cokin attachments, grips, arca-swiss plates and clamps, a nodal-ninja, bellows, extension tubes, focussing screens, teleconverters.
You name it, i've bought it.

But get this. I typed all of this stuff into my big OCD spreadsheet, and the numbers are a bit amazing (and a bit scary). I can check when I get home for the exact magic number, but it's something like $150. Add up the total price of everything that cost above that 'per item', and add up the cost of everything below that 'per item', and you get roughly the same value (maybe $7-8000 or so). So despite my complete lack of 'big ticket' stuff like a 1DX or über-white, the value of my kit is a lot more. And I'm not going to carry it all at once. (I might get it all in my car at once, but that's because the car is a Falcon Station Wagon with a huge boot).

Anyway, how do I insure this? I've got a $5000 out-of-home accidental damage on it, which is probably the most i'll have in a backpack at once (and it's the most my insurance company will give me). But do I bother insuring all the small crap? The lenses that cost $10, and the caps to go with them? All the filters that I only bought because they were cheap, and probably won't buy again? The only way I'm losing the whole kit is in a fire, even if someone broke in they might take the 70-300L and 7D and leave the gunge (hey, I would too). So is it worth insuring $15k of stuff, even $10k?

 

[RMC33]

Much like RL I have all my gear insured vs. theft, damage on the job, damage to other peoples stuff. One thing my insurance agent told me do was install a safe in my home for my most valued items. It cut my cost by 25% and has paid for itself over 4 years. Biggest hassle with it was going through and listing EVERY item, but my insurance keeps all my SN's and photos on file to ID items if they go missing. I have state farm (this falls under my homeowners/small business insurance) and my agent is great. It also includes my 3D printers computers etc. for my patent/prototype consultancy.

 

[Richard8971]

All of my camera equipment is insured through State Farm. They wrote me a personal articles policy and have had it for almost 2 years. As of my seperation from the wife I ended up with half of the camera equipment and she the other half. But even at around 6 grand worth of camera gear, it runs me about 70-80 bucks a year for the coverage, and you get to set the value of your equipment. (I would imagine within reason of course, I always went for new replacement value)

Zero deductable and 100% accident/theft coverage. I have used it twice now, once for my 40D when it got dropped (they gave me $1100 towards a new 7D) and my EF-s 60mm macro when my wife's cat knocked it off of the bookself. (Full replacement cost)

No questions asked and wonderful service. I couldn't be happier.

D

 

[jdramirez]

I think I have a personal property (or something like that) policy through Erie Insurance in PA. They charge by the value of your gear. I think it was something like 46 bucks per year against theft or accidental damage for around $5,000 of gear. I haven't had to use it, but there isn't a deductible. Contact a legitimate company before you go with someone you have never heard of. Peace of mind is worth the extra 10 bucks you might have to pay.