How often do you take your stuff?

I have been taking my bag everywhere, even when I have no plans for taking
any photos.

It started soon after I bought my new camera.

We were away on a family weekend, had just left the amusement park, and we
came across a raging fire on the back of a truck on an interstate.
Traffic was near standstill (understandably), it was nighttime, and any
photos would have been dramatic.

Since I was in the car with my wife and child, and my camera was a little
out of my reach, I did not take any, and have been kicking myself ever
since.

Now I take it almost anytime I will be out of the immediate neighborhood.

Too often and am faced with the dilemma of leaving it in the car while I
attend to other things. Who wants to carry their camera through the
grocery store? I am also a bit of a counter culture guy and seek out
great dives in sometimes Shakey neighborhoods. The kinds of places where
it would not be unreasonable to suspect that you may have you camera taken
if you leave it in the car or take it with you.

So, my questions to you are "How often to you take your stuff?" and "How
do you protect it from nefarious ne'er-do-wells.?

------*
RecGroups : the community-oriented newsreader : www.recgroups.com

On Nov 14, 3:00 pm, "Juan Moore Beer" wrote:
I have been taking my bag everywhere, even when I have no plans for taking
any photos.

It started soon after I bought my new camera.

We were away on a family weekend, had just left the amusement park, and we
came across a raging fire on the back of a truck on an interstate.
Traffic was near standstill (understandably), it was nighttime, and any
photos would have been dramatic.

Since I was in the car with my wife and child, and my camera was a little
out of my reach, I did not take any, and have been kicking myself ever
since.

Now I take it almost anytime I will be out of the immediate neighborhood.

Too often and am faced with the dilemma of leaving it in the car while I
attend to other things. Who wants to carry their camera through the
grocery store? I am also a bit of a counter culture guy and seek out
great dives in sometimes Shakey neighborhoods. The kinds of places where
it would not be unreasonable to suspect that you may have you camera taken
if you leave it in the car or take it with you.

So, my questions to you are "How often to you take your stuff?" and "How
do you protect it from nefarious ne'er-do-wells.?


I take my camera with at least a small 28mm lens everywhere, even when
I just go to the corner shop. Usually I also take a 90mm lens, too (I
may soon switch to a zoom instead of these too). I must admit that
where I live there's not much danger of theft, but my approach to
protecting it (and particularly when travelling or in areas with more
petty crime) is to use bags that don't look like camera bags. One
approach is to use a small camera bag (for a single camera and lens)
securely fixed inside a normal rucksack, so you can also use the
rucksack for other stuff (and the other lens).

But, usually, I just hang the camera over my shoulder with no bag.

Of course, the moment you use the camera all this is useless.

acl wrote:
Juan Moore Beer wrote:

So, my questions to you are "How often to you take your stuff?" and "How
do you protect it from nefarious ne'er-do-wells.?

I take my camera with at least a small 28mm lens everywhere, even when
I just go to the corner shop. Usually I also take a 90mm lens, too (I
may soon switch to a zoom instead of these too). I must admit that
where I live there's not much danger of theft, but my approach to
protecting it (and particularly when travelling or in areas with more
petty crime) is to use bags that don't look like camera bags. One
approach is to use a small camera bag (for a single camera and lens)
securely fixed inside a normal rucksack, so you can also use the
rucksack for other stuff (and the other lens).

But, usually, I just hang the camera over my shoulder with no bag.

Of course, the moment you use the camera all this is useless.

I have a very unobtrusive black cloth bag which looks sort of like a
lunch sack for street shooting, it will hold the camera with a fairly
big lens and is easy to slip out, take a shot & put it back or crumple
up in a pocket. I also have a non-camera-bag-looking day pack that will
hold all kinds of gear. For road trips I got a tool box that I can
padlock and the next step is to bolt it to the floor of my camper van. I
came very close to losing my laptop & half my lenses once parked at a
trailhead.

Paul Furman wrote:
acl wrote:
Juan Moore Beer wrote:

So, my questions to you are "How often to you take your stuff?" and "How
do you protect it from nefarious ne'er-do-wells.?

I take my camera with at least a small 28mm lens everywhere, even when
I just go to the corner shop. Usually I also take a 90mm lens, too (I
may soon switch to a zoom instead of these too). I must admit that
where I live there's not much danger of theft, but my approach to
protecting it (and particularly when travelling or in areas with more
petty crime) is to use bags that don't look like camera bags. One
approach is to use a small camera bag (for a single camera and lens)
securely fixed inside a normal rucksack, so you can also use the
rucksack for other stuff (and the other lens).

But, usually, I just hang the camera over my shoulder with no bag.

Of course, the moment you use the camera all this is useless.

I have a very unobtrusive black cloth bag which looks sort of like a
lunch sack for street shooting, it will hold the camera with a fairly
big lens and is easy to slip out, take a shot & put it back or crumple
up in a pocket. I also have a non-camera-bag-looking day pack that will
hold all kinds of gear. For road trips I got a tool box that I can
padlock and the next step is to bolt it to the floor of my camper van. I
came very close to losing my laptop & half my lenses once parked at a
trailhead.

Alternatively, you could carry a small P/S like the Sony T100, put it in
your shirt pocket and forget about bags, lenses, toolboxes, theft, etc.
Check Steves Digicams for the sharpness of some of the T100 sample
pictures. It is quite amazing.
Bob Williams

"Juan Moore Beer" wrote in message
...
I have been taking my bag everywhere, even when I have no plans for taking
any photos.

It started soon after I bought my new camera.

We were away on a family weekend, had just left the amusement park, and we
came across a raging fire on the back of a truck on an interstate.
Traffic was near standstill (understandably), it was nighttime, and any
photos would have been dramatic.

Since I was in the car with my wife and child, and my camera was a little
out of my reach, I did not take any, and have been kicking myself ever
since.

Now I take it almost anytime I will be out of the immediate neighborhood.

Too often and am faced with the dilemma of leaving it in the car while I
attend to other things. Who wants to carry their camera through the
grocery store? I am also a bit of a counter culture guy and seek out
great dives in sometimes Shakey neighborhoods. The kinds of places where
it would not be unreasonable to suspect that you may have you camera taken
if you leave it in the car or take it with you.

So, my questions to you are "How often to you take your stuff?" and "How
do you protect it from nefarious ne'er-do-wells.?

I have two cameras. My "good" camera is the one I take with me when I am
planning on taking photos (vacation, autumn foliage safari, etc). When
traveling I have it just stuck in a box stuck between the front seats so I
can grab it one handed while driving. So when I am planning on taking photos
I have the equipment to get the best photos possible.

But when I am just going to work, or the grocery store I carry a pocket
sized P&S. It is much lower in resolution and is more dependant on fairly
normal conditions for good results. But this camera has allowed me to catch
the occasional colorful sunrise/sunset or wildlife in a public place photo
that I would otherwise not have caught.

As to security, when I have my good camera out, it is always either hanging
on my neck or within reach. The less expensive P&S is always in my pocket, a
belt pouch (with a zipper top so it is much more secure) or in a pocket of
my pack when I am here at work (it's here at my feet at this moment).

Randy

==========
Randy Berbaum
Champaign, IL