How many of you does this to your cam?

neil_r wrote in post #10237221
No I am a mild mannered sort of chap who just happens to be 6' 7", weighs 294 Lbs spent far too long in the army and played first class rugby for years.

I do not fit the classic profile of "Victim"

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,,,and you forgot to mention,,butt ugly

I posted in the other thread but add comments here as well.

My gear, most of it is taped over. Not only the brand names but also the edges and prism dome, basically any place that might take a bump or ding. I try to baby my gear and if the time comes can resell it but I also want to actually use my camera, so I keep the camera wrapped up. I started doing this as to hide my camera, people don't pay much attention to a camera they can't see the brand, and it doesn't stick out as much.

I found this out from going to sporting events. When I would bring a white lens, I noticed a lot of people looking at me, stopping to ask questions, but once I taped over the lens, less people would notice me. I think it was apart that the strange white lens was no longer different from any one shooting with a black lens, and fit in better. Also from a security point of view, I was hassled less by security (good and bad) for taking professional photos.

After a while I got used to the idea of just keeping my gear under tape, and honestly never liked displaying huge logos on my items. My previous motorcycles were all debadged and stickers removed, car debadged, typically prefer military version of backpacks for less logos. I know some people love branding, I just don't like it. Looking at a Nascar is my nightmare. lol

For thief protection, I used to think it would help but I'm not so sure. I don't want to trust any thing and of course simple tape isn't going to save you if you are taking photos in a bad part of town. What I do noticed is that with my sloppy tape job, very rarely does someone noticed the camera is a new model. Most of the time the casual person will comment "that's really beat up" or "is that a film camera" or "how old is your camera", never "oh wow nice 5d!".

Does this make my camera less desirable to steal? No, but when given a choice between the busted looking camera and a brand new 50D (labeled so clearly by the nice bright red neck strap), I think the choice would be the easy to sell 50D.

Now this also works against me as well. I've noticed that when people notice your camera, they really get out of your way. Throw on a white lens and some branding, people just get out of your way. Also at some sporting events, security will hassle less, really depends.

Speaking on the subject of 3rd world travel. I don't think any amount of tape will help and if I was intending to travel I would buy a camera that I could afford to loose, just keeping the memory card hidden in a jacket pocket.

That just looks like what they do when they show cameras on tv where the logo is not allowed.... I've seen many police shows where the guy wips out a camera on the "steakout" and starts taking pictures of the "perp". I've also noticed apple blocks out their logos in some movies/commercials/et ...

If any of you watch "Flashforward" on ABC you might have caught the nikon body with sigma 70-200 that the guy was using to take pics of secret operation in afghanisan. Off topic, it's always amazed me how much more reach these cameras have on tv. The guy had a 1.5x crop body with a 70-200 In Pitch black arab night and still had enough shutter speed, iso, and reach to get a clear shot of guys walking around with gun at over a half mile away!

yogestee wrote in post #10237296
,,,and you forgot to mention,,butt ugly

Well of course, that goes without saying

I tape over my 20D's to prevent the pop-up flash from being used.

It's funny how everyone automatically label those who tape up their gear as pretentious snobs. I suppose everyone who debadges their car is, too.

toxic wrote in post #10238143
It's funny how everyone automatically label those who tape up their gear as pretentious snobs. I suppose everyone who debadges their car is, too.

It's kind of funny.. I never considered tapping my camera. But recently, people have been coming up to me asking "how do you like.." The tape is starting to look like a good idea, not to avoid theft, but to avoid being annoyed. (maybe that does make me a "pretentious snob" -- I'm okay with that) The people that bug me, I don't think would recognize the camera except by the strap and labels.

My car is de-badged.

By adding tape, all those people asking "how do you like....?" are just going to start saying "what kind of....?" I doubt it will make matters any easier.

Thankfully, nobody ever bothers me when I'm out shooting. Or at least, hasn't yet. I'm sure I'll run into "that guy" eventually.

I doubt they do it for theft reasons.

It's probably a philosophical statement. Maybe they read enough Naomi Klein and let it get to them.

Better question is - WHY does the logo has to be prominent on your camera?

There's no natural law that states that.

tkbslc wrote in post #10234595
Does this thread really even exist?

Nope. I've just stuck some black tape over my monitor to hide the thread. Therefore that doesn't exist anymore.

ukactionsports wrote in post #10238622
Nope. I've just stuck some black tape over my monitor to hide the thread. Therefore that doesn't exist anymore.

I think someone taped over the last part of the last word of the title so we would not recognize the "camera"!