disguising your gear. do you do it?

i've just recently made a concious decision to make my gear less conspicuous with a view to carrying it around with me almost all the time because i dont like the idea of walking around advertising i'm carrying equipment worth 4 figures in case it attracts the wrong kind of attention.

the first thing i've done is change from a shoulder bag to a backpack type because to me the big square shoulder bags just scream "i'm holding something electronic and valuable", much like carrying a run of the mill laptop bag does. once i'd decided on a bag to fit my needs i then actively sought out a second hand item for two reasons, firstly because it's cheaper but also because it'd look more worn/weathered and not like the contents have been treated with kid gloves the whole time.

upon receiving the bag i was very pleased. it had plenty of marks and scuffs that whilst made it look old and worn didnt actually affect the padding or the effectiveness of the bag itself. others might have grumbled at the non-pristine condition of their purchase but for me it was right on the money.

the one thing that didnt sit right was the lowepro embroidered logo. anyone who knows anything about cameras could guess the contents if they knew about the lowepro brand (like white headphones = ipod, lowepro bag = camera gear). so i took a stanley knife (box cutter to the US members) and cut all the thread along the middle and then roughly scraped as much of the loose thread off with the edge of the blade. the logo is still there feintly (taking the whole thing off would leave holes in the material) but its barely distinguishable as the lowepro logo and makes the bag look much more used and beaten up (like an old school bag i just couldnt throw away after all these years). i did think about covering it with a sticker etc but that would draw attention to the bag and may also look like i'm trying to hide what the bag is.

i think now i'll feel much less concious about carrying a bag around when not shooting as it looks like i could just be carrying my lunch or some books rather than hi-tech, expensive photography equipment. it's also not so touristy as its well used rather than "i bought this last month so i could carry stuff on holiday".

it may sound crazy and paranoid me talking about this and those who just shoot studio/location/wildli​fe stuff probably never have to even think about such things but i think if you live in an urban centre where there is plenty of crime that such measures may be the difference between a mugger choosing you over the guy with the bum-belt (fanny pack to the americans) who looks like he just arrived in town.

so with that said does anyone who lives in a place where its unwise to go showing off your kit when it's not in use do anything to throw wrong'uns off the scent?

Gee, there isn't anything like that around here. I feel badly for you that you have to live in fear like that. If somebody tried to take my stuff, I'd use my 10D like a club.

For me it would be wrong to disguise my gear, but suffering from occasional bouts of mild paranoia I took the best precaution to both my equipment and my paranoia and got insurance for my camera gear. Not sure if UK has same kind, but mine covers any loss. Stolen, fire, drop from 12,000 feet because I was sticking out an airplane door and it slipped out of my hand... all covered. As long as I don't deliberately drop it or smash it (something I am not likely to do). There is the loss to war clause of course, but not likely to worry about that one much.

So if you are paranoid enough to disguise your gear I recommend looking into insurance. On the flip side disguising your gear is cheaper, but if they see it in use it is not going to make much difference to the average criminal.

Still good to keep it somewhat low key.
Just my opinion,

don't get me wrong, it's not that i live in fear but i'm not ignorant either and these things do happen especially around large urban populations where the increase in crime is a byproduct of so many people occupying the same space.

i'll still happily take my camera out and snap away but i'd prefer to be able to choose where and when i show off my kit.

like i said theres plenty of people out there that this won't apply to, i'm merely interested in how those who use their cameras in places which are not so safe, do so without worry of their kit being taken.

I tend to disguise miune if I can since I have been robbed in the past and that was pretty scary. When I have a lot with me it can be pretty hard though.

Talia
15 exposure disposable camera

We're planning on travellng in the near future, doing tourist-type things and knowing full well that theives etc prey on such locations/opportunitie​s, we have taken a few precautions:

1) Generic (although new) backpack bag
2) Generic camera strap - ie no canon/eos/digital logo emblazoned
3) Sigma non-bling lens, as opposed to a white L series

We will be carrying two cameras, the Pro1 as well as the 20D. Needless to say the Pro1 will probably see most of the action, especially in crowded areas unless the shot is very special. Rather paranoid about advertising we're carrying $$$ worth of equipment around.

I think I'm either too ignorant or too good of faith....

I live in a low-crime small town, so I don't worry too much about walking around with a camera. I'm usually just toting the camera by itself, though, and not a whole bagful of gear. If I'm going to go intentionally shoot something, I'll take the bag, but it tends to stay in the car.

Now, up in the "big city", I do worry about the car getting broken into. I've had, at times, both full camera bags (XT+ lenses, 1D + lenses, all accessories like chargers and cables, plus a laptop and gear, plus cell, plus MP3 player, etc.) which adds up to over $10K in gear.

I constantly worry that some thug will wander by when I'm in the store, smash a window and be long gone before anyone can even call the cops.

Fortunately I have the benefit of driving a 25-year-old "Grandma's grocery getter" that even the most hard-up crook wouldn't look at twice. Park a couple spaces down from some guy's Escalade with spinner hubcaps and like a black hole, nefarious types will be drawn there long before they even glance at mine.

Doc.

I think you are very paranoid.
I live in Liverpool. I walk around with my lowepro slingshot on my back and 70-200 f2.8 IS mounted on the 350D with grip, and never had any problems.

well i never bother disguising mine , when i go out i take what i need and use it(thats what its there for) i dont worry too much about being mugged etc (they can have ..ideal upgrade opportunity.lol)first thing i did was insure my equipment,now i can play with it at leisure and go 'almost anywhere' with it.i certainly dont walk round 'looking over my shoulder, all the time, if it ever comes to that its time to quit!!

I fleabayed a used hard case w/ an extending handle. Printed some stickers for it. broken wine glass symbol.
fragile .
glassware samples.
now I can sleep in airports.

I don't disguise my gear, but then again at 6'2", 275 pounds, most lowlife types would be looking for an easier mark than me. That and the fact that I carry a Lowepro Rover Plus AW most of the time, that can be used very well to beat the crap out of somebody trying to take it, makes me feel pretty comfortable.

I regularly walk/cycle through Moss Side (Notorious Manchester district in the 80/90’s)with a Crumpler Bens Pizza or Puppet bag with my gear and I don’t even get look at.

Although that is only during the day.

I'll get a £2.99 use once camera if I'm going to Moss Side.

I live in Tokyo, and I stopped using camera bag specific camera bags for this reason.

I probably wont get mugged in Tokyo, but considering the amount of people into cameras (not so much into photography...sadly) I didnt want to leave my Lowepro or Crumpler bag out of my sight for some stupid reason for a few seconds and have some camera guy steal my entire bag. they'd be pissed later when they only find a 300D, kit lens, and nifty. but still worth a fortune to me