Do you let friends and family hold/shoot your camera?

MY WIFE: "Can I see your Camera"?
ME: "Sure, I can't stop you from looking at it"


j/k....LOL

dpastern wrote in post #2445313
What are family and Friends?

Dave

apparently to some people they aren't the same as how I define those terms...people I love and trust...with much more than a tangible item.

but anyway, I was hired to shoot a portrait of a 4 year old for a Christmas card a few weeks ago. The little girl wanted to take a picture of her mommy with my 5D, 24-70 and 580ex attached(for use as a IR master only...I promise!) and I let her...no big deal. What is that? $4600 worth? It made her day and she doesn't have a clue how much it cost. Cooperation is priceless with children! I did have a firm grip on my neck strap (POTN neckstrap...btw...see the link up there^) so that if she dropped it, it wouldn't hit the ground.

I wouldn't make such a fuss...and I certainly wouldn't sabotage someone's effort. remember, it's what you do when no one is looking that really defines your character.

I really don't have a problem letting others shoot with my 30D or 10D.
If I didn't then I'd never be in any pictures!

I don't ming letting the ladies play with it. .....did I just say that out loud?

Photolistic wrote in post #2444984
Honestly 99% of the time that this happens we are in a bar scene and have been drinking. I just do not want my friends handling my camera. If my camera is going to be dropped its going to be by me. I have had friends come up to me asking if I can teach them how to take good pictures I and I will sit down with them and teach them all the basics hoping that they will get interested enough to buy a 300D or 350D. But when we are at a club or bar I am the only one that will be touching my camera.

Why would you have a expensive camera in a club or bar?


I just tell friends/family, use the neckstrap. No reason to be an a** about it.

i let people use my camera, but most of the time, the pictures are out of focus. i guess people don't understand that the flashing red dot in the center of the viewfinder is the autofocus point. it's really beyond my knowledge...lol

ill let people play around with it, though largely depending on how much alcohol consumption has taken place. i think most people know that i blew a sh*t ton of money on my gear, and they are very careful not to drop it. most of the shots are completely useless and OOF, but thats what digital is for. When i shot with my old ELAN 7, i was actually more protective because i didnt want people wasting my expensive film.
Messing with them might be a tad mean, but i do the same thing.. whenever people grab the camera and try to look at the screen to see what they are shooting and say that it 'doesnt work', i usually say that they messed it up and owe me a lot of money. i like being a dick though

yeah i don't mind letting people hold or check out my camera, but i always make sure that i put the neck strap over their head or arm first before handing it over - the best way to protect my equipment from accidental damage and to protect THEM from having to pay THOUSDANDs if they dropped and broke the camera+lens.

however, i don't like to lend my stuff to others, not even lenses, mostly because of a very bad experience from awhile back when I lent my camera + lenses to a friend of mine, just to see some scratches on the lens barrel and the camera body and smudges all over the front glass element when i got them back - some people just dno't care when the stuff is not theirs, they just don't take good care of it anyway.

but yeah, i can understand why someone wouldn't let others touch their camera equipment, i mean, you wouldn't let someone test drive your 6-speed corvette when they don't know how to drive stick and have never been into a sports car before, right?

the only people i let handle my gear is people i know will pay me back in full for anything they break.

I've let halfway drunk friends (but never strangers), sober strangers, family (including my 2 year old nephew), even my mailman handle my camera. Doesn't matter what lens, flash, etc is attached. Some people want to know what it feels like and I let them (handing them a business card afterwards ). My bro in law likes to shoot with it even though he has no idea what he's doing. My mother and sister will hold it for me - reluctantly - cradling it like a baby the whole time.

That said - I don't lend it out. I'm always in eyesight.

cdi-ink.com wrote in post #2445666
...My mother and sister will hold it for me - reluctantly - cradling it like a baby the whole time.

you're lucky, they probably know how precious the gear is to you and how much you've spent on it - most people have NO IDEA how expensive some of this stuff is and think that a few hundred bucks should cover it if something unfortunate should happen.

Nope, but then I'm building a business on them plus I don't have any straps on them to hold on to. Can't stand them. The risk is higher but it feels so nice to hold a camera with nothing dangling down from it. Especially when it's in the flash bracket.

liza wrote in post #2445335
Not usually, since I make a good part of my living with my cameras and can't afford to have them damaged. I do allow my younger son to use my 10D, as he is quite talented photographically and knows how to use the camera. But I always put the strap around his neck and monitor him while he uses it. If my friends want to use a camera, I'll hand them my Kodak point and shoot!

If you're making a "good part" of your living from photography, you should

A) Have it insured,
B) Have backup(s),
C) Have a cash stash to replace it quickly

Not letting others fondle your goods doesn't guarantee it won't bust.

Bonjour43ma wrote in post #2445672
you're lucky, they probably know how precious the gear is to you and how much you've spent on it - most people have NO IDEA how expensive some of this stuff is and think that a few hundred bucks should cover it if something unfortunate should happen.

Yeah in some ways I am. Took awhile to get them to even agree to hold it when I need 'em to though. I'm more "careless" than anyone I've ever handed my camera to has proven themselves.

Anyone I trust is more then free to use my camera. I'm a kid, so when a stranger comes up and asks, there is no way I will let them because they could easily just run off with it thinking "ah, he's just a kid, what's he going to do", but friends and family, they are free to use it as long as they leave the lens on, wear the neck strap, and don't touch the lens or do anything stupid.