Storing Camera equipment

[david_eddleman]

Last night, taking a mental inventory of all the photographic equipment I have

acquired over the years, I realized I would be royally screwed if my house was ever

burglerized or caught fire. This led me to ask the question "What can I use to protect

my gear from theft and fire damage?"

 

So now I pose the question here. What are you folks doing to protect your gear?

[ardea]

insurance, insurance insurance.

 

Richard

[john_cook1]

First, I made such a big mess that even I can't find anything.

 

Second, I bought a large dog to guard the pile.

 

Last time we had an intruder get past the ADT setup, Chester the springer spaniel chased him head-first out the bathroom window.

 

And then there's the .44 magnum. Living two miles from the Smith & Wesson factory has its perks.

[ralph_barker]

After a friend had his commercial studio cleaned out (they came in through the roof, bypassing the perimeter alarm system), I bought a large safe. Nine hundred pounds, bolted to the floor from the inside. It's the best $1800 insurance policy I've ever purchased. ;-)

[dan n.]

similar to John's tactics I think that burglars always want "fast-in" "fast-out" so making their job harder is the key. I hide everything thru the house, a good alarm system with stickers on all windows and doors...I think that insurance will pay fair market value which is not the value I give to my gear...

 

also I have a Husky and a Pitbull...

 

bow-wow..:-)

[leonard_evens]

If you have a homeowner's insurance policy, you ought to be able to add your photographic equipment as scheduled property for relatively low cost. Years ago, I had some 35 mm equipment stolen by someone who sprung the simple locks I had at the time, and my insurance paid most of the cost of replacing it. I don't think they even raised my rates signficantly after that. Since then I've added dead bolts and an alarm system.

 

It is true on the other hand, that if you keep the insurance long enough, the cost can add up to something approximating the cost of the equipment, if in fact you never make a claim. This is close to true for some equipment I've had insured for 30 years or more. And of course all you get back is the amount you specified (and proved the value of through sales slips or other means). You can if you want to go to the trouble have the equipment appraised by an accepted authority and upgrade the amount of the insurance.

[ed_skibeki]

John:

 

The 250 grain hard cast semi-wadcutters are excellent at turning each room in your house into giant pinhole cameras. One shot per room, though, so you have to stay disciplined. Hollow points just leave a gaping mess.

[kcrisp]

Insurance is probably the best answer other than a monitored alarm with an interior motion detector -- not just perimeter switches. Put something in your alarm system that is one of a kind in terms of activitating it. Also, make your alarm wake-the-dead loud. So loud you can't think when it goes off. With relays and a 12 volt battery you can add a school bell to the siren. Two sirens inside from different manufacturers produce an extra disturbing effect. (An outside siren alone really isn't particularly disturbing when you are inside.) The interior sirens should not be easily accessed, but them behind an HVAC grill so you can't just pull the wires out of them. Make at least one loop of the alarm so it can reset and go off again. Most switches on windows take the loop down once the window is opened, but an interior motion detector will let the loop reset if the person inside stands still for just a couple seconds, then the whole thing can go off again. Pitfalls with insurance? If you're relying on a homeowners' policy and you are a professional photographer in any sense and this is business property you're going to get nothing since you didn't buy a business policy. If you try to hurry them along by saying you need your equipment because you've got this job...you just cooked your goose on the homeowners' policy. (When the claims person slips in a question about what you use the equipment for, feigning interest in what you do, he/she is fishing for a way to deny the whole thing. There is a reason the insurance person is called an ADJUSTER and not a PAYER. Take the hint and don't forget they aren't on your side, their job is to minimize the loss by paying you less or nothing at all. They're not bad people most of the time, but that is their job and don't forget it.) Does the policy have any caps or maximums or limits which would apply to your equipment? Watch for any language having to do with "unscheduled property." Silver flatware has a cap, cash has a cap, jewelry has a cap, firearms sometimes have a cap, do any of those apply to camera stuff? Be sure you have replacement cost coverage not actual cash value or fair market value coverage. The difference between what it would cost you to go buy something new to replace what you lost and its depreciated value can be huge. Have some photos of your gear off site (in case of fire) or receipts and/or a list of model and serial numbers and date and place of purchase for everything you care about so you can prove you had it. Documentation = getting paid quickly. Well, relatively quickly. If it is just a take my word for it claim, then you get put in the same category as the many, many people who inflate their claims, and that slows things down. A gun-type safe or even one of the inexpensive gun cabinets with the round key locks will slow somebody down. If your alarm is going off that can make a big difference. If your insurance policy is premised on your having an alarm you better have one.

[ardea]

Ernie..Is that with or without gas checks?

Richard

[anthony_j._kohler]

The .45 ACP in one nightstand (Silvertips) and the .44 Spl. (also Silvertips) in the other are very comforting, as are two big - and noisy - dogs. But when we had our alarm system put in, we had a sensor put on the door of the storage closet I use for (among other things) all of the camera gear worth mentioning. That and a lock on the door should tend to keep it intact.

 

Side benefit - when we go out of town, the room created by removing whatever photo gear we are taking with us can be used for other items from the house.

 

The big safe is nice, and I keep the guns in it, but it's in the garage. This being Arizona, the garage gets a tad warm in the summer. I figured it was better to keep camera gear where the air conditioning could keep it relatively cool.

 

Tony

[john_cook1]

Dan is right about the snatch-and-grab artists. Many of us have learned the hard way not to prepare for a location shoot by piling up gear just inside the studio door. Someone is sure to help you take it outside.

 

And notice how every old-timer stands inside his gadget bag shoulder strap while shooting?

[Jochen_S]

If you feel married to your stuff engrave your name. And do your best to look always as poor as possible.

[Troll]

Two different burglaries, 20 and 30 years ago respectively, cleaned me out of some really great stuff I had accumulated over the years. Only item I have never been able to replace was a Leica Stemar whose value kept going up faster than I could justify spending. Now, like you, I have again filled my closets and dresser drawers with "neat stuff" which was mostly not too expensive when I bought it, but is now worth a lot of green. Of course I have an alarm system connected directly to the security company. But when I leave on vacation, all the German stuff (Leicas, Linhof, etc) goes to a friend's house into his gun safe. It sounds like both of us need to get rid of a lot of stuff and stop worrying about it.

[neal_shields]

I read an article about making a �security closet� and followed most of the suggestions.

 

Find an interior closet and line it with an extra layer of sheet rock to make it more fire resistant.

 

Install two good dead bolts with reinforced striker plates about 2� apart. I used one. (Medicos and Abaloys can't be picked but what crack head burglar today can pick a lock anyway.)

 

Install pins (screws with the heads cut off) in the hinge side of the door that fit into holes in the jam so that if you take the hinge pins out you still can�t remove the door.

 

Line the inside of the door with steel to keep them from smashing it with sledge hammers.

 

Mine has a burglar alarm switch on the door and is directly in the path of a light beam, I have two sirens and a outside strobe.

 

While not as good as a full fledged safe, it is probably as good or better than the $99.00 gun safes and a whole lot harder to pick up and carry off.

 

P.S. to Anthony

 

I think it is the NRA, that recommends always keeping your guns at least three steps from the bed so that you will be sure to be fully awake before you are fully deadly. Also if you use frangible ammo, you don�t run the risk of shooting through a skinny burglar ( or past if you have neglected to go to the range lately) and into your neighbor�s daughter�s bedroom.

[james_driscoll2]

a note on insurance-

 

if you go the route of having home owners/renters insurance and decide

to get a separate policy for the photo gear (professinal use) try as

best as you can to get the policies from the same company.

 

a photographer I worked for lived and worked out of the same space- he

had separate polices for renting and for his photo gear- both from

diffrent companies.

 

when he was robbed the company covering his renters insurance tried to

say since he worked out of the space that the other insurance company

had to cover it.

 

of course his photo insurance company said since he lived in the

space.....his renters insurance had to cover it.

 

basically-he got boned.

 

after getting two new policies with chubb- he was robbed again and

there was no argument-since both policies were from chubb.

 

really read the fine print- some insurance policies really are great.

one photographer whose studio was on Cedar Street in downtown NYC lost

everything due to dust damage on 9/11. not only did they replace his

equipment, they paid $14,000 in rental fees while he was waiting for

the claim to go through.

 

taylor and taylor in NYC who specializes in insuring photo gear (they

have two people who JUST work on those policies) laughed at me when I

asked if they would do the same, if something similar happened to me.

 

my current renters insurance policy, will not cover any off my

equipment, due to the fact that it is used for professional purposes.

actually, the agent told me even if I wasn't a pro, they wouldn't

cover it do to the fact that it is not considered "consumer"

equipment.

 

thanks

jd

[john_gerndt1]

If you go with insurance yes, be very loud and specific about what you get in writing. It�s all smiles at signing time and see ya later, later. I pack my stuff in paper bags and old tee shirts. They took the shinny stuff they could see last time through. I have no pride, but I have all my cameras.

 

I keep certain kits at my brother�s houses. They �own� these. It adds nothing to their insurance, as insurance will usually cover one or two �family� cameras. I looked into insuring some of my oldest cameras as art objects once. They were willing to but it saved no money. Let go (or move) what you cannot use often and yes; it pays to disguise the good stuff.