My Hasselblad gear got stolen

[kornelius_j._fleischer]

A few days ago much of my Hasselblad gear got stolen from my car (and

the car got damaged). What should I do in order to make it more

difficult for the criminals to sell the stuff and maybe to get some

of it back?

 

This is the gear which got stolen:

 

In a Tenba photo bag:

 

Camera Hasselblad 201 F # 16ET10150

 

Magazine A 12 # 30ET16922

 

Magazine A 12 # RV3197355

 

ProShade with Mask for 250 mm

 

Polfilter 60

 

Lens Zeiss Planar 2,8/80 CF # 7 517 646

 

Zeiss Distagon 3,5/60 CF # 7 999 623

 

Zeiss Superachromat 5,6/250 CFi # 8 847 044

 

Sony digital camera Cyber-Shot F-717, # 172 4060

 

One Hasselblad magazine contained a Velvia 100 F, the other magazine

contained a Astia 100 F. On both films I had test shots for film

resolving power evaluation - to be published in Zeiss Camera Lens

News - and photos of Oberkochen village with the Zeiss factory for

use on the Zeiss photo website.

 

Thank you in advance for suggestions and help.

[daniel_cytron]

Hit the local pawn shops. Give them the info and offer a little reward if they find your stuff. Follow up in about a month to see if you see your stuff for sale anyway.

 

Got my Minolta 7000i back this way.

 

Check your homeowner's insurance. It should be covered.

[erikj]

wow, thats a lot of great stuff, my heart goes out to you. If you have homeowners or renter insurance it should cover it like the last guy says.

[david_goldfarb]

My sympathies.

 

When I had equipment stolen some years ago in a house burglary, the police were very happy to have my serial number list. They caught the burglars, though the cameras were long gone by then. Fortunately it was all listed on our homeowner's policy and was covered.

 

Do a google search on "stolen equipment registry" and you should find a few places to list the equipment, though I don't know how much that really helps. I'd imagine that only very conscientious dealers would check such listings, and the thieves are selling to a lower class of buyer.

[_________1]

I am sorry to learn of this. They were stolen in Germany, I presume? I'd call around pawnshops and used camera shops. I'd also keep an eye peeled on Ebay.de.

[dick roadnight cotswolds]

Does anybody know of a decent (UK) insurance company that will cover 3 or 4 times this value of kit in an unattended car?

[stephen_w.]

I didn't see many "pawn" shops anywhere in Europe, second hand, yes.

 

Sorry for the loss. Car insurance companies (USA) don't gererally cover theft from a car.

 

Why did you leave it in the car?

 

I lived in Chicago and left my tool box in the car; parked far from apt., it was snowing...someone stole it...full of Snap-On tools accumulated over the years (second hand)...all has SW hand engraved on them...yeah right, like I'm ever going to see tham again.

[art_haykin]

Camera gear is among the highest targeted for theft in all of Christendom as the items are small, usually valuable, and easy to pass on for pennies on the dollar. Your stuff has probably changed hands several times by now. There's a bitter lesson here and I feel your pain, but next time be more careful and/or get all-risk coverage. Recording serial numbers certainly is a plus, but it's no guaranty of getting your stuff back. Report it to the police. When I was in business years ago, I was offered hot goods nearly every day, and I did my best to report the people, but it seldom worked. They simply moved too quickly, and the volume of ALL stolen goods is simply overwhelming. In L.A., they had what they called "The Pawn Broker's Rule" wherein a dealer had to hold used camera gear bought outright or taken in trade for 30 days, and report the numbers. As a consequence, the person would not be paid until the stuff cleared. In the U.S., a car is stolen every 45 seconds or so, and in spite of being large and with multiple VIN tags located all over the place, only about half are ever recovered in any kind of shape.

[keith_laban]

Kornelius<p>My heart really goes out to you. I do hope you manage to recover your equipment.<p>Dick<p>I use Golden Valley Insurance Services. I believe their cover includes payment of 80% of the value of camera equipment stolen from the locked boot of an unattended car.<p>Telephone 01981-240536 or 241062<p>I recently had my own car broken into whilst I was on a shoot. Luckily I had taken all the equipment with me, so the buggers left empty handed. Mind you it was still quite a shock to get back to the car and find glass everywhere and many scratches to the paintwork.<p>I guess there really is no substitute for a good insurance policy.

[barney]

Quote: " I feel your Pain". All come on...How in the devil can you feel someone's Pain, and the guy doesn't need a lecture!!

 

Barney

[Niels - NHSN]

As David suggests: Register your loss online on a site which is indexed by the search engines eg.: http://www.photo.net/registry/.

 

I personally always do a serial# search on the net before i commit to purchase secondhand equipment, hopefully the buyer of your equipment will do the same.

[oskar_ojala]

Very unpleasant. As noted above, try to put the serial # list on the web and give it to photodealers in the area (and watch ebay&similar auction sites). There's a slim chance that you can get your gear back, but most criminals aren't very smart so there's still hope.

 

Hope your insurance covers this.

[nick_wilson2]

My sympathies, Kornelius.

 

A happier tale with a point is that I had 'blad camera gear stolen from my car in a small coastal town in Australia.

 

I kept ringing the contact police officer, but he was pretty useless. By chance, I spoke to another individual (Nathan) who was more interested.

 

I impressed upon him the idea that any 'blad gear appearing in the area was worth checking out. Anyway, he heard a whisper, talked his way into a house and recovered my gear. He got an arrest and I got my stuff back.

 

The thief had not been able to sell it, as it was too unusual. It MIGHT be the same for Kornelius. This might have been easier because it was the country, not the big city (both to get the police interested and because there are few outlets for stolen strange cameras), although the same might be case IF you get a sympathetic individual in the police.

 

Other than that, just try all outlets (classified, online, dealers). In Australia, at least, all second hand dealers, pawn shops etc have to register all purchases, see id from sellers (incredibly, many crims give their real details!) and hold items in escrow for a time.

 

Gives one a chance to check as many dealers as possible. A lot of leg/phone work, but the rewards are great. The same in Germany?

[art_haykin]

Barney Vauclain: You're all heart...except for your mouth.

[bobar57]

My symphathy. I suffered from the same vandalism a couple of months ago.In the Metro-Rail parking lot the trunk of my car was opened, there was all my Nikon gear in a F2 Domke bag and a tripod. My car tag was also stolen.

My recomendation, file a police report, give all details and serial numbers if you have them, get later a copy of that report. Keep and eye on EBay. I believe there is a website where you can post your photo equipment stolen, besides in this one.

I don't know how things work in UK, but here if you have Homeowner or Renter Insurance against thief in your house or apartment, it covers also your car and any property inside it.It's not the car insurance company,they don't care.

Here the pawnshops are required to fill a form ,get an ID and make sign the person selling or pawning the goods(I believe when the value is high or the goods are items of high risk of theft, and firearms. Check on that too.

Unfortunatelly I live in a city where the crime is not so low and the Police has more serious problems in their hands, so it nevers appeared.

Part was my fault, I live in a building complex and certain kind of people hang around at night, the photo equipment was in the trunk(did I mention I'm stupid?)and a few months ago one of the keys of the car broke while openning the trunk and I never fixed it or took out the piece remainning. The police officer that filed the report showed me in 2 seconds how these criminals open a trunk like mine: a screwdriver or a Leatherman plier(he used one0..grab the end of the broken key , twist to open and voila!...My guest is that some of the not so good element around the building had already watched me with my gear and bag and waited for an oportunity, the Metro-Rail station is only two blocks away.

I hope next time(if any) they will find me too...they will taste my S&W .38 Special.

[godfrey]

Sadly, the only sure way to prevent equipment from being stolen out of a car is to

never leave it in a car.

 

Godfrey

[peter_smith11]

As a former insurance loss adjuster I can tell you that like homes, cars fitted with alarms and signage have a lower rate of breakin.

[edward_burlew]

ths s 20-0 hndsight but this is what I do. have locking haliburton cases and on each one I put a "U" bolt near the handle It really looks original, then I run a Krytonite cable to a seat support oe in the trunk to a hinge,basically any secure place. The camras ar kept in there locked, I do not trust the plastic handles. this deters only the smash and grab but that is the most prevalent theif. I have had this tested by a smash and grab theif and I stillhave those cameras> I use it the same way at home too.

 

I do hope Kornelius gets the cameras back.

[allan_yates]

Sorry to hear of your loss, Kornelius - a bitter lesson indeed. I have in the past had one hard and fast rule: NEVER turn your back on your photo gear. I have gone soft lately though, leaving gear in the car (locked, out of sight and in a busy area only). I have been fortunate so far. Your post serves as a wake-up call to us all. One of life's hard truths is that for every one of us who have skimped and scraped for years to put together a photographic kit that gives us the flexibility to pursue our profession, passion or hobby, there are thousands of scumbags out there just waiting for the chance to take it all from you. Don't give them the chance!

[allan_yates]

ATTN. MR. ARMAS: I commend you as your heart is in the right place. If I may, I would like to recommend an equipment upgrade to something in a nice .45ACP, perhaps a Glock stoked with Cor-Bon or Hydra-Shock hollowpoints...