need some help insurance water housings and europe

[Piero]

Hi hvx users!!! i need some advice PLEEEEEEEESE!!! been searching for about 2 week and can´t find a way to insure my hvx in europe. I live in Spain Barcelona . I´d like to know if anybody knows any insurance company in USA that would work with europe. Apart from this anyone know if you can insure your camera if you use a water housing. What about a custom made housing ????? Do companies insure this kind of situations? What do surf fotografers or videographers do ? Do they just go on faith?

I did some videos this year in Peru using a helmet camera and my hvx200 the helmet camera was used inside big surf. Im planing on using the hvx this year on a france trip to hossegor, found this guy who could build a custom housing for the hvx beacause this time I ´m planning to use the hvx inside the water .....any sugestions?


You can see my footage all edited up in these links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4apFURWHILU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giuEack29hM&mode=related&search=

this year the idea is to try to get this kind of shots ( i´m pretty sure this is film)
( this video is not mine the water footage is waaaaay better and IMPRESSIVE )
link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb3ogaVB8Ug

the custom made housing is made by this guy he is a relly cool guy check his web site. (Some coments on this as well would be nice)

http://www.sideoff.com/housing/housing_hvx200_inst.html


please feel free to give me any coments or advise on any of the things i´m loosing my mind on. Im really lost and I know someone out there can help I´ve been serching the web like crazy. Thanks again sorry for my bad english!!!! im loosing it through the years.

If you want to see the helmet camera I used for my video you can see a picture of it in my blog in istockphoto

http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=1865112

you need to press the more link on the blog . You can also check the original clips on the portafolio.
Thanks again

[philiefay]

Pretty impressive barrel roll! Not sure you would get any company to give you insurance in the US and if you ever had a claim they would only run you around from piller to post anyway.

I do underwater footage and had a client jump on me from the boat, their scuba tank smashed the housing, I got $600 from the insurance company and it took 12 months.......(5K down the pan)
I dropped another camera in the sand in Kuwait, it was all sealed up and I dropped it changing tapes. I had the top replacement plan from the company it was purchased from (Comet UK) and it transpires that unless it is on a tripod at a perfect tempreture + this and that the policy was useless.

My advice, get good travel insurance and if you manage to get 20% of the value back you will be doing well. Oh, and only tell them what they need to know....IE, I was sitting at a table with the camera in the bag and my mum knocked over the jug of water, it flooded the camera and here is my travel insurance. Oh, and here is the police report also explaining why my Mum was so foolish. Get it!

Obviously, I dont have a good word to say about Insurance companies.....they are snakes!

[Piero]

Hello philiefay
Thanks for the advice looks like I have it really bad. I´ve being searching everywhere and there is nothing I can do. What about some especific surf housings? The other day somebody made a coment that surf fotographers do have some insurance on water housings. I´m looking for any brand that does insure their water housings. Anyways I´ll look for a travel agency for for a trip insurance and do what you told me aswell. Thanks for answering my post And checking my stuff.

[Russell]

Hi Piero,

Some insurance companies offer a "cameraman" policy that specifically covers your equipment, you provide the details, serial numbers and value. The cost is usually a percentage of the value of the equipment, and also depends on the territory that it covers, national or worldwide. I think these policies are more likely to protect you than a travel insurance policy where payouts for equipment are limitted to small amounts

Obviously you would have to check that the coverage extends to surfing or other adventure activities, and maybe be careful how you describe your claim where salty oceans are involved.

[Piero]

Hi Russel thanks for answering my post.
By any chance do you know any insurance company name that has this cameraman policy i´d like to speak to them. Thank for the tip i´ll look in internet for more of this.

[jetaddiction@mac.com]

i have a water housing and a slpash housing for the hvx200. always shooting off a jetski in the surf. works great check it out .pics on the rental equipment of my web site. www.jetaddiction.com (gyro mounts on the bottom)

[Russell]

Hi Piero,

In Australia there are several insurance companies that offer 'cameraman' policies for filming equipment. I would suggest asking local camermen or production companies which insurance providers they use, or find a knowledgable insurance broker. I think my policy cost something like USD$1000 per year for each USD$10,000 value and has worldwide cover.