C100: Has Anyone Engraved ID on a 70-200 or Other Expensive Lens?

nedcam

nedcam

Well-known member
First let me say I will NEVER be selling this lens, so please don't bring up "resale value". My heirs be damned...

Just received my 70-200 2.8, love that new lens smell! It's $2700 with the state tax. I've had equipment stolen twice before. Once I got it back from the police and the other time never saw the gear again. The size of this lens and it's lens case screams "STEAL ME PLEASE!!!" (Or maybe that's the Chicagoan in me thinks that?) I want to ruin the re-sale value of it as stolen gear and make it very easy for a busy evidence room technician to contact me, I've seen how cops deal with the situation, they enter serial numbers in a database and that's it.

I am considering taking the 70-200 to the jeweler and having my website (which has my full name) and my cell phone number on the barrel. Has anybody done that before? Anything to look out for? It pays to be paranoid, I often work in tough neighborhoods and crowded public spaces a lot:

http://www.broadcastvideo.com/netpolice.html
 
Wow! Great thought. I didn't consider that. I could not do the website & phone number and just have my PO Box #. Thanks

POST SCRIPT: Ugh...that won't work. I just Googled my PO Box and I come up. Oh well. Saved about $30 not getting the lens engraved?
 
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NEVER, EVER put your address, drivers license on a lens, case, camera tripod or mostly your studio address. At most use your phone number or e-mail. Write down all serial numbers and insure your gear.
 
I think just the website address or first name should be fine. The way social networks are, I won't be surprised that all your addresses can be found by anyone who cares.
 
Too late, I have little silver stickers over EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING. I often work in situations with multiple cameramen and crew members and that's how I'm sure to get my stuff back at wrap. Or a homeowner calls about something found behind the couch (usually a dimmer). They're on every battery, back of my cell phone, did I say everything? My P2 cards and batteries also say "Reward If Returned" just like my custom betacam labels used to say. Anything that could be left on location or accidentally mixed in with rental equipment or inadvertently wrapped in another DP's van, everything has a little NEBS (New England Business Supply) weather proof sticker:

http://www.nebs.com/nebsEcat/Valida...005VT&path=products/product_detail.jsp&pc=368

So, if a thief grabs a camera bag or lens case they will know all about me. Perhaps I might as well engrave the lens. I have had insurance claims before and those stories are for another thread, but it's a LOT cheaper if a cop calls up and says they have my lens at the station, when would I like to pick it up? If this lens wasn't so expensive I wouldn't consider engraving it. Thieves only steal what they can hock and every meth head knows you can easily fence a lens.
 
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Hey Travis,

It was $2500 and then $200 state tax. I did not want the 70-200 and the 24-105 to be used. Those will be my two primary lenses so don't want anyone else's headaches. I will be getting the $500 Canon mail in rebate for having bought it with the purchase of the C100, otherwise I would have considered buying pre-owned. However, for insurance purposes I have to consider the pain of replacement value.
 
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