F5: STOLEN F5: Please keep an eye out DVXnation!

I'm making no judgement on the OP, different circumstances require different approaches. But since we've started talking about whether to carry on or check gear I did want to add a couple pointers for anyone new to this. Losing gear sucks, and even if you have full insurance and it covers replacements, you're still not shooting until it's replaced and what's that going to cost?
I've always been a believer in carry it on, never leave it for a second, and never leave it in the car. Well, that's not true...I became that way after my gear got stolen out of the car when I went in to use the bathroom. Now I'm fully paranoid with my gear. I've also picked up a few habits that cut my chances of having my gear stolen:
Carry it on the plane. Get a bag that works as a carry on. Refuse to check it if they say they're full. Be a jerk about it if you have to. Don't back down and they'll pull someone else's bag instead. If you wind up on one of those tiny planes with tiny overhead bins, take your camera out and hang it around your neck, put the lenses in your pockets, and juggle the rest of the irreplaceable stuff as you hand over an empty bag to be checked. Bags get misdirected and delayed all the time, not just for nefarious reasons so it's a good idea to carry on enough gear that you can be at least minimally functional when you land.
Get airline credit cards. They automatically get you priority boarding so you can find an empty bin. If you have an issue with the airline, you'll have a little more leverage with them as a cardholder. The perks can be nice too, like how my United card also gets me free checked bags and a couple first class lounge passes.
Another common theft point is hotel rooms. If you leave your gear in the room put the Do Not Disturb sign on the doorknob and leave a light on. You'll have to request clean towels, but the casual hotel burglar will pass by your room rather than take the risk that someone is in there.
Never leave your stuff in a car, and especially in a rental car. Even locked. Even in a monitored lot. Cars get broken into like you wouldn't believe. Some cities that look all nice and pleasant with statistically low crime rates are hotbeds for car prowls. Hawaii and Seattle come to mind. If it's a lot of gear you either leave someone in the car, or you take it out. No exceptions. My crew grumbles about this one, but that's the deal. I know of enough crews that were cleaned out this way to equip an entire TV station with stolen gear.
On bigger jobs the cards and media can be a big risk point too. Back it up and split it up. Better still is to fedex copies back to the studio, so even if you run into a natural disaster that wipes out your gear, you still have a safe copy of your work and can get paid for the job.
 
Nate Weaver said:
It's not always do-able to carry onboard the body and all expensive/non-replaceable stuff.

Between body/lenses, laptop, media, drives, backup drives...

Once on a trip to New York I had to put the laptop in my suitcase because I just wasn't going to be able to get on the plane otherwise. Did everything I could to protect it in the bag. The trip more or less killed it, got squeezed by heavy bags even though it was in a hard sleeve and had 5 inches of padding all around.


It's always smart to bring it on, but also not always possible!
Click to expand...

I quoted this because this is how it is. Unfortunately, I was traveling alone with 7 cases of gear and I couldn't take everything important. Yes. In the past, usually when I travel with others, someone will take the body in a smaller body case if it's a small camera. We don't carry on Alexa's and the such, at least not my crews. We rented this particular body from a personal owner from whom I picked up the camera on the way to the airport and his case he provided for the camera body was much larger than carry-on size. It was a decently padded case and my mindset/piorities were safety first and not theft. I, for some reason, had a false sense of security from shipping camera gear 100x before and never having a disappeaerance.

To my credit, and unfortunately for the camera owner, I chose to carry on a 7-set of Cooke lenses. I did that because the lenses, in my opinion, were more prone to shipping damage and breakage, given the nature of their precision optics and being made of small moving parts and glass... (and the case for them isn't as well protected as the camera's was). On an unrelated note, not invovled with my decision making process, they are also worth about 3x the cost of an F5 and can, at times, have an extremely long wait time to buy, as most cine lenses do. Who's to say they wouldn't have been stolen? It's a screwed up game of should have/ could have/ what if. Ya know?

I also ship cameras and lenses all the time. We ship large cine packages all across the country and when I'm lucky, sometimes the world. Although I always have gear safety in mind, shipping is not unusual and since I've never had anything stolen before (definately had things broken in shipping) my mind was not as concerned with what looked attractive to steal. Unfortunately in this case, I chose to protect what I thought was most prone to damage and the camera was left to ship in it's case.

I don't want to get into a debate with others with should have/ shouldn't have. In the immediate future, I will likely begin to worry about any piece of gear I ship. I'm not sure if I'll always be able to carry on everything of importance... If I have the body, what if they lose lenses? If I have body and lenses, what if they lose the batteries? If I have lenses, camera, batteries, media, etc... what if they lose the tripod? Sure replacement values differ, but if you are shooting the next day in a remote location, any of these items can sink your shoot, despite the cost.

The good news was we found a replacement camera at 9:30pm the night before the shoot and we shot the commercial.

Thanks for all the comments and I hope this thread just can serve as a notice to keep an eye out.
 
Last edited:
BlackLegSanji said:
Someone is selling a F5 body on eBay with vague description (of all the nice things about the F5 he chose to put the frame rates and connection types in it!) and lacking in accessories (eg. no batteries, I have never seen anyone selling a legitimate camera without a battery). Auction was put up 2 days ago, too.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-CineAl...rofessional_Video_Cameras&hash=item3cd7949a64
Click to expand...

Thank you. This does not seem like it for some minor detailed reasons, But good looking out and it's these kinds of posts that make these types of threads work! Thanks everyone.

On another note, I found this that happened not too long ago. Sometimes it can just get worse: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/2...from-dumb-and-dumber-to-film-crew-in-georgia/
 
Last edited:
Is there any point in stuffing Pelican cases inside cheap looking luggage cases? So from the outside the bags don't look any different than any other piece of luggage.

I did this once for a photo shoot in Mexico, back in the late 90's, and everything came through unharmed. ( everything I shoot these days is local )
 
TheDingo said:
Is there any point in stuffing Pelican cases inside cheap looking luggage cases? So from the outside the bags don't look any different than any other piece of luggage.

I did this once for a photo shoot in Mexico, back in the late 90's, and everything came through unharmed. ( everything I shoot these days is local )
Click to expand...

Not much help these days because many of the bags get x-rayed, opened and searched. Unfortunately at airports some baggage handlers and TSA can be the problem rather than the solution.
 
Doug Jensen said:
I always carry the camera onboard with everything I need to shoot. Not just for security, but also in case I do want to shoot anything. I can carry my F55 with LCD VF, battery, rods, one lens, 17" Mac Book Pro, iPad, and quite a bit of other stuff in one of my Cinebags packpacks. Yeah, it's as heavy as a sack of wet cement, but it's easy to carry on my back or slung over the shoulder and much smaller than a roller bag.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/804692-REG/CineBags_CB_25B_CB_25B_Revolution_Backpack.html
Click to expand...
Doug: what is your backup plan for when you arrive at the gate, and find your big jet has been replaced with a regional jet and its 8-inch wide overhead slots? Will that fit under the seat?
 
captslomo said:
Doug: what is your backup plan for when you arrive at the gate, and find your big jet has been replaced with a regional jet and its 8-inch wide overhead slots? Will that fit under the seat?
Click to expand...

1. I'm sure the backpack would fit under the seat, although I have never had to put anything under my seat on any flight my entire life so I don't for sure.

2. I always choose flights with scheduled aircraft that could not possibly be changed out for a puddle jumper at the last minute. If a client is making reservations for me, they are informed of this, and other requirements for my travel.

3. I fly Southwest 99% of the time domestically which guarantees that the plane will be a 737 with plenty of space. And for an extra $12.00 I'm guaranteed to board in the "A" group and have my choice of almost any seat on the plane with an empty overhead bin right above my head. Also, Southwest allows the first two bags for free . . . at least for now.
 
brad smith said:
You could try this....

http://www.thetileapp.com/
Click to expand...

I've been waiting for this. My plan is to sew a few of these inside my camera bags so that they can't easily be spotted and removed.
It would be nice if the camera companies would include this type of tracker on their more expensive cameras, kind of like how Apple has integrated Find my Phone into their products. I know the NYPD uses it a lot to catch iPhone thieves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top