How / why was your camera stolen?

BradS · Sep 15, 2019

It seems like a weird question but I always wonder. Whenever I read a post where somebody mentions, usually in passing, that their kit was stolen, I always wonder, "How?, where?, why?"

I've had stuff stolen - usually when I was careless (e.g. left a sony walkman on hte seat of my car with the windows open and doors unlocked) , once when the garage was forcibly broken into, but never had any photo gear stolen (knock on wood!).

so how,where, why did it happen?

Pioneer · Sep 15, 2019

I was young and naive.

My brand new Minolta SRT101 with lens and case was stolen many, many years ago because I trusted someone I should not have trusted.

My stereo disappeared as well.

I have been a little less trusting since.

Patrick Robert James · Sep 15, 2019

Someone broke into my Jeep about 20ish years ago and stole a Bogen tripod, a Sekonic 508 meter, an expensive radar detector and to top it off, a Holga! Maybe some other stuff too but I don't remember. I think I used to keep a Kodak 2d 8x10 in the back too but they didn't take it.

I don't think people want to say the "how" because, for example, in my case it was pretty simple! Don't want that info getting spread around if you know what I mean.

BradS · Sep 15, 2019

Patrick Robert James said:
Someone broke into my Jeep about 20ish years ago and stole a Bogen tripod, a Sekonic 508 meter, an expensive radar detector and to top it off, a Holga! Maybe some other stuff too but I don't remember. I think I used to keep a Kodak 2d 8x10 in the back too but they didn't take it.

I don't think people want to say the "how" because, for example, in my case it was pretty simple! Don't want that info getting spread around if you know what I mean.

Yeah, I know...it's a akward question to ask and, I am sure, more so to reply to. I think, "broke into my apartment/car" or , "trusted somebody with access to my apartment" is sufficient.

I worked for a professional wedding photographer for a while, my job was simply, "keep an eye on the gear". He had another assistant who performed the usual photo assistant job (reloading Hassy film backs, fussing with lights, holding the reflector, etc...).

Ariston · Sep 15, 2019

I lost an Eos 3 when my home was burglarized. They were lucky that neither me nor my wife were home. We are equipped to handle burglars.

dpurdy · Sep 16, 2019

I lost a Pentax spot meter from my unlocked, untended car.

Chan Tran · Sep 16, 2019

Back in 1984 when I worked as manager for a 1 hour photo finishing store in Northern VA I left my Nikon F2AS with the 28mm f/3.5 lens on my desk and it got stolen. Why? I guess some of the employee wanted the camera or simply hated me.

Sirius Glass · Sep 16, 2019

Chan Tran said:
Back in 1984 when I worked as manager for a 1 hour photo finishing store in Northern VA I left my Nikon F2AS with the 28mm f/3.5 lens on my desk and it got stolen. Why? I guess some of the employee wanted the camera or simply hated me.

Or both [inclusive or]

Chan Tran · Sep 16, 2019

Sirius Glass said:
Or both [inclusive or]

Now I think it's both. I think some of them certainly hated me but if they only hated me they would destroy the camera but not stole it.

R.Gould · Sep 16, 2019

back in 1994 I was with my wife, just picked her up from work, she was a Nurse in the accident and emergency dept, and as it was a lovely warm evening we stopped to look at a sea view when someone collapsed in front of us, and we rushed to see what eas wrong, the man was having a heart attack so while I phoned the ambulance she performed CPR, and saved the guys life, when we got back to the car, a rag top, my Tlr was gone, only a Seagull, but working well,
Richard

Andrew O'Neill · Sep 16, 2019

Some bastards broke into my house while I was in Japan. Used our two vehicles to move the goods. Thankfully insurance replaced everything.

Alan Edward Klein · Sep 16, 2019

Andrew O'Neill said:
Some bastards broke into my house while I was in Japan. Used our two vehicles to move the goods. Thankfully insurance replaced everything.

Did they take the Jeeps too?

mark · Sep 16, 2019

The why is easy. The person who took it was an @&&*^%# with no morals.

I stopped to go to the bathroom at a rest area around midnight. Parked under a street light. My little point and shoot Fuji was in a fanny pack on the floor. Window was broken stuff was grabbed.

neeksgeek · Sep 17, 2019

Never had a camera stolen, perhaps because I’m paranoid about my gear. But, my $600 Specialized Rockhopper bike, which was very expensive by my standards, got taken off my front porch the one day I forgot to lock it up. It was gone within minutes.

guangong · Sep 17, 2019

I never had a camera stolen, but did have a Linhof monopod disappear from a bus full of Leica nuts during a lunch break. However, over the years several friends have suffered loss. One old fried had a Leica M stolen from his car trunk. He was proud of this particular Leica. Of little cash reward for thief because camera had special serial number and engraved dedication because friend was a premier Leica dealer.
Another friend had a case with ALL of his Hasselblad equipment swooped from between his legs while waiting to board a train in Rome.
And me, wife, child and friend with new girlfriend were visiting Bronx Zoo. He placed his camera bag with several Nikons on ground, momentarily forgot about bag while walking a few yards to catch up with us, ran back to get bag. In just a few seconds...bag gone!

Vaughn · Sep 17, 2019

Someone broke into my truck and stole all the 5x7 gear and my Rolleiflex. Insult to injury -- they did not steal the frames print.

It was at a motel in Woodland, CA...in a fit of tiredness I thought it would be safer in there than in the room while we were gone. Lesson learned. With some extra cash, I used the insurance money to buy an 8x10.

Andrew O'Neill · Sep 17, 2019

Alan Edward Klein said:
Did they take the Jeeps too?

Yes, they took both vehicles, which were later recovered. Not jeeps but a van and a small toyota. One of the thieves was a women with a kid. The kid stuck Sesame Street character stickers all over the inside of the passenger window. The woman filled the ashtray with lipstick covered butts. She also left stolen goods in the boot from other jobs. She took all food from the pantry, all my wife's makeup, all my daughter's clothes (she was 3 at the time)... these people really went to town! All together it was close to 100K (my camera and darkroom gear took a big chunk out of that!) If only we had an alarm system then!!

David Lindquist · Sep 17, 2019

Back in the mid-1970's I loaned my then girl friend my Miranda G SLR and Weston Ranger 9 meter along with a sorta nice leather Perrin camera bag. She left the kit in sight in her Pinto station wagon while she was at work, this was in Berkeley CA. Person or persons unknown broke in and took it. Could have been worse, I offered her my M2 Leica but for whatever reason she took the Miranda which by then was excess to my "needs". More sorry about the Weston.

David

bdial · Sep 17, 2019

Way back when, in a foreign land, my housekeeper let a couple of guys into the house who stole my Nikon F and a Rolleiflex belonging to my employer. A very difficult conversation with my boss’s boss and his boss ensued.

David A. Goldfarb · Sep 17, 2019

Mid-1980s our house was robbed as part of a series of robberies of homes of jewelers in our area (my parents' business). They cased the house for weeks calling to figure out when the house was occupied, not saying anything and hanging up. We should have recognized the pattern. First day of school no one was home, and the house was broken into. I was the first one home and saw the mess and thought maybe my little sister had gotten home early and had some kind of tantrum. Then I realized the window was broken, the TV and microwave gone, so I ran to the neighbors' and called the police. If they were hoping to find any jewelry of real value, that was in the store locked in the safe. I had all the boxes and serial numbers of my fairly new Canon A-1 kit, and insurance paid. I still have the New F-1 I got with the insurance money.

Arklatexian · Sep 17, 2019

BradS said:
It seems like a weird question but I always wonder. Whenever I read a post where somebody mentions, usually in passing, that their kit was stolen, I always wonder, "How?, where?, why?"

I've had stuff stolen - usually when I was careless (e.g. left a sony walkman on hte seat of my car with the windows open and doors unlocked) , once when the garage was forcibly broken into, but never had any photo gear stolen (knock on wood!).

so how,where, why did it happen?

Knocking on my head instead of wood, I have never had any photo gear stolen, but I do have ideas about why it might be stolen. If the thieving SOB is not into photography, it might be to resell the gear for just enough to buy a "quick fix" or for other purposes. As soon as it found that all my cameras require film, the equipment would go into the trash. If it is into photography, it would be to buy a "quick fix" plus enough to buy a second one. Another type of thief would steal photo gear that it could not afford but felt like "it was owed the equipment" for some reason or other. In other words, why does anyone steal "anything" these days? Or in the past for that matter.............Regards!

mcfitz · Sep 17, 2019

When the Leica M4P was being sent for revision via courrier... and the darn courrier van was stolen, contents never seen again.

bdial · Sep 17, 2019

OTH, I accidentally left the same Nikon I spoke of earlier on a tour bus in San Francisco when I got dropped off at my hotel. Called them and explained, they contacted the driver and he looped around and got it back to me.

BradS · Sep 17, 2019

bdial said:
OTH, I accidentally left the same Nikon I spoke of earlier on a tour bus in San Francisco when I got dropped off at my hotel. Called them and explained, they contacted the driver and he looped around and got it back to me.

I used to travel to Japan for work.... the trip involved a long train ride out to the country where the factory and office build was. One of my co-workers left his camera on the train once. We told our 'handler' about it as soon as we arrived at the offices. He told us, "No problem". He said that the train would be back tomorrow at the same time. We would just meet it at the station...no problem. Incredibly, the next day, we entered the train and there was the whole kit, sitting in the overhead luggage rack exactly where it was left - apparently, untouched. Later, we were discussing the matter with our Japanese colleagues - they were un-impressed. Their attitude was, yes, of course it was there. To touch it would be dis-honorable, it would bring shame to the family and the and dishonor the ancestors...To them it was a simple matter of "Honor".

benjiboy · Sep 17, 2019

I had a load of Nikon F2 gear burgled from my house during the day when I was at work about thirty years ago, I still try not to think about it because I still find it painful even after all this time because I did without a lot of things to buy the equipment.

How / why was your camera stolen?

BradS

Pioneer

Patrick Robert James

BradS

Ariston

dpurdy

Chan Tran

Sirius Glass

Chan Tran

R.Gould

Andrew O'Neill

Moderator

Alan Edward Klein

mark

neeksgeek

guangong

Vaughn

Andrew O'Neill

Moderator

David Lindquist

bdial

David A. Goldfarb

Moderator

Arklatexian

mcfitz

bdial

BradS

benjiboy

How / why was your camera stolen?

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency