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Ways and Ideas How Camera Manufacturer Can Improve Theft Protection
I just invested a lot of money in upgrading my camera equipment. I upgraded to the amazing Canon EOS R5 Mk II and a few new RF lenses. After reading horror stories of photographers and videographers getting robbed of their gear, I put some thought into what I can do to protect my camera. Theft protection is a hot topic with all the new and also expensive gear coming out and photography and videography becoming a big interest again.
We as photographers want to safeguard our gear and make sure we are not a target for thieves. Here a few ideas I have how manufacturers can help owners safeguard their gear and increase theft protection. Once they figure out, once they stole a camera they can neither use or sell it, theft would go down. There is no 100% safe way to protect theft, but this way photographers won’t carry a bullseye anymore on their back.
My ideas are based on my new Canon camera but I am sure lots of these things would translate over to other manufacturers and can be adapted.
Integration into Find my Device Networks
My Canon R5 never turns off completely it is always in a low-power standby mode and Bluetooth is on. When I open the Canon Connect app on my smartphone I can connect to my camera but when I try to use features it tells me the camera is turned off. Totally fine but this would be a great way to integrate the Bluetooth into the Find My Device networks of the big smartphone manufacturers out there – like Apple’s Find My network, Google’s Find My Device and Samsung’s SmartThings Find. At least support Apple’s and Google’s network as owners of Samsung devices can also join Google’s network simultaneously.
Since all these networks are based on Bluetooth, it shouldn’t be a big issue to integrate it into these networks. Of course, give the owner of the camera the option to do so. Also it will be interesting to see if Apple would be open to this at last.
But now you ask, what if the thief just removes the battery, it can’t be found anymore. That is correct, but what does the camera than do for the thief? Nothing, it can’t be used by the thief nor can it be sold because as soon someone turns it back on, it will connect back to the network and you can track it. Of course there are some slight exclusions, if you need to steal a camera for a SOLO expedition to the arctic or some other place where you won’t encounter any technology.
Next you might ask, what if the thief just turns off Bluetooth to prevent the camera to connect to these networks? Well, here comes my second idea.
Integrate a PIN
To deactivate the Bluetooth or put it into airplane mode, you need to enter a PIN number which was set up by the owner previously. Additionally give us options how often the camera would ask for the PIN. A couple of options could be…
- Every time you turn it on
- Once a day, maybe at a fixed or adjustable time
- A user set-able time interval. This way the owner can set up to get asked for the PIN every few hours.
Serial# Database
Another idea would be a general database or at least a manufacturer specific database, where people can register their product’s serial numbers for theft protection. People then can then search and see if the cheap brand new lens they just found at a swap meet is legit and not stolen. Best would be a general database so it is easier to search. Owners of gear can then flag their gear as stolen on the website and other people will immediately know that it is stolen. Maybe have a link to the rightful owner there or a way to contact law enforcement as nobody should confront thieves directly. Of course privacy concerns have to be addressed and maybe not everyone wants to register their serial numbers in a database.
Maybe there is already something like this out there, but I haven’t found it yet. If you know of a service like this, let me know please.
Currently available solutions to protect your gear
In a previous post I described ways on how you can start to protect your gear from theft and loss. Some of these tips help you also when your gear gets misplaced during travel by airlines or other entities involved.
Conclusion
All these features for theft protection are already in all of our smartphones and other devices, why not extending it to our camera gear. I know the market of cameras compared to smartphones is rather small, but devices cost multiple times as much as a new phone. Pretty much every person has a smartphone but the percentage of these people who also own dedicated cameras is rather small and even smaller if it comes to expensive professional camera gear. Many of the options could also be expanded to include expensive accessories like lenses.
Collaboration between all manufacturers
As mentioned, my ideas are based on my new Canon camera but it would be great if all the big camera manufacturers would work together and build an open standard for this safety features. It shouldn’t be a competition but rather be a great collaboration between everyone even the community if they have great additional ideas how to protect our gear.
[Header Image generated with Adobe Firefly]
Peter is an award-winning photographer who travels all over the world to capture the beauty of our planet as well as the achievements of humanity. Follow Peter on his travel blog Gate to Adventures for more amazing places to go and explore.
