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Best Ways to Protect Your Camera Gear
After all the horror stories I have read over the past few years about photographers and videographers getting robbed of their equipment, I started to look into how can I protect my gear better. It is sad that we live in a world where you have to worry to take your camera out and use it, as it paints a big target on your back. A videographer was robbed in October 2024 at gun point in a park in Oakland. Always be aware of your surroundings and never leave your gear unattended.
Important Tip
No matter if you have insurance or not. Take pictures and/or note down the serial numbers of all of your gear. Most cameras and lenses have a serial number. Other accessories might have serial numbers as well. You can create a little spreadsheet and log everything there and save it in your cloud. Also notice the purchase date and price and keep a copy of the receipt.
Insurance
One of the best ways to protect your camera gear is with an insurance. There are so many different insurances out there with different coverage options. Check with your insurance agent if there is a good option to insure all your equipment. If you have somewhat expensive gear, it is worth it to have insurance for peace of mind. The options below can still be used in addition to any insurance.
Secure your Camera Bag
A good way to secure your gear at the moment is to use one of the Find My Device networks you are already part of it. Depends if you use Apple, Google or Samsung products. Hide one of the tags which fits your network in your camera bag. Don’t put it where it can be found easily. Put it deep in a pocket, preferable one on the outside of the bag for better connection with nearby devices. I have tags everywhere in my travel gear. Not only in my camera bag, which is part of my carry on, but also in my checked luggage. It helped me out a lot in the past to find lost bags during air travel. Thankfully nothing was stolen yet.
Accessories to secure your camera
There are already a few companies out there who offer products to secure your camera gear.
Quick release plates
Several suppliers offer quick release plates to hide an air tag. This is an easy way to add your camera to Apple’s find my device network. One of the better known manufacturers is Smallrig.
The advantage is, you can also mount these quick release plates on some lenses which have a tripod mount foot and therefore have them tracked as well, not only the camera itself. It is also handy in general so you don’t have to remove the quick release plate from the camera and mount it on the lens just to use it with a tripod. I have every set of gear I would use on a tripod set up with its own quick release plate for quick swapping.
Shoulder Strap
If you don’t use Arca Swiss style quick releases, or no quick releases at all, the plate above won’t work for you. An alternative solution would be getting a shoulder/neck strap with pockets and hide one of the tracking tags in the pockets. If you really want to put some effort in, you can open up the stitching and hide it. But remember you will have to replace the batteries every now and then.
AirCap
Apple AirTag users have the advantage when it comes to hide their AirTags on the camera. A company called Nine-Volt has a product called AirCap. It replaces the factory default camera cap with a custom cap from Nine Volt. This cap has a hidden compartment which can hide an Apple AirTag. It doesn’t look suspicious if you don’t know about it. The cap is available for the mounts of different camera manufacturers, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji and Phase One. However, it only protects your camera when you have the lens removed and use the custom cap. When you have the lens on your camera, you can put the cap in your camera bag and can track your camera bag this way. But it would be easier to just hide an AirTag in the bag itself. So not really greati in that case. However, if they would make caps for mounts on lenses, it would be even better. That way you can keep your spare lenses all secured as well. Thieves might toss the bag or just grab a spare lens and run off. That way you can track it as well.
Conclusion
It is worth spending the little extra effort to secure your gear. It is very important to me, as I travel around the globe and even take pictures in some sketchy areas. Especially with my brand new mirrorless system I just bought, I want to make sure it will last me a long time.
Are you guys using any additional methods to secure your gear?
[Header Image created using Adobe Firefly Image 3]
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.
