How Do you Secure Expensive Camera Gear in Your Car while Travelling?

[Scott Brady]

I use a Tuffy box in most of the vehicles, and otherwise ensure that the gear is in more of a plain canvas backpack with a padded insert. Walking around with a Lowe Pro bag just screams steal me IMHO

 

[Scott Brady]

I agree with W-Utah, Insur it. I can't tell you how many times I've recounted the time I missed an amazing black bear because my gear was too secure. Yet when my 400mm f2.8 tipped over and broke I only cared about the repair time.

The only challenge with the insurance approach, is how do you replace the gear in Lesotho or Honduras? Once we leave the developed world, replacement is so difficult, and you often lose the images on the card in the camera. I do insure all of my kit, but watch it like a mamma bear otherwise. Frequent backups and keeping the second camera in a separate bag really seems to work. I run three kits total, with the third being something compact, but adequate like a Fuji X20. I just take the little backpack with primary body/lens everywhere with me, even to dinner, etc. Then is stash the second kit in my clothing duffle, often in the laundry sack. The compact camera stays in a pocket. Then backups are spread around too, and we always do four full copies. One on the cards (I never erase cards until after the trip), one in the camera bag, one in the truck and one with another team member. One backup is on thunderbolt solid state drives and the other two are on cheaper WD 3.0 in protective cases. Seems like overkill, but I would rather have a truck stolen, then lose the (photographic) memories

This is the backpack I use, and with a padded insert from a Thule camera bag

 

[haven]

"I do insure all of my kit, but watch it like a mamma bear otherwise"

Sage advice. Once upon a time, I met fellow travelers at the Lima, Peru airport. While we were standing in a circle, talking, one fellow lowered his camera bag down to the floor. Somehow, a thief managed to snatch the bag, literally out from under our noses. (I think someone staged a distraction a short distance away, drawing our attention for a split second.) And this was inside the airport proper, which has controlled access.

"backups are spread around too"
This is essential. I've seen bags containing camera gear fly off the roof of transports, fall overboard when a motorized dugout hit a submerged rock, and so on. Best not to have all the eggs in one basket.

 

[ripperj]

Basically all you can protect against is the quick smash and grab type stuff, there is absolutely no point in trying to make an armored car out of the vehicle. If someone knows you have it, and really wants it, there are tons of portable tools that will cut thru anything on the car.
You really think $250 is too spendy to protect 12 grand?

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[Photomike]

Basically all you can protect against is the quick smash and grab type stuff, there is absolutely no point in trying to make an armored car out of the vehicle. If someone knows you have it, and really wants it, there are tons of portable tools that will cut thru anything on the car.
You really think $250 is too spendy to protect 12 grand?

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As already said there is only so much that you can do. I carry a ton of gear (some days my entire studio plus an extra one or two) and all I do is try and pack so that things are not noticeable, I try not to show off the gear when shooting and if possible I try to leave my vehicle in public when not near it.

Years ago we had a family friend that traveled the country giving talks for Wycliffe Bible Translators, he carried a nice multi projector set up and sound equipment in his vehicle. Told us one day that he had been robbed so many times that he gave up counting. Then he got a brain storm - so he went to a Salvation Army Store and asked for the oldest most beat up suitcases that they had. He then packed all the gear in these and put in his car, after a while he even started to leave his car unlocked as he had a older beat up car. He was never robbed again, people just do not see the use of trying to steal old stuff.

Same thing about camera bags, any patches or names on the bag and you are advertising to the thieves. Even if the bag is newer this is saying something, so get some old ripped and dirty camera bags and use these when you are away from the vehicle.

I see a lot of guys walking down a trail or a street with a 300 2.8 mounted on a $8000 camera body and flashing it like they want to be seen. The only people that notice are other photographers and thieves so put the gear in a pack and carry it there.

If you are having to leave a vehicle for a while ask at the local police station or fire station if you can park there (yah some countries it does not work well at). Or in a lot next to a trail starting point, not at the back of the lot or in the bush.

 

[photo_i]

Walking around with a Lowe Pro bag just screams steal me IMHO

I have an old Orion LowePro that looks just like a backpack (and just as beat up and dirty ).

 

[fike]

Yes, yes...insurance. I mentioned that upfront.

I think driving a Subaru is one key step in being low-profile. I also don't carry photo backpacks. I prefer Osprey packs with smaller photo bags inside.

...BUT...

When you are out taking pictures with a 300 f/2.8 lens, you are not low-profile. There is no way around it. Everyone will notice that big-bad lens including bad people.

So, I want some additional security to hopefully prevent an easy smash and grab...which is really the only kind of theft that you can hope to deter. I think I have settled on a moderate sized pelican case locked shut with padlocks and locked to the car a cable that. What I can't find out is whether a pelican case can survive an attack from an ax or crowbar. In the scenario where there is a smash and grab, those would be preferred tools. If a pelican case will crack open with those sorts of basic tools, then I am not sure it is worth the bother. They list a bunch of certifications about durability, but those are about things like dropping from 1 meter or water-proofness, or being able to suspend by handles. There is nothing mentioned about hitting it with a large instrument of destruction.

 

[photo_i]

When you are out taking pictures with a 300 f/2.8 lens, you are not low-profile. There is no way around it. Everyone will notice that big-bad lens including bad people.

And there is no way to stop a determined thief - if somebody wants to steal smith they will. The only thing that I really worry about is the information on my cards/hard drives, because that is irreplaceable. Hardware is.

 

[haven]

Just because I didn't have my prune juice this morning:

Robbery is theft using violence or threat of violence against the victim. The victim has to be present to be robbed. If the perpetrator has a weapon, it's classed as armed robbery.

Burglary is theft after the perpetrator enters a building or vehicle without permission. In most cases, the victim is not present.

So when someone steals something out of your vehicle, it's a burglary unless you are present and threatened during the crime.

 

[Photomike]

Yes, yes...insurance. I mentioned that upfront.

I think driving a Subaru is one key step in being low-profile. I also don't carry photo backpacks. I prefer Osprey packs with smaller photo bags inside.

...BUT...

When you are out taking pictures with a 300 f/2.8 lens, you are not low-profile. There is no way around it. Everyone will notice that big-bad lens including bad people.

So, I want some additional security to hopefully prevent an easy smash and grab...which is really the only kind of theft that you can hope to deter. I think I have settled on a moderate sized pelican case locked shut with padlocks and locked to the car a cable that. What I can't find out is whether a pelican case can survive an attack from an ax or crowbar. In the scenario where there is a smash and grab, those would be preferred tools. If a pelican case will crack open with those sorts of basic tools, then I am not sure it is worth the bother. They list a bunch of certifications about durability, but those are about things like dropping from 1 meter or water-proofness, or being able to suspend by handles. There is nothing mentioned about hitting it with a large instrument of destruction.

I think the weak point more than the cases will be the tie down to the vehicle. Most people will take the entire case and worry about opening later, they will look less like thieves if they are just walking down a street with a case, than with pockets stuffed with gear. If they cannot open it later you still will be without the gear.

 

[fike]

I think the weak point more than the cases will be the tie down to the vehicle. Most people will take the entire case and worry about opening later, they will look less like thieves if they are just walking down a street with a case, than with pockets stuffed with gear. If they cannot open it later you still will be without the gear.

I was considering cable-locking it down to the car's frame.

 

[fike]

And there is no way to stop a determined thief - if somebody wants to steal smith they will. The only thing that I really worry about is the information on my cards/hard drives, because that is irreplaceable. Hardware is.

Not to pick on you, Photo i, but yes of course a determined pink panther thief will get anything they really want. I am not concerned with that relatively rare species of thief. I am concerned with the meth-addicted scumbag with an ax who smashes out my window and reaches for expensive camera gear.

Most of us park in remote places and go for long hikes. Sometimes crummy people are on the prowl for easy targets. I don't want to be an EASY target. I want them to have to work for it. Again, I have insurance. I just don't want to lose my camera because as soon as someone steals my $10K super-telephoto lens, I know that I am going to see a black panther battling a polar bear with a rainbow in the sky and golden eagle flying overhead. It always happens that way.

What happens when you take an ax to a pelican 1600 series case?

 

[Photomike]

I was considering cable-locking it down to the car's frame.

I am wondering if there is a way to bolt it to the frame. I have a safe that I drilled through the bottom and lag bolted it to the floor. The building will fall down before this will come off.

I think that cable locks can be cut. Only good thing is that not a lot of people walk around with cutters.

 

[ripperj]

A pelican case will be no match for an axe, of course the gear inside will be trashed too, it's just a plastic case ( although a very nice one, I have two)
The handle can probably be cut off the case with a hacksaw in about 60 seconds I don't think they have any steel in the them. The only place to cable lock a smaller pelican case is thru the handle or the pad lock that can lock it closed. Neither would hold up to a saw( the case, not the lock), but I'm not sure how many thieves wander around with a hacksaw.

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[UK4X4]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HD-Steel-Ve...510?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ed23bb356


cover with carpet to match the vehicle, and bolt to the floor, or trunk