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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Loss Prevention?
Nick Morris, Photographer
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San Marcos | CA | United States | Posted: 12:59 PM on 09.17.09 |
->> Hey SS members, before anyone hammers away on me with better ways including getting insurance and other means just know that this is just an idea that I work with in conjunction with insurance and a few other safety measure. I'm referring to stolen gear. In todays economy it seams I am seeing more posts on photographer sites regarding stolen equipment. You should hear the horror stories in the wedding industry. Anyway this is something I set up and it may or may not work for everyone.
Get yourself a new Itouch (you can use an I phone but that's pricey and risky) Set up the Itouch with either Undercover or Apples Mobile Me or Cloud Service. Any of these will work. Now inside your pack remove one of the foam protection dividers and carefully cut the seam. Once you remove the seam pull out the foam from inside and replace it with your I Touch. Ad a bit of foam back in to make it match the other dividers. and replace it back into your pack. (make sure it's on and running) You have to remember to charge the battery every other day or so. If anyone steals you gear now they will very likely take the entire pack which is what you hope for. Now all you do is log on to a computer and you can locate your I Touch... and your gear! This part I highly suggest you do in the presence of Law Enforcement. Like I said this is not for everyone one but I have located my pack within a house in several test situations. |
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Brian Blanco, Photographer
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Tampa / Sarasota | FL | USA | Posted: 1:23 PM on 09.17.09 |
->> Nick, not a bad idea at all. I was actually looking through that SkyMall magazine they stick in the seatbacks on flights the other day and they have several of these small GPS tracker things that would work perfectly for something like this. I think they're designed for parents of teenagers and jealous spouses to hide in the respective target's car but this could be a great use for them too. Just log in when you realize that your gear has been swiped and track it down onilne. I wonder if there's a monthly fee after the initial purchase of the unit?
Of course, as you mentioned, insurance and common sense work pretty well too but if it's only a couple hundred bucks then it's worth the investment. |
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Alan Look, Photographer
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Bloomington | IL | United States | Posted: 1:42 PM on 09.17.09 |
| ->> So what happens if the battery in the Itouch goes dead after it is stolen along with all the gear in the bag? |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 1:45 PM on 09.17.09 |
| ->> ....which as alan suggests doesn't take very long when the ipod touch isn't near a wi-fi source. the battery drains very quickly when it's in search mode....maybe you will need to include a note in the pack telling the thief to stay near a free wi-fi spot after stealing you're stuff..... |
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Will Powers, Photographer
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Denver | CO | USA | Posted: 5:22 PM on 09.17.09 |
->> Perhaps we should ask Nick Doan how long it took to discover his gear was stolen from his car. Compare that to the iTouch battery life.
I like the idea of a GPS tracking device. |
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Clay Begrin, Photographer
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Petaluma | Ca | USA | Posted: 5:59 PM on 09.17.09 |
->> Nick, a very neat idea. Obviously battery life would be an issue, but if you treated the IPhone/ITouch like being a piece of your daily equipment that you pack, charging camera battereis etc, you could just place it in the bag each day and when you get home, take it out, charge it and then put in back in the bag for the next shoot. If you did that a few weeks, you'd probably get to the point that it was just part of preparing for a shoot. I have an IPhone and have a free program called instamapper, however it will only track the most recent 2 hours. It shows an update every few seconds, showing the actual streets on the map, the spped of the vehicle and the GPS coordinates.
http://www.instamapper.com/ |
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Alan Look, Photographer
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Bloomington | IL | United States | Posted: 7:06 PM on 09.17.09 |
| ->> On second thought, I'm wondering if the stealth part is the part of the equation that's wrong. If (I know little about a touch or the apps), the apps run in the background I'd just start them and toss the touch in the bag. The thief would just think it is a bonus and keep using it. Heck, put the charger in there too so he can keep it charged up for you. |
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Nick Morris, Photographer
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San Marcos | CA | United States | Posted: 8:58 PM on 09.17.09 |
| ->> Yea Alan it is part of my daily routine now. I already set up my batteries (AA and cam batteries) for charging at the end of my day so it's nothing to just plug in one more thing. I'm never away from my gear for more than a few minutes on average so if I did have a loss I'd immediately begin the process of locating the I Touch. I haven't seen the GPS gadget Brian mentioned but I'll certainly look into one and see if it would be small enough to not be noticed. I live in San Diego and WiFi service is pretty common here so I have a pretty good chance of it working continually. I hope it never comes to that but it's something in my personal arsenal to combat theft. Good point about the app running in the background... it does. I'll consider leaving it in the open. For now it works and it's a small piece of mind. For those who have lost gear I feel for you and truly hope justice is served up and you get your gear back. |
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Jamey Price, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Charlotte | NC | USA | Posted: 11:33 PM on 09.17.09 |
->> "I think they're designed for parents of teenagers and jealous spouses to hide in the respective target's car"
I love it. A new use for spy gear! |
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Jeff Hinds, Photographer
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 1:07 AM on 09.18.09 |
| ->> Man, if I am Canon or Nikon I would create a "fake" battery charger that is actually a GPS device. In your bag just connect the batteries to the device and it works.....or if would-be theives go to charge the batteries...bingo, device has power and transmits as its plugged in. Hmmm, I should get one free when they make it ;) |
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Kevin M. Cox, Photographer, Assistant
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Galveston & Houston | TX | US | Posted: 1:18 AM on 09.18.09 |
->> Seems like a product such as this might work better, especially since an iPod Touch needs an open WiFi access point to report any data.
http://www.zoombak.com |
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Scott Serio, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 12:20 AM on 09.19.09 |
->> Nick,
With my luck, my gear probably would never get stolen. :-(
--Mark |
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