Are You Afraid To Carry A Leica?

[georgefspencer]

Maybe this has been discussed before. I'm new to the forum. 😱

On several forums I have read that people don’t want the Red Dot on their camera because it “screams” Leica and someone will see the dot and steal the camera. In another thread I mentioned that I used the Billingham Bag to carry my camera and a person responded that I was just asking to be mugged. Really?? Do you feel like you are in danger of having your Leica stolen?

Maybe I’m naïve but I just don’t feel threatened. I watch my “stuff” but I’m not paranoid. Am I being too being too lackadaisical? Are there people out there who are just waiting to steal my camera? (Personally, I worry more about someone stealing my digital SLR.)

 

[clintock]

It depends on where you are. In NC there's probably little to fear, but in a bus in Budapest or crowed tourist place I'm scared.
Mostly I'm afraid I'll scrape the poor thing against a stone or concrete wall.

 

[Mohan]

I think my $50 cell phone is a far bigger target to most thieves than my $1000 leica.

 

[Ash]

I'm afraid to carry over £100 cash... I'm not afraid to publicly carry/use £400+ of camera equipment

 

[clintock]

Carry it like a gun.

That'll get it stolen for sure!!

A shoulder holster would be nice.. people move out of your way when you have a shoulder holster on.

 

[Bike Tourist]

Yes, since a Leica as well as any other camera elicits comments such as, "Well, uh, why do you want to take a picture of that for?"

Those who ask such questions don't know a Leica from a cardboard disposable. I feel quite safe as I search for a meaningful answer to their question.

 

[Ben Z]

On several forums I have read that people don’t want the Red Dot on their camera because it “screams” Leica and someone will see the dot and steal the camera.

Any camera is a potential theft target. I think probably more street thieves recognize "Nikon" and "Canon" and "Sony" than Leica, just like the average honest man-on-the-street.

In another thread I mentioned that I used the Billingham Bag to carry my camera and a person responded that I was just asking to be mugged.

That may be true but only because they look expensive...which might mean the owner is carrying a large amount of cash and/or wearing expensive jewelry.

That said, homeless guys in rags get mugged. I think more of it depends on whether you look like an easy target. If you're reasonably physically large and fit-looking and/or it's not the middle of the night and there are people around you're a less likely target regardless of your camera bag. Of course there are places that doesn't hold either. I know a big strapping guy who had his watch ripped off his wrist in broad daylight on a crowded downtown street corner in Rio not long ago.

 

[dazedgonebye]

Not more than I'd be afraid to carry any camera.
I doubt some thug on the street would look at my Bessa and say "Lucky for him that's not a Lecia, 'cause I'd knock that guy on the head and take it if it was."

 

[Solinar]

Gaffer's tape it's made with black cotton and won't mark the finish of the red dot.

Otherwise you could try out an old III series. There is less of chance of it even being recognized as a photographic camera.

 

[like2fiddle]

My M2 doesn't have "the red dot" but the photographer I bought it from told me a story of this being the only camera that was not stolen from the back seat of his car one day. He also related that it was probably the most valuable of the cameras in the car but figured the thieves looked at an old chrome camera and didn't think it would fetch what his newer black SLR's would.

 

[Ash]

I forgot to mention on my way on the bus on saturday I loaded a film into my leica. It was out of laziness since I was already sat down, and hoping it would be a safe environment. All the newer buses in Swindon have cameras installed and recording.

Anyway I pulled the camera out, with my earphones blaring punk music or something, and I glanced and noticed I was being watched by a father with a less than interested son.

Course he asked me about the camera, identified what it was, asked if it was valuable, how old it was, genuine questions about it and why I'd use it. And this was a bloke on his way to a football match. Anyway I told half-truths as I don't want to publicly state how much I like the camera, how much I spent, how many people are willing to spend a few hundred quid to get one etc etc.

 

[ElrodCod]

It depends on where you are. In NC there's probably little to fear, but in a bus in Budapest or crowed tourist place I'm scared.
Mostly I'm afraid I'll scrape the poor thing against a stone or concrete wall.

I did exactly that with a brand new Rolex. Scraped the crystal against a concrete wall not ten feet from the store where I bought it. I didnt baby it after that & it served me well for 30 years.

 

[lushd]

Most street crime victims are men under the age of 25 who usually get relieved of their phone and wallet (if any).

Middle aged geezers with old cameras that use film are statistically pretty safe. Cash Converters or their mate in the pub wouldn't even recogonise a Leica, never mind give them a fiver towards their next drug deal for it.

I used to tell my students to get insurance and if mugged for their phone hand it over straightaway. Then you have the pleasure of going shopping for a new one.

 

[markinlondon]

I have walked through seedy parts of London with a camera bag containing an M6 and three lenses over my shoulder and a Gibson guitar in my hand (in a case, I hasten to add). That's about £4,000 at replacement values. It never occurs to me at the time.

 

[edodo]

I got five compliments in Vietnam this summer from guys in the streets about an old and brassy chrome Pentax Me super that I bought 30€. They were like " it's a beautiful camera you have there!" I was astonished because I felt this ting was ugly, but it seems its not! I brought it because I was afraid to bring my leica (thief and all) but retrospectivaly I shouldn't have been.

 

[iml]

My black M6 gets no more attention than any other camera I use, i.e., not a lot. Chrome is probably more attention grabbing, especially if it's new looking.

Ian

 

[erikhaugsby]

to botch Bowie, it's not the camera that I'm afraid of, it is that "I'm afraid of Americans."

 

[sirius]

Thanks, it is a good question. Leica's are a tremendous investment and I've always been curious how people who use them in the street feel about carrying them around.

 

[40oz]

i park a shiny ~$13K car in all sorts of dark alleys, and don't get all concerned. I really don't think I'm going to start worrying about $1000 I take with me in my jacket pocket, bag, or hanging around my neck. Seriously, why buy a camera, or ANYTHING, you can't use for fear of theft?

Nobody's going to steal your Leica off your neck. If you are in danger of having that happen, they'd steal your wallet if you weren't carrying a camera. People get ripped off, but it is so rare it isn't something worth worrying about, unless you are pathologically dense. I've had friends get mugged, but never when they had any more than a token amount of money, and there was never any external indication they had anything of value. A violent thief isn't going to sit an wait for someone who looks "rich," they look for easy targets, or just the next person by.

You only hear about the cases where someone was actually robbed of something of value, you never hear about the times someone was mugged and the mugger got away with pocket change, which gives the false impression thieves only target those with valuables. And you NEVER read in the news that 8.5 million people in New York went about their day today without being robbed, becaue that's not news. You read post after post of people that have never had any trouble. If it were an actual problem, you can bet everyone who had ever been mugged for their Leica would post up in these threads ASAP.

 

[Didier]

I have taped the M6 engraving and replaced the red dot by a black one. Just because it looks better.

I carry it everywhere. That's what such a camera is for. I guess a burglar would first steal the $400 Canon Powershot S3 before the M6 with a 35 asph 'lux on... 😉

Didier