Do black cameras still have an edge in stealth?

[MIkhail]

Sometimes it helps when subject is asleep 🙂

 

[mdarnton]

I think it depends on the context:
http://boingboing.net/2013/09/21/dragoncon-cosplayers-who-dress.html

 

[meanstreetshooter]

I have found that TLRs draw a lot of attention from personal observation...mostly due to their design and not color, I'd imagine.

I find just the opposite with my Mamiya C330. No one appears to notice me looking into the WLF, and no one hears the very quiet shutter.

But many people notice the black Lecia stuck in the middle of my face!

When I see other photographers taking candids they try to "conceal" themselves with a nearby object and use tele-photo lenses with their black cameras.

 

[MIkhail]

Also, if you are far enought and subject is with kids, you dont get your ass kicked as often 🙂

 

[MIkhail]

Finally, if subjects are preoccupied with other things, they dont pay as much attention to you.

OP, are you getting all these bits of wisdom?
🙂 ;-)

 

[thompsonks]

I suspect that black is no longer stealthy. it suggests a more valuable camera and more purposefulness – and more threat – in what you're doing. IMO a chrome camera and a silly floppy hat are stealthiest, because I look like one of those dumb but harmless tourists who go around taking pictures of almost anything.

 

[KoNickon]

I'm almost 7ft and can never get away with the kind of shooting she does, even with a film rangefinder. Never mind the fact that I look like a movie stereotype of an Asian college professor...people just notice.

I wouldn't say I have any sort of stereotype image at all of a very tall Asian college professor! (Or any Asian college professor, for that matter.)

 

[Pioneer]

You're the one who is supposed to be "stealthy", the camera just comes along for the ride. Most cameras will work if you act like you know what you are doing and you belong there.

Personally I have found that certain cameras do attract more attention then others but it has nothing to do with color. My Rolleiflex is mostly black but people still seem to pick it out in an instant and a lot of them want to stop and talk to you about it. Likewise my Billy Record III tends to stop traffic pretty quickly.

Beyond that I have used a Spotmatic, a Canon 5D, a Leica, a Super Memar and my little Oly point and shoot and most people usually don't pay much attention unless I get right in their face.

 

[kxl]

Whatever camera I use is going to be the least stealthy...

 

[kennylovrin]

I have to say I have never really experienced any difference between black and jnon-black cameras. I have noticed a difference between size slightly though.

One thing though that really stumps me is the very common recommendation of "not looking like a tourist". Perhaps it's for having less risk of being robbed or something, but I always found people to seem more forgiving of having their photograph taken when it's very obvious that I'm a tourist. I've even considered trying to look like a tourist in my home town, but not sure how yet. 🙂

In general I think it's actually better to look "ridiculous" than stealthy. I mean, totally black clothes, gloves and hat? Who looks like that? It sticks out a lot amongst people I'd say..

Using a TLR or hasselblad also seemed easier to me as people seem to write you off as a nut case "still doing that old crap". 😉

I think in the end though it's much more in our own heads.. From an outside perspective the difference probably is close to none.

 

[cosmonaut]

I have better luck with my a99, grip, flash and Gary Fong. When people see my setup they think "pro working for the paper" and seldom object to me making pictures. I can still sneak in a candid before I am noticed. But I rarely make anyone mad. With a stealthy camera and sneaking to take the picture I am more prone to making someone mad.
This works even better at large events. I found this out when hired to cover an event. People loved having their pictures made.
I covered a rodeo and I thought a few girls were going to follow me home.

 

[MPWhite01]

No.
The photographer's behavior makes the event stealthy or . . . (?) . . . not-stealthy.
People just like black cameras.

So very true. From my experience an excellent photographer can use a 4x5 speed graphic and be noticed less than someone not as polished using jet black camera/lens combination. It is all on how you do your job.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

From my street candid experience - black and small.
Which is Oly XA for me. You could get very close.
Shutter is next to silence.


Crossword by Ko.Fe., on Flickr



The card. by Ko.Fe., on Flickr


Time to pay. by Ko.Fe., on Flickr


Coffee talk by Ko.Fe., on Flickr

Even if people notice you, they don't overreact.
I don't use large cameras like DSLRs, because I like to walk light.
And because people noticing big cameras from greater distance. You just walking, taking no pictures, yet, people look at you.
But cameras like Leica IIf and Bessa R even if people see them, again, no overreaction. I get asked periodically if IIf is with me taking pictures.


Untitled by Ko.Fe., on Flickr

 

[froyd]

Go ninjas, go!

Nothing is stealthier than the mighty camera-pen, featuring 0.3 mp sensor and QVGA video capture at 10fps. But even here, the black ink pen is considered the pros' choice as opposed to the more pedestrian blue.

In earnest, I find that with chrome cameras I often attract more attention because people like the vintage look. My black camera(s) (only one at the moment) look more like what everybody else is carrying so they are less remarkable. But I'm no pro, and I'm a sucker for chrome lenses, so I usually prefer chrome bodies.

 

[Pioneer]

I have better luck with my a99, grip, flash and Gary Fong. When people see my setup they think "pro working for the paper" and seldom object to me making pictures. I can still sneak in a candid before I am noticed. But I rarely make anyone mad. With a stealthy camera and sneaking to take the picture I am more prone to making someone mad.
This works even better at large events. I found this out when hired to cover an event. People loved having their pictures made.
I covered a rodeo and I thought a few girls were going to follow me home.

This is so true!! I have walked right out onto baseball fields packing my Pentax 645Nii with the 80-160, a monopod and a camera bag and people don't even pay any attention. Most people assume that if you look like you are supposed to be there then you must belong.

I did get chased off a concert stage in a Reno casino once but that was only when I stopped and changed film.If I would have had a couple loaded film mags with me I may have gotten away with it. I guess pros don't change film. 🙂

 

[OurManInTangier]

I tend to use black cameras because I prefer black over silver (X100 aside.)

I have tried taping my Leica logos in the past and one M6 I bought came with a black (M8.2) logo....neither made the slightest difference to me. I pulled the tape off my cameras when, whilst stopping for a coffee, a young (and very pretty as I remember) Asian tourist asked me why I had taped my camera up, she'd seen it done before but didn't understand the purpose. My failure to find an adequate answer made me decide to stop wasting money on tape.

After listening to so many photographers (via books, Youtube clips, documentaries and internet forums - ok, this internet forum) talk about stealth I decided it wasn't for me. The stealthiest thing I do these days is I may stand so I'm not directly square on to my subject but that has more to do with avoiding the Bruce Gilden 'In Your Face' approach that I couldn't pull off in a decade of Sundays.

However, just because I no longer see any value or point in taping up my cameras or buying black cameras for a perceived 'stealth advantage' I really don't care if anyone else wishes to and if they feel they benefit, even only psychologically, then good luck to them.

Taken from around 5 or 6 feet with an un-taped camera. Not an amazing pic but they remind me of the 'Les Dawson' women I grew up surrounded by in the NE of England; strong, gossip loving, warm hearted and slightly melancholic when caught off guard. As if wondering what wonders life would have had in store for them if only my Uncle Fred hadn't marked their card the night Spillers factory was bombed in 1940.

 

[dogbunny]

I bought a used white Ricoh GR from a member here because the price was right. I worried about it being too flashy, but more than once I've been asked what it was I was carrying. They didn't realize it was a camera, because most people down't own or see white cameras. People are used to seeing the familiar and recognizing it as such. If all cameras are black then we see cameras as such. There is an interesting example of this in Digitalrev's review of the Lytro Light Field camera. He was able to play around and get close because people saw a squashed tube, not a camera.

Of course, as soon as something becomes ubiquitous it is easily recognizable, regardless of shape, size or color.

 

[Mark T]

Sure, 50 years ago when cameras were relatively more expensive and photography was more difficult, photography was probably less common and it might have been easier to be stealthy. Now society is a lot more photographically aware so when you bring something to your eye, people know what you're doing. Even if they can't see a camera. Therefore, i think colour makes scant difference. In fact, if you use a bright pink camera you might have more success because people think you are just out to have fun, rather than trying to be sneaky. Which is, at the end of the day, what stealth is all about...

 

[35mmdelux]

HCB and André Kertész did pretty well with a silver chrome cameras.. suggests that photog actions have more to do with inconspicuousness..

 

[rluka]

I find just the opposite with my Mamiya C330. No one appears to notice me looking into the WLF, and no one hears the very quiet shutter.

But many people notice the black Lecia stuck in the middle of my face!

Nods in agreement.

Camera to the face = taking picture
Anything else is just "stand-by".
Except, trying to get that perfect frame for too long, then they see you taking picture