Loser's story: lost of gears, yours?

[Platinum RF]

I was clearing up my photo stuff and find an empty Konica Hexnon KM mount 90mm/2.8 box with a serial number 3210758 and realized that's the box of stolen lens long time ago.

One of my camera bags was stolen in Charleston, South Carolina in June 2004 . The bag had my Leica IIIf black dial and a Summitar 50mm/f2 with the screw in filter adaptor, a Nikon 50mm/f3.5 macro lens, a Lester-A-Dine 105mm/f2.8 macro lens (made by Kiron), a set of screw mount to M mount adapters and a Konica Hexnon KM mount 90mm/2.8.

These gears are long gone, I am wandering where they are, may be end up in pawn store.

How about yours "loser story"?

 

[John E Earley]

Several Nikon F's with a batch of lenses, a Hasselblad with a 50 and 75 and numerous filters and accessories that were taken from my car in Denver in the early 70's. Nothing was ever recovered but it was insured.

 

[newspaperguy]

My Leica IIIg with a 50/2 Nikkor lifted out of my Benser bag in 1968...
never to be seen again. Took me 20-years to get back 'into' Leica.

But, that was the last time I used a 'signature' bag.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

....I've not lost anything to burglars or pickpockets yet (knocks on wood).

I have managed to lose two €40 lens caps within a year.

 

[zuiko85]

The only thing I ever lost was a 105mm f2.8 Super Takumar. I left it on the Ravenswood L when I was living in Chicago in the early 1970's, of course never recovered.

 

[jukka]

Well I just have to contribute here. Month and a half ago I came to Beijing for a two month work gig. On the very first night I was robbed and relieved of my camera bag.

Gone are; beloved hadley pro (black canvas, brown leather), trusted fm2n with nikkor 50/1.2 & 28/2, five rolls of film with some keepers in them (surely), iphone 4, ray bans and wallet with 200 euro cash.

I was jet lagged, tired and drunk, so I blame myself. I have an insurance so financially I'm fine.

A while ago I visited the Beijing camera market and shopped like no man has shopped before. Got a new bag, cheappo though, and a bessa r2a with the 50/2 heliar, big pile of film and every accessory I could think of.

I can tell you that was as much fun as you can have with your close on, pardon for the cliche. On monday I went by an apple store and got the iphone 5. At the end I'm more or less content.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Sorry to hear it, Jukka.


That reminds me. I did lose a Leica II in the mail. It simply never arrived at my place after being shipped by Dan Wagner. Whatever happened to him anyway?
Insurance covered that one.

And I'm still holding out hope that a 3" c-mount Raptar lens will arrive by mail one of these days after having been shipped in August 🙁

 

[jukka]

Thanks for the sympathy! With this circus I also got to know how it feels to wait a never arriving shipment. My new bank card send by the bank in Finland never arrived, thank you China post.

My colleague then brought eventually a new one, and I got to do shopping. Like said, now I'm really happy. I'm a one camera kind of guy, all I really need is a body, a fast fifty and maybe (!) something a bit wider. I was planning to get a bessa for some time, but it proved difficult to give up the fm2.

After using the fm2 solely for a couple of years, I totally got used to shooting manual, but now I have aperture priority, what technological advancement! In the future I will check the gear reviews more often.

All of this got me kind of to this forum too. And I'm really pleased with the bessa. Viewfinder is bright, it feels solid enough (even after the fm2), and with the extra side grip it fits in the hand nicely.

Yeah, I'm kind of glad that I got robbed. The bill goes to the faceless corporation and I found a new approach to do this thing. It is my first RF.

 

[Messsucherkamera]

Several Nikon F's with a batch of lenses, a Hasselblad with a 50 and 75 and numerous filters and accessories that were taken from my car in Denver in the early 70's. Nothing was ever recovered but it was insured.

Man - that sucks bigtime!!

Was your gear in the passenger compartment of in the trunk?

I have a two year old car that has a built in alarm system. I think thieves would steer clear of a more recent model car with an alarm, so I have grown comfortable with leaving my camera gear locked in the trunk, with nothing of value in sight in the passenger area.

I am comfortable doing this only if I can park on a busy street or in a parking lot with security cameras conspicuously on light poles overhead. If I am in a large city, I will always carry my gear with me rather than leave it in the trunk of the car, avoiding areas of the city and people that appear dangerous or shifty.

I have not lost any of my camera gear to theft - so far. I think I am exercising adequate security consciousness but reading of an experience like John's (above) makes me a little jumpy.

I'd appreciate hearing the thoughts of others regarding my security procedures. Am I doing the right things or am I asking for trouble?

 

[filmtwit]

Sent out a Nikon 35mm f1.4 ais in the mail nearly a month ago.
got insurance for it.
Was contacted last friday by the person who bought it asking where was his lens.
Tracking number indicated that I had to get the tracking info from local Post office where sent it out from. They wouldn't issue me a receipt nor make it available on line.
Currently have a 30 day wait with USPS concerning tracking it for an official paper work.
Epay wants me to refund the guy tomorrow.
Dealing with USPS has been as big a problem as dealing with epay about it.

 

[tjh]

Well I just have to contribute here. Month and a half ago I came to Beijing for a two month work gig. On the very first night I was robbed and relieved of my camera bag.

Did someone come up to you and force you to give up the bag or did the bag disappear quietly while you were having lunch or something?

 

[chasfreeland]

Lost gear? Here's a story of incredible luck. Two weeks ago, I was on holiday in Switzerland. My wife and I were taking the train from Pontresina to Rapperswil, located just outside of Zurich. Had to change trains twice along the way and typically had very little time between trains. At the last change, we had three minutes to get to our next train. I was carrying a shoulder camera bag, clothes bag, and a backpack with all my film inside. Plus, I usually helped my wife with her luggage. Just as we are about to arrive at the station, a train employee, pushing a snack and coffee cart, entered our train car, parking her cart full of hot coffee right in front of the exit door. I was plotting how to get by her carrying all our luggage. Guess my thoughts were elsewhere during the transfer because after we were successfully off the first train and comfortably seated on the second, it suddenly struck us both like a bolt of lightning that I'd forgotten my backpack full of film on the other train, which was now on its way to Basel. My heart really sank. So, we telephoned ahead to our local friend waiting for us Rapperswil. She met us at the station when we arrived 20 minutes later. She then helped us work with a very competent counter-clerk at the Rapperswil train station. We filed a "search" request (extra 50 CHF) for the backpack. Luckily, we had accurate information about the train we'd been on (including the train number, car location, description of conductor, description of the backpack, etc). The Swiss clerk talked to the conductor by phone and within 30 minutes, they'd recovered my lost backpack and had it waiting for me at the Zurich train station lost and found. Bought a box of chocolates to give to the clerk who was a saint helping us, and then took a quick commuter train from Rapperswil to Zurich and was re-united with my backpack and all its contents just an hour and a half after I'd lost it! The Swiss system is truly amazing. Lesson learned: keep all gear in eyesight or on hand whilst traveling.
Best of luck to all about keeping track of your gear!

 

[jukka]

Did someone come up to you and force you to give up the bag or did the bag disappear quietly while you were having lunch or something?

A handful of dudes asked me 'nicely'. In my experience it's not very ordinary in China, to be honest. I was too drunk, my bad.

 

[Mudman]

Lost a 2x teleconverter over the side of a 500' gorge once. Open camera bag, oops.