Unpopular opinion: “stealth” tape on cameras

While on single income we purchased amateur model Canon 500D. I covered Canon and T1i (red) logos.
To feel good among those with large DSLRs.

While out of job, I taped top of M4-2 with white masking tape to avoid overheating due to long walk under Ontario Sun.

What was this east block dude who was crawling into the beach and taking ladies pictures with camera made from tins? He became known.
Yet, modern hornies are hiding cameras in stuffed toys, but getting caught by police.
 
Black cameras are ok, but being from the 50's I like chrome. I like a few "nice camera!" comments, it reminds me one of the reason I have loved photography for so long is the beauty of the mechanical.
I have taped my camera before, to stop leaks.
 
I've carried a film camera (rangefinders by Nicca, Canon, and Leica) or digital XE-1 or m4/3 almost everywhere I go for a decade. I've set up and shot a ton of large format and wetplate too. I've never had anyone want to steal one, regardless of what was engraved on it. I've only had a handful of people want to strike up a conversation about equipment, which was always enjoyable. None of my camera labels is obscured, I don't want to ugly up a beautiful tool.

My hunch is it's the type of people or the locations/events they shoot that are worried about taping labels. And it's mostly a fashion statement.
 
If you're worried about theft, just paint your camera dayglo psychedelic colors. It's not stealthy but it sure lowers the value of the camera for a thief trying to sell it. 'Course it lowers your resale value as well. Can't have everything.
 
I’d agree with Ian/Takkun, but that’s just me. It’s an odd topic, the reasons given for taping and the reasons given for not taping seem to me dictated more by how people view themselves and how they view other people in the world, than anything which is actually photography related. It’s a form of Rohrschach test. The “reasons”, for either choice, have underlying reasons, and those are the interesting ones.

In other words, why do some people assume that other people will react to a certain camera in a certain way, and other people assume nothing of the sort, both having had exactly the same basic life experiences. I’d love to see a psychologist or psychiatrist weigh in on this, as I don’t think this is, at its heart, a photography related question.
I know that sounds a bit “out there”, but maybe a few people will get what I am saying.
I don’t tape logos no matter what type of situational shooting I am doing, as it seems weird to me, but maybe I am doing it wrong. Is this a matter of naive vs. paranoid, or careful vs. careless? Some have an aversion to advertising bordering on an obsession, and some couldn’t care less. Why? Again, it’s not a photography question, its a psychological mindset issue.

Not saying right or wrong on any particular way of living and going about ones business, just looking at this from another angle.

Not really expecting to have a definitive answer anytime soon, other than the perennial, “The world is divided into two kinds of people.........”
 
Tape is for the weak. Use a sharp object to gouge it off instead!

Found at an estate sale. The camera bag had documentation from a trip to Spain in the late 60s.

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I always tape over branding, but not for street stealth or anti-marketing... but to help eliminate reflections in closeup photos. I often shoot small tools commercially, and you wouldn’t believe how white lettering will show up in reflective chrome objects.
 
css9450 said:
Speaking of cars.... I'm waiting for someone to totally wrap their camera in about fifty layers of tape, transforming its shape into something completely unrecognizeable...
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Just for you...


Grass%20Car-XL.jpg



Regards, David


PS Mostly I think they debadge cars so that you'll think they have the bigger and "better" one...
 
For the past several years, I've taped the logos on my M9, until it went in for service last year and I took the tape off. In a camera shop in Japan in 2010, curious shop assistants and a customer peered at it to figure out what it was. None of them seemed to twig that it was a M9, something of a rarity at that time.

I haven't taped my silver chrome M7; a friend who doesn't know much about cameras looked at it and said, 'I didn't know you had a Leica!' Yeah bro, I've been using my taped M9 in front of you for a year and you've never said anything about it. This showed me that taping up a camera actually works.

Sometimes, it's mildly annoying (not sure why) when someone peers at my Panasonic and says, 'what's that... it's a... Lumix?' Yeah, it is. Makes me want to go over the logo with a black marker.

I'm not a 'visible brand' guy. My preference is for my clothes and gear to be as brand-sterile as possible, with no logos or branding. I tend to eschew brands with distinctive and identifiable designs like LV, Prada, Gucci, etc. I feel that brand-sterility draws less attention, which I prefer. My sleeve is always covering my watch, regardless of what it costs.
 
I think the taping of logos thing probably started with people seeing logos taped over in TV and movies (to prevent giving out free advertising, eg. Rear Window style) and thought there must be some practical reason for doing so, since all the "pros" were doing it on TV. You don't want to look unprofessional do you?


rear-window.jpg
 
The flipside to this whole issue are the camera straps emblazoned with "EOS Digital" or "Nikon D850". The pros all use them!
 
RBSinTo's Law:
"Everybody does what they do.
You do what you do. He does what he does. And I do what I do."
So if it makes you happy, wrap your camera in black tape, tinfoil or red flocked with Fleur de Lys wallpaper. Doesn't make no never mind to me.
My only camera affectation is that I like black bodies rather than chrome, and not because they are less obtrusive or stealthy while I do my street photography, but rather because I just like the way they look.
So whenever possible I bought black cameras. And except for the elusive and expensive black Nikon SP, mine are all black.
Robert
 
rbsinto said:
RBSinTo's Law:
"Everybody does what they do.
You do what you do. He does what he does. And I do what I do."
So if it makes you happy, wrap your camera in black tape, tinfoil or red flocked with Fleur de Lys wallpaper. Doesn't make no never mind to me.
My only camera affectation is that I like black bodies rather than chrome, and not because they are less obtrusive or stealthy while I do my street photography, but rather because I just like the way they look.
So whenever possible I bought black cameras. And except for the elusive and expensive black Nikon SP, mine are all black.
Robert
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Words to live by. The amount of energy spent explaining why someone is silly or stupid, simply because they do things differently, boggles my mind.
 
Think I started putting couple of small pieces of tape over the M9 and Leica label a few months back mostly just for the heck of it. Most of the time the camera is hanging from my hand by the strap so unless I have it up/using it to take a shot most of the time you really can't see what kind of camera it is anyway
 
tunalegs said:
I think the taping of logos thing probably started with people seeing logos taped over in TV and movies (to prevent giving out free advertising, eg. Rear Window style) and thought there must be some practical reason for doing so, since all the "pros" were doing it on TV. You don't want to look unprofessional do you?


rear-window.jpg
Click to expand...

pretty sure this is to prevent having to pay royalties to those companies featured
 
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