Using a blacklight (UV) pen to mark your gear?

[Gregoryniss]

What do you think? Think this could work on a Leica as a form of identification? Where could you write on the camera where the ink wouldn't smear?

Has anyone tried/thought of this before?

 

[sig]

Not sure if there is a point..... marking your gear so nobody can read it? If they can read it they can return it.

 

[Gregoryniss]

you could notify stores and police departments if a camera was found to look under a black light to see if there was the number you described on it. I was guessing this would be a way to "mark" your camera for identification without actually carving a number into it (which seems the way the many people have gone, when trying to place an identity on their camera), thus preserving the cosmetic integrity.

Sorry I didn't make that clear in the original message haha

 

[sig]

In that case (somebody have stolen, trying to sell it and so on) the serial number would do the trick.....

It could work as an extra marking, however would the shop owners, police etc even bother to bring out the uv light?

 

[wolves3012]

I'm not sure if it's still the case but in the UK there was a fad for marking property this way. It was the case (but may no longer be) that the police routinely checked recovered property for such marks. I seem to recall they issued some kind of guidance as to the best places to mark and hence where they would look first (inside of battery compartment etc). These places were where the marking would be less likely to wear off. Needless to say, any theif would likely look for such marks and try to remove them (not that hard in many cases). The downside to marking is if you change address!

 

[sig]

if it is recommended by the police then of course do it. I did not know that.

 

[Roger Hicks]

if it is recommended by the police then of course do it. I did not know that.

Do you always do what the police want? Like not taking pictures in public, or of children, or of policemen?

More seriously, it won't stop anyone stealing your camera and all you can say in its favour is that the 0.1% chance of getting the camera back is better than 0%

Cheers,

R.

 

[sig]

not everyone can be a rebel like you roger!

 

[JohnTF]

I had two lost items returned to me, a light meter and a calculator, only because I had put my name inside the battery compartment with dymo tape, but both were found by people who knew me.

Roger is probably right, but I had a friend whose car battery was smashed. He put in a new one, and the thieves returned to collect that the next night.
The police recovered the battery when they caught the guys, but because he had not marked the battery, they refused to return it, they told him he could bid on it at auction.

Same with money, if someone steals your money and is caught, can you identify the money? You might fan out the bills and snap a digital image with the serial numbers, easy enough. Might get a bit tiresome if you take singles. ;-)

Distinguishing marks on jewelery and other items may be of at least as much use in recovery as a serial number.

I found there was so much theft in Prague one summer, I personally saw people selling or trying to sell, stolen property three times in camera shops and an antique shop in one month.

If you call my ten year old Czech phone number, someone will answer, in Russian. Guy never changed the sim card.


Regards, John

 

[JohnTF]

A friend found an M3 in an airport, he left his card with lost and found -- with instructions if someone calls to report the M3 lost, to contact him.

He used it for a few years, before he traded it.

Lost and Found keep stuff for a while, then auction it, but the guy who left it obviously thought it was a lost cause. You never know when you will run across an honest person.

I also met a guy at JFK who found five hundred dollar bills, he talked to a cop who took two hundred, and gave him three back. Perhaps the better approach is my friend's?



Roger is right though, if you do not check or try, the odds drop to zero.

Regards, John