Whats up with black tape & M6 cameras?

I heard a story (it's veracity I cannot vouch for) where a local photog was held up, and when he asked if he could at least retrieve the film from his leica the theif stated something to the effect of "Film! I thought I was stealing a real camera" ... and left.

On so many levels, I hope it's true.
 
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🙁 Dang.....you've all got me worried and confused now!
















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to tape or not to tape...

to tape or not to tape...

well i am a taper. for a variety of reasons as all of you have clearly covered. i must relay one bit of experience though... i grew up and spent many, many years shooting in the downtown eastside of vancouver. basically the junkie center of the universe... a REAL bad heroin problem through the 80's and 90's and then it progressed to crack. it can be a real ugly place. i would say i have first hand knowledge of junkies and working around them. not once in close to 15 or twenty years of shooting down there did i have a bad experience!!! i didn't lose one single camera!!! it is MY belief that a very low profile will serve you best. i never shot on a big rig. the list is as follows... ricoh gr1, contax g2, contax g1, leica m6ttl, contax 159mm, om1, nikon f90. and all of them were taped!!!
i guess what i'm saying is i believe whole heartedly in the lowest profile possible. that includes taping up my gear... i will also tell you this, junkies are not stupid people. i personally know a fella with a substance abuse problem who reads photo rags as much as he can get his hands on them. he knows the difference between a leica m6 and a sony whatever. (he also gave me his canon a1 he used to shoot on in a very sweet gesture). thinking you know all about them is mistake number 1...
 
I met a guy in Hawaii with a taped up black m7. He taped up every single thing that said 'Leica' on it. The model name, the red dot, even the leica rubber grip on the camera strap, had a half Luigi case on it, and even taped up his little Leica Flash. I saw him and said, "I see you're shooting Leica". He had a disgruntled sort of look on his face like all that tape had no effect, but went on to talk to me about it. Yes I was a nerd at the time, because I was still looking into buying my M.

To the average person, no one would know the difference between a Leica and any other black, taped up range finder. But maybe to the savvy, seasoned thief, it would be prime picking.
 
mfunnell said:
Well, Leica's are well built (as, BTW, are Hexar RFs). But if I wanted a camera that doubles as a personal weapon, I'd go with my Zorki 4 every time.
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The only camera I've ever known to take beatings and be far more than capable of dishing them out is a Canon F-1.

I black out my leica logo. I'm not concerned about thieves or any such thing. It's more of not wanting to be noticed. And red on black stands out. Then there are the camera geeks. I'm in college studying photojournalism. I always have my camera with me, and everytime I enter the darkroom and have my camera out someone is asking to take a gander at it. I really don't need that. Blacking out the dot doesn't help there though. They recognize the camera regardless due to the shape. But on the street, It's reprieve from the public that knows the name but not the camera.

I have a feeling the leica brand is going to get very popular and will be even more recognizable than yesteryear. With the advent of the M8. All the kids that have more money than talent with their glorified P&S/DSLR's are going to know the brand/camera simply because it has a reputaion for being the best. I wouldn't be surprised if in a month or two, walking around with my taped M7, I'll be asked how I like my digital leica.
 
back alley said:
i like the look of the white lettering on my black zi, it's sexy!!

😉
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We all have different taste buds. It's all good. What I don't understand is how it seems that some people are offended by others choosing to black out their cameras and sometimes ridicule them for doing so. Live and let live, no?
 
Magnus said:
so what do you do with chrome cameras ?
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Make sure it's an M2, M3 or MP. Then at least you don't have to worry about red dots or engraving on the front. It will still be somewhat less stealthy than a black camera and more easily seen in wondows, glass reflections, etc.
 
I certainly didn't intend to insult or ridicule anyone here about whether or not you tape up your cameras. After reading the post here I can see some very good reasons for doing so. One thing i've learned for sure is that some of you guys ought to get hazard duty pay 😀 going into some of the neighborhoods you do. To me this is what real photojurnalism is all about and what makes street photography so exciting.

Cheers
Greg
 
I had a Fuji S2 as my first digital camera....it was a reasonable good camera and did give very good results BUT the most important part of this camera was the little bit of gaffa tape that covered the word "fine pix".... can't really turn up to shoot a clients job with "fine pix".....maybe "great pix" (maybe not)... or maybe "absolutely fantactic pix"...... why it couldn't just say Fuji....thank god for gaffa


bronek
 
FrankS said:
We all have different taste buds. It's all good. What I don't understand is how it seems that some people are offended by others choosing to black out their cameras and sometimes ridicule them for doing so. Live and let live, no?
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hopefully people don't feel ridiculed by me...i just think it's funny.
 
it's called play fighting. i doubt anything we discuss here could ever escalate into real fighting. it's not meaningful enough. politics (see other thread) is another matter.
 
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