[QUOTE=Tom Hardwick;910523]
"But in reality we have to trust people, it's as simple as that."


Tom....no, we do not need to trust anyone when it comes to our equipment, I sure dont. Everyone should always have your guard up. I know a lot of videogs/photogs who have had 10's of thousands $$$$ worth of gear stolen at weddings in the past few years.

Keep your gear insured. Eric, I am very sorry to hear about the theft.....

Keeping your gear insured is all very well Joe, but when you're shooting a wedding with two cameras, two tripods, two kit bags and lots of audio recorders you really do have to trust people. Having my unmanned second camera out of my sight so that I don't appear on the footage from it means it's even easier for the thief to lift it.

Huh - replacing it is just money, hoping that it will continue recording the church service is what enables me to be 'braver' with camera nr one. I have to trust that 100 strangers every Saturday will pass it by and leave it recording in peace.

tom.

Tom, you're preachin' to the choir...I think "hope" that nobody will mess with your gear is a better word than "trust" because although I hope nobody will....i surely do not trust anyone but the ones working with me. I hear ya though. It is really sad that there are scumbags out there who prey on someone's work equipment....theft is bad enough but stealing work gear is stealing someones livelihood. I use unmanned cams myself....but I usually am able to to lock it to something.

Ok. lock your gear, insure your gear....keep what you can in your trunk of car or on you. Stay aware at all times even though its tuff to do....make it part of your already heavy workload on shoot days. A lot of times theft could have been prevented, but its easy to let your guard down....especially if you trust people not to mess with your stuff!