Keep Track of Your Photography Gear

If you’re a hardcore photography enthusiast, you’ve probably already seen what I’m about to share.

But, in case you haven’t seen it yet, I’m going to go ahead and share it again.
Theft of camera gear is on the rise.  And, not just from tourists, either!  There have been several articles in the past couple months about photojournalists getting hit, too.  In Russia, they’ll apparently steal the camera right off of you while you’re wearing it!  But, don’t think it’s just a thing that happens in foreign countries while you’re on vacation, because the New York Times reported that the same thing is happening to photojournalists in the Bay Area in California.  In Oakland more than San Francisco, but, still.  So, what are you to do?
Well, they only steal that gear because they can sell it easy and quickly and, of course, because there’s a market for it.  One way to help is to not buy stolen or suspicious gear!  But, then the question becomes, how do you know if it’s stolen?  Now, there’s a website that can help; Lenstag.

Lenstag is free and, as the site itself says, will “[g]ive your gear the best chance of recovery.”  They go on to say that if you “[r]egister your cameras and lenses with Lenstag and if they ever get stolen, we’ll get the word out to help prevent resale and pass along any tips we receive to help you get them back.”  Just that simple.  But, you can also check here to see if they gear you’re about to buy shows up as stolen.  Granted, since this is such a new service, any gear you find may not be registered here yet, but at least it’s it’s a start!
PetaPixel has a brief review and a step-by-step tutorial to help you get started.  And, they mention that LensRentals and BorrowLenses are using this system to try and slow down gear theft, so I have high hopes that it will make a difference.

I know what I’ll be doing this weekend!