Camera Strap - Why its essential - With repair costs now

rssmrry said:
Ah that makes sense - so in the event of claiming you get the equivalent new? I reckon I put the insurer off because I was asking about claiming before I even had a policy!
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when you insure it you put a replacement value against the item, in my case ive put the cost of a new 40D against my 20Ds so id get that value to put towards a replacement.

obviously you pay a premium based on replacement value..
 
neil_g said:
when you insure it you put a replacement value against the item, in my case ive put the cost of a new 40D against my 20Ds so id get that value to put towards a replacement.

obviously you pay a premium based on replacement value..
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I'll have to consider insuring my gear then. The cost of repairs is staggering so might be worth the piece of mind.
 
Crikey.. do people not use their house insurance... 5k worldwide with photoguard is £230. That's a third of my household insurance (buildings and contents) for a year!
 
arad85 said:
Crikey.. do people not use their house insurance... 5k worldwide with photoguard is £230. That's a third of my household insurance (buildings and contents) for a year!
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If you consider yourself a professional, home insurance wont cover it. Besides, home insurance does not cover public liability.
 
paula said:
If you consider yourself a professional, home insurance wont cover it. Besides, home insurance does not cover public liability.
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indeedeo, make any sort of money out of your photography and id suggest your insurance may get the hump.

would home insurance give you in car cover and the hire of equipment while repairing?
 
paula said:
Besides, home insurance does not cover public liability.
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I'm an enthusiastic amateur.. Where would I need public liability (serious question)?
 
neil_g said:
when someone trips over your tripod/bag etc and decides to sue you ;)
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I'm pretty sure this is included in my household insurance...
 
neil_g said:
when someone trips over your tripod/bag etc and decides to sue you ;)
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Honestly though what are the odds? I can fully understand if you were a builder/electrician etc where your working environment can be quite Hazardous or where shoddy work can equally lead to a dangerous situation but photography? Surely the worst most photographers will do is do a really naff job of capturing someone's wedding, worst case the customer refuses to pay you right?
 
godsakes said:
Honestly though what are the odds? I can fully understand if you were a builder/electrician etc where your working environment can be quite Hazardous or where shoddy work can equally lead to a dangerous situation but photography? Surely the worst most photographers will do is do a really naff job of capturing someone's wedding, worst case the customer refuses to pay you right?
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For godsakes.. I agree with you ;)
 
I wouldn't be happy with anything less than Nikon UK themselves, they have an excellent repair shop and a tele lens I sent to them a couple of years ago came back perfect with no trouble with it since, and you are able to track workshop progress online.
 
POAH said:
you mean a blind person :P
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Or anyone else that has seen injury lawyers 4 U! adverts :D

Seriously though, if you have decent kit get it insured by a company that deals with it and not just a generic insurance. My claim totals £5599.80 . . . If that was any other company they would be offering you a D90 :D
 
arad85 said:
I'm an enthusiastic amateur.. Where would I need public liability (serious question)?
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As far as i know, you would not have an issue, but those who consider themselves professionals would. I was trying to answer to your question ;).
 
godsakes said:
Honestly though what are the odds? I can fully understand if you were a builder/electrician etc where your working environment can be quite Hazardous or where shoddy work can equally lead to a dangerous situation but photography? Surely the worst most photographers will do is do a really naff job of capturing someone's wedding, worst case the customer refuses to pay you right?
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The thing is accidents do happen. Now, some professions are more dangerous and hence they would pay more for their premium. But it can happen. For instance you are taking photos of someone on an old building, the model/subject steps over glass. She/he is a ....... and decides to squeeze some money from you. It could happen, as some people are :bang:.
 
paula said:
As far as i know, you would not have an issue, but those who consider themselves professionals would. I was trying to answer to your question ;).
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You should see my photos... I'd class it in the "all the gear, no idea" category ;)
 
ouch, doesnt make the rstrap look too expensive eh?
 
scottthehat said:
my 70-200mm feels like its made like a tank, what other lenses are made much better.
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According to a friend of mine at nikon UK (who no longer works for them as of last month - so he can be quite honest with me about these matters now), the Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR-I was relatively flimsy compared to older and newer lenses. A higher percentage have been returned to Nikon for repair than either the previous generation of 80-200 f/2.8 lenses or the newer 70-200 f/2.8 VR-II.
Problems most commonly encountered were a partial or complete failure of the AF mechanism following relatively minor knocks up to complete and catastrophic failure after dropping (as evidenced above).
In normal 'amateur' use use you'd probably never notice (BTW is there a less offensive term for someone who is not a professional photographer? I do not wish to imply that a non-Pro is any less talented than someone who makes a living from photography).

I worked with prerhaps 350 press photographers using both Canon and Nikon equipment and was fully aware of what worked well and what didn't.
That particular lens wasn't well-regarded for it's ability to withstand abuse.
 
funny that, because lots of pros on here use them and highly rate them,
i will take my own real world advice, as with any lens there will always be a number of duff ones, and i can honestly say i have never heard 1 bad thing about the lens before the vr11 come along and that when people found the vr11 to not suffer as much with vignetting.
But the lens in this thread was dropped with a pro body on and a flash(RUDDY HEAVY ABOUT 1.6KG), when it landed it probably landed on a corner which took alot of the impact and even the flash and broke as did the body(does that mean that the body was one of the poor built nikon ones).
, when it was snowing i was out with my d300 and sigma 50-500mm os and slipped on ice the camera and the lens hit the ice (lens first) smashing the ice and got covered in muddy water both were fine not a mark on them, would i expect my nikon to do the same yes.

also i run my own photo business and make money from it(i still dont class my self as i pro)
 
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Just checked my strap and guess what? Looks like I will be buying a new one soon. I will heed the warning.
 
scottthehat said:
funny that, because lots of pros on here use them and highly rate them,
i will take my own real world advice, as with any lens there will always be a number of duff ones, and i can honestly say i have never heard 1 bad thing about the lens before the vr11 come along and that when people found the vr11 to not suffer as much with vignetting.
But the lens in this thread was dropped with a pro body on and a flash(RUDDY HEAVY ABOUT 1.6KG), when it landed it probably landed on a corner which took alot of the impact and even the flash and broke as did the body(does that mean that the body was one of the poor built nikon ones).
, when it was snowing i was out with my d300 and sigma 50-500mm os and slipped on ice the camera and the lens hit the ice (lens first) smashing the ice and got covered in muddy water both were fine not a mark on them, would i expect my nikon to do the same yes.

also i run my own photo business and make money from it(i still dont class my self as i pro)
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Not wishing to cause offense, but how many Pros here work full time doing press and sports? There's a world of difference between weddings and events and press work in the UK and worldwide. Also a big difference between fighting in a press scrum and sitting on the sidelines at a footy match.
I was based in Singapore until April last year and was in touch with nearly all of our full- and part-time shooters.

Just to clarify: there's absolutely nothing optically or mechanically wrong with the Nikkor 70-200 VR-I. It's just not as resistant to impact damage as earlier lenses made by Nikon or the newer VR-II version, based on returns to Nikon for damage repair. This is based on the experiences of full-time staffers and our part time stringers and upon conversations with my personal contacts at Nikon UK.
Maybe there was a bad batch out at the time we all bought new lenses - I don't know. I do know that the AF-system was particularly susceptible to hard knocks. We had several reported instances where the lens would focus manually but the AF would 'hunt' back and forth without being able to lock-on, following relative minor impacts.
 
cobra_lite said:
Not wishing to cause offense, but how many Pros here work full time doing press and sports? There's a world of difference between weddings and events and press work in the UK and worldwide. Also a big difference between fighting in a press scrum and sitting on the sidelines at a footy match.
I was based in Singapore until April last year and was in touch with nearly all of our full- and part-time shooters.

Just to clarify: there's absolutely nothing optically or mechanically wrong with the Nikkor 70-200 VR-I. It's just not as resistant to impact damage as earlier lenses made by Nikon or the newer VR-II version, based on returns to Nikon for damage repair. This is based on the experiences of full-time staffers and our part time stringers and upon conversations with my personal contacts at Nikon UK.
Maybe there was a bad batch out at the time we all bought new lenses - I don't know. I do know that the AF-system was particularly susceptible to hard knocks. We had several reported instances where the lens would focus manually but the AF would 'hunt' back and forth without being able to lock-on, following relative minor impacts.
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no offence taken, and im not saying your wrong,
and im not arguing the fact that lenses for some are just tools and are treated like c**p buy alot of pros as they work for big companys and just dont take as much care of the gear as say others do,
will keep using mine as normal and se how it goes(thank god for insurance):D
 
Yes straps are very important but you have to be very carefull a lot of cameras have been damaged because of the strap.
 
scottthehat said:
no offence taken, and im not saying your wrong,
and im not arguing the fact that lenses for some are just tools and are treated like c**p buy alot of pros as they work for big companys and just dont take as much care of the gear as say others do,
will keep using mine as normal and se how it goes(thank god for insurance):D
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You'll be surprised then to discover that virtually none of our photographers were 'issued' cameras.
We have a preferred list of equipment types - leaning heavily towards Nikon, but all of our freelance photographers (and by that I mean 90% of all of our photographers as there's virtually no such thing as a staff photographer anymore - PA still employs a number and they are given Canon equipment - the lucky sods: it would be my preference also) buy their own kit.
 
Just to keep the thread updated.

Underwriters have written off the camera and flash and will be replacing them under with just excess to pay.

The 70-200mm is repairable .... But i've agreed to pay the difference between the repair and the cost of a new mark 2 lens as I dont have confidence that the lens could be repaired to be as sharp as it was.

So for my excess and £366 I am getting a new camera, sb600 and 70-200mm 2.8vrII.

All in all aaduki have been not bad. Its now up to fixation to get my stuff shipped to me.
 
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