the O2 and cameras

neil_g

neil_g

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i did have to laugh, basically we spent the afternoon in london yesterday before going to a gig at the O2. we were tooled up with 2x 20D's, a sig 18-50 and a sig 70-200.

anyway long storey short they check everyones bags before entry and have a massive list of "you cant bring these in" at the bottom of which is "professional cameras". this will be fun i thought to myself.

mrs neil was infront with her shoulder bag with one of the 20D's and the 18-50, the guy was like woah thats a proper zoom you cant bring that in... (an 18-50 is a proper zoom? seriously?) but they kind of look at you like youre either stupid or up to no good trying to get in with this sort of stuff. so anyway im next so i say to him that my bag is just as bad so he asks to see inside, he spots the 70-200 and his head nearly explodes lol

so we get escorted over to a side desk where we have to book in our bags (im not loving this idea right now but what can you do) and we explain that the bags are full of camera kit. again cue the "are you retarded trying to bring that in here" look.

dont get me wrong i know its private property and theyre hot on people sneeking recordings etc, but it would of been nice to had less "youre an idiot" attitude. some people chose to make a day of going to london and have nice cameras. anyway i would of needed at least a 600mm from where we were sat lol

anyway it didnt stop a wall of light emitted from 1000's of P&S flashes every 5 mins during the show..

so yeah, this is less of a rant and more of a if you ever go to the O2 with an SLR be prepared to hand it over before they let you in.
 
Yep I had the same problem a couple of months ago, they had a fit when they saw a 55-250 attached to a "proper" camera, lol!! They locked my bag in a locker staffed by only two very dodgy looking characters.

When I got in all I could see was a wall of P&S flashes going off. I thought I'd challenge staff about this, telling him that I would be far less intrusive than the wall of P&S shooters as I wouldn't even need a flash. He then explained that "any lenses over 35mm are classed as commercial and are against house rules" :bang:. Had to laugh.
 
Most places count SLR's as Pro and won't let them in. Same for anything decent looking as a video camera...

I use a Flip video and a Fuji F31FD.
 
i went to a green day concert and managed to get the camera in without any problems but when i started using it i was told to put it away or they will confiscate it
 
What did you see at the O2?
 
mipevo6 said:
Most places count SLR's as Pro and won't let them in. Same for anything decent looking as a video camera...

I use a Flip video and a Fuji F31FD.
Click to expand...

It is indeed a fact that 'normals' consider an SLR (or even an SLR shape camera, read - bridge cameras) as 'professional cameras'. I was on the train yesterday coming back from Fort William and, unfortunately, the last 30 minutes of my journey was spoiled by a drunk man telling me how professional my 450D was and that I was the real deal and all that. I insisted it wasn't professional, etc. but he wouldn't have it! As far as he was concerned, I was a 'proppa photograffa', like.
 
It's stated as a rule of entry that you aren't allowed a professional camera inside the venue. They can't be expected to know what camera equipment is professional, they have jobs to do that are much more important.

Some venues will try and stop p & s cameras, but most people have a camera on their phone so it's much harder to stop people using a camera.

As for their attitude, unfortunately most security aren't the greatest at customer service.
 
So if you had a 20D wit a 10mm WA lens you wont be allowed but if you had a p&s with a 15x magnification you might be allowed :)
 
ziggy©;2579118 said:
So if you had a 20D wit a 10mm WA lens you wont be allowed but if you had a p&s with a 15x magnification you might be allowed :)
Click to expand...

Yup....

I have a thread going in Talk Equipment looking for a replacement for my F31FD ;-)
 
SILENCE! I KILL YOU!

That one?
 
I got my D300 and 70-300 into the O2 when Queen played there a while back - had it wrapped up inside my coat, inside a bag though :lol: Never got spotted with it in there either :D

A friend of mine going the ROC at Wembly had trouble taking her 40D in though - they have a blanket ban on professional cameras, and call a prefessional camera anything that the lens can be changed on
 
i was taking some pictures of some friends outside the queens house in greenwich, I had my wedding gear with me, so it was my 5D's and the two L's. And after a while a security guy came out and said that they had been watching us and that we werent allowed to do any professional photography, I asked him what made him think that I was doing professional photography? He said that I had a big camera! I then explained to him that the camera wasnt big, the lens was and that most amateur hobbyists carry similar or larger equipment. He didnt know what to say and then reverted back to the default option of, its a big camera! I was really polite, but they started to **** me off, because I can understand places that have photography policies, but i think they should atleast have the commonsense not to pigeon hole everyone. In the end, I still continued my shoot and they hassled us once or twice again and then gave up.
 
Major Concert Venue Doesn't Allow SLR's - EXCLUSIVE!

You heard it here first ;-)
 
Just thought i would add my humourous entounter with o2 staff here.

I work in construction and i often work near the o2 site... i wear a hi-viz polo shirt with a hi-viz waistcoat over the top. at the time i also had orange hi-viz trousers on (i work in the roadways)

Anyways quite some time ago me and my labourer decided we wanted a coffee and the nearest place was the starbucks just inside the main o2 entrance... the doors to the right were locked so we went to the open doors on the left.

Immediatly security came running in "NO HI-VIZ ALLOWED" he shouted...
We asked what we were meant to do as we wanted a drink and he said we would have to take the hi-viz off... we explained our clothes were hi-viz and he had such a bad attitude that we said to hell with it and proceeded to take all our clothes off except our boxers and began walking through the o2.

Was funny as hell watching the managers/staff/security going mad trying to figure out what to do about almost naked builders that they quickly asked us to put our clothes back on... (que my sarcasm with them about how we cant have hi-viz)

Safe to say that i agree the attitude of security there is often very bad
 
I got told off in the Tate Modern for using a tripod to take an inoccuous shot of the back wall and window.

I asked him "Seriously? In a place dedicated to art?"

Security Guards aren't employed for their sensitivity to culture. They're there to stop terrists and pediatricians.
 
evilonion said:
Just thought i would add my humourous entounter with o2 staff here.

I work in construction and i often work near the o2 site... i wear a hi-viz polo shirt with a hi-viz waistcoat over the top. at the time i also had orange hi-viz trousers on (i work in the roadways)

Anyways quite some time ago me and my labourer decided we wanted a coffee and the nearest place was the starbucks just inside the main o2 entrance... the doors to the right were locked so we went to the open doors on the left.

Immediatly security came running in "NO HI-VIZ ALLOWED" he shouted...
We asked what we were meant to do as we wanted a drink and he said we would have to take the hi-viz off... we explained our clothes were hi-viz and he had such a bad attitude that we said to hell with it and proceeded to take all our clothes off except our boxers and began walking through the o2.

Was funny as hell watching the managers/staff/security going mad trying to figure out what to do about almost naked builders that they quickly asked us to put our clothes back on... (que my sarcasm with them about how we cant have hi-viz)

Safe to say that i agree the attitude of security there is often very bad
Click to expand...

I may have missed something here, but why would High-Vis clothing (I assume because of the day-glo colour and reflective strips) be a problem in a coffee shop?
 
Many years ago, I was working on the door at a party where there was a strict dress code - jackets and ties must be worn. When a chap turned up wearing ONLY a jacket and tie, I let him in.

I was also under strict instructions that NOBODY was allowed in without a ticket. A bit silly of the organiser's wife to forget hers, wasn't it? Luckily, one of the club's managers was within shouting distance and confirmed who she was before she completely lost her rag (and yes, she DID do the whole "Do you know who I am?" routine).
 
Arkady said:
I may have missed something here, but why would High-Vis clothing (I assume because of the day-glo colour and reflective strips) be a problem in a coffee shop?
Click to expand...

It isn't, but the coffee shop is just inside the o2... i mean litteraly just inside it, the door to the coffee shop is right next to the door to the o2... but they wouldn't let us walk to it without taking off our hi-viz clothing first.

Due to the extreme bad attitude of the staff and the way they spoke to us we thought we would push it a bit :)
 
Years ago, after a black tie dinner one night a bunch of us headed into town to a nightclub - we were stopped at the door by the bouncers and told we couldn't go inside unless we took off our bowties:) (apparently to avoid us being mistaken as door staff:lol:). Security, I love it.
 
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