Camouflaging Your Camera As an Anti-Theft Measure

We've seen this idea most prevalent amongst urban cyclists afraid of losing their two wheeled transportation to would-be thieves: camouflaging their expensive bikes with duct tape, haphazard paint jobs, aged sticker placement...anything to give their bikes an aged appearance to make them less desirable to would-be thieves. Here's the same idea applied to one of the most often swiped items from the tech realm, a digital camera strategically hit by the ugly stick...

Jimmie Rodgers Canon Powershot looks like it was picked out of the garbage, plastered with tape and faux scuff marks, which allowed him to carry and snap photos while traveling in known high-crime zones without losing it (he was in fact mugged, but only lost his cell phone and not the tape-adorned digital point and shoot). Of course, it helped that Jimmie was smart enough to dress the part of local instead of tourist while traveling across Brazil, thus decreasing his own visibility as a target amongst thieves. But this may be a great idea for iPhone and other mobile accessory makers to offer "uglified" cases to make our prized possessions not so prized by others.

Read about Jimmie's complete digital camera makeover at his blog, Jimmie's Project Journal.

[via Boing Boing]

Comments (5)

This is really stupid. Why would I buy an expensive, beautiful camera (like, say, my Leica) and then proceed to make it extremely ugly and dirty-looking, ruining its aesthetic and resale value?

sauceykat - i would argue that the intrinsic value of a camera is in it's ability to capture what you see (to admire later), and not just admiration of the camera itself. i agree that it's unfortunate to have to make something ugly in order to hold on to it, but for me, allowing me to preserve memories is more valuable than a cameras aesthetic value as an object to look at.

rebecca_f, I know what you're saying (of course, a good camera is a good camera if it takes excellent pictures, etc.) but why would I spend $2000+ on a camera (which at least PART of that purchase decision was based on aesthetics) and then proceed to completely ruin the aesthetic value (and resale value) of the camera? It seems rather silly, just to avoid theft. Maybe just keep a better eye on your stuff, keep your camerabag/purse in your eyesight and in front at all times, and put it somewhere secure when you're home?

Con'td: the same could be said about a car, really. Just about any working car can get you from A to B, and you can argue that some do it better or have better features, but many people buy nice-looking cars because...well, they're nice-looking. Does that mean you shouldn't ever wash your car, or you should gouge the paint and put a hole in the windshield to stop it from getting stole? Of course not! You use common sense, install an alarm, don't park it in sketchy areas of town (if you can avoid it) and insure it in case of theft/damage.

I used to do this to my calculator back in school (back in the days before kids were spoiled & a calculator was the most expensive thing they owned). These days kids own nicer things than I do.

My 8MP casual camera is built into my phone, in my pocket, so this is non-issue. My pro camera is always around my neck when out of the home, so no worries there.