NikoDoby said:
Dang warprints I've got to go on some photo walks with you because you're "one bad Mother... SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

LOL NikoDoby I thought you were gonna say mother shutter

jonnyapple said:
4. Looked to see if there's any way to search for the camera's serial number in the metadata of any pictures that get posted online (there's not).

I know you probably moved on already and I'm late in bringing this information in but, in case you're still interested in locating your camera or if anybody else gets their camera stolen, THERE IS actually a way to look for camera S/N online. I know this because I've recently had a camera stolen and was searching for a method to locate the camera with it's serial number. I mailed a D3100 kit with 55-300mm lens over to my sister who lives in Kuwait but somewhere along the way the package just vanished. Luckily I insured the shipment but I'm still in the process of filing for the insurance.

A guy named Matt Burns runs a website called stolencamerafinder.com where you basically enter the serial number of your stolen camera and the algorithm runs against a database of serial numbers collected from different photo sources on the web. Once a match is made, an email gets sent out to inform you. If you don't have your camera's serial number but have a jpeg photo from that camera, then you can drag the photo into his website and it will capture the camera's serial number.

According to Burns, many websites (like facebook and myspace) strip the metadata from the pictures but there are some that don't. Flickr is the most notable website that keeps the metadata and serial numbers on their pictures. So basically he runs web crawlers that check websites like flickr for photo metadata and if a match is made with any of the reported serial numbers then an email is sent out. As of July 29 '10, his database of indexed serial number from the metadata searches is only 0.3 million. Now it's up to 1 million.

There are two main ways that people can help with the project; a) by installing a flickr scraper that runs on your computer and searches for metadata on flickr and b) by installing a chrome extension that scans every photo viewed through your browser for metadata information.

Needless to say I'm so $^%#@ right now. I really don't know how effective this is going to be but I really hope that one day, even if it's years from now, I would find that camera. I don't know what I would do then, especially if my camera turns up in Cairo or frigging Kusadasi but that's for another time.

If anybody has any advice to offer, I'm all ears...

I buy music equipment insurance from MusicPro. They charge 10% of your insured value. For example, $10,000 worth of coverage costs $100/year. You write your own values for gear, so it's definitely full-replacement value. And as their name suggests, they cover your gear whether you're a professional musician, playing gigs, or just an amateur with a home recording studio. This is quite a bargain compared with pro video equipment insurance. Unfortunately, MusicPro ONLY insures music and recording studio-type of equipment. I wish I could find a MusicPro type of company for photo gear.

Aetas, I don't think I pay more than $200/year for my renters policy including the coverage for the photo gear. The photo business part is something like ~7500 with a 250 deductible if I'm remembering right, but I think smarterchild might have that much in bodies alone so that might explain why mine only adds a couple dollars per month. ;-)

Good news. Im glad this worked out. Smartchild $200 a year so like $17 a month or so. Thats not bad. Is your policy through your homeowners or a seperate policy for a photograpy business. I find myself in places less then desireable sometimes and would like to know if something happens I only have to worry about lossing my gear till i get a check?
~

aetas said:
Good thing you got your money. You never said if you did go with a d90 and lens. I was just checking this with my homeowners and my policy does not cover buisness equipment. So my wifes camera stuff is covered but mine is not....Is this a loophole=)

Oh, it's all her gear...
Yes, I got the D90, rebought the 35 1.8, and it tided me over until the D7000 came out. Honestly, the D90 is all the camera I think I would ever need (probably more), but wants are a different matter, aren't they? I've said it elsewhere on the forum, but I was very impressed with how the D90 compared to my D300. I was expecting more inconvenience than it was to switch.
I've now got my photo gear on a separate part of my policy just in case, even though they did pay this claim.

I hope no one will ever steal my gear, I wouldn't want to go through that. but just in case... i got everything covered for theft/accidental for my iphone/ipad/laptop and camera gear for less then 200$ a year

Good thing you got your money. You never said if you did go with a d90 and lens. I was just checking this with my homeowners and my policy does not cover buisness equipment. So my wifes camera stuff is covered but mine is not....Is this a loophole=)

oh Sorry to hear this. Hopefully your insurance will cover it. Keep your eye out for D300's that get listed for sale on Craigslist in your area. Although if you don't know your S/N it's not going to help you unless you've got some other way of proving it's yours. A friend was able to recover some of his stolen equipment because the thief listed it for sale on Craigslist. He knew his S/N and had all of his gear marked.

holy crap, that's awesome. . .

I've chilled a bit since I've gotten older - but I used to get a good adrenaline rush from confrontational situations. My wife still compalins tho, whenever we go on a trip, we always tend to end up in the worst part of town. Just can't help myself.

Dang warprints I've got to go on some photo walks with you because you're "one bad Mother... SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

I'm kinda late to this party, but ... if the gear was stolen from a vehicle, comprehensive auto insurance would cover that, if you had that coverage. There usually is a deductable.

Adamz, I once was in the "wrong" part of New Orleans, when a guy decided to rob me (I had two Minoltas with lenses mounted and motor drives). He didn't appear to have a weapon, so I told him that if he wanted the cameras, he'd only get them after I beat the holy shit out of him with the one I was holding. He looked at me for several seconds, then said, "%&#@ it" and walked away.

man i really need to line item my gear after reading all of this. . .

......or chain all of your cameras to your belt, like I do. The only downside is the dangling noise.

;p

I once tried to insure my camera equipment, and insurance cost was app 60% of the gear value, so.... my recommendation, to all of You who live in countries where insurance policy is sick, stay healthy and be prepared to take Your gear back once someone is running away with it :)

It also depends on whether you use your gear for profit. If you do then a regular home policy might not cover loss.

At the advice of my insurance agent I have kept all of my camera reciepts in a folder for many purposes but theift is the main reason. I believe it depends on your policy but most cover personal items away from home that where stolen. The question is is your policy written for replacement costs or for depreciated costs. I would recommend replacement cost as the additional cost for the policy very reasonable at least in my situation. I also keep a seperate list of ID numbers for all equipment with my passport so when I travel internationally I show it before i leave the US. There have been times when an imegration agent has made a copy of the list. This is a good idea because some stores sell gray market items which do not have US warranties and is reflected in their serial numbers. Best Regards

I'd be interested in a used D2X if they weren't still like $1500...

Good to know things worked out.

You and your D2X *rolling eyes*

Glad things turned out OK jonny :^)

So can I interest you in a used D2X? :^)

Good news. The check came in the mail today. It was for $1450! I was honest about how I had used the gear, so maybe I read the policy wrong (stranger things have happened). Travelers saves Christmas...

Yeah it is strange, but it's obviously just an unchecked/checked box somewhere. I'm not worried about it though as long as my name shows up OK. Thanks jonny appreciate it and again sorry to here about your D300.
Good luck

I can't see it in View (I'm running 1.0.3--I'm sure it's horribly out of date), but when I output the file as a tiff and tell it not to strip any metadata on output, the S/N is still there in the MakerNotes when I pull it up in the Exif viewer.
I'd guess it's Capture that's stripping it. Strange that Nikon would have it do that. What's the point?

Can you see the s/n info with Nikon Capture or View? I'm not seeing it there either? My name and copyright info show up fine on everything but not s/n. I never bothered to check s/n before but maybe your right about the info getting stripped somewhere along in my work flow.

That is strange, Niko. You might want to check what settings are available in the software you're using to process your pictures--maybe it's stripping some of the metadata. The top one was exported from lightroom, then edited in Picasa (well, not really edited. I just added a title) (and I know LR can do that, too. It's a long story).

I tried a jpg straight from the camera and it had the s/n in the MakerNotes section, just like the one that alpha rex posted from the D3s sample website.