Do you loan your camera? Here are some of the risks you’re facing
Loaning
and borrowing photographic gear has always been a delicate subject,
especially among photographers who are also good friends. It involves a
lot of trust on one side and responsibility on the other. The value of
the tools is fairly high most of the times and that makes things even
more delicate. I’m not in any position to judge whether it is right or
wrong to loan cameras, but I would like to shine a light on some of the risks that come with putting your camera in
strange hands. These are real risks you have to acknowledge and they
should have you carefully consider who it is you decide to help.
Saying goodbye to your custom settings
If you’re the kind of photographer who
likes to customize his camera, and you should be because it makes it
easier to operate, you probably have your own settings and custom
functions. When you loan the camera, chances are the person using it
doesn’t have the same working method you do and they’ll probably restore
everything or tweak it to meet their needs. All that is fine, but the
problem is most people never bother to remember what the previous
settings were, not to mention restoring them.
Accidents happen
It doesn’t really matter if you lend your
camera to a best friend or an acquaintance. They could be a long time
pro, or a beginner. Either way, accidents happen and this time I am
talking about the real, honest, unwanted ones. A lot of things can occur
and it’s not even worth counting possible scenarios. Getting back a
broken camera can be very frustrating and all that can be amplified if
it’s your main camera and you have a shoot coming up in the next couple
of days. The best way to protect yourself from these events, besides not
loaning the camera, is insurance or making sure the person you lend it to is fully capable of covering the costs.
Missing deadlines and damaging friendships
If you do loan cameras, it would probably
be a good idea to do so only to trusted, close people. What’s very
important is to make sure there is a clear date for the return of the
equipment and only under special circumstances should it be missed. Even
so, there are cases when the camera is not returned in due time and the
owner himself has to borrow from someone else, provided the loaned
camera is the main one and the backup isn’t good enough for the job. All
that leads to tension that could ultimately damage the friendship. I’m
not saying don’t help a friend in need; just make sure to help the
friend that is aware of the return time.
It might get stolen
Don’t doubt it. I’ve heard of a recent
case in the photography community of a small town from Europe that made
me raise both my eyebrows. There was this event photographer who kept
borrowing stuff from other shooters, motivating that his own gear was in
service or had broken down the day before an event. He would usually
get back-up cameras
or other gear the others weren’t using so much anymore, so nobody
thought there was any reason to panic. All that until one of the other
photographers started to suspect something was wrong. This apparently
friendly fellow didn’t show up with his camera on time. It turned out
the guy was borrowing equipment and selling it on EBay, and since he was
so busy, no one could find him. Until the Police did of course, but it
goes to show that, sadly, even some people you think you know can turn
out to be entirely different. Regardless of goods, if loaning is
necessary, you should be extra careful who you trust with your
possessions.
It might come back in one piece, but check out all those black dots!
Not everyone is careful with cameras. Some people have a natural way of ignoring proper handling and can easily get a camera
filled with dust. It’s not that they mean it or have anything against
your camera, they probably do the same with theirs and you know what
they say, you can’t teach old dog new tricks.
The person you lend it to might not have the material ability to replace it
This is also a dreaded situation.
Something bad happens, more or less avoidable, and the camera is totally
damaged beyond repair. The person you gave it to might not have the
financial resources to replace the camera,
especially if we’re talking about a pro model. Needless to say, nobody
expected something like this to happen, and you both probably thought in
the back of your mind that the worst thing that could happen would be a
repair and that would be no problem. Situations like this are very
delicate and there isn’t a standard way of dealing with them, Insurance
is probably the only safety measure.
You might build an unwanted reputation
This also depends on who you lend to.
Helping out someone out of good will is a great thing, but if you do it
for the wrong people you might build an unwanted reputation as the go to
guy who lends stuff and is flexible on the return date. You probably
don’t want your phone to ring with photographers asking for something
every time.
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