Recovering a Lost or Stolen Camera
Today Tech Talker will be covering how to retrieve a lost or stolen camera!
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Recovering a Lost or Stolen Camera
This past week was not the best for me. My soon-to-be wife had her digital camera stolen, along with her camera bag, lenses, and memory cards. As I’m sure you can imagine, this was a huge loss for us!
That’s why today, I’m taking this opportunity to tell you how you can help protect yourself so that this doesn’t happen to you — and the steps you can take if it does.;
So what’s the best way to recover your lost or stolen camera? Not have it lost or stolen in the first place!
I’m sure you’re thinking, “Gee, thanks Tech Talker, why didn’t I think of that?”
But in all seriousness, there are a few easy steps that can be taken so as to have your camera returned if lost, or easy to trace if stolen.
How to Recover a Lost Camera
Whenever you buy an expensive gadget, you should always file the receipt, and take a picture of the item so that if anything does happen to it, you have proof of purchase. The next thing to do would be to affix a label to it indicating your name and your phone number. That way, if it is lost and a good samaritan finds it, they will have a way to contact you. You can also take a picture of yourself holding a sign that reads something like, “Hi, I’m John and this is my camera. If you find it, please call me at [insert your number here].” That way if someone finds your memory card or camera, they will see the picture and hopefully return it back to you. Lastly, to differentiate your device from a sea of others, add an identifing feature onto your device that is not easily removable. A small dab of nail polish works great. This way, if your device is sold on eBay or Craigslist, or if the person who found it wanted proof that it was yours, you can easily identify it.
These first few tips assume that your camera, device, or memory card was found by someone who would actually do the right thing and return it to you.
But what if the person who has your camera has no intention of returning it to you? What if your device is actually stolen?
How to Recover a Stolen Camera
First things first — file a police report. It doesn’t take nearly as long as you would think and it is necessary if you are going to try and get your insurance company involved. It will also help out greatly in order to find the person who stole your camera or who ended up with it.
From here on out, you’ll need a lot of luck, and a dumb criminal. Generally someone interested in a quick buck will try and get rid of your camera as soon as posisble. Nearby pawn shops and Craigslist are going to be the first place you’ll start checking.
I mentioned IFTTT in a previous episode and this is where it can come in handly. You can set it up so that when an item gets posted to Craigslist with the keywords you selected, it will email send you a text message, or take any other action of your choice. This is great because even if a criminal hangs on to your camera for a few months before selling it, IFTTT will never stop notifying you. It also saves you a ton of time and effort searching online every day.
As for pawn shops, there is a really low tech solution. Google all the surrounding shops near where your camera was stolen, and then call asking if they have any cameras. Don’t mention that you’re looking for your stolen camera. Odds are, that won’t go over well.
Now for the techie solution. There are two websites that will help find your camera. The first stolencamerafinder.com is great because all you do is upload a picture from your camera to it and it will extract the serial number. It then searches photo websites like Flickr to see if someone has uploaded any pictures from your camera with the matching serial number. There’s also cameratrace.com which does the same thing only you have to know the serial number ahead of time (which you can just copy from stolencamerafinder).
Lastly there’s another website called camerafound.com, which is dedicated to reuniting lost cameras with their owners using the pictures on the camera.
Everything I mentioned here is a long shot…but you never know!
With that, here are your 5 Quick and Dirty Tips for recovering a lost or stolen camera:
- Take preventative steps: don’t leave it exposed or where someone can easily snag it, scan the receipt, and add a small identifying mark.
- Use IFTTT and Craigslist to help find your camera without any extra work.
- File a police report.
- Check out stolencamerafinder.com and camerafound.com to see if anyone has been posting pictures taken from your camera.
- Cross your fingers!
earlier episodes at techtalker.quickanddirtytips.com. And if you have further questions about this podcast or want to make a suggestion for a future episode, post your comments on the Tech Talker Facebook page.
Until next time, I’m the Tech Talker, keeping technology simple!
Well, that’s it for today! Be sure to check out all my earlier episodes at techtalker.quickanddirtytips.com. And if you have further questions about this podcast or want to make a suggestion for a future episode, post your comments on the Tech Talker Facebook page.
Until next time, I’m the Tech Talker, keeping technology simple!
