For folks going to Wikimania or other conferences, I recommend looking into camera insurance that insures you for loss against theft in particular. I realize that most of us don't have $5,000 in camera gear, but even a $1,000 loss would be a big deal for some of us, and I'm aware of an incident of camera equipment being stolen after a previous Wikimedia conference. A mid-range camera and lens combined can easily cost over $1,000. You may be able to purchase camera insurance as an extension of your homeowners' or renters' insurance, which I was able to do at a surprisingly low cost. I'd encourage others to look into this, particularly those planning to travel to Wikimania or other conferences.
One big limitation: if a camera is used for commercial purposes, you may need commercial camera insurance, which seems to be significantly more expensive than insurance that you might be able to add to your homeowners' or renters' policy if you use your camera only for noncommercial purposes. My understanding is that cameras which are owned by affiliate organizations would need commercial insurance, although affiliates may still decide that the cost is worthwhile, particularly if they have lots of cameras and lenses that they loan to their members.
I hope that's helpful info.
Pine
I'd add that you could also look into renting gear locally for the event:
http://photoservice.ca/en/canon-rental.html
For a general comparison, a Canon T3i with a 17-85mm lens is $105 (Canadian) for 1 week, a 5d mkii is $300
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 3:00 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
For folks going to Wikimania or other conferences, I recommend looking into camera insurance that insures you for loss against theft in particular. I realize that most of us don't have $5,000 in camera gear, but even a $1,000 loss would be a big deal for some of us, and I'm aware of an incident of camera equipment being stolen after a previous Wikimedia conference. A mid-range camera and lens combined can easily cost over $1,000. You may be able to purchase camera insurance as an extension of your homeowners' or renters' insurance, which I was able to do at a surprisingly low cost. I'd encourage others to look into this, particularly those planning to travel to Wikimania or other conferences.
One big limitation: if a camera is used for commercial purposes, you may need commercial camera insurance, which seems to be significantly more expensive than insurance that you might be able to add to your homeowners' or renters' policy if you use your camera only for noncommercial purposes. My understanding is that cameras which are owned by affiliate organizations would need commercial insurance, although affiliates may still decide that the cost is worthwhile, particularly if they have lots of cameras and lenses that they loan to their members.
I hope that's helpful info.
Pine
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Hi Victor,
I encourage people looking into lending as an alternative to purchasing gear. However, if someone rents gear and then it goes missing or gets damaged, that could put them in a situation that's much more expensive than they had a planned, so I'd encourage weighing options carefully with regards to renting vs. purchasing, and carefully reading any rental agreement or policies for terms about loss and damage.
I'm not sure how insurance would work for rented gear. That would be worth exploring if someone is considering gear rental.
Pine
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 12:11 PM, Victor Grigas vgrigas@wikimedia.org wrote:
I'd add that you could also look into renting gear locally for the event:
http://photoservice.ca/en/canon-rental.html
For a general comparison, a Canon T3i with a 17-85mm lens is $105 (Canadian) for 1 week, a 5d mkii is $300
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 3:00 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
For folks going to Wikimania or other conferences, I recommend looking into camera insurance that insures you for loss against theft in particular. I realize that most of us don't have $5,000 in camera gear, but even a $1,000 loss would be a big deal for some of us, and I'm aware of an incident of camera equipment being stolen after a previous Wikimedia conference. A mid-range camera and lens combined can easily cost over $1,000. You may be able to purchase camera insurance as an extension of your homeowners' or renters' insurance, which I was able to do at a surprisingly low cost. I'd encourage others to look into this, particularly those planning to travel to Wikimania or other conferences.
One big limitation: if a camera is used for commercial purposes, you may need commercial camera insurance, which seems to be significantly more expensive than insurance that you might be able to add to your homeowners' or renters' policy if you use your camera only for noncommercial purposes. My understanding is that cameras which are owned by affiliate organizations would need commercial insurance, although affiliates may still decide that the cost is worthwhile, particularly if they have lots of cameras and lenses that they loan to their members.
I hope that's helpful info.
Pine
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*Victor Grigas* Video Production Manager and Storyteller Wikimedia Foundation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ4ba28-oGs vgrigas@wikimedia.org https://donate.wikimedia.org/
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