Lenstag — Free theft protection & monitoring for cameras, lenses & video equipment


kandinsky

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Apr 26, 2008
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http://www.lenstag.com

Looks like a good initiative. Hope it gains ground.

What is Lenstag?
Lenstag is a project with three main goals:
Prevent the resale of stolen cameras, lenses & video equipment.
Significantly reduce the risk of theft.
Maintain the privacy of users and allow pseudonymous ownership.

How much does it cost?
It's free.

How does it work?
Lenstag works like this:
Sign up & add your cameras, lenses & video equipment to your account. It's totally free.
Verify that you're in possession of each item by uploading a picture from your phone or computer of each item's serial number or something else that shows you own each item (warranty card, etc.).
If an item gets stolen, immediately flag it as such and we'll create a public page to help you get it back.
Bonus feature: if you sell or give an item to someone else, you can transfer the record to them using Lenstag and save the next person from having to re-verify.

Why should I register my gear before it gets stolen?
The first few hours after a theft are absolutely critical to getting the word out & preventing resale of the stolen gear. If your gear is already registered, then you just have to sign in & flag the items as stolen (and optionally provide additional information).

If you wait until after your gear is stolen, you'll have to add the gear, verify it with something else other than a picture of the serial number and wait a day or two for someone at Lenstag to approve the verification request. By then the gear has probably been pawned or sold and the chances of successful recovery are substantially lower.

How can I tell if a camera or lens is stolen?
Do a web search for 'stolen', the serial number of the item and 'lenstag' for good measure. If the item's page shows up, there's a good chance it's stolen. If you know something about the item (location, craigslist post, etc.) please type it into the box and leave your email address (optional) so we can follow up.


Developer Trevor Sehrer, a Google engineer by day, has been working on a website that aims to help combat the theft of photography gear. It’s called Lenstag, and is an online equipment registry that makes it easier to report and track stolen cameras and lenses.

“Cameras and lenses are just like jewelry right now,” Sehrer tells us. “You can just pick up a lens, take it to a pawn shop, and then sell it.”

Lenstag is his attempt to solve this growing problem. It’s “designed to obliterate the ability of thieves to resell stolen gear.” By making it more difficult to sell stolen gear, Sehrer hopes it will eventually “reduce the likelihood that gear will be stolen altogether.”

via: Lenstag: A Free Online Gear Registry that Aims to End Camera and Lens Theft
 

Update: They've recently added apps on android/iOS platforms. Even more convenient to add items.

https://www.lenstag.com/
 

It won't help us recover back. The thief is still gonna steal it. Just like iPhones
 

Lol, still no other Lenstag users? :bsmilie: One of the recent updates to Lenstag is pretty cool:

Lenstag maintains a database of a user’s lens, camera body and accessory serial numbers and then trawls the web looking for photos posted with those registration numbers in the EXIF data of a photo. When gear is marked as stolen, Lenstag notifies the owners of the equipment that those photos have shown up online.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/19...s-photographers-find-stolen-lenses-and-images