A couple of words on gear -
in a pinch, look for a cheap D70 if you want something to hold you over for a bit until D3 or D300 prices come down. At least you can still use the lenses.
Glad you didn't hit him with the tripod. If you had, you probably would have been too slow to be effective and your camera would have been wrecked with the lens... I also doubt that it would have hurt enough to be effective. I've always felt that if the person is there for a reason other than being crazy (ie genuinely criminal), they won't give up very easily.
Think too about this. Digital cameras have become mainstream enough that most people wouldn't be too easily fooled by a roll of film. Especially if they can see a huge LCD on the back of the camera. However, I might consider offering to the guy to have a look at the pics. Or straight out offering the card and walking away.
I have had some experience with 'criminal types' and they aren't usually as dumb as one might be led to think... 'Fumbling a bit' with the camera and handing them some swapped out bit of film or card doesn't really work in practice if faced with a serious criminal.
If it's in the hours between 9:00 to 2:00 or 3:00, you are likely to find drunkards, junkies, and other petty types. Anything later than that and you stand a pretty real chance of meeting some higher end criminals. These won't likely be 'high', drunk or stupid.
I would just level with them. The fact that he didn't walk over and just take you out immediately probably tells you that this was not his intent. He probably had done something a bit 'quasi-legal' and wanted to grab evidence. If you were carefully vague with your speech, you could likely get through something like this by being quite direct and showing the guy exactly what you were doing, removing yourself from his perception of threat.
Hindsight is 20/20 and I remember acting much the same when I accidentally made a wrong turn fairly late at night many years ago due to the stress of the incident, but there are probably a few things that might have been done differently to diffuse the situation. Running isn't always your best option.
ETA: there have been quite a number of threads regarding "hydrophilic" cameras with good suggestions as to how to do something on your own to try to improve the situation. Probably the best is to do a distilled water bath and extended dry. Absolute must - make sure you find the second battery in the cam (time/date battery). There still may be hope!
Message edited by author 2008-02-08 16:13:54. |
