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undercover fotog
if you had to really fly under the radar in a country where you d get arrested on spot for raising a camera for work, what would you shoot with? it would have to be digital, because of the very small archiving and storing capabilities. SD cards are very small to hide.
a 5d with a fixed lense might still be too flashy….. a silver M8 would be real nice, except for the 6g between body and lense… id take a white 12 inches old i book and nothing journo looking. colorful clothes and flip flops. and for sure one of them pairs of plastic ray bans ( tom cruise in cocktail style )
by
Guy Calaf
at
Tue Jun 19 14:55:48 UTC 2007
(ed. Mar 12 2008)
Washington DC,
United States
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I’d dress all in black - covered face - and come quietly in through the window at night with some throwing stars in my belt just in case…
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Jerome Delay (AP Africa bureau chief) use to work with a small panasonic with a wide angle lens on it. i don’t remember the model, but he’s and LS member so you can ask him. it looks very “touristy”. a lot of the small consumer point-and-shoot cameras now have lot’s of pixels and accessories like wide lenses.
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i’ve been looking for a similar solution myself, also just so i can carry something in my back pocket at all times.
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hey Guilad, ill ask Jerome. i had a panasonic LCM1 which was cool, but it broke on me twice already and now tis in the trash bin. the new version is bigger and bolkier.
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i would not bring a 5d, it just look “professional”. i’d suggest a canon g7. it looks like a tourist camera but it’s definitely not. and with its digic iii you can work at night perfectly without noise. if you’re rich, you can bring 2, just in case they take you one.. for the computer, unless you need to edit locally, it depends on how long you need to stay there, cause with a few new cards you might also consider not bring it at all, and go back home safely with your cards in your pocket. or somewhere else.. ciao, filippo.
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Guy, Jerome showed me once an iphoto slideshow he did when we were in Jerusalem, it was from all over the middle east while travelling on his big bike, i think it was all done with the Panasonic so it should be pretty sturdy.
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Guy, mate, where are you planning to go? Hrm??? :)
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Guy, take a look at the Olympus E-410. I am saving dosh to get that right now…. The kit lens 24-105 equiv is good, but if you have the money, you can even get a cosina 15mm voigtlander mounted on that with an adapter. Shoots raw continuous raw with a fast CF, brackets, etc… and looks like an old Oly…
If you want real wide, look at the smaller Ricoh GX100 with the fixed 19mm adapter (tiny & slow raw). The GX100 also has a SNAP mode (like the old GR1/s) that puts the lens at hyperfocal for street shooting.
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guy; take a camera phone instead if you really want to look like a tourist!!
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Buy a ‘magic jacket’. Not sure where my paper got theirs from but it was around 4-5,000 dollars. Looks just like a normal jacket but has a tiny lens in it which connects to a video recorder in the pocket. We use it to snap seriously dodgy characters who might get angry and it works very well. Or you could always make your own version or try the ‘shopping bag’ camera approach-bag with camera and remote attached inside, a small clear panel for the lens and you just turn the bag around when you want to shoot. Just looks like some guy or gal with their shopping.
Oh and before anyone calls this post seriously dumb,(!!), make sure you have a genuine press pass just in case it all goes pear shaped and someone calls the police.
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Jeez Angela-looks like my paper got ripped off on the price of their magic jacket then ! These little cameras are available in the UK too, but I guess the resolution is mostly pretty low. The ‘magic jacket’ gives a very good quality colour image and sound too-very useful for the reporter and also for the court case after the wearer gets a bashing !!
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Ah! but the savoir faire and je ne sais quoi these import – more than make up for the resolution!
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So thats why this CNN reporter was wearing them then !
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On reflection I think the magic jacket was especially made-probably why it cost so much. So best to do what the CNN reporter has so obviously done and buy a load of those button cameras-that way you will get a high res join up pic !! (I bet he had a ciggy packet one in his pocket too, just in case).
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thanks guys. i bought 20 of those button cameras, but will mount them on a black trench coat ( ill leave the sand color to over payed tv people ). seriosly, all very helpful, and Rob, the whole undercover thing emplyes the fact that i cant tell you where im going. if i would, then id have to kill you!!!! ah ah ah
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Will this work? 
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LOL Tommy you are the bomb…....when are you coming to New Orleans so I can introduce you to all my girlfriends?
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Gary Knight has a pretty good get-up for such occasions. I don’t know what the complete “look” is but it involves his Leica in a leather “half-case”, long strap on that, a colorful shirt and I’m not sure whatelse. He wears the Leica around his neck and shoulder, tourist style. If he happens to read this, perhaps he can complete the “picture” for us. Guy, be sure to let us what you come up with.
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Hawaiian tourist shirts would look great in North Korea… :)
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Andy! I dunno but another drink with ya can’t happen soon enough! :) Dirty South girlfriends? Hmmmm…
I agree with the camera phone recommendation. Even with a little P&S I got some questioning in Bogota the other week. I’d put some self deprecating pics on the phone to disarm them when/if they review your photos, worked in that incident.
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Maxwell Smart…......ain’t got nothing on that. Tommy, the drink is going to happen, maybe on your way to Austin?
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hey John, sure mate, ill keep you guys posted. going back to addis in 10 days and hitting the market to buy some sweet clothes. as far as gear, im still figuring out things. for the art lovers, two HOLGAS might be a good solution cross processing E6 to C41!!! maybe getting a friend to paint a few cute flowers on the bodies might help. 80’s sherpa style over sized straps are a must as well.
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Olympus Mju in an empty packet of smokes with a hole in the front, dont forget to leave a few smokes in the pack and don’t forget to disable the flash,that got me in trouble once!
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Good Lord, man. Guy, you may have hit it there with the flower stickers. Any camera covered with big flower stickers-can’t miss. For sure a Leica M with big flowers on it. How could that be taken seriously? LOL.
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that’s an easy part… but don’t forget to get everyone sign model release :-) if you want your pictures published… how about the solution for that?
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I just bought a FujiFilm FinePix E900 for low profile shooting. Can’t wait to receive it and play with it. Anyone use one of these before?
Apparently it’s a very serious camera at 9 mp and the chip is supposed to be amazing in low light. Also, the camera itself looks much less pro than the two above.
They can be had for a very reasonable price. Mine was just under $200 plus shipping.
I may even put flowers on it.
Good luck.
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Undercover gear… hmmm… good question, Guy.
Gear: A Leica II with a 35 f/3.5 in a half leather case. Or a Holga. Both w/ Tri-X.
Clothes: ratty khakis or jeans. Scuffed-to-hell leather shoes. A faded blue button-down shirt.
BTW, Guy, do you know Jonathan Crane?
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take the fujifilm f30. small and very good at low light. forget the laptop. use a usbstick with a portable emailclient and photoshop. maybe a hyperdrive. not to forget the ray ban.
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Try to pick up an Oly C7070 or C8080. They have limited iso but IQ is great. The flip screen is dead handy. I’ve shot 1/2 foot from people and they never noticed. You can set the hyperfocal distance with a little trial and error. They don’t look professional. Otherwise go for some of the top end canons in the A series, really have good ergonomics and they use a larger ccd than most small cams and the output can be nice. Fujis are good for high iso but clip highlights in daylight.
But getting something with a flip and/or twist screen means you could use TLR techniques, your cam might be pointing at the subject but you don’t have to be… Also shooting with the cam braced by your chest and neck strap makes for a very sold shooting position at low shutter speeds.
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u2 spy plane.or any later model.satellites are good too.
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Are you going to a place where cameras are prohibited or just photographing certain situations? If you go the point-and-shoot route, make damn sure that the camera’s flash doesn’t reset to “auto” when you restart the camera. The last thing you need is to have that go off and give you up.
A friend who works at SanDisk gave me some 1GB cards the other night in the “Micro SD” format that slip into an SD-sized adapter. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroSD )
It occurred to me that if confronted, you could discretely pull the Micro out of the adapter and hand over just the adapter. If you could attach a loop of fishing line to the tiny card, you could quite discretely pop it out.
Also, I’d carry a second camera that you don’t care about, some $5 point and shoot junker and let them smash it up. Be sure it has a half-shot roll of film loaded that you can dramatically yank out in front of whoever catches you. If it looks like your real camera from a distance, all the better.
If you can, have a friend nearby that you can pass your camera to, the way the Paris pickpockets do. Someone who looks local, preferably, not obviously your partner.
Spend some time beforehand shooting innocent tourist pictures and make sure there are only those on the card before whatever it is you want to shoot. If it’s a simple matter of deleting your photos in front of an official, do so. Switch cards immediately afterwards and use an undelete utility on the card later.
As for the iBook, clear off anything that could give you away. Create a second account on the machine with nothing incriminating on it and set the machine to log into to that at boot with no password. Mention that you just bought the thing used right before the trip. Store your photos on a separate usb hard disk. Set up an email account completely set apart from your work. Learn to use gpg encryption and scp. Put a bunch of family/tourist photos in iPhoto. No porn of any kind.
Be friendly and polite and as accommodating as possible. Say “I’m sorry” and try to be sincere. Do everything in your power to never escalate a tense situation.
Where the hell are you going, by the way?
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I’d take out my fake tooth, going with the flip flops (Guy’s suggestion) – attempting the just-off-the-shores-of-southwest-India-hippie look, but without trying to hard … because you could then be scrutinized as being a “druggie” and cops/immigration/army might be on to you for an entirely different reason than journalism.
Then what about just a store-bought disposable camera? Of course you are screwed if there is a deadline, whereby Guy’s original idea of using digital is absolutely correct.
But if time is of the essence, small digitals, but I’m not savvy enough on that gear to make any suggestions.
Interesting post though Guy …
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In the past when discretion was in order I have used Ricoh GR1, Minolta TC1 and Contax TVSII with excellent results. These days I use the Canon G7 when needed. It is good until 800 ASA.
Good luck!
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Speaking of the spare tooth…........Mogadishu New Years eve, you would have lost your camera…....
Take care in Iraq.
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...Jim, what in the hell did you do before photography, mate!?
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Hey Tommy do reckon that man is a candidate for a brain tumour?
And Jim what the hell did you do?
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“Where the hell are you going, by the way?”-Jim
maybe Guy is not going anywhere, just getting ready for the shoot in New York City (near future)...
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I second the Ricoh GX100. Have had a good experience with it, rugged lil’ camera that it is. And big advantage that the default flash setting is OFF. You have to hit a button to activate it (it’s a pop-up), way better than having to fiddle with little buttons on the back of another camera to make sure the thing doesn’t flash-blind the very people you’re trying to avoid. And 10MP, even as a half-frame sensor ain’t too bad. Of course it’s no button cam. . .
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you can always blink and remember
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Just record it if you can, matters not with what, nor how.
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Like Paul T. I also bought a Fuji e900. Love the little thing; shoots RAW, manual controls, small size and shoots pretty decent little AVI movies. I bought it off eBay for around $190US delivered with a 3 month Fuji refurbished warranty. Used it on a trip for a month even though I noticed a chicken size chunk on the sensor. Not to difficult to work around but it bugged me. I called up Fuji and sure enough sensor cleaning was included in the warranty. Love the little thing, except for the crazy mini xD memory card. Also when you buy the 900 don’t expect anything else but the camera and a 1mb card in the box. The image of the black horse in my gallery is from the 900. At that price I’d consider it almost disposable.
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Is there a touristy-looking camera with wireless transmission capabilities?? Have a laptop in a backpack and be transmitting the whole time. Or hell, if the range is good enough, you could even stash your laptop somewhere close.
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wireless transmission? are you planning on shooting the Olympics undercover? i just bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2 for an undercover job i just finished. it’s got a 28mm lens full manual. a beauty.
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Or you can use an Olympus half-frame.
Don’t know about the other brand half-frames, but I do know the Olympus Pen EES fits in the palm of your hand, and your roll of 36 exposures are doubled to 72!
The photos can be blown up to 5×8 inches before grain starts showing, but with careful processing and special film you can go larger than that!
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