Do people ask to use your camera?

[Boogedy]

This is sort of a question and a poll all in one.

The other night was league bowling night for us and we always stay afterwards for karaoke. There are always a million funny photo ops so of course I had to bring my new camera. As the night progressed I got more and more drunk people asking if they could take a shot of me, or my group, or whatever. A few of them were in our group so it was no problem for me to be snarky and say 'hell no you are not touching my new baby', but a couple of them were completely random drunk people whom I've never met. So I tried to explain it nicely, but the last guy who asked actually got pretty mad at me for denying him! LOL

So my question is, do random strangers ask to use your camera? And if so, how do you respond?

[jdepould]

Laughing, lots of laughing. I have two or three people I trust with my gear, for them I don't mind at all, but anyone else just gets a funny look. If I absolutely need someone to take a picture for me, I'll let them use the body that doesn't belong to me.

[Derek]

iI never give my camera to friends. never even dream to give it some drunk guy i don't even know who he is.

[kirbinster]

Just use the line: "You can use it, BUT I'll have to kill you!"

[PnwGuy]

I'd politely tell them that nobody uses my camera except for me. If they have a problem with that, well, that's their problem.

A few years back the wife (ex wife, whatever) and I were walking down the Vegas strip and I had a camcorder. Some shady looking guy walked out of a small casino as we were passing by. He eyed my camcorder for a moment before offering to shoot some video of us. I laughed and told him "no thanks, I don't feel like chasing you down the strip". He got offended and threatened to beat me up. I laughed again, waved him off and just walked away.

[Jamesc359]

I've never had a stranger ask to borrow my camera, but I know the answer is a resounding no. I have however had family and friends ask. When I first got my camera it was my baby, and I was always hesitant to lend it out, but I did so. Thankfully they've all got their own camera's now!

[Marmalade]

I have only let my husband use my camera. My mother let my sister borrow her camera once and she dropped it. So when she asked me if she could borrow mine I told her I would take any pictures she wanted but she would never be borrowing my camera. Don't get me wrong I love my sister but I do not hand her anything breakable.

[xxpinballxx]

I have a story to go along with this. I uses a rebel Film SLR some time back. When my little brother got into high school he had a class that taught photography along with darkroom. He asked to use my camera so he could get the most out of the class.
No big deal at the time....but the cameras were stored in the classrooms if they wanted to instead of carrying them around and back and forth. Still no big deal in my mind.
Until the camera along with 2 others came up missing.
I cant blame anyone and the school reimbursed the 3 kids who lost their cameras after there parents raised a stink but still. I just explain that its not that I dot trust them but accidents happen and I would hate to get into a fight or angry with one another over it.
Actually I would trust anyone who is not at least as knowledgeable as am and I would insist on not changing any settings....

[Bumblebee Bruin]

I agree laugh it off. I actually have never had a stranger ask to use my camera. It sounds like I am not alone here when I say this.. "The camera is my baby if any one hurts it I will have to hurt them" Not really but the idea is true. I have to remind myself that since my husband was kind enough to buy me the camera I should let him use it. So keep reminding myself when he wants it that I need to let him use it and also teach him how to use it instead of being my pack mule and idea man. He is a good sport about it though. Got to love him! My sister-in-law has the same rule as I do. You can borrow my film camera and lens but not the digital SLR. That's my baby!

[smc1377]

I don't let complete strangers use my camera, but I do let friends and family use them.

In fact, an aunt has my Canon 10D with the 28-200. A neice has an older HP camera of mine. My mother in law has one of my Casio Exilims. My friend has my Canon 50mm f1.8. No less than 5 people that I can remember have memory cards of mine.

I'm not too overly concerned about my equipment. I've always let people borrow my stuff. The worst was when I let a friend borrow my Turbo Eclipse and he burnt out the clutch. I wasn't too happy, but he offered to pay half the bill. It actually gave me an excuse to upgrade to a new car, so it turned out ok in the end.