[Velja]

Theft of photo equipment in Europe is not only European problem.To is a global phenomenon. It is true that traveling around Europe must not leave the equipment out of the reach of his eyes. The same is happening all over the world. Social differences are huge, so they "offered" equipment quickly find its way to the "third" hand. Easy money for the poor and taking drugs.

[timh]

If I'm dubious about the safety of a location I leave the bag in the hotel, strap the camera over one shoulder and under my jacket so it hangs comfortably out of sight when I'm not using it, and anything else I need goes in an inside jacket pocket. Only works with small lenses, of course!

With bigger lenses, you could pick a beaten up old bag instead of an obvious camera bag, and add a protective insert for the camera stuff. Something with no outside pockets and single zippable opening works well - then you can use a small padlock to prevent wandering hands in dense crowds or if you need to stow it overhead (for example) on public transport.

Some percentage of this is certainly paranoia - but not 100% of it, and it doesn't do any harm.

[Tony3d]

When eating at a restaurant either outdoors or in putting the camera bag under the table with the strap around my leg is probably a good idea? There will also be 4 other people with me, so we will be looking out for each other.

[Jasvox]

You should be just fine. Remember: not all museums or other pay to enter attractions allow large bags and tripods. Travel light.

Jason

[Mehlsack]

when iam traveling with a backpack with photo stuff, or just "normal" stuff+ photo i connect the different bags when i am waiting (for a train or something) with the breast or pelvis straps, once two guys tried to steal my things in paris, one took my photobag and went right, the other one with the daypack to the left, well they came around 40cm, looked quite funny on a train station in the middle of the day.


Strap your bag togehter and/or to the table or chair.

to the things velja said:

Its quite true, dont wander around at night in dark areas with your camera stuff hanging all over you, BUT it is not soo bad, because they want your equipment, not your life.
In Daylight in the inner City areas the worst things are "pickpocketing" and someone grabbing your bag when you dont watch it.

[Northern Soul]

I've lived in Europe for over 30 years - my whole life. I've not been to Italy, but I have been to Scotland, Wales, France, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Norway, Croatia, Bosnia and Hungary.

The only time I've felt slightly unsafe was when we travelled through a part of Bosnia in a Croatian hire car, when the guide book told is it was unsafe to do so (my ex-wife wasn't great at map reading - we'd be travelling 100 miles before she realised we had taken the wrong road - although to be fair it was a shorter route).

As everyone else has said, don't look like a tourist - don't stand out at all, you'll get better pictures that way. And unattended things go missing everywhere. I used to take a compact with me of an evening, but that was mainly out of convenience rather than the wish to keep my camera 'safe'