Photography Gear Insurance: Is it Worth it?

It is raining somewhere. Accidents happen; you can’t predict or control them. Somewhere someone’s camera just took a tumble. See that car? A lens just got cracked rolling in the trunk. The one running down the street just smashed and grabbed a photographer’s camera bag. When your camera equipment is damaged or stolen, your home insurance policy won’t help much.

Let’s tackle the last point first. Most homeowners, renters, or condo insurance policies will likely not have replacement coverage for your equipment or are simply insufficient. Most policies limit coverage for expensive items such as jewellery, watches, bicycles, and camera equipment. Your policy does not provide coverage if you use that camera equipment in any professional capacity where you are compensated for your work. In this case, specific photography insurance was created to pick up the slack and fill in the coverage gap.

There are two options for insuring your equipment; the best option depends on the extent of your equipment and usage. One option is to add a rider to your current home policy to provide additional coverage for your equipment. Another option is to purchase a separate photographer’s commercial policy.

Let’s take a step back! Getting new camera equipment is exciting! A new Nikon Z9 camera or acquiring an additional Nikon Z 100-400mm VR lens can open up new photographic possibilities. You can try new photographic techniques or search for new locations to capture. The gear may be expensive, but it’s worth seeing the world in a new way!

What’s not exciting is the practical side of owning expensive and a range of camera gear. Think about it, how many lenses do you have? Did you get the Nikon Z 24-200 zoom lens to shoot top-notch portraits? How about that PocketWizard Transceiver to trigger flash heads, the ML-L3 Wireless Remote Control, SD cards, or batteries? It adds up after a while. And sure, maybe you just bought the ThingTank Retrospective Backpack to help protect your gear with padding and covers, but what would you do if all that disappeared? Maybe there was a disaster in your home, like a fire. Maybe gravity jumped you, and the bag took a tumble off a cliff. Or perhaps someone broke into your car and stole it.

 After the initial shock and devastation, you find you can replace all your gear and don’t need insurance to continue doing what you love. That’s great! But what if you can’t afford the financial strain of replacing everything immediately and you have to put your business on hold?

You should consider camera equipment insurance if you cannot afford to replace the lost or damaged gear. But how do you know what kind of insurance you need: a rider or a separate photographer’s policy? Here are some things you can do to help yourself determine what insurance is right for you:

• Gear Inventory List: Make a list of what you have and the current cost to replace everything to determine if your gear is worth insuring.

• Review Policy: Contact your broker to review your homeowners, renters or condo policy for limits and exclusions for coverage.

• Get Quote: Ask us for a free, no-obligation quote for specific photography insurance, or even quote it yourself online!

Insurance policies can be complicated. It is essential to know exactly what is covered, where and when it is covered, and what isn’t. You don’t want a surprise from your insurance company if your camera equipment is lost or damaged. Know the limits of your coverage and your responsibilities under the policy.

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Try our online quoting tool to determine how much a photographer’s insurance policy would cost!

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