Adam Monk Photo Tours & Images Gallery

Continuing on from my earlier post about my camera insurance claim on a damaged Phase One IR Filter.

The Results… Finally… or not.

After months of wrangling, writing letters and answering spurious nonsense created by the WFI legal team (and passed to me for comment by the ombudsman), WFI offered to pay half the amount of the camera insurance claim.  I considered carefully… for about 2 seconds, then told them (via the ombudsman) to bugger off!  It was long past being about the money, it was about them doing the right thing, the thing I had been paying large amounts of money for in good faith.

Several more weeks of fluff and noise ensued, before WFI finally capitulated and agreed to pay the full amount. (I think they just got sick of me)…  This was 25th March 2019, the initial claim was lodged 23rd July 2018… For a $3,600 claim on an item insured for around $60,000. All up I would estimate that rejecting my claim and fighting it for months used up several hundred hours of somebodies expensive time at WFI, which cost a hell of a lot more than than my initial claim.

Of course WFI cancelled my insurance (but only on my camera gear), and sent me a nasty letter that was an official refusal to renew my contract. This plays havoc with any future insurance applications as I have to disclose this in full when applying for a policy. I countered by cancelling my car insurance and my house insurance, which were also with WFI. Small things, but it felt good. And of course I tell everybody about it.

The moral of this story? It could be “don’t trust insurance companies” Or perhaps “always read the fine print…” or maybe a combination of both… “when dealing with insurance companies always read the fine print (and don’t trust them, especially WFI)”.  Are you sure your camera gear is really insured?

A mirrorless camera, what is the point?  I’m not doubting the validity of mirrorless, its a serious question.   I love mirrorless technology and I think it’s clearly the future of camera manufacturing.  But I also think many people seem to have missed or forgotten the reason a mirrorless camera was so attractive in the first place.  Small and light… Remember that?

So you have your trusty DSLR setup with 4 reliable carefully chosen lenses, maybe a 16-35mm f2.8, or a 14-24mm f2.8… A 24-70 f2.8 and the quintessential 70-200mm f2.8.  You are prepared for just about any photo opportunity.  So you are ready to head out, you go to pick up your camera bag and… Read the rest of this entry »

I have just put together a Japan photo tour in Winter for next year in February.    Actually this sounds like I threw the tour together in a hurry, this is not the case.   I have actually been putting together this tour for some months, but only just this week released it… and there are only 2 spots left already…  and I haven’t even sent out a newsletter yet!

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Camera Insurance, like all insurance is pretty uninspiring stuff and if you are like most people, it’s not something you want to think too much about.  You pay your money and the job is done, right?  Until you find out you are actually not insured, which always happens at the worst possible moment.

Are you really insured?

I have been insuring all my camera gear with WFI (Westfarmers Federated Insurance) for about 14 years now, in fact they have (had…) all my insurance.  This included my Gallery insurance for fire, theft and damage, Public liability and workers compensation.

They also insure my car, my house and contents.  It all adds up to rather a substantial amount of money each year, just my camera gear alone comes in at around $2,900 per year and has been over $4,000 per year at the peak of my gear addiction…

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Continuing on from the Previous Post…   Around about the same time I was struggling up mountains in the Icelandic Highlands with my crazy heavy camera bag full of the Phase One XF camera, IQ3-100 digital back, lenses, tripods and other ancillary items, Phase One released their third firmware upgrade for the XF camera and IQ3 series backs.  Which amongst other features included the activation of a full electronic shutter in the IQ3 digital backs.  Meaning the Digital Back could be used on a technical camera without the limitations of the clockwork mechanical shutters in technical camera lenses (shutter speeds of just 1 sec – 1/500 sec in full stop intervals).

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