Olympics to DSLRs: Drop Dead

CNET reported today that:

If you're heading to Beijing (or are already there) for the Olympics, take note that the Beijing Organizing Committee has imposed bans on several items, one of which is "professional camera equipment." Unless you have official press credentials, we suggest you just bring your point-and-shoot to the games.

According to the site, Olympic officials haven’t specified what they mean by “professional camera equipment,” although CNET says there is speculation that “the ban refers to SLRs with big lenses that could block other spectators' views.”

I hope that’s the case. But my guess is you’ll have a hard time bringing any DSLR to the games.

That’s too bad. Imagine getting to go to the games (imagine what it would cost!) and then you can’t bring the equipment that will allow you to capture them. For some of us, taking pictures at the event is infinitely more rewarding than“just” watching it. Capturing the moment is better than seeing it.

Granted, some equipment, like tripods and truly cannon-like (not “Canon-like”) lenses might be unwieldy in large crowds and stadiums, but there are plenty of compact long-zoom lenses that could get the job done without being too intrusive.

I hope the guards are liberal in letting cameras through, but China is not a country known for its leniency. (Did you hear they’re censoring the internet for journalists attending the games? Wow).

Maybe you could get away with bringing something like a Canon G9, with it’s 6X zoom, good low-light performance and ability to shoot in RAW. Canon even makes an accessory lens for it that gets great reviews on Amazon and that gives you the (semi) equivalent of a 420mm lens. And it’s tiny enough to fit in your pocket.

And if you can afford to go to the Beijing Olympics, feel free to buy me one, too!

Comments

[Cooper Strange]

Being a long time resident of China, carrying my camera around just about everywhere, and even talking at length with police about how to take "civilized" pictures, I too really wonder what these regulations are going to mean, practically. See, from my perspective (though everybody tries to figure out China), this sounds like another of their many strange laws that might or might not be enforced. If they needed to get rid of your camera for any reason, though, they can apply the vague regulation any way they like.

[Dan]

Maybe its not sinister and its just about making sure that everyone gets to see the games without worrying about the photo enthusiast next to them swinging a 400mm L series in their face.

BTW - the internet is censored for everybody in China not just journalists.

BTW pt 2 - the cops/security/army are very polite and courteous in China if you follow the rules.

[Paul Ely]

It would appear that Cnet got this wrong. I've been watching the events on TV and have seen quite a few spectators using DSLR's. Most with what appear to be 28-300 zooms. The only monster lenses that I have seen are attached to people with press credentials so maybe the Chinese just don't want the monster lenses getting in the way of any spectators views of the games.

[Marco]

In germany you are not allowed to bring your professional camera equipment to a footbal(soccer) game in some stadiums.

It depends on the home team and the security guard, but i wouldn't take the risk to leave the cam outside.
It's all about the money. The teams and the league want to protect their rights. They don't want amateurs to to take unlicensed images. It's the same with concerts for example.
And i guess it's the same with the olympics.

What i wonder is, is it really possible in the US to bring your 1DMkIII and a 400 2.8 lens to any MBL,NFL or NBA game? Or a rolling stones concert?

[Hart35Melba]

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