gary m Loc: Cincinnati, ohio

I am finding it much more difficult to take my Canon DSLR into many inside sporting events...now I am being told that if you do not have press credentials, no cameras with lenses over 3 inches will be allowed. I went to the college football NCAA press conference yesterday in Santa Clara California...they will only allow the public to take pictures with cell phones or short lens point and shoot cameras. no removable lenses. This past summer at the White House, only cell phone pictures are allowed.

Are other photographers finding the same frustration and restrictions taking pictures at concerts, sporting, and other public events with your better removable lens camera equipment?

Perhaps I need to find a way to get a photographer press credential so I am not so limited.

Any suggestions?

Shutterbug57

It is all about the $$$ and control of images. If you can get pro quality images, or nearly so, you can dilute the club’s/player’s brand.

fromo1946 Loc: Sacramento, CA

That’s an issue, I feel that those rules need change >

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

"Press credentials" are issued to members of the press. Freelance has gotten very tough over the last 20 years or so. Sporting events control everything about their specific event and if you have a valid reason to shoot them a photographers pass can be acquired in advance of the event.

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

Shoot with the 3 inch lens and then go home and crop it to get what you want in pp.

fromo1946 Loc: Sacramento, CA

I have the Sony RX10lV, it looks like a interchangeable lens camera,
I have had to return to my vehicle and put it away because it was too
“Pro looking”....

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Smuggle the camera in.

Murray Loc: New Westminster

Go online. Amazingly you can purchase “press credentials”

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

During the time I served as a docent at the mansion in our local arboretum, rules were changed to prohibit photographs inside the house. The reasoning behind the change was that professional photographers were disrupting tours (the only way to get in without paying an additional fee) to photograph clients. The blanket prohibition was thought to be the simplest way to restore order without making us as docents referee who was and who was not a professional photographer. There had been some very unpleasant confrontations between some of those folks and arboretum volunteers trying to maintain order.

So now, the only folks who take photos in the house are those with cell phones who blatantly defy the clearly posted rules. I had suggested that if photographs were no longer to be allowed that photos or booklets ought to be made available, even at a small cost, for those who wanted. I do not believe that was ever done (I'm not currently an active volunteer). Truth is, there is no financial incentive at all for preventing photography there. But a few bad actors ruined the experienced for all who wanted to take pictures of what is really a very interesting place.

gary m Loc: Cincinnati, ohio

Have you had any success with buying a photographer press credential and gaining entrance into an event?

charles tabb Loc: Richmond VA.

The Sony RX10 IV is NOT a "Interchangeble lens camera".

gary m Loc: Cincinnati, ohio

I appreciate your input, your right the freelance photographer is losing the battle, only those with press credentials can use the better equipment at many of these events.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

But too a non-photographer checking for contraband - it sure does look like one. I think that's what fromo was trying to say.

Alan Wolslegel Loc: Thurston County, Washington

He didn’t say it WAS he said it LOOKS like one so they wouldn’t let him use it.

randomeyes Loc: wilds of b.c. canada

I doubt too many people are going to get very close(for a reasonable photo) to a bull Moose with a cel phone camera.