Now we know. Thought it might be about the stealing part, didnt think about the why bother with free advertising though. Thanks for clearing it up, I asked on the other thread :) - Simon Wicks

That's some pretty terrible awareness and customer service by Canon. - Aaron Hood from BuddyFeed

Similar theory http://photojojo.com/content... I will probably start uglifying mine... - Gregg Le Blanc

Aaron, Canon and whoever their PR agency is just doesn't care. I'm surprised that so many big companies still don't understand or care about social media. They need to hire a PR firm like Edelman who gets it and understands the value of social media in addition to mainstream press. - Thomas Hawk

Interesting. Since I'm starting to consider buying a DSLR I may give Nikon a little more consideration now. - ChiliMac

Oh please. This is about the same as people who "de-badge" their cars to make them look cooler. You really think that any reasonable thief won't know the "red ring" of an L-series lens? Oh, and by the way, your photo on thomashawk.com has the Canon logo showing (albeit reversed). - Steve and 3 other people

Steve, I haven't always marked the logos off. That's an old photo. It's more a decision I made a few months back. Lots of my old photos have Canon logos in them. But why should I advertise for Canon? - Thomas Hawk

Do you cover other logos as well? Apple? Dell? Levi Strauss? Toyota? Chevrolet? - Brian Sullivan

Funny - when I was a kid I'd always get Nike or whatever clothes with logos on them and my dad would ask "why are you advertising for them for free?" or "how much did nike pay you to wear that shirt" - andy brudtkuhl

I generally don't mind (subtle) branding on the stuff I use/buy, but the black/yellow "Nikon - Nikon - Nikon" straps are one of the few things I go out of my way to remove/toss. I also blacked out an entire mountain bike with electrical tape back in school and made it a point to leave a good layer of dust on to deter theives... this was the replacement to the one week old bike that was stolen from the rack outside my dorm the second day I was on campus. - Ken Sheppardson

As an aside, I do find the factory-supplied shoulder straps egregious, and have been thinking of replacing mine to get rid of all the branding. That one does scream "advertising" to me. EOS DIGITAL! - Steve and 3 other people

Brian, I don't. But photography is probably more personal to me than other things. I also spend far, far, more time with my camera than my car or probably anything else that I have with me. In terms of clothes, mostly I buy pretty non-descript stuff without prominent logos. Old Navy's pretty cheap and pretty plain. But a button that says Old Navy on the button on a shirt is far less prominent than a big Canon red strap and logo. It was super easy to mark my Canon stuff off with black electrical tape. - Thomas Hawk

By the way, I don't mind promoting something if I really like it and feel that they are engaging social media. I've worn my FriendFeed Tshirt to the last 2 photowalks I went on for instance. :) I think Canon's total disregard for social media though sort of sucks. - Thomas Hawk

The camera strap thing I understand - wouldn't use them myself -- not because of the logo issue -- but because they are cheap and uncomfortable. But taping over logos on cameras and lenses seems a bit much. - Brian Sullivan

Besides everyone here and probably everywhere online knows you use Canon equipment and that is where your influence likely is. - Brian Sullivan

Interesting thoughts. I certainly understand the theft reason but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the PR stance. You are constantly "advertising" for Canon in social media by telling people how awesome their equipment is (and, yes, how poor their customer service is). Yet you won't advertise it on the equipment itself. I think if you really like the product and promote it through word of mouth, you shouldn't have a problem promoting it visually. If you are that pissed at Canon, switch to Nikon, that would have a much more significant affect then taping off their logos. - Kenton

Its just about promoting it though is it, as is said in the article its about dumbing it down and making it appear less pricey to prying eyes. EDIT. You said that in your first sentance Kenton, i missed that compleatly somehow :) - Simon Wicks

I wonder how many thieves are smart enough to know that when you see something with electrical tape on it... that's the stuff you want to snag... :-/ - Ken Sheppardson

lol @Ken - Kenton

Kenton, think about it this way. This past weekend I spent probably 20 hours a day with that camera for 5 days straight (I even shot on the airplane). That's 100 hours. I will literally be out with this camera thousands of hours over the life of it. Why should I advertise Canon for thousands of hours when they can't take 10 minutes to respond to an email? The only thing Canon's doing in social media is trying to shut down blogs when they don't like criticism as they did with their cease and desist letter to WordPress over the fake chuck westfall blog. - Thomas Hawk

You could just cover the C. Then you'd be anonymous. - Kevin Fox

I actually tell people about how awesome Canon products are a lot less than I used to and who knows maybe I will switch to Nikon at some point. Right now though I'm not up for the learning curve or expense that comes with a new system, that, and I'm somewhat addicted to the 135 f/2 lens. When I grow up though I wanna ditch them entirely and be a Hasselblad. - Thomas Hawk

Kevin, I thought of you when I was in Chicago. I got a great shot of a neon sign for Fox Lumber. I took a shot of just the Fox part of the sign which looked pretty cool. It's going to take me a while to process though my Chicago shots but when that one pops up it's for you. - Thomas Hawk

You are probably drawing more attention and getting more PR/advertising for Canon by taping over the logos than if you did nothing -- but if it makes you feel like you are doing something with your protest I guess you should go for it. - Brian Sullivan

Awesome. I'll watch for it. It's funny, but once or twice I've thought "Hawk is such a cool last name. I wish I had.. Oh yeah." - Kevin Fox

Kevin: You could be Fox Hawk. - Ken Sheppardson

Brian, I doubt it. Thousands of people who would have seen the logo now will not see it. Thousands of people that I'll never interact with in any way shape or form. - Thomas Hawk

Also, when I do have conversations with people about it, maybe some of them will also mark off their logos. I only got the idea when I saw Bill Wadman do it. I might never have thought about it otherwise. I doubt that marking Canon's logo off is a win for them in the PR department by any measurement -- otherwise they wouldn't mark their logos so prominently all over their gear and camera straps. If they won't take 10 minutes to respond to an email, why should I spend thousands of hours advertising their product? - Thomas Hawk

People who use the stock camera strap on a camera are dolts. Canon's camera straps are horribly uncomfortable, especially if you have any serious glass on. People who use the stock strap 99% of the time are also using the kit lens. Masking an expensive camera's logo does nothing to hide the fact it is still an expensive camera. So, you blank out the red ring on L lenses. What do you do with a 70-200mm? It is impossible to be inconspicuous. I don't want to attract attention, I just want to take pictures, but you have to pick your battles. Nothing screams Canon fanboy like a big beige lens. - stretta from twhirl

I'm not sure I would be bothered enough to go to the inconvenience of marking off the logos, but I am impressed that you are passionate enough to go to those lengths, and I respect that a whole lot. - S of 2C

I can understand that Thomas. You seem to generate way more comments when you have something negative to say about Canon. Someday hopefully they'll come around. Have you thought about not publishing your EXIF data on Flickr? Can you even do that? - Kenton

these are very good and valid points you make. I had some trouble with nikons nps lately and I guess I should do the same thing. regardsless of nps. hope my ego can cope with that :-D - teymur madjderey

Kenton, I like publishing the EXIF data because people refer to it all the time. It's useful and I don't think I'd ever hide it. The Canon logos though provide no value to me or others at all. I do hope that they come around someday but I doubt it. They don't engage bloggers, they are not on FriendFeed or Flickr that I'm aware of. Heck I don't even think they are on Twitter and *everybody's* on Twitter these days. - Thomas Hawk

Thanks, Mr. Donut. - Ken Sheppardson

Isn't there some sort of irony in somebody called "Leather ♥ Donut" thinking he is somehow outing Thomas Hawk? - Brian Sullivan

<s> when i'm old enough i'm gonna change my name to Hudson Hawk - that will be epic! </s> - Chris Heath

Are you also removing your Exif data?? - Daan

@LeatherDonut. You're right, it isn't cool to use a fake name. I am glad to see you don't. :D - ChiliMac

The fact that I use a professional name as a photographer, and have for many years, is pretty irrelevant. Mark Twain was really Samuel Clemens. John Wayne was really Marion Morrison. Marilyn Monroe was really Norma Jeane Baker. Elton John's real name is Reginald Kenneth Dwight. There are of course hundreds of more examples. I'm certainly not hiding my identity. My blog is registered under my legal name (anyone who looks it up under a whois query sees it right there), I get checks and W9s for my photography under my legal name and many, many more widely read publications than "Leather Donut" have published it including the Los Angeles Times. Leather Donut somehow thinks that he is "outing" me by bringing it up repeatedly. Ironically Leather Donut is simply a troll and a hypocrite who *is* actually hiding his/her identity and unwilling to provide his/her legal name while constantly chastising me for choosing to adopt a professional name, something many people do. - Thomas Hawk

like I said. Leather Donut is simply a troll. His name is not Thomas Hawk. - Thomas Hawk

I think taping could have a deterrent effect since (1) thieves won't know if it's taped to hide a logo or taped because it's cracked and (2) taping alters the camera's appearance enough to reduce its value (without doing some rehab work). It becomes more worthwhile to target new-looking, unmarked items. - John (bird whisperer)

Why so quiet Jauder? - Thomas Hawk

I guess the cat's got Leather Donut's tongue - Thomas Hawk

You could be called Shirley Bloody Temple, I don't care. I just like your art :D - Johnny

I guess Leather Donut / Jauder Ho decided to STFU. - Thomas Hawk

I think blacking out the name is pretty brilliant. I am going to do mine but mainly for the fact that I don't feel safe as a small female walking around my town with a dslr. I live in a town called Rockhampton which is in Queensland, Australia and it's really not the type of place you want to be advertising the fact that you have expensive things in your bag at all times. - Tracy McLaughlin

I use a non-computer bag to carry my laptop, an anonymous bag for my camera, etc.. Nice idea. I've had one camera, one computer, 2 GPS units, and 2 car stereos stolen. - Mitchell Tsai