Provider & Product Reviews
Deep dives into specific insurers, membership programs, and store protection plans — what they actually cover, sourced from their own terms.
Two places to start: whether you need camera insurance without a registered business, and what the camera insurance included with a PPA membership actually pays for. Researching a policy rather than reading? Compare policies side by side on our home page.
PPA Bundles Insurance Into Its $323 Membership. ASMP's $335 Membership Includes None, and Can Still Get You Broader Cover.
The two memberships cost within $12 of each other and sell completely different things. One includes a capped secondary policy, the other includes no insurance at all, and the route behind it reaches a clause PPA charges extra for.
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A Camera Stolen From a Car Is Three Different Claims. One Insurer Says No, One Wants a Broken Window, One Pays Anyway.
A photographer called the insurer the blogs recommend and was told it does not cover car break-ins. Five named policies, three incompatible answers, and one underwriter that gave two photographers opposite ones.
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Fujifilm Quoted $465.91 on a Camera Under a Year Old. The Receipt Decides Who Pays.
A main board failed on an X-T30 III that was months old, and Fujifilm sent a repair bill instead of a warranty repair. What actually determines the answer is where the camera was imported, and three manufacturers handle it three different ways.
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USAA Paid a Camera Claim in 20 Minutes With No Deductible. Then It Noticed He Was Selling Gear.
USAA's Valuable Personal Property policy names cameras as a covered class, advertises no deductible, and costs about $2 a month to start. The filed contract also excludes more than most photographers expect, and you have to be eligible to join before any of it applies.
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Allstate Will Schedule Your Camera. Three of Its Own Pages Give Three Different Answers on the Deductible.
Allstate names "expensive cameras" as a schedulable class, and a policyholder describes a paid claim on bodies and lenses. What Allstate does not publish is the endorsement itself, or a straight answer on the deductible.
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He Priced It at $349 a Year for $75,000 of Coverage. That Plan Caps a Single Camera at $2,000.
A photographer blamed a depreciation schedule for a $2,150 payout quote on a nearly new Sony a1 II. Full Frame's published tiers cap one item at $2,000 on the plan he priced. Two different mechanisms, almost the same number, and no way to tell them apart from outside.
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State Farm Insures Cameras for About $1 per $100, With No Deductible. It Also Stops Working the Day the Camera Earns.
A real estate photographer asked about State Farm's Personal Articles Policy. Everyone who answered had a different State Farm product. Here is the line between the two, and what happens when you cross it.
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The Venue Wanted a $5 Million Umbrella and Your Auto Policy. You Shoot Weddings Out of a Backpack.
A venue demanded limits almost no photographer carries. Here is what one day of coverage actually costs, why excess liability is not an umbrella, and which commonly recommended providers do not sell short-term policies at all.
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A Hill & Usher Policyholder's Deductible Is 10% of the Claim, Not a Flat Fee. The Two Are Equal at a $5,000 Loss.
One Package Choice policyholder reports a deductible of 10% of the claim, not a flat fee. Here is where percentage wins, and where it costs far more.
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PPA Says the Repair Deductible Is $50. One Member's Claim Came With Over $550 in Deductibles.
PPA publishes a $50 PhotoCare repair deductible. A member who filed reported over $550. You can't read the policy before paying $323 to check.
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Adorama Protect and Canon CarePAK Cover Drops. They Don't Cover Theft, and That's the Whole Point
Two Reddit threads ask the same question in different words: is a retailer or manufacturer protection plan the same thing as camera insurance? Their own terms say no, in one specific line.
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PPA Membership Includes Camera Insurance, But It's Secondary. Here's What That Actually Means.
PPA membership costs $323+/year and includes PhotoCare equipment insurance, but it's secondary. Here's what that means before you rely on it for a claim.
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