Found Camera - stage.com - Help!

[Aquahound]

This is a total shot in the dark.

I found a digital camera and waterproof case washed up here in Key West. I am trying to identify an owner so I can return it. The only somewhat helpful identifyers I can get from the card is a yellow chevy truck filled with dive tanks, and with ....stage.com on the side. The picture is cut off, so I can't see what is written before stage. The pictures were definitely not taken in the Keys. With the way the Gulfstream runs, it may have been somewhere in Mexico.

Does anyone have any idea what dive website may end in stage.com?

[Guba]

You might try this...

Go to www.camerafound.com and post the pictures there in the thread titled "found camera". Folks who lose their cameras go there to see what pictures are posted and reclaim their gear and photos. The site provides a way for both the finder and the "loser" to make contact, and there are quite a few folks who have found their stuff in just this way.

[lavachickie]

As someone who recently lost a cam in Hawaii, I have no hope, but I am warmed to know that sometimes things are found, and there are ways to reunite camera and owner.

However, that link you post goes to a domain placeholder, not an active site. Is the link wrong, or...?

[Guba]

Sorry about that...had the wrong site. The correction has been made now. Thanks!

By the way, just for general information, etc... I shot photos (film, for journalism) for a number of years, and I always made a habit of making the first frame on each roll of film a shot of an info card (name, address, pho. number...we didn't have email 'way back then') that I carried with my photo kit. That way, anyone finding the camera or even just a lost roll of film would know how to contact me to return it. I still do the same thing with my digital cameras today (except now the ONLY thing listed is my email address. My how some things change and others don't!).

[Aquahound]

Thanks for the help so far. I will definitely go to that other site.

One of the best shots was a video of a Loggerhead turtle swimming away with the camera strap in his mouth.

[Andy077]

If you're really ambitious, call the manufacturer, and give them the serial #, they may be able to find the owner from warranty registration info.

[ScubaSteve]

I have to agree that this is an excellent thing that you are doing here. I have a couple cameras and I will be a very unhappy individual if I ever lose one of them. It really warms the heart to know that there are honest and good individuals out there that would do what you are right now. Thank you for doing this.

And Guba.....I had never thought of taking a picture at the front with my name/email address....I think I might just have to start. Thanks for the tip and the link.

[bleeb]

If there are distinctive photos either above or below water, maybe post them here on ScubaBoard in this thread. If someone can recognize any features in them, you might be able be able to start posting in the appropriate regional forums.

I seem to recall a blurb in the news about some guy who tracked down a pair of honeymooners this way, using social networking sites. 28,000 hits later, he managed to get in contact with someone who recognized one of the people in one of the pictures.

[Straegen]

Kudos... very happy to see honest and caring people out there.

[Buoyant1]

Wow...I'd be interested in hearing where this camera originated! (unless it was never shot in the Keys and the owner never cleared his cards)

To the OP, Good Karma though!!!