It’s only when you photograph a lens close-up do you realise how dirty and dusty it is. When i come back from every photography day out I have a regime of cleaning my camera and lenses. Do you?
I use a soft brush and air blower to remove sand and dust, looks like I’m going to have to rethink this strategy though.
This weeks challenge is to take a Macro photograph or Fill the Frame. I don’t have a dedicated macro lens but my Samsung P&S does have a reasonable close-up function and I used it to photograph my Sigma 10-20 lens. One of the reasons I quite like the Samsung is the DOF is quite good in macro mode.
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Say It With A Camera 
I clean my lenses when required and that includes after every outing, but otherwise monthly. All my kit is kept in a pine chest of drawers with foam lining when at home, never in their bags. I agree, that a macro shows every mark. However, I prefer the look of an ancient Nikon lens that’s been flogged, but still works flawlessly.
Nothing wrong with using an air blower and soft brush, less chance of damage. Sand is the worst and at Talacre doing a hovercraft rescue shoot I got sand in my new Giottos CF tripod, it took me an hour to strip it and 2 days to put it back together! My camera and lenses are fully weather sealed so escaped.
Today, is a perfect day for a spring clean. Even I haven’t ventured out! Do I hear you say “wimp”?
Richard
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I was thinking of venturing to Talacre tomorrow for a bit of bird photography. The tide will be high forcing the birds further onto the salt marsh. The only problem is the bird hide is rather exposed to winds from a southerly direction. I’ll have a look in the morning and see what the weather is like.
I do take the cameras and lenses out of the bag but I have a briefcase with foam cut-outs to store everything. A drawer would definitely be better. Fortunately the Pentax and its lenses are weather and dust proof but like you, Richard, my tripod is not. I’ve had to do the strip down and clean job as well.
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NO, I clean my lenses and that is it. I don’t go out in “the field” and I photograph in my yard or my house or from the window of my truck. My camera seems fine but then I’v not had this one that all that long- December, 2010.
Your close up shot is a good one.
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Mine get filthy, Yvonne and when I’m on the beach, salt corrosion as well as sand is always a problem if the wind is blowing or there’s moisture in the air.
In the mountains it’s mist. Everything gets wet. Fortunately the Pentax was designed to be weather proof and when we are in the mountains I use weather proof lenses as well.
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I am in awe. I clean the kit when I remember and when it is blindingly obvious that it needs cleaning. I carry lens wipes and a blower but I tend to worry most about the inside of the body when I am switching lenses. The lens hood protects the lens itself from the worst. I take more care of my Leica lenses than my Canon ones. The white beasts are built for hard use. The Leica lenses should be too but they get taken on and off a lot more. I don’t pad my big lenses in the car. They have neoprene (?) wraps around them to cover the white and absorb knocks but they just get thrown in the boot and off I go. I am more careful with tripod heads which can be very temperamental. Same with things like flash guns – they get treated with respect. But I can’t see why I would pay a small fortune for a 1Dx or a 5D3 then have to mollycoddle the things. Same with the 800mm F5.6; I have even been known to wipe my lenses with a (clean) handkerchief in extremis. Curiously enough everything still works and the images seem ok. Salt is a different beast though and I would probably be more careful if I were getting sea spray on the gear.
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The killer is salt and sea spray, Andrew. Talacre and Conwy are both very open and exposed and very rarely is there not a wind blowing. At Talacre if I’m shooting landscapes I pick a lens and stick with it because fine sand gets everywhere. The bird hide is slightly different as there is a modicum of shelter but like today the wind is from the SW so it blows right into the back of a three sided bird hide.
Extra high tide today, so the birds will be forced further up the salt marsh but strong winds mean we might get coastal flooding again
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I lost a sensor to sand once, Mike. That’s why I try as much as possible not to change lenses if I think sand is a risk. Amazingly Leica replaced it free. I like my Swarovski bins – you can run them under the tap. I don’t think I’d do that with the camera.
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