How to Care For Your Equipment

Yes yes yall...

Ooops. I can't get that tune out of my head.
Anyhoo, today going to give a simple write up on How To Care For Your Camera Equipment.

I think Angeline will be delighted to see this post ^^

Firstly, I cringe to see scratches.
Secondly, I hate to see thumbprints.
Thirdly, having mould in your lens is a crime.

Ever gone shooting for an event or a shoot out whereby you sling your camera on your shoulder, and you leave the lens cap in the pocket of your jeans or your bag and totally forget about it? When you walk near someone, he/she bumps into your camera, or the side of your lens knocks into a pillar?

On close inspection when you get home, your filter is full of scratches and dust, thumbprints?

LESSON NO. 1: PUT BACK YOUR LENS CAP WHEN YOUR CAMERA/LENS IS NOT IN USE!

Next. Did you ever had any near miss incidents when your camera strap snaps (that shouldn't happen at all because the strap is designed to hold weight if you put it in properly) and your camera falls off your shoulder, and the tip of the lens hits the floor?

Your filter breaks? You should consider yourself lucky that your front element didn't break or even suffer a scratch from the broken bits of the filter...

LESSON NO. 2: THE LENS HOOD SHOULD BE ON THE LENS, NOT YOUR HANDS!

Your lens hood will protect your lens because more often than not, the hood hits the floor first and if your hood is usually quite strong... If it breaks, it beats breaking your lens, RIGHT?

Everytime you shoot, there seem to be this stubborn spot of dirt on your photo but there doesn't seem to be any dust particles on your lens... That because the dust particle is on your CCD/CMOS, you goondoo...!

LESSON NO. 3: ALWAYS COVER THE CAMERA MOUNT WHILE CHANGING LENSES! (And switch off your camera when you do so! The static charges in the camera will be able to attract dust easily, even if the shutter is closed.)

Using the blower to blow into your camera is not encouraged. Sometimes, the blower will blow dust particles on your CCD/CMOS, and hence you will feel even more dui... cos if you covered your camera properly, there wouldn't be so much dust in your camera in the first place! When wiping your lenses/filters, make sure there are no small sand particles on the filter because... when you wipe with that sand particle under your cloth...

TADA! A brand new scratch across your pretty B+W/Heliopan/Lee/Nikon/Hoya/Tianya/wadever filters! Whooohooo!

And if you find that your lens is getting kind of foggy...

Heh heh heh...

You better open your aperture to the max (for F-mounts, either turn your aperture ring to the widest or pull a little spring lever at the base of the mount for the G-mounts) and point your lens to a light source and look through it.

Something looking like a spider web ebbing at the side of your lens and even the centre of your lens element??

Your lens is a biohazard now... Who ask you leave it outside in the nice, warm and humid air of our lovely island Singapore...
And yes- this reminds me, if you are an idiot at protecting your gear from direct contact with water, don't shoot for Wild Wild Wet! And yes, please don't put that biohazard back in with your other equipment esp the dry box/cabi because... like rotten apples, the mould will also "spread" to the other clean lenses.

LESSON NO. 4: ALWAYS KEEP YOUR LENS IN A DRY BOX OR CABINET WHEN NOT IN USE.
(For budget constraints, get a lock and lock box, reusable silica gel and a hygrometer. The humidity in the dry box should be around 30 to 50% RH. A too low a RH not only causes the lubricants in your camera to dry up, it also causes growth of a certain kind of fungus. RH above 50% encourages growth of most fungus. For people with bigger budgets, just buy an electronic dry cabi that will maintain constant RH for you, but you'd need an extra power plug for that. Beware of 20% growth in electrical bills!)

Lastly and most importantly...
Always carry your camera around in a proper camera bag/padded compartments. By throwing your camera into your backpack (tsk tsk, especially your frail, plastic 350D bodies) the other items in your bag will rub against and scratch your camera body and violate it badly. THINK OF YOUR PRECIOUS CAMERA BODY! T_T

And yes... If you shoot film (i think that only applies to me and king and maybe quent) never check in your film with your luggage at the airport... The x-ray in the machines will expose the film. Be careful when you put your items through the scanner and make sure it is labelled "Film safe" if not you will cry and bleed over your wasted 10 rolls of slides and negatives.
(Like what I almost kena when I came back from Perth.)

Finally!
Even if you don't own your own equipment and is currently using the club's equipment, still do care for it! Be considerate to the other photographers as well! The better you can care for the equipment, the less you need to pay for broken items, and the longer the equipment could be used! The saved money can be spent on other areas that you guys will need in the future. So please please please children, no breaking of filters, hoods and dropping your cameras, k?