To most people it may seem obvious that when you buy a nice new expensive camera, that you need to look after it. But do you actually know what you need to protect it from and how to do that?
Here are 5 reasons why you need to look after your camera, and how to prevent these things for happening:
1. Mould
If you are finding that your images are not coming out sharp, no matter how you focus, this could be to do with mould.
Without proper care mould can begin to grow inside your lenses. This mould can not only ruin your images, but also ruin the glass inside your lenses.
Once you have mould inside the lens, the only way to clean it is to take the lens apart, which can only be done using special tools, therefore you will need to pay to have it professionally cleaned.
The best way to prevent this from happening is to store your camera and lenses inside a dry cabinet or cupboard. If you don’t have one of these a pelican case with silicon sachets work ok. Never store your camera or lenses in a warm damp area. Mould is more likely to appear in humid environments so those living in tropical regions will have more of a problem with this.
2. Broken or Damaged Equipment.
Its obvious, but broken or damaged equipment doesn’t tend to work as well as it did before the damage. Most damage to camera equipment is due to it being dropped or knocked over. If hand holding your camera always use the wrist or neck strap. Therefore if you let go of the camera it is not going to fall all the way to the ground. If your camera is on a tripod. Make sure the tripod is stable and not likely to fall over if you are not holding it. Most tripods have a small hook under the camera, this can be used to hold weights and keep the tripod steadier.
3. Scratched Lenses
A scratch on your lens will appear in all your images. It is very hard to remove a scratch from your lens. Small scratches may be able to be polished by a professional to remove them but deep scratches cannot be removed. At this stage the only thing to do is buy a new lens.
Scratches can occur for a number of reasons, including: brushing up against trees in the forest, sand or gravel hitting the lens, accidentally dropping the camera and a variety of other things. There are two very simple ways to protect your lens from scratches. The first is to always keep the lens cap on when you are not shooting, although sometimes this can be unpractical. The second option is to get a UV filter. This is a small piece of glass which screws on the front of the lens. This is much cheaper to replace if it does get scratched.
4. Dirty Lenses
Just like a scratch, dirt on your lens will appear in your images. However dirt can be cleaned off. Dirt can include, dust, finger prints, grease, hair and other things.To clean your lens there are a variety of tools which work for different types of dirt. To remove dust and hair use a combination of an air blower and a microfibre cloth. To remove grease and finger prints use a microfibre cloth with a small amount of alcohol based lens cleaning solution.
5. Extreme Temperature Damage
Extreme cold can cause your batteries to stop working. If you are photographing in very cold environments, store your camera in a warm place and when out on a shoot keep spare batteries close to your body to keep them warm.
Extreme heat can also be a problem. If you leave a camera out in the sun you are likely to fry the electronics inside. Direct sunlight passing through the camera can also damage the sensor so try to avoid shooting directly at a midday sun in hot climates.
A UV filter on the lens can also help to protect the sensor.
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