Cameras and Photography Explained

The basics you need to know to keep your gear fully operational in the wild

I was in the Galapagos Islands teaching a photo workshop when I first wrote this article. A common question I get on those exotic tours is “how do I keep my camera gear maintained?” We were just down in the sand at ground level photographing animals, so many of the students' bodies and lenses (and mine, of course), had some sand on them.

The number of ways you can get your camera and lens dirty is long:

• Maybe a wave splashed some sea spray on the front of your lens
• Maybe you had to set you camera down for a moment on the dirt or sand
• Perhaps there was a light rain that got the outer portions of the camera and lens wet
• Maybe a bird pooped above you and your camera gear was the unfortunate target

The full list of possible bad things that can happen goes on quite extensively with almost any trip outdoors. Indoors, the list mostly tends towards accidental drops and bangs, but I've had cocktails spilled on my gear and been around food fights where my lens suddenly had a nice ice frosting on it.

So what do you do the minute you see you have something on your gear that shouldn’t be there? And what do you do when you get back to the boat, tent, hotel, home, or wherever you’re headquartered that day? That's what I'll cover today.

The Big Four

First off, we have the old adage: don’t put a horse away wet. If your camera has things on it that shouldn’t be there, don’t pack it into your bag to deal with some other day. The more you deal with problems immediately after they occur, the more likely they won’t become a big deal.

Moreover, you don't want to risk moving the problem from the camera to the camera and the bag, where it will eventually transfer to other gear.

Let’s look at the big four I often encounter:

1. Water
2. Sand
3. Mud
4. Sea or other Spray

Water Works

Water is a disaster if you don’t immediately deal with it. Electronics corrode and become unreliable or completely unusable when exposed to water. Most of the cameras you own have a number of gaskets, overlapping panels, and other design features that attempt to keep casual wetness from getting inside to where the electronics are.

But weather-sealing protection is never perfect. Unless you have gear that has a real IP57 rating in regards to water ingress, you must assume that water will eventually work its way inside.

IP ratings, such as the IP57 I just used, are Ingress Protection ratings, managed under the International Standard IEC 60529. The first digit is protection against solids, such as dust, sand, fingers, you name it. The second digit is protection against liquids, such as spray, drops, splashes, and immersion. IP57 would mean the company says the product is dust protected and can be immersed in up to 1m of water.

Simple answer: use a waterproof cover for the camera, and bring a small absorbent towel with you (REI and other outdoor stores sell a range of small, light, packable towels that can sop up a lot of water).

1. Keep water off in the first place (waterproof cover)
2. If it does get on your gear remove it as soon as is possible (packable towel). Do not rub the camera dry with your towel, as this pushes water into seams. Blot the camera dry with your towel.

You don't need a fancy, expensive water cover for your gear. You can improvise using a trash bag and some rubber bands, if necessary.

I can personally recommend both the LensCoat and ThinkTank Photo rain covers, which are a bit more expensive. Every outdoor photographer should have a set of these (they come in multiple sizes) and carry them any time they might be heading into inclement weather.

The camera and lens skins, such as the EasyCover skins, protect well against bumps and bruises, but I’ve found that they just become places for sand and mud to lodge (between the skin and the camera/lens body). So while you think you’re protecting your camera, you may be protecting the crud right up against the body.

Sometimes the worst happens. The formula for a camera—or any other electronics equipment—that is exposed to water, particularly immersion, is this:

1. Remove all batteries immediately. Unfortunately, almost all cameras have an internal battery for the clock that is unremovable. Still, remove all power that you can as fast as you can, as powered circuits exposed to water will turn bad bad bad, and do so fast fast fast.
2. Open all doors and make sure any accumulation of water this reveals is removed. Blot down all surfaces you can with your towel (okay, not the mirror on a DSLR or the shutter on a mirrorless camera). You can use an eyedropper to suck up droplets. On many cameras, the critical door is the card slot door, as the card slot mechanism is generally soldered to the main digital board (not usually true of the other connectors). That means that water that comes in through the slot can transfer right into the electronics if you're not careful. The battery compartment door is another critical one.
3. Put a desiccant into a zipper lock bag, put the water-exposed product into the bag, then remove as much air as possible. Put the bag in a dry, warm place. Hope for the best. If you don't have a desiccant handy—you can buy reusable desiccant packs—the next best thing is probably to fill the bag with rice, which should absorb moisture. But you may rice you need to clean out of the product if you try that.

I’ve seen other advice over the years, but the above seems to be the best practice. Depending upon how long your camera or lens was exposed, and how much water got into contact with electronics, you may or may not experience a good result from the above.

The bad news: Should water get to the electronics, it's likely that your camera is totaled. No camera maker will repair any product that has clear evidence of water damage on the electronics.

Sandy, Muddy Terrain

Next, we have sand (and mud). Sand is a tricky little beast, as it’s like really large dust, but dust that can scratch things. Mud can dry into a very fine dust. If the territory you're photographing has sand or mud, some of that's likely to end up on your gear.

Unless your camera or lens has an IP5 rating for solids, you have to assume that sand or dried mud will eventually work its way into the camera. So what are we going to do about that?

My teaching assistants and I both carry large, uncoated artist brushes with us when we travel. We use those brushes to get things like sand not only off the surface of the cameras and lenses, but also out of all the cracks and crevices of our gear. This works great for dry sand and dried mud (dirt). In general, you should always do this kind of cleaning before changing lenses or opening up the camera to change card or battery: brush away all surface dirt, dust, sand.

Wet sand and mud are not easily brushed off. For wet sand, mud, and anything else that’s stuck to the surface of the camera, you will probably need a microfiber cloth, and you may also need a mild surface cleaning solution for mud.

Do not apply cleaning solution to any surface of the lens or camera: apply it instead to a microfiber cloth. Rub gently with the wet cloth, as you don’t want to grind anything abrasive into the surface of the camera or lens. A slightly wet microfiber cloth by itself will usually do the job, but sometimes you’ll need that cleaning solution.

But remember, we don’t want moisture getting inside the camera. Thus, if you had to perform any form of wet or semi-wet cleaning, sometimes you should first put the camera/lens into an air-proof container with as much air removed as possible, and with desiccant. Once the mud is dry, it will be easier to remove. Repeat the air-proof bag technique after your wet cleaning, as you don't want any residual moisture to possibly get into the device.

Sea and Other Sprays

Finally, we have sea spray. This almost assuredly requires a wet cleaning to remove. As with wet sand and mud, this usually means wetting a microfiber cloth and attempting to gently rub the offending spray off.

Two things I never clean in the field: the main DSLR mirror and the glass on any viewfinder eyepiece. Both scratch really easily, and the former may cost you big time if you goof it up. I’m also very careful with the Rear LCD, as well, though I use a protective cover over it that can be replaced should I scratch it. If you do use one of those protectors, use a damp microfiber cloth to clean it.

Sometimes I won’t clean my gear until I’m home and have all my best tools available.

If any of the above frightens you, then you need to make sure that you get your gear to a pro as soon as possible after a trip.

The Travel Cleaning Kit

Here’s what you should be carrying when you travel as a minimum cleaning kit:

• Pack towel
• Large microfiber cloth
• Mild cleaning solution that won’t damage rubber, metals, plastics, or other substances used on the exterior of your camera and lens
• Large, uncoated artist brush
• LensPen and/or lens cleaning solution and lens cleaning cloth
• Sensor cleaning kit
• Large zipper-lock bags
• A reusable pack(s) of desiccant

I go so far as to pack all these things into a small case of their own, and just through that bag into my duffel whenever I'm heading off for a photographic adventure.