When you are out and about taking pictures, one of the essential guidelines to follow is to make sure that your lens (or lenses) are protected. This is significant for a variety of reasons, and there are a few different approaches to protecting the lens that could be taken. To start, you don’t want to risk your lenses getting scratched. Have you ever taken a stroll through the winding alleyways of a quaint town on the Mediterranean? It would not take much effort on your part to scrape the front lens element if you came too close to a wall. Ever shot pictures at sea with a non-waterproof camera? It would not take much for dust or salt to go through your lens. However, the camera itself is just as important as the lenses themselves to consider. Have you ever ventured out into the glaring sunlight without your lens cap? A focused ray of light may cause harm to either the shutter or the sensor of your camera. (When you were younger, don’t you remember how you used to use a loupe to roast ants?
TIP #1 : ALWAYS HAVE A FILTER ATTACHED TO YOUR LENS!
As I indicated in the first paragraph, when you are out taking pictures, there are a number of ways in which you might scratch your valuable and often expensive lens. This can happen in a number of different situations. (You wouldn’t want to destroy your brand new 85mm f1.2 L lens, would you?) In the previous example, I described how it felt to navigate the winding alleyways of a little village in the Mediterranean. However, even in large cities like New York, it is possible to accidentally hit something with your camera lens if you have it slung over your shoulder, if you are picking it up or putting it down, or if you are otherwise moving it around. The first piece of advice then: use a filter to safeguard your lens! Should you collide with something, there is a possibility that the filter will break. To replace it, you will need to pay a few dollars. Repairing the element of the front lens will result in significantly higher costs for you.
TIP #2 : ALWAYS KEEP A CAP ON YOUR LENS!
If you want to preserve even your filter from damage, such as because it was one of those pricey Vari-ND filters or a special polarizer or a Leica-branded UV/IR filter for your M8, here is an excellent one: keep a hood on your lens! There is a good likelihood that the lens hood will take the impact instead of the filter in the event that you accidentally hit something with your lens. Even a small lens like the Leica 28mm Elmarit-M can have a hood attached to it; nevertheless, this technique works best with long zoom lenses, which typically come packaged with enormous hoods.
Nice side-effect: you might get reduced flare in your shots!
TIP #3 : ALWAYS WEAR A LENS CAP!
Keeping the lens cap on is an easy way to protect your glass from damage, especially if you don’t have a hood or don’t use filters with your camera. To reiterate, the cap will absorb the impact if you strike something or someone by accident. When you use a filter in addition to the lens cap, you increase the likelihood that the lens will not become damaged. When you furthermore keep a hood on your lens well, I suppose you can get the gist of what I’m saying.
However, there is another reason why you should always have a cap on your lens: you do not want the shutter or sensor to become damaged. Why might something that impacts the lens cause damage to the shutter or the sensor of your camera? Light can be bundled together using a piece of ground glass, as I indicated in the first paragraph of this section. If the light source is exceptionally powerful, such as the sun, and the piece of glass will bundle the light striking it into one very, very tiny place, then this spot has the potential to get very, very hot and burn a hole through whatever is located behind it. This is not going to be a problem for a metal shutter, and it also won’t be a problem for a DSLR camera because in those cameras, the light is simply reflected by the mirror, and it leaves the camera through the viewfinder at the other end. However, this is just a potential issue when the sensor is exposed, which is the case with Micro Four Thirds cameras; alternatively, it is unquestionably an issue with the fabric curtain shutters used on many vintage film cameras. And even if the likelihood of this happening is minimal, it is still possible, and the cost to fix it will be quite high.
TIP #4: Ensure that the front and rear caps are still attached to the lens at all times when it is stored in your bag.
Because camera bags are constructed from pliable fabrics, they allow you to store and transport your equipment in a manner that is both cozy and secure. On the other hand, soft textiles have a propensity to attract small amounts of dust or dirt, or they may produce lint on their own. If you do not protect your lenses with front and rear caps, not only will that stuff stick to the glass and eventually end up on the sensor, but it can also get inside the lens, where it is very difficult to get it out again. If you do not protect your lenses with front and rear caps, that stuff will stick to the glass and eventually end up on the sensor. And if you’re not lucky, it’ll cost you a lot of money. In addition, the motion of the bag itself could cause something to strike the lens of your camera, depending on what else you have in the bag with you at the time.
TIP #5 :piece of advice is to compartmentalize your lenses within the bag.
The majority of camera bags designed specifically for carrying cameras come with padded inserts secured with velcro that can be reorganized in a variety of different ways to create additional compartments as required. It is prudent to store only one lens in each compartment at a time. Why? It is inevitable that you will drop your bag at some point, even if it is when you are removing it from your shoulder or pulling it up. It’s even possible that you’ll drop it by accident. Also, there is no way to stop the items within from shifting around when you walk with them in your bag. If you store more than one lens in the same compartment, the lenses may end up being a little too near to one another, which could cause harm to either one of them or both of them. It’s possible that the damage is quite superficial, but if you didn’t put the lens cover back on, it might be far worse. And even if it’s only a matter of aesthetics, you will want your items to be as shiny as possible if you ever plan on selling them again in the future. Oh, and if you don’t have a good camera bag, here’s a simple solution that will get the job is done: wrap your lenses with microfiber cloths!
TIP #6 : piece of advice is to put your lens inside a plastic bag.
What? Why on earth would I act like that? I’ll face it, and this only makes sense when you’re shooting in environments with a lot of water, mud, dirt, or sand. That’s just the way it is. Such as at the beach or in the middle of nowhere. However, there is a possibility that you will arrive at such a location in the future, and you will want to be ready for it. Sand, mud, or seawater that gets onto your lens has the potential to ruin everything. This is because these elements are abrasive. It has the ability to squeeze through the small gaps that are present between the zoom and focus rings and the main lens body, and once inside, it can damage all of the moving parts that are housed there. Additionally, it is possible for it to hit the glass from the outside and scratch it. Well, mud and sand, anyway. Therefore, if your lens is not already completely weather-sealed, wrapping it in a plastic bag is the easiest approach to keep it safe from that kind of risk. If your lens is already fully weather-sealed, you can skip this step. Make it more secure by using rubber bands, and don’t forget to drill a second hole for the lens to peer through when you’re done! In the event that it becomes essential, you can use a second, less expensive UV filter to safeguard your more expensive ND or polarizer filter.
You might be wondering, at this point, how frequently any of these things actually take place. Should I really be taking such extreme precautions with my belongings? You certainly do not require it in any way. But let me reassure you that things of this nature do, in fact, occur! You’re going to be irate when it happens to you since you didn’t take adequate precautions to safeguard your equipment. You are going to be much more irritated when you see the bill for the repairs.
