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  1. #1
    Junior Member gary_hendr's Avatar
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    Article: How to Take Care of Your Digital Camera

    Here is an article I published on my website about taking care of your digital camera. I hope it'll be useful to some of you in this forum.

    How to Take Care of Your Digital Camera
    by Gary Hendricks

    Are you having trouble taking care of your digital camera? A digital camera is a very delicate piece of equipment. The camera body, especially the lens, can be easily damaged through rough handling and scratches. I’ve owned a Canon S300 camera for a long time, and it still works fine. Why? Because I do put in effort to take care of it. Here are some tips for taking care of that precious camera of yours.

    Lens Care
    The lens of your digital camera is its eye or window to the outside world. It is easily the most important component in any camera. To take care of the lens, make sure that you never, ever touch directly with your fingers. Also make sure that you put on the lens cap when not shooting pictures.

    If you really need to clean the lens, use good lens cleaning equipment. Investing in such equipment is really important. Always use a good lens brush, lens blower and lens cloth to do the job.

    Temperature
    The other thing to look out for is the temperature under which the camera is stored. You should always keep the camera out of sun. One mistake that newbies always make is to store the digital camera in the extremely hot temperatures (e.g. the car boot). Don’t ever do that. It’s also important not to store the camera in extremely cold temperatures either.

    Storage
    When storing your digital camera, you need to keep it away from magnets of any form. Magnets will affect the circuitry of your digital camera and should not be placed near it.

    Another point to note is to use silica gel to combat condensation. Many electronic products come with silica gel capsules. Keep these and put them in your digital camera storage box. It will prevent condensation.

    The batteries of the camera should also be removed if you intend to store the camera away for a long time. The reason is that batteries can have corrosive leaks over time.

    Protect Delicate Components
    You also need to protect those delicate components. In particular, watch out for the memory card (whether it is a CompactFlash, SD or MMC card). Handle them with care because they are small and delicate.

    Camera panels are also very delicate. In my Canon PowerShot S500, the panel for the USB connect and the battery is a tad flimsy. I make sure I handle it with care whenever I open it.

    Conclusion
    You digital camera costs a lot of money and it pays to take care of it. Remember to apply the above tips to preserve your camera and it’ll last you a long, long time. Good luck!

  2. #2
    Sitting in a Leaky Dingy Michael Fanelli's Avatar
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    Re: Article: How to Take Care of Your Digital Camera

    A digital camera is a very delicate piece of equipment. The camera body, especially the lens, can be easily damaged through rough handling and scratches.
    They are not "delicate" pieces of equipment. If they were, no one would make the investment. Do you really believe that pros baby their cameras? Do you think that day-to-day use by amateurs is done delicately? If they were delicate, no one would buy one. These cameras can take a remarkable amount of abuse. Yeah, the case will get scratched up but that has no effect on the images themselves. Short of taking it into a raging sandstorm or dropping it from 6 feet onto a concrete surface, the camera will keep on running.

    Also make sure that you put on the lens cap when not shooting pictures.
    Yes. Too bad so many people ignore the lens cap or use an image-degrading UV filter for "protection." A lens hood is even better, protection and makes the image better.

    The other thing to look out for is the temperature under which the camera is stored. You should always keep the camera out of sun. One mistake that newbies always make is to store the digital camera in the extremely hot temperatures (e.g. the car boot). Don’t ever do that. It’s also important not to store the camera in extremely cold temperatures either.
    Heat is a definate problem. The temperatures inside a vehicle can rise as high as 130-140 degrees or more on a summer day. Cold is not a problem at all. I have used and stored all sorts of cameras over the last 30 years in temperatures so cold the transmission oil in my car was frozen (hint, park in 1st gear!). The only caveat is the usual dealing with condensation when bring the camera back to a warm place.


    When storing your digital camera, you need to keep it away from magnets of any form. Magnets will affect the circuitry of your digital camera and should not be placed near it.
    No. Magnets encountered in normal life have absolutely no effect on digital cameras or memory cards. Other than not giving your camera an MRI, magnetism is a non-issue.

    Another point to note is to use silica gel to combat condensation. Many electronic products come with silica gel capsules. Keep these and put them in your digital camera storage box. It will prevent condensation.
    Condensation occurs when the temperature changes from cold and/or dry to warm and/or humid. Silica gel doesn't act fast enough nor does it have the capacity to prevent problems. The best solution is to put the camera into a plastic bag when moving from a dry to a humid environment. Let the temperature and humidity equalize before taking the camera out.

    The batteries of the camera should also be removed if you intend to store the camera away for a long time. The reason is that batteries can have corrosive leaks over time.
    Batteries don't leak the way they used to back in the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, leaks are extremely rare these days and usually due to gross mishandling. But removing the batteries is still a good idea as they will tend to drain a tiny bit when left in the camera. It also prevent the camera from being turned on accidentally.

    You also need to protect those delicate components. In particular, watch out for the memory card (whether it is a CompactFlash, SD or MMC card). Handle them with care because they are small and delicate.
    Wrong! memory cards are actually very tough. I have had memory cards dunked in muddy polluted rivers multiple times. Rinse them off, let them air dry, and you are back in business. I accidentally stepped on one and cracked it. I still got the images off of it.

    Camera panels are also very delicate. In my Canon PowerShot S500, the panel for the USB connect and the battery is a tad flimsy. I make sure I handle it with care whenever I open it.
    Good grief, here is "delicate" again. I have read all the reviews and the complaints about "flimsy" doors on every digital camera I have ever purchased. They may not look like much but they aren't going to fall apart or fall off with everyday use. You do not have to baby the camera. By the way, using a card reader is vastly superior to using the cameras USB port.

    Once again, some good advice but you seem to have a dearth of experience dealing with digital cameras. Its nice to try to help, but you have to get it right.
    "Every great decision creates ripples--like a huge boulder dropped in a lake. The ripples merge and rebound off the banks in unforseeable ways.

  3. #3
    is back jar_e's Avatar
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    Re: Article: How to Take Care of Your Digital Camera

    Michael,
    Good job of the disection of the article. Definately helps to have a fuller depth like you contributed.

  4. #4
    has-been... another view's Avatar
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    Re: Article: How to Take Care of Your Digital Camera

    I guess it depends on who the target audience of the article is. "Us photographers" have a pretty good idea what you can and can't do to equipment - some of mine looks prettier than others but all works like new.

    Non-photographers who own cameras (people who get a roll of film developed that starts with Christmas, goes thru the summer and ends with the next Christmas!) sometimes don't understand these ideas. I've seen many P&S cameras with fingerprints on their lenses, but looked like new. There was a point that we all had to learn this stuff...

  5. #5
    Sitting in a Leaky Dingy Michael Fanelli's Avatar
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    Re: Article: How to Take Care of Your Digital Camera

    Quote Originally Posted by another view
    I guess it depends on who the target audience of the article is. "Us photographers" have a pretty good idea what you can and can't do to equipment - some of mine looks prettier than others but all works like new.

    Non-photographers who own cameras (people who get a roll of film developed that starts with Christmas, goes thru the summer and ends with the next Christmas!) sometimes don't understand these ideas. I've seen many P&S cameras with fingerprints on their lenses, but looked like new. There was a point that we all had to learn this stuff...
    I would suggest, however, that beginners need even more carefully stated advice than we do. Some things in this post were needlessly exaggerated and others were just out and out wrong. Experts will see the problems, beginners won't. Other posts of this ilk have been made in the past and all suffer from this problem of sound advice mixed in with old wives tales and new things that are just wrong.

    The effort is good, the advice has to be better.
    "Every great decision creates ripples--like a huge boulder dropped in a lake. The ripples merge and rebound off the banks in unforseeable ways.

  6. #6
    Member Stephen Lutz's Avatar
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    Re: Article: How to Take Care of Your Digital Camera

    The only piece of camera equipment I have ever broken is a 28mm 2.8 lens. An hour and a half after I bought it, I dropped it on concrete. It cracked like an egg. I was....what's the word? Pissed off (ok, two words.)

    I once saw a guy drop a 70-200 2.8L IS, and and it broke into pieces too. He was....what's the word? REALLY pissed off (ok, three words).

    Anyway.... the general rules of common sense apply. Do not drop your camera. Do not immerse it in water. Do not sit on it. Do not let your dog use it as a chew toy.... You get the idea.

    I have three digital cameras, and numerous L lenses that cost me far too much money. They go in cases when I carry them, and I try not to bang them around too much. This is about all the care they require. My little camera (Pro 1) is one I carry in a waist pouch, along with a 220EX flash. It is light, rides easy on my waist and doesn't require much in the way of care. It (along with my 10D, a 16-35mm 2.8L, a 1 gig microdrive, and a 1 gig CF card) all went through an airport metal detector/x-ray machine on the way to and from Las Vegas, and suffered no ill effects. The heat of Vegas also seemed to not effect them in the least.

    Try not to scratch the lens, or drop the camera and it should be ok.
    Last edited by Stephen Lutz; 05-25-2005 at 07:28 AM.

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