What’s in Your Photo Backpack or Camera Bag?

by | Jul 21, 2024

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

“Mrs Joe was a very clean housekeeper, but had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself. ― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

There’s an old photographer’s saying—it’s one of Farace’s Laws—that if you take care of your camera equipment it will take care of you. For instance, when cleaning lenses, you shouldn’t douse their front element with cleaning fluid. That stuff is highly viscous and can find its way into all kinds of nooks and crannies and, with repeated use/abuse, can cause problems such as causing the lens elements to separate, which is not a good thing, believe me. That’s why I’ve been using LensPens for more that 20 years to clean my lenses. LensPens have two working ends and are small enough that you can clip one in your pocket or toss it into your camera bag or photo backpack.

How I made this photograph: The Colorado Railroad Museum is a picturesque place to make photographs but can get a bit dusty when the wind is blowing. The featured image was shot with a Canon EOS 50D that had been converted to IR-only capture with Life Pixel’s Standard IR (720nm) filter. Infrared fans will notice the subdued Wood Effect, caused by fall leaves that were in the process of changing. The Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD A010 lens was at 31mm with an exposure of 1/100 sec at f/16 and ISO 400. The RAW file was opened in Photoshop then converted to Monochrome using Silver Efex before being Platinum toned in Photo Kit.

Which LensPen should you use?

You should start with LensPen’s DSLR-Pro Kit ($28.95) that includes everything digital and film photographers need to keep their lenses, viewfinders and filters clean. Here’s what’s in the kit:

  1. An original LensPen that can remove grease and fingerprints from lenses for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.
  2. The FilterKlear has a flat, round cleaning tip that’s especially useful for cleaning lens filters. If you’re shooting infrared images with filters this cleaning tool will be indispensable.
  3. The MicroPro has a smaller cleaning tip that’s useful for cleaning viewfinders, EVFs and the tiny lenses used on smartphones.
  4. The kit includes a microfiber carrying pouch that doubles as a cloth for other cleaning applications, like your camera’s body.

All of these LensPens and their cousins clean in a few easy steps: You simply slide out the natural goat hair brush to knock off and dust and dirt from the lens. Then remove the cap at the other end and use its flexible chamois tip that’s embedded with a carbon compound to remove any fingerprints.

The carbon compound used in LensPen’s products is similar to one that’s found in printer’s ink. The twist-action cap recharges the carbon compound on the cleaning tip and ensures that the cap won’t jump off in your pocket or camera bag. A LensPen performs well in arctic cold or desert heat and has no expiration date. LensPen products are safe to use, are RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) compliant and meet California’s Proposition 65 standards.

 LensPen is a long-time sponsor of my sites and blogs but I was using their products long before I had a blog. Mary bought me my first LensPen in 1994 when I acquired a Nikon N90s film-based SLR! I would like to thank LensPen for their continued support.