Today’s Post by Joe Farace
Cleanliness becomes more important when godliness is unlikely. — P. J. O’Rourke
When it comes to caring for photo equipment, there seems to be, at least, three kinds of photographers: The first group includes an old friend in Maryland, whose idea of cleaning a camera is to lick his lens and wipe it off with a pulled-out shirttail. This is the same guy, who drove nails with a Nikon 200mm lens. Maybe he’s trying to give his equipment that patina of wear often seen on equipment sported by globe-hopping photojournalists. I consider this first group of people are the Oscar Madisons of photography.
At the opposite extreme is (obviously) Felix Unger. His or her equipment looks as if they never use it. There’s no brassing on black camera bodies, no dust would dare land on their lenses and they never leave the house without a full supply of camera and lens cleaning products. In between these two extremes lie a third group that includes most of us but I will confess to having more than a few Unger-like impulses about caring for my photo equipment.
How I made this shot: I confess to having a secret passion for Saab automobiles. I came close to buying a red Saab 9-3 Aero wagon but missed it by a Maxwell Mart “that much.” I really wanted to buy a second generation (V4) Sonett but while the dealer promised it to me, he sold it out from under me. I was sad; Mary was happy. So no Saabs for me… I photographed this Saab Sonett II in Vail, Colorado using a Canon EOS 40D and EF 10-22mm EF-S f/3.5-4.5 lens (at 17mm) with an exposure of 1/100 sec at f/14 and ISO 200. Converted to monochrome with Silver Efex and softened with the Vignette Blur filter that’s part of Color Efex.
Some shooters don’t like to clean their lenses, believing that a little dust won’t hurt anything. Their concern is that the more you clean a lens, the more likely you are to scratch it. According to several optical experts I spoke with, the biggest mistake photographers make when cleaning lenses is they don’t blow them off first. Often the lens is covered with is a microscopic layer of dust that quickly turns into fine grade sandpaper. To remove this layer of grit, you should blow off the glass or give it a light dusting with a soft brush.
I like to use a LensPen for cleaning lens or filter smudges and I keep one in each of my camera bags and backpacks. A LensPen has a retractable natural hair brush that’s useful for knocking off chunks of dust or whatever from your photo gear and has a soft chamois-like tip on the other end for removing smudges from lenses. The carbon based cleaning compound it uses reduces electrostatic charges that can attract dust to a lens surface and replenishes itself after each use. Since it doesn’t require cleaning fluid or lens tissue, a LensPen creates no trash, so its ecologically friendly.
The LensPen DSLR Pro kit () includes an original LensPen for lenses, a FilterKlear for cleaming filters and a MicroPro for viewfinder. It also includes microfiber carrying pouch that doubles as a cleaning cloth.
PS: Yes, LensPen is one of this blog’s sponsors but I have been using their products for more than 20 years, long before I had any of my blogs.
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