Hi everyone. I am sick, and its going to be a pretty chill weekend (as I try to get over what I have). I have been cleaning the apartment and straightening up, and I decided to pull out all of the gear and do a good cleaning. I really believe that if you take care of your gear, your gear will take care of you. After every shoot, I make it a point to sit down, and clean all of my gear. It keeps your camera equipment looking and feeling new for much longer. I have seen photographers who don't clean their gear pay for it later. Nobody wants to spend hours in photoshop cloning out a hair that was on the lens during all of the formals and outdoor shots. Trust me, ITS NOT FUN!!!
Along with just cleaning my gear, I also visually and mechanically inspect each critical piece of my kit. Just now I discovered that my eyepiece cover is broken, and I'll need to order a new one. An eyepiece cover might not be a critical element in your kits, but imagine if it was a switch on a lens that you don't find out about until the next wedding shoot! Not a good time to be discovering broken gear.
To clean my gear I use a couple different things. I begin by using two 100% cotton towels (one slightly damp with warm water, one to dry) and wiping down all of the gear. Don't be afraid to give it a good scrub, the cameras can (and should be able to) take it. Get all of that grease from your skin, nose, and forehead off of the camera body. And if you say you don't get all that stuff on your camera when you shoot, you aren't working hard enough : )
After all of the gear is wiped down, I turn my attention to the lenses. I use a product called OmniCleanz from Radtech.us as a lens cleaner. I've found that it works well for lenses and laptop screens. I use the LenSavrz cleaning cloth, also from Radtech.us. I can also highly reccomend the lens cleaning cloths that Promaster makes. They can be found at Ritz / Cord Camera stores, and they are extremely soft. They are also very good for cleaning your glasses off during a shoot (people who wear glasses when they shoot know what I am talking about...)
After everything is cleaned, all the gear is re-organized and put back in its proper place in my camera bag, so its ready to go for the next shoot. I love having everything in its place and ready to go, so I never have to worry about finding a piece of equipment when there is a time crunch.
Bottom line: clean your gear, it will last longer. Have a great weekend everyone.
