Camera Care Tips | How to clean your camera when travelling 

How often do you clean your camera? What other advice can you offer our viewers?

When i use the lens brush to clean off any dust before cleaning with a lens wipe, I hold the lens facing down to let gravity help and the dust to fall away from the lens.

Cool thanks for all info !

Fast becoming one of my favourite you tube channels, informative and good at advertising their product. I hope to visit.

Really good information Thanks. I am leaving for Africa in two days and will add a few of Janine's cleaning suggestions to my afternoon camera cleaning ritual. And, yes, I've already had my camera (and sensor) professionally checked and cleaned.

Always the Top! Congrats for this important video ✌️

Great video-thank. You

I like the way u said n advise ppl what to do n not to as well you've such a sweet n persuasive voice Tks alot definitely your fan hope to hear more fr u

Janine, you are so great.

Great video, thanks, our cleaning regimes are very similar, but I have some tips that might save a lot of money... I start with a clean 75mm wide paint brush that I use to thoroughly brush dust and grit off camera bodies and lenses barrels (but NOT the glass elements). If the cameras are still dirty, I will use a detergent soaked and wrung out warm cloth to clean the bodies (This was recommended to me from a camera store, its what they do for second hand bodies before putting them on the shelf), then to remove any detergent residue, I repeat with a water dampened cloth, then a clean dry cloth to wipe off any moisture. This is as close to giving your camera a bath as you should get lol! Then I blower brush the lens front element while it is facing downwards to let gravity help remove grit. I carry about 4-5 small cloths specifically for lens elements in individual zip-lock plastic bags. These lens cleaning cloths are actually well washed and dried, used 100% cotton flannelette sheets that I tear into 125 x 125mm squares, they cost less than $1/sheet at the second hand store :) I then breath gently on the front lens element to create a slight amount of moisture before using the cloth to wipe clean. If there is any smears that wont come off, I will use lens cleaning fluid and a clean cloth to buff off. I have just started using sensor cleaning solution and swabs for stubborn sensor dust. It can take several swabs to get a sensor clean, but what works best is to swipe SLOWLY across the sensor or screen, this allows the solution to loosen any dust and pick it up. You do need to press firmly to the point that the sensor swab handle flexes below your fingers. There is a great video showing this technique (link below). Perhaps your 1DX camera has different instructions, but in both my DSLR's the camera is left on while cleaning the sensor and then switching the camera off returns the mirror to normal position, hence the battery needs to be at least 80% charged, preferably fully charged. Its not that scary to do and the end result is a perfectly clean sensor, remember to use the blower on the sensor first as you show in your video. I put 3 drops of sensor cleaning fluid on the swab, one at each end and one in the centre (you can hold the swab up to a window and see the soak area to make sure it covers the full width of the wiping edge, but is NOT dripping off the swab). Thanks for your collaboration, I'm off to shoot some birds this morning, regards, Guy ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_5N9Fvep3lM.html

Very good tips on cleaning. While not perfect protection I try to keep my lens cap and always the hood on when not shooting. Thanks for video.

Always great advices! Thank you so much for your videos! I'd love to go to your hotel one day and do a photo safari! 😊

Awesome, thanks for the advice😁

Thanks very much for sharing very useful information. But I do believe that I would watch your videos even if I didn’t like photography. X

Very well explained Janine. Thank you.

Wonderful info! I carry microfiber cloths and lens cloths as well. Always keep my pocket rocket blower too !

Great work, thanks.

As usual great experienced advice Janine.. whenever running around the wilds I seldom have camera exposed to the elements. I usually have a quick access sling bag and can be ready to shoot quickly.

Hi Janine, good advice. I see so many people wiping lens elements with either a hanky or a corner of their shirt. As for those people who either never use a lens hood or have it on their lens in the backward storage position I would personally have them shot😁. One tip I was given when I started out was to hold the lens upside down when using the brush to remove any grit or dust. This way anything that the brush cleans off automatically falls away from the glass and cannot get moved about by the brushing action and therefore won't scratch the lens. Even if the conditions in which you work can cause extra cleaning problems, I still envy your location. Take care.

🙏 Thanks 👍👌

before I touch the front / rear element of the lens I use a rocket blower to get rid of any dust spots. Nice video

You guys have great videos! I watch most of them more than once, very entertaining. Do you sell the green company shirts that you wear? I would love to have a few of them.

I would recommend using a blower bulb over a lens pen. Some lens pens can trap dust and all you'd be doing is smearing it around. A blower (and preferably a filtered blower) works best, and then wipe the lens, in circular motions, and apply the cleaning solution to the cleaning cloth, not directly on the lens. And always blow off the lens (or use the lens pen if you have to) FIRST before you try to clean it (with a wipe or a cloth).

This is great information!

Janine is the best teacher we ever had, since long. She has a tone of a mother towards her profession and the equipment like being children. The buff idea is a great safety especially for extending zoom lenses.

I also use the sensor shake option in the menu on my Canon bodies and so far have not had a real problem with senor dust spots. My newest Canon, the EOS R, has a curtain that covers the sensor when the camera is turned off and the lens removed which is a great idea that I wish more bodies had.

I use a cotton swab and demineralized water to clean a lens, works great👍🏼

Thanks so much Janine... where did you get the silicon body protector? Hope to safari this year... thanks again!

Some good tips to take on board here and beautifully presented as always. Pangolin has some stunning guides. I hadn't thought about the effects of using those nylon camouflage covers in a moist environment, especially on zoom lenses. I go on quite a lot of pelagic trips to the Continental shelf and saltwater is my biggest problem with camera maintenance. I have already had the top part of one of my cameras replaced due to corrosion and so now I try to keep it covered on the way out and on the way back. I noticed the power points on the wall in the background. Are these set up for the various different international power points or are these South African standards?

Hi Janine, awesome video as ever. Thanks :) Do you know, or can you recommend any dust proof lens cases?

Good advice very professionally expressed and demonstarted (as we are now used to). All the plastic in the disposable wipes does get my hackles up the wrong way. I'm not cleaning / fully inspecting every day like you do, using a high quality filter, Hoya HD's B&W etc.) works perfectly and as they are really massively harder than the lens and coatings I don't use so many plastic wipes. But a question for you, can we use the old fashioned soap and water then dry with toilet roll? I remember many years ago some professionals in a magazine said the higher quality toilet paper is soft, strong and leaves very little fibres behind for a blower brush. I do this and so far it's done well but .... I'm learning every day usually from my mistakes - for the filters of course.

Nice keep it coming

How about a video on camera bags and transport of equipment? Thanks for this one Janine.

Thanks for the tips in the video, very informative. I do have a question though. My 70-200mm f4l non IS can't change its aperture. Like in Manual mode or AV I can change it on the camera but when I take the photo, the aperture stays wide open. I know this because the exposure doesn't change when I adjust the f stop. I cleaned both the contacts on my camera and lens already but the problem is still there. Is there anything I can do about it?

Great video but coming from Ireland where its very wet and humid I keep silica gel in my case and rain covers on all times that made by Aquatech and Thinktank for all my lenses.

I always clean my body and lens with a moist towel, afterwards i dry all of it and then i can just take a microfibre cloth cleaning the lenses and then i blow the sensor out, usually works fine, if some spots presist, take the wet cleaning tool for sensors.

Great, thank you so much Janine, I'm glad to see I do my everyday clean, as you do. I, however, live in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal and my nemesis is the dreaded mould. I've lost a number of my Pentax 300 and 400mm lenses to this scourge, luckily my Sigma 600 was rescued by Tudoutech in Cape Town. My wife has made little zip-pillows for me and I fill these with "kitty-litter" silicon and change them regularly but I'm still concerned. Do you have any better suggestions, for me? I have my camera out almost every day and cannot build a cabinet with a light-inside in the dining-room, my wife really wouldn't enjoy that!

Is d750 still better choice to purchase now ?

I have mine set up to shake the sensor when it switches on and off to prevent sensor spots. Never had problems (tempting fate!)

When you put that protective skin on can an L bracket go over it

Pure isopropyl alcohol is usually a good option for cleaning lenses, but not in every case, some coatings may be sensitive to it. I think it's fine for all modern commercial lenses, but some caution may be warranted on old lenses and for anything that may not have the typical coatings (e.g. if you're using scientific optical lenses from Edmund's or something like that). Pure acetone is also great for the cleaning lenses, it's the next step up for stubborn ones, but should be used with far more caution. Acetone will destroy anything organic, any o-rings, weather sealing, etc... It should be used for the glass elements only, definitely not on any plastics. Also, don't think that you can use the common drug store varieties of these. They often come with perfumes and/or colorants and all that junk gets left behind when the acetone and alcohol evaporate. You really do need to get the over 99% pure or better stuff. They often sell the isopropyl this way marketed for cleaning electronics. The acetone can be harder to find, but you don't usually need the acetone, mainly just when you're taking apart and cleaning ancient manual lenses and need to get fungus out. Again, let me stress, use great caution with the acetone, it will devour plastics fast. I guess I clean each lens/sensor on an ad hoc basis when I notice an issue, maybe once each 6 months on average. Lenses that get more use get cleaned more. Despite changing lenses very often I very rarely need to clean the sensor. I do keep the camera pointing down the entire time I'm changing them, if there is wind my back will be to it, etc.. And I shoot in the desert fairly often.

My lens cleaning regimen: lens blower first, then brush, then cloth. And I don't touch the brush with my finger.

what about the hot shoes. does it have a cover?

Hello, Janine. How do I store the camera inside a house? Can I store it in a camera bag with silica gel sachets and put the bag inside a cupboard? Will the camera body and lens be susceptible to fungal growth when stored this way?

Hi Janine. I have a question. Ir you have to save your machine and lenses for a few days, where do you save it?

I would be too scared not to use some kind of filter to protect the lens. An episode on filters and their application for wildlife and safari would be interesting and useful. Is there a need for a polariser or ND or UV? It would be interesting to get an experts view on this. I'm just a humble hobbyist who likes to go on safari's.

Well... most modern lenses actually don't scratch that easily... but it's not worth chancing anyway.

The woman sizzles

She probably doesn’t pay for her lenses! I ALWAYS use a UV filter to protect my lenses. I have never had any issues with the quality of the photos being affected by the filter.

Why is it that everyone who demonstrates lens cleaning starts by wiping their finger across the tip of the brush and fleece cleaning tip???

NOTHING cleans like 'pink juice' - LensClens#1

You're so sweet, I like it.