Social Distancing! Home Quarantine! Isolation! Janta Curfew! Lockdown!
When you are to stay at home, what is it that you can do as a photographer? Here is a list of things that I have planned to do over the next few days. Some of these are tasks that I had been putting off for a very long time. Apart from spending some quality time with my family, catching up on some old books and trying my hand in the kitchen, this is what I intend to do –
A friend of mine was searching for an article on how to keep his camera clean. Everything that google searched for him pointed to website that taught about how to clean the camera but nothing about keeping it clean. Based on his suggestion, here are some pointers to maintaining your photography equipment. If you are anywhere close enough to me when it comes to keeping your camera and lens clean, then this is a must read article for you. This is about prevention. Prevention is better than cure, or in this case cleaning.
I had written a small articles about cleaning camera and lens – Cleaning Camera and Lens Due to requests from some of my readers, I am also writing about cleaning accessories. Cameras accessories are also meant to be used and so some signs of use are expected. I ignore them. I am actually scared of new accessories. Old ones have become my friends and they keep helping me out. Measure I take to ensure that these friends of mine stay fit :
The worst fate that a photography equipment can have is to remain packed and kept on a shelf in someone’s home. I have seen some of the best photography equipment available, not being used by their owners. It pains me to see all that beautiful equipment not being used. Recently I gathered the courage to ask a friend of mine about his beautiful digital Leica kept in a glass shelf. The answer I got- “It is too dirty outside in the city to risk carrying it around. I use the camera on family holidays when we go to some nice clean countryside. I however did not take it on my last holiday since that was in a beach resort with lots of sand and wind.” A few other photographers also have similar thoughts. For most people, their photography equipment is an expensive purchase and they do not want it to get dirty.
One of the heated debates in photography is about the use of clear filters (UV/Haze/Clear) for protection.
The photographers discouraging use of the filters give arguments about the ineffectiveness in providing real protection to lens in case of fall, adding a piece of glass in front of an expensive lens bringing down the quality of the whole setup, increased flares and halos. Hoods provide better protection. There are incidents where the lens with a filter fell down and the filter failed to provide any protection and in a few instances ended up scratching the front element.
Maini's Mind 