How to Look After your Photo Gear
My NIKKOR Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S lens
It’s ironic that the hobbies that require the most expensive equipment are often those that require the fewest precautions. If you go skiing, you might leave a very expensive pair of skis outside a restaurant while you have lunch. If you play golf, you might leave a very expensive set of clubs outside the pro shop while you have a drink. And if you’re a photographer, you might leave a very expensive camera in a tent for a week!
Crazy, right?
Here are a few precautions you can take to look after your photographic equipment, make the most of your investment and protect yourself if the worst comes to the worst...
The Problem
My camera bag
Serious photographers think nothing of taking very valuable equipment through crowded transport hubs to locations that are often either cold and icy or hot and dusty—so there’s a good chance something will go wrong!
Theft, loss and damage are all possible, if not likely. My biggest fear is losing my camera bag at the airport, so I’m always in a state of barely controlled panic when I fly! Not only would I lose all my camera equipment, but I’d lose all the pictures I’d taken on that trip. And unlike my gear, I could never replace those…
Now, you might say it’s not very likely that you’d simply ‘forget’ your bag, but does that mean you have to take it everywhere with you—even if you just go to the bathroom or the bar?
It’s not just the chance of losing your gear or having it stolen that matters, of course. It’s the penalty if it does happen. Part of that is the sheer expense. As you should know by now, photography is a money pit, and good cameras and lenses cost thousands.
If you lose your toothpaste, you can replace it very cheaply at the airport, and you might even get a free tube from the safari lodge—something that happened to me on my first trip to Zambia! However, if you lose your camera bag, you’ve just lost a ton of gear that’ll be eye-wateringly expensive to replace.
You’ll probably have insurance, of course, but finding someone to insure £50k of equipment that’s going to be kept in a tent isn’t as easy as you might think! And even if you manage to find a gullible enough broker to sell you a policy, the excess might still be hundreds of pounds or dollars. That means you’ll still end up out of pocket—and that’s to say nothing of all the time and effort needed to find your receipts and fill out the necessary claim forms.
In addition, you’re going to feel pretty miserable if you’ve made the mistake of leaving your gear in a public place—even for a moment. You’re responsible for your own possessions, so it’s impossible not to feel a certain amount of guilt and shame if your actions directly led to having your bag stolen, for example.
It’s possible, of course, that the airline will lose or damage your checked luggage. That obviously wouldn’t be your fault directly, but would it really be any better?
Like most people, I’ve had my fair share of disasters while flying. When I went to Arviat in Canada to see the polar bears, BA lost my bag—which had in it amongst other things a Manfrotto tripod and a very expensive pair of Canada Goose overalls!
On another trip, I made the mistake of putting my laptop in a checked bag, and it ended up with a deep hole that reached right through to the motherboard! It wouldn’t turn on, so my client kindly tried asking his IT department to fix it, but it was too badly damaged…
The final problem, of course, is that you won’t be able to take any pictures without your camera—and that’s a pretty major penalty for a photographer! You might be able to borrow a lens cap or a USB cable, but it’s extremely unlikely you’ll be able to borrow or replace a high-end camera or lens—especially if you’re going to a lodge in the middle of Africa!
And even if you make it with all your gear to your final destination, there are still plenty of things that might go wrong. Cold weather is a killer, and trying to protect your camera from freezing condensation in subzero temperatures is a nightmare!
In Canada, I had to leave my camera outside my cabin at all times, and the zoom mechanism in one of my lenses ended up being frozen solid! And in Sweden, the cold weather meant that I managed to break my tripod the very first time I tried to use it! I was trying to photograph the Northern Lights, so that would’ve been disastrous if somebody hadn’t kindly lent me a replacement…
In addition, people always make mistakes. You might forget to charge your batteries or leave something important behind, such as a teleconverter or an FTZ adapter. Or you might drop a lens on the ground—which might be catastrophic if it breaks.
Finally, there’s always the possibility of the dreaded sensor spots. It should be impossible for dust or liquid to get into the mechanism of supposedly ‘weather-sealed’ cameras, but it happens almost every time I go on a photographic trip…!
The Solution
What I put in my camera bag…
There are ways to protect yourself against loss, theft or damage, but there’s no magic bullet. It’s more a case of risk management—which is just a fancy term for common sense! Here are a few things I do to postpone the inevitable…
Insurance
The most important precaution you can take is obviously to take out insurance. You can probably add your cameras and lenses to your home and contents policy, or you might be able to get reasonably cheap travel insurance when you go on photographic trips.
However, it’s not as easy if you have very expensive equipment. When I first took out a photographic policy with Infocus Insurance, I ended up making claims for thousands of pounds to repair or replace damaged cameras, lenses and laptops. They were all dealt with very briskly and efficiently. However, after a couple of years, my broker decided it was losing too much money, so it dropped me as a client!
I did my best to find a replacement, but literally everybody I asked said no! Now, I have to resort to taking out cheap travel insurance that only covers a maximum insured value of £2,000 or so—which is about £48,000 short of what I need!
Packing
This is where common sense goes a long way. After my computer was so badly damaged, I decided that I’d never again put valuables in the hold. That includes cameras, lenses and, of course, my laptop, but I do sometimes have to put large items such as my tripod in my rucksack.
Most of my trips these days are to Africa, and almost all the safari lodges offer a free, same-day laundry service. That means I only have to pack a single change of clothes, which makes packing much easier! I’m generally able to fit all my camera gear into my Tenba Hybrid rollaboard, and I put all my clothes into what I call my ‘super jacket’.
I used to use a Callaway golf jacket that had an enormous internal pocket running all the way round the inside, but it was getting a bit old and frayed, so I had to replace the zip a couple of times and, eventually, the whole jacket. My new jacket is properly waterproof and has the same kind of pocket, so I very rarely have to check another bag.
A lot of people find it hard to pack as light as I do, but that’s mostly because they’re American tourists going on safari for the first time! Once they’ve done it once, they realise they don’t really need to bring two enormous suitcases with them. If you still need a few tips, feel free to read my article on How to Pack Light!
Tools
Cameras and lenses are complicated bits of equipment, so things inevitably go wrong with them. If you’re generally quite handy (and brave!), you can usually save yourself a lot of stress and drama by fixing things yourself.
It obviously depends what kind of cameras you have and where you’re going, but I have a small screwdriver set that lets me screw in loose screws—either flathead or Phillips. I don’t pack it if I’m only going to be away for a week or two, but it comes in handy if I manage to land a gig as a resident photographer for four months!
AF Fine-tuning
One important lesson I learned on a cruise to Svalbard is that DSLR lenses need to be fine-tuned so that the AF system works properly. When I saw a polar bear walking across the tundra with her two cubs, I was very excited to see my photos. However, I was using a Sigma 50-500mm lens with my Nikon D800, and almost all my images were too soft. I was devastated!
When I mentioned the problem to one of the other guests on board, he advised me to fine-tune my lens. After that, I used to do it myself with Reikan FoCal. However, it was a bit of a faff setting up the target and waiting for the camera to take all the requisite shots, so I eventually paid Cameracal to do it for me.
Fortunately, you don’t need to do any fine-tuning with mirrorless lenses, so when I upgraded to my Sony ⍺1 and Nikon Z8, that was the end of that…!
Sensor Cleaning
Another annoyance that’s easily fixed is sensor spots. It really is amazing how easily they appear—however much care you take in looking after your cameras and lenses. I always set up my ⍺1 and Z8 so that the automatic dust protection shutter closes when the cameras are switched off, but that doesn’t entirely solve the problem.
As a result, I have to clean the sensor on a regular basis. If I’m on a photographic trip, I have to do it myself—which is quite tricky and very stressful! I have a small bottle of cleaning fluid and a few proper sensor wipes, but it’s still something I try to avoid. If you damage the sensor, the camera is pretty much a write-off, so there’s no coming back from that.
As a result, I just tend to take my cameras in to the Wex Photo shop in Putney, where I live. They’ll clean the sensors for around £60, and I don’t need to spend any time worrying about it…
Weather
If you’re a ‘serious’ photographer, you’ve probably taken your camera to some pretty inhospitable places—either up a mountain or beneath the waves or through a sandstorm or a blizzard! As a result, you probably find that the weather leaves its mark.
Cleaning cameras and lenses is a bit of a chore, but it’s worth doing—at the right time. If you’re on safari, say, it’s a good idea to wipe the front of your lens or use a blower to get rid of the dust, but there isn’t much point cleaning all your gear after every single game drive. It’ll just get dirty again on the next one!
Instead, you’re better off doing it when you get home. You could take your cameras and lenses to a photography shop, but, in my experience, it’s very expensive—especially when all you need is a microfibre cloth, a few cotton buds and a bottle of lens cleaning fluid.
If you believe prevention is better than cure, you can always wrap up your cameras and lenses in neoprene or waterproof covers. These range from cheap, transparent, plastic bags with drawstrings that only cost a few pounds to ‘tailored’ covers specifically designed for certain focal lengths that offer full-time protection from bumps and scratches as well as the weather.
I do have a couple of expensive camera covers, but I mostly make do with the cheap and nasty versions. The custom ones don’t fit perfectly, and it’s a pain to get to all the buttons and dials through the thick plastic.
The only downside to the cheaper ones is that they do rustle quite loudly, which can startle more skittish birds and animals. However, it doesn’t rain that much where I go in Africa, so I don’t mind.
The other protection that’s always a good idea is the lens hood. It’s designed to protect the front of the lens from rain, snow and even bright sunlight, but it’s also a cheap way of avoiding a very expensive bill if you drop your camera!
I always use lens hoods, but it’s worth thinking about removing yours if there’s a heat haze. Sometimes, just waving the camera around can mix up the warm and cool air to fix the problem, but taking it off is even better. That won’t always solve the problem, but it’s better than nothing.
Verdict
On location…
The risk of theft, loss or damage is one of the major causes of stress when you travel as a photographer. I often tell people that I love travelling, but I hate the travelling part! That just about sums it up. There are so many things to go wrong—either on the way to your destination or while you’re out there.
However, there are a few, common-sense steps you can take to minimise the risk of things going wrong, and it helps to get into a healthy routine. I hope this article will save you a bit of money and a bit of heartache in all your future travels…!
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