Not all digital camera are created equal. Some brands and models are known to be more “robust” than the others. Anyway, just like any other things in life if you want to keep it in good condition for a long time then you better take a good care of it. This article is lists some of the dos and don’ts that can make your camera in tip top shape.
1. Avoid getting your digital camera wet.
When you take your camera to the sea, pool, ocean park or anywhere else where there’s a possibility of your camera getting wet be more cautios. Get a plastic ziplock bags with you and put your camera there when it’s not in use. Water can deal great damage to your camera and in the worst case permanently.
When using camera near watery area make sure you’re out of the “splash range”. For example you’re taking a picture of your kids swimming and for some reason they think it would be fun to splash you with water when you’re taking picture. Use the zoom function in your camera to get close-up pictures without getting to close to the object. It surprises me that some people actually forgot about this little handy zoom feature in their camera only to realize it when it’s too late.
When you put the camera on a table make sure there are no glass of water, vase or any container that has water in it. If an “accident” happen the water might spill onto the camera and damage it.
Avoiding your camera from getting wet by keeping it off water does not guarantee that your camera will always dry. The problem is that there is water in the air around is in the form of humidity and moisture. Exposing your camera to continous humidity and moisture can harm your camera parts and lens. To avoid such problem the simplest solution is to store your camera in a dry place. If you want to be more sure just use silica gel. When storing your digital camera in the case put one or two along with it..
2. Get a protective case / bag
One of the first thing you should get for your digital camera is a good quality protecty case / bag. A camera bag can protect your digital camera from dirt, water and hopefully some moderate bumps/fall. The bag should be big enough to carry the camera, spare batteries and extra accessories like memory cards. That way you can keep all that you need to take pictures within one bag..
3. Keep off of extreme heat and cold
Most electronics are prone to damage when exposed to heat and cold. When you put the camera in the car do not put on on the dashboard where it be exposed to the heat of the sun for a long time. And during cold days tuck the camera under your coat and don’t let it out of it’s case for too long. After you’re done taking picture put the camera back into the bag.
4. Clean the lens
A clean and clear lens will produce sharp images. To keep it that way you need to clean your lens regularly. Sometimes you got fingerprints on the lens and that makes the images taken become blurry. To clean a camera lens a simple soft facial tissue will do. Be careful not to push the lens too hard when you clean it. Just wipe the lens gently a couple of times until the stains or smudges are gone. If you worried that tissue could scratch the lens you could also try Micro Fiber Cleaning Cloth which cost about $8. You won’t get any different result though.
5. Always wear the strap when taking pictures
When taking pictures first make sure you put the camera strap around your hand. It’s important because you can accidentally lose grip or your hand bump into something and the camera fall off. The strap will make sure the camera won’t fall to the ground and break.
A little warning here. When you put your digital camera on a table make sure the strap is not hanging off the edge. A digital camera strap is a magical item. When left hanging it will whisper to the nearest children and say “pull me, pull meee ….“. Since the adults can’t hear this whisper they will tend to blame the children when they actually pull the strap and break the camera.
6. Use protective plastic for your LCD
Scratches on your LCD screen is not pretty to look. It doesn’t affect the actual picture quality whatsoever but still it’s not pretty. To protect your LCD screen protector. It’s just a plain transparent plastic that you can stick on top of the LCD. The hard part is applying neatly. First clean the LCD from any fingerprints an any other stains. Then you need to do it slowly in a single smooth motion to avoid bubbles. Once you got the plastic you won’t need to worry about scratches since it’s the plastic that would be scratched.
7. Battery care
Caring for your camera’s battery is also an important point often forgotten. Just like the camera itself batteries should not be exposed to heat and water so when you take them out of the camera store them in a cool and dry place. When you’re planning to store the camera for a while always charge the batteries first to avoid leakage. Get yourself a good and fast battery charger. One that will stop the charging process once the batteries are fully charged so you won’t have to worry about overcharge problems.
Final Words
A little dust here and and a little scratch there on the camera casing won’t affect the picture quality but a little dust or a tiny bitsy scratch on the lens can make a big difference. Keep your camera clean, store it in the bag when it’s not in use and also take care of the batteries.
