Your digital camera is a delicate piece of electronic equipment and needs to be cared for properly. Today’s tip will cover a few ways to ensure your camera will be protected from the elements. Developing goods habits for taking care of your camera should help you keep your expensive investment working properly.

One of the main threats to digital cameras is the environment. Severe heat and cold, rain and dust can wreak havoc on your camera. However, some of the best photographic moments may happen during less than optimal conditions. So what do you do? First, take some simple precautions.

Depending on your location, humidity may be a problem. Your lens may fog the moment you go outdoors. If this is the case, you simply need  to plan ahead of time. If your camera is indoors in the air conditioning and you want to take a picture outside when the humidity is high, you may want to take your camera outside a while before you’re ready and allow it to acclimate to the humidity. That way the fogging on the lens and eyepiece should clear up after a few minutes. By all means do not take off your lens when you first go out because your sensor will then fog up and this may create problems with moisture inside your camera.

What about when it’s raining? Well, if it’s not raining too hard and you have someone else available, just have them hold an umbrella over you so your hands can be free to shoot. If you don’t have an assistant, or if you want to stay out in the rain for some time, you can try making a raincoat for your camera.

For this you will need a 2 gallon “Ziploc” – type plastic bag and a lens hood. Your lens may have come with a lens hood. If not, you can pick one up on the Internet specifically for your brand and model lens. Here are the instructions:

1. Lay the bag flat and place the lens hood on the bottom of the bag so that exactly half the hood straddles the bottom edge of the bag.
2. Trace around the lens hood with a felt-tip pen to make a half-circle. Keeping the bag flat, use an Xacto knife, scissors, or a utility knife to follow the traced half-circle and cut out an opening for the lens hood through both layers of the bag. After you have cut the half-circle, open up the bag and you will see that it forms a full circle
3. Now place the camera in the bag (with the lens hood attached to the front of your lens) and push the lens hood through the hole in the bottom.
4. Tape the plastic bag to the lens hood so that water or debris can’t leak in. (the picture below shows taping to the lens, but it will be better to tape to the lens hood.)

illustration of camera raincoat

While you’re carrying the camera, keep the bag zipped shut. When you are ready to take a picture, hold the camera so the rain won’t come into the bag, unzip it, and reach inside to hold the camera. Be sure to pull the bag over your wrist. You can make a few of these raincoats ahead of time and keep them in your camera bag  just in case.

No Fear! Go out and make great pictures.

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