A Day At The Beach Can Ruin Your Camera

The beach is a place we go to have fun. Enjoy the sun, the sand, and the ocean. Many of us also take the opportunity to record those moments with our cameras. Unfortunately, those beautiful beach shots can take their toll on our cameras and accessories. The sun, sand, moisture, and salt can all have a disastrous impact on our valuable equipment. Keeping cameras and accessories safe and clean under normal conditions is important, but it becomes imperative during and after a day at the beach.

The first stage of protection is obviously the camera bag. Choose one that has inner pockets that do double duty in keeping sand out. A camera with sand inside the case is quickly ruined, grinding gears don't move well. A water resistant fabric is always advisable to keep out humidity and moisture. Whenever you're not using your camera, keep it safely in your camera bag. Never use your camera with wet, sandy, or oily hands. And, avoid taking it out of your camera bag if the ocean breezes are blowing the sand around.

If it's absolutely necessary to make changes on your camera at the beach, take every possible precaution. If you've been swimming in the ocean, wash and dry your hands to remove any salt before working on your camera. Salt will corrode. If you're going to be on a beach that doesn't have fresh water, take wipes to clean your hands. Find a place away from the water, in a sheltered location with no wind or people to kick up the sand. Make all your changes as quickly as you can to avoid any mishaps. If you're changing lenses, make sure you secure the removed lens back in your camera bag and close it up tight.

A small investment in a filter for your camera is another way of protecting it during your days at the beach. Actually it gives you dual benefits. You not only get the optical benefits of a filter, but you get the protection for you expensive lens from the sand and salt.

When taking pictures by the ocean, take extra care not to allow your camera to get wet. The salt water will severely damage your equipment. If you do get splashed, dry the camera thoroughly and immediately. When you get home from a day at the beach, you need to clean all your equipment properly. You want to wipe it down thoroughly with a soft cloth to remove all salt and sand residue. There are some very effective camera cleaning kits on the market which include all the tools needed to do a detailed job.

If you plan on doing a lot of photography at the beach, or other bodies of water, you might want to consider investing in one of the amphibious cameras that are available. They not only can be splashed, you can dive with them. They're designed to keep out the sand and the sea. But, if you're sticking with your land camera, take some common sense precautions, use a quality camera bag and your camera should last you a good long time

By: Suzanne VanDeGrift

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Suzanne VanDeGrift has developed this article for M-ROCK.com, manufacturer of high quality, water resistant camera bags.