Dusty Conditions

[brettwmd]

Hello! Last night I had my new 10D & 75-300 IS lens out at the race track where there was a lot of dust (dirt) in the air and I'm wondering if those with experience shooting in dusty conditions can provide advice on the care of my equipment when in such environments. Is there anything I can do to prepare and what should I do to "clean up" afterwards?

Thanks very much!
Brett W

[defordphoto]

brettwmd wrote:
Hello! Last night I had my new 10D & 75-300 IS lens out at the race track where there was a lot of dust (dirt) in the air and I'm wondering if those with experience shooting in dusty conditions can provide advice on the care of my equipment when in such environments. Is there anything I can do to prepare and what should I do to "clean up" afterwards?

Thanks very much!
Brett W

I'm also curious about this one as I will be shooting two SCCA ProRally events this season. I prefer not to drag out the old film stuff as I have fallen in love with my two digital cameras and don't want to go back if I don't have to. But, it's not worth the risk of clogging up the digi-cams over it.

[CyberDyneSystems]

This sounds a little familiar,. Since I got my 10D it has rained nearly evry day I have had out of work. On the day that I got my 500mm Zoom,. I was desperate to try this thing out! I took it to the shore and got some really nice poics of a White Heron in the rain.

As it happened there is a camera shop right near where I sjhot the photos,. so I stopped in and browsed,. and then asked the knowledgable young women behind the counter,.. "What is the best way to take care of a camera after shooting in the rain"

"Did it get wet?"

"yes,.. a little"

"Well open it up take the film out and lens of and let it dry out,. If it is a manual camera you should be okay,. it's usually fine unless it has a lot of electronics"

"it's a digital"

Eyes go wide,.. "er,. well that could be bad"

"It's a 10D"

Jaws hit the floor! The two look at eachother like "who is this idiot?"

Anyway my camera was fine,.

..and no I have no answers to your question sorry :D ;D :D :D

[henkbos]

Shoot a lot in the desert and have problems with dust/sand. Bought 2 L-lenses which are 'weather proof'.
Think the main problem is sensor cleaning. If there is dust on the sensor you will see spots on the same place in your shots all the time. There are various good articles how to clean. I will wait till I'm in the US to buy all the stuff. For now a little cloning still does the job.

[mebow]

There are a couple of things you can do to ‘clean up’ safely. 1. Do not use compressed air or compressed air dusters used by computer folk. Use compressed CO2 which is pure and does not have a propellant that contains petroleum products. Source: Techni-Tool Tech Duster CO2 www.techni-tool.com. 2. Use Ador Eclipse Cleaning Sytem, Ador Sensor Swabs and Pec Pad Photowipes 4X4 all from Adorama in NY. These items are all white room pure and safe for cleaning you digital inside and out.

Good luck. Mike

[tzrider]

Hi there,

My D30 and D60 often became wet while using
in the rain on the racetrack. A little rain is
no problem, just dry it with a cloth and let
it dry some further.

Sand is more problematic. I once used my
then 1 day old D60 at a motocross track, and
sand became behind the buttons at the rear.

But the most dangerous is sand for zoomlenses.
I once tried to photograph our dogs with the 100-400
while they were swimming. I had to throw a stick
in the water with one hand and hold the camera
with the other. The stick was covered with fine
wet sand, and while zooming in and out with
the hand that had just hold the stick fine sand
became between the inner and outer tube of the
100-400, which made cracking sounds for some
time, but now is fine again. I would definitly wrap
my camera and lens in some household foly or
something the next time. And use a fix focal
for the dogs the next time (or take somebody along
to throw the stick).

We shot about 30,000 picts with both the D30 and
the D60 (each day at a circuit is good for at least
1000 picts if you want to have all riders more then
once) but I have NEVER had to clean the sensor.
Don't worry about dust or small spots on the mirror.
And never blow into the camera, you will spitt the
mirror full of little dots.

Best wishes,

Jeroen

[brettwmd]

henkbos wrote:
There are various good articles how to clean.
Henkbos - Thanks. Could you point me in the direction of one or two of those articles.

Mike (mebow) - I checked out the various web sites you mentioned and will be putting an order together shortly. Thank you.

[henkbos]

Try a search on 'sensor digital cleaning'. There are various out there including tips to keep it cheap. Roger Cavanaugh has a good one (member here as well).

[martcol]

Dust?

Aaaaaaaaggghhhh!

Canon have had my 10D for longer than me. I was soooo careful changing lenses short of climbing into a bin liner to do it! Anyway, dust hit, tried to clean, sent it back to Canon UK, got it back, still dirty, sent it back, still dirty, sent it back for 3rd time. Honest, this is killing me and if I ever get it back clean, I'm now terrified of dust.

Anyway, search the forum for cleaning, dust, dirt, sensor or whatever and you will come up with some good links and some success stories about how some have had success.

Bottom line - take care.

Martin

[Morden]

Canon have had my 10D for longer than me. I was soooo careful changing lenses short of climbing into a bin liner to do it! Anyway, dust hit, tried to clean, sent it back to Canon UK, got it back, still dirty, sent it back, still dirty, sent it back for 3rd time. Honest, this is killing me and if I ever get it back clean, I'm now terrified of dust.
This is one of the reasons why I favour zoom lenses over primes on dSLR cameras; I don't need to change lenses so often.