Camera to the beach

I took my R5 to the beach to take a few photos. I didn’t change lenses and only had it out of the camera bag for a few minutes. I then used another camera for the rest of the day at the beach. What reasonable precautions should I take when I get home other than a visual inspection to see if any sand is on the camera? Thanks for your help.

Take a air bulb and brush to the entire camera, paying particular attention to crevices where sand particles may have lodged. And wipe down exterior surfaces with a damp cloth to remove residual salt from any spray that landed and dried. And fog the lens front optics with your breath and wipe gently with a cotton ball.

Rokkit blow off any sand or debris after checking any seals (like the battery door, memory door, etc).

Done.

If you're paranoid about the lens, dab it with soapy distilled water with cotton pads/balls and dab dry. But really you shouldn't have to worry about it unless you took salt spray directly and can see obvious dried spots.

Very best,

Thank you. I then used my old G11 for the rest of the day which has fewer areas of concern.

MalVeauX wrote in post #19221170
But really you shouldn't have to worry about it unless you took salt spray directly and can see obvious dried spots.

MalVeaux, I have been in salt water environments considerably. One does NOT need to get 'salt water' on it per se, one merely has to be in a marine environment and the air will carry mist which deposits on surfaces even though hundreds of feet away from the water. My parents' friends built a house near the beach, and ornamental metal on the exterior of the house corroded simply being situated close to the salt water.
'

Wilt wrote in post #19221180
MalVeaux, I have been in salt water environments considerably. One does NOT need to get 'salt water' on it per se, one merely has to be in a marine environment and the air will carry mist which deposits on surfaces even though hundreds of feet away from the water. My parents' friends built a house near the beach, and ornamental metal on the exterior of the house corroded simply being situated close to the salt water.

Sure, but a few minutes of exposure is different from a few years of exposure. I too have had cameras out on salt water beaches and don't even think about desalting unless some spatters seemed to have landed on the gear.

Wilt wrote in post #19221180
MalVeaux, I have been in salt water environments considerably. One does NOT need to get 'salt water' on it per se, one merely has to be in a marine environment and the air will carry mist which deposits on surfaces even though hundreds of feet away from the water. My parents' friends built a house near the beach, and ornamental metal on the exterior of the house corroded simply being situated close to the salt water.
'

Oh come on @Wilt,

Ornamental metal will corrode/rust in normal conditions with any humid. It's not necessary to be at a beach for this. This is not a good example. The rate at which it occurs is what is more important to mention. And that example (the metal on a house) is not a camera body nor camera lens with coatings. Yes, salt is bad, it accelerates problems. But you're exploding a few minutes into a lifetime with two completely different situations to the point of it being silly.

But let's keep this in perspective and not blow this up into a camera being out near the beach for a few minutes and then put away in the same category as an exterior metal ornament on a house that is exposed 24/7 forever. If the camera didn't take a dunk or get direct spray, in minutes, it's going to be fine. A little dabbing to remove any salt from the lens coatings is all it takes. And even then, that's not significant exposure to the salty air, let alone salty spray. Again, keep perspective. All the beach photographers and wildlife photographers and landscape photographers over the century that have been doing this at the beach were not babying their gear, they used it, cleaned up at the end of the day, and the coatings are fine and the gear is fine.

Don't scare people into thinking their equipment is going to fail from using it at the beach.

But while we're trading anecdotal experiences, I live in salt water with cameras. It's not a problem. None of them have lost coatings or died from it. Just don't dunk them in the salt water. And gently clean the lens with distilled soapy water via dabbing (no rubbing, no using of lens wipes, etc) is all it takes to keep them happy for decades or more without issue.

@TrackerXX: enjoy your good camera at the beach, don't hide it worrying about your camera. When you're old, you'll regret not having enjoyed things more without worry. Just be sensible, clean up after the day is over. That's all there is to it.

Go live life guys. Cameras are tools. If the following would make you nervous, you need to relax and go live life and not fret that your camera or lens is going to have failure from a few minutes exposure to air near a beach. Yes, we can acknowledge it's not good to have constant exposure to salt left on your lens coatings. Clean it off at the end of the day and you're good. This is not landing things on Mars. Basic, daily, maintenance.

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MalVeaux, the photos you posted illustrate well the different in context from which both of our positions are made. Yours is a nice calm, almost lake like setting with salt water. My experience is based upon a lifetime where the coast of the Pacific Ocean with its waves striking rocks and spray are incessant. Let us agree that what each postion reflects is a continuum of salt water environments, and in yours one be less enthusiastic about care and get away with it, and along the ocean coast is the other extreme which inherently needs a bit more care, even if only for a few minutes exposure.

Wilt wrote in post #19221190
MalVeaux, the photos you posted illustrate well the different in context from which both of out positions are made. Yours a a nice calm, almost lake like setting with salt water. My experience is based upon a lifetime where the coast of the Pacific Ocean with its waves and spray are incessant. Let us agree that what each postion reflects is a continuum of salt water environments, and in yours one be less enthusiastic about care and get away with it, and along the ocean coast is the other extreme.

No, let's not agree.

You are now saying that my environment, standing in the Gulf of Mexico flats with cameras in use out on a kayak with plenty of splashes and spray, is a calm environment and some how less problematic than your environment on the shore near the Pacific with just minutes of exposure. And this is after you just wrote that just being near the salty air is bad enough, scaring people reading this into thinking they're in trouble for using their camera near the beach.

I don't get away with it. I clean my stuff at the end of the day. It's super simple. Purposeful. Your statement suggests to me that you're implying its just luck, which it is not. You're blowing this so far out of perspective and was needless in this thread with context of simply using a camera for a few minutes near a beach, any beach on the planet, windy with spray or not. Anyone with a camera out on the beach are not going to destroy their equipment using it there for minutes or hours even. And it's not luck, they don't get away with it, they don't have to be enthusiastic about care of their equipment other than not dropping it in the water or taking huge splashes. They just have to blow off the sand and clean the lens element after the day is done.

Very best,

I won't continue the debate...I merely was makinng the point that in a very calm setting one can get away will less care, than if one is in a setting with perpetual wave and spray creation by salt water hitting rocks incessently.

Statement of fact:

• On one side of the peninsula where I live I have perpetual wave action, including the monster waves of the Mavericks giant surf contest,
  
• on the other side of the same peninsula it looks like your photos.

This is an excellent post. Thank you.

Wilt wrote in post #19221202
I won't continue the debate...I merely was makinng the point that in a very calm setting one can get away will less care, than if one is in a setting with perpetual wave and spray creation by salt water hitting rocks incessently.

Statement of fact:

• On one side of the peninsula where I live I have perpetual wave action, including the monster waves of the Mavericks giant surf contest,
  
• on the other side of the same peninsula it looks like your photos.

No backpedal, merely a recognition that conditions do vary, and the care varies with the condition.

You just described, with your two statements of fact per you, environments where it's common to photograph surfing and other sports, activities, birds, people, weddings, celebrations, etc, by professionals and amateurs with humble to top shelf flagship gear, and they do not stop every few minutes (again, per you, a few minutes in your Pacific environment is apparently enough to be problematic, again, per you) to clean the salt and/or droplets off their 600 F4L, 400 F2.8L or whatever big costly lenses (or equivalent from any brand) let alone inexpensive kit zooms or lower cost primes. The practice contradicts the information you started with. These people simply clean the lens at the end of the day and it's done. No enthusiastic care necessary. No worry. And they post on this forum the results. No need to scare people into thinking they have to baby these things near a beach for a few minutes.

+++++++++++++++

Anyone reading and worried about using cameras and lenses at the beach, it's understood and reasonable to assume to not do anything catastrophic to your equipment, like throw it in the salt water, or have it heavily exposed for a few days and then put it in storage for a few months without cleaning it. But please do not think you have to cradle and baby your equipment, it's equipment, use it, enjoy it, and simply clean it at the end of the session/day. It's that simple.

Here's a great 8 year thread on the subject of photographing in the Pacific beach air and incessant spray with multi-thousand-dollar equipment for fun and professionally and is a great place to get the best advice from people who live that life:

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1227663

Very best,

I was at a breezy beach on the Pacific Ocean. I wanted to test the focus of the R5 with my 50mm lens for just a few shots in the morning light. After taking a few shots, I put the camera back in the bag, lens cap on. I never removed the lens. I then continued to take photos with my G11 and my phone.

I hope you both agree to using a blower and wiping down exterior surfaces with distilled water is sufficient.

I appreciate both opinions because it’s obvious both of you have done this before.

Trackerxx wrote in post #19221213
I was at a breezy beach on the Pacific Ocean. I wanted to test the focus of the R5 with my 50mm lens for just a few shots in the morning light. After taking a few shots, I put the camera back in the bag, lens cap on. I never removed the lens. I then continued to take photos with my G11 and my phone.

normal using a blower and wiping down exterior surfaces with distilled water is sufficient.

Heya,

Indeed, a blower to remove gross debris and sand is the first thing. Don't touch your lens until after the session. Even if there's a droplet or sand on the lens face, it will not be in the image, it's in an area that is out of focus (something close to your sensor will show up in the photo, but you didn't open the body, so this is unlikely). At the end of a session, blow off gross debris and use a cotton ball or pad, something absorptive with distilled water (ideal; the reason is so you don't use tap water with electrolytes, ie, salt and other metals that are reactive and charged, which will evaporate and leave those behind on the lens coating). You dab it to put the debris (salt, etc) into solution. Then dab it with a dry one to absorb it and remove it with the water. Air dry. That's all you have to do at the end of a session/day. On a really bad long day, soapy distilled water. Dab off with clean distilled water. Dab dry then finish air dry. It's that simple!

Enjoy your camera(s) and time at the beach or any water or any area frankly! You can't get that time back! Clean up at the end of the day.

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Just to add -

A bit of dried salt on gear does not present a corrosion hazard immediately. That's because solids don't react. I would still remove bits of salt, because it could turn liquid in humid conditions, as happens regularly outdoors. As a reference for this information, I quote Aristotle (not a POTN member): Corpora non agunt nisi fluida seu soluta = Compounds do not react unless fluid or dissolved.