How Do You Store Your Lenses

Was changing lenses today on my 10D and the thought crossed my mind (not very far to cross) as to whether or not I'm storing my lenses properly in my camera bag. My bag only allows for vertical storage of lenses, and I was wondering--do most of you store your lenses with the front element up or down--or does it not really matter?
Probably doesn't matter, but hey, at least I'm not asking which is the best lens to buy.

You must store them with the front element downwards.

When in use all that light is streaming in to the front element, through the lens and then into the camera body.

This will eventually flood the lens so that the images just keep getting brighter and brighter to the point all you see is white.

Therefore, storing them front element downwards allows the residual light to drain out when not in use.





Actually, I store all mine back of lens downwards. This way I can see by the size of the lens cap which lens I'm pulling out. Looking at an EOS mount cap would make this difficult.

Cheers

Ian

iwatkins wrote:
You must store them with the front element downwards.

When in use all that light is streaming in to the front element, through the lens and then into the camera body.

This will eventually flood the lens so that the images just keep getting brighter and brighter to the point all you see is white.

Therefore, storing them front element downwards allows the residual light to drain out when not in use.

Thats amasing! Its like the cork in the electric current outlet! If I dont have the cork placed there over the night, all the current will make a puddle on the floor!



No, I store my lens in my backpack! Some horizontal some vertical. I think there should be not really a big difference. If you just keep them try and free of dust!

best regards
Peter

I asked the same question when I got my first "pricey" lens

Again,. the answer I got was it doesn't matter,.. on the other hand,. I will offer this;

I have seen lenses come with two types of purpose built cases. Both Horizontal hard cases and vertical hard or soft cases.

Where the vertical case is concerned,. all of them seem to be designed to store the lens with the front element down.

So,. if it does matter,. it would seem the manufacturers have designed there own cases to srore the lens front element down.

Sorry, this is a common misconception that cameras admit light to make an exposure. This is incorrect - actually, they emit darkness to a suitable degree that the exposure is correct.

That is why the vast majority of lens and body caps are black - to keep the darkness in


KRs
Chris

So You have been reading DiskWorld as well.

Obviously, the more (and deeper) darkness a camera can generate, the better the contrast possible in the final image. This is why really good camera bodies are BLACK. They are just so full of darkness it soaks right through the case.

Lenses, by contrast do NOT generate darkness, they simply channel the respective levels of lightness and darkness through themselves - that is why really good lenses are white.

Derek

I keep my lenses in my bag faced down. Not sure if it matters. I do keep one of thos moisture absorbent bag things in there as well. I don't know if it help, I am sure that it can't hurt...Dean

You should also be careful with your Compact Flash cards, because, like rolls of film, if you drop them you might knock the images out of focus

I start out storing mine front element down, mostly because when I am out and about and I change lenses on the run, I stow the removed lens just after it is removed from the body, and that is usually before I have removed the rear cap from the lens that is going on. Then I take the rear cap from the about-to-be-mounted lens and put it on the removed lens. But if it gets stored front up after both caps are installed, no big deal. I don't think the lens cares - it is probably just happy to have a good home.
Have Fun
Rick

I hoped someone would do the "its not light coming in it darkness getting out" thing. I've not heard that one for years and always makes me smile.

Yes, I had heard about knocking pictures out of focus if you drop a CF card. I'm always careful.

Of course, everyone knows the one about not using a DSLR to take a picture of something over your shoulder by shooting it in a mirror ? No ?

Well, turns out if you point a DSLR at a mirror to take a picture of yourself, well, that is fine, it works OK.

However, if you aim it at something over your shoulder in the image in the mirror the focusing system gets confused and the lens will implode as all the elements are moved to try and focus on something behind the lens/camera. It makes a terrible noise and the lens gets down to about half it's length (quarter on a USM lens) before you realise and remove your finger from the shutter release.

Be careful out there......

Cheers

Ian

iwatkins wrote:
I hoped someone would do the "its not light coming in it darkness getting out" thing. I've not heard that one for years and always makes me smile.

Yes, I had heard about knocking pictures out of focus if you drop a CF card. I'm always careful.

Of course, everyone knows the one about not using a DSLR to take a picture of something over your shoulder by shooting it in a mirror ? No ?

Well, turns out if you point a DSLR at a mirror to take a picture of yourself, well, that is fine, it works OK.

However, if you aim it at something over your shoulder in the image in the mirror the focusing system gets confused and the lens will implode as all the elements are moved to try and focus on something behind the lens/camera. It makes a terrible noise and the lens gets down to about half it's length (quarter on a USM lens) before you realise and remove your finger from the shutter release.

Be careful out there......

Cheers

Ian

This is no joking matter god damn it!

I lost a close freind this way

CyberDyneSystems wrote:I lost a close freind this way

I know how you feel. I can't find my car keys.

Tom

ROFL

At this point, I feel the need to add the old-timer aerial film line: To see under the clouds, just turn the film over. 8)

Back to the topic, the primary reason I store my lenses sunny side down is so I can change them out faster. When I grab them, I already have them ready to mount. I have placed some of my lenses horizontal, but usually when I otherwise run out of camera bag and that is the only way to get them to fit.

I know everyone has had great fun with this topic, but seriously, there is a right way and a wrong way to store lenses, and great harm can come to both the lens and the lens operator should some basic tenets of lens etiquette be ignored.

If you are using “L� glass, they of course must ALWAYS face left (what the hell to do you think “L� means, anyway). This is the main reason that backpack camera bags have become so popular with Canon owners, because you would have a hard time putting a backpack on in an inverted manner, with the sides reversed so that left was right, right?.

Sigma lenses on the other hand, can cause a quandary, since as everyone knows, the literal translation of the Greek word Sigma is “southbound� or more generally, “southward�. As you would imagine, these lenses must always be carried with the “Sigma� logo southward, or must be moving in a southward direction. Ignoring this requirement can result in your “f� stopping. The only way to get an “f� started once it is stopped is of course to “push� a few hundred units of ISO while gradually increasing shutter speed in half-step increments.

Some other lenses, such as Tokina and Tamron and a handful of other Asian manufactured wanna-be’s follow a more enlightened path, and allow you to select their orientation based on which side of the Pacific Ocean you happen to be on at the time. In the “West� or the Americas, they generally prefer to be oriented Eastward, so as to face the rising sun, but avoid the concentrated rays of the setting sun, which as everyone knows, lands somewhere in the ocean off the coast of California, resulting in some spectacular imaging opportunities for coastal dwellers, but damaging bursts of steam and gases that can harm un-sealed lenses.

Exceptions to this Eastward orientation are times of total eclipse, when of course it is mandatory that ALL lenses must be turned to the heavens, and days of total occlusion, when the fog precludes one from actually determining the direction of the setting sun.

When on the continents West of the Pacific, these lenses must maintain a Westward orientation, so as to avoid spilling out their stored enlightenment when the sun passes overhead and leaves them in a state of luminous discharge.

Some specialized lenses, in particular the fisheye and ultra-wide angle variety, may be stored facing nearly any direction, as their angle-of-view enables them to capture the necessary life-giving rays of light from extreme angles and in conditions that would leave lesser lenses starved for exposure.

Deviation from these basic lens orientation guidelines are at your own risk, and may result in potentially harmful situations. In one extreme case, a California boy stored ALL of his lenses facing DOWN under his bed, and was eventually vaporized when the cumulative vacuum created by the draining lenses sucked him into his camera bag as he slept.

I keep mine in the freezer. Termites hate the cold.

IP