Friday 10 May 2013

Storing your Equipments

Storing Your Camera/Equipments

The Camera and other valuable equipments should be stored in enclosed areas such as the camera bag or the digicabinet thus preventing moisture, dust and grime from damaging them. Placing Packets of silica gel around the stored equipment acts as a boon since the silica gel absorbs all the moisture and vapours thus protecting the valuable. The best part about silica gel is that it can be reused again and again by reactivating it at regular intervals by heating it in the oven. (More on that in the next ‘did you know’)











Storing Wires

One of the most useful part of equipments are the cords and wires that we take for granted, but they literally for the nervous system of our photography! Be it the power cords or the Pc chords etc. One should store them by winding them into overlapping circles of approximately equal diameter. The bigger the circle (in context of its ratio with the length of the wire), the better it is as it makes the wire bend lesser, thus reducing the chances of internal breakage & wear and tear.







Storing Batteries

The Batteries from the camera, speedlights and other equipments should be stored in seperate containers after the shoot, and should not be left in the equipment. This is because incase of a leak, the contacts in the battery slot and the internal parts of the batteries will stand protecte.






Storing light strobes

Some Photographers let their light strobes remain mounted on the light stands, with the modifiers attached, for convenience if they operate from their studio only. However, if your genre of work is such that you may need to move with your equipment often, dismount lights and modifiers often, then you need to be careful. Always wait for the strobes to cool down before starting to dismount. If you have assistance available then it is better as handling the equipment becomes easier. However if only 1 person has to dismount, then always place yourself behind the light before dismounting a modifier, as it’ll provide support to light against the direction of the force applied to dismount the modifier. Incase of a bigger sized modifier, dismount the light from the stand (the modifier yet attached) and take the help the the floor to dismantle the paraphernalia !

Storing Memory cards

Memory cards are highly delicate storage devices and hence they should be stored in waterproof/ dustproof containers available in the markets or you can create your own handy memory card container using empty filter boxes and foam!