Handling & storing camera & lens

[misou_ho]

<p>Hello all, I have a newbie question. What is the proper way to handle the camera with a heavy lens attached (D7000 + 24-70mm)? I have a non standard neck strap but I feel unsafe letting the camera dangle in front of me when I'm out and about (of course while taking care not to bump it against anything). I heard that the D7000 body is durable enough but I'm worried about the lens, especially when I set it down on my desk, say, and the camera body sits so much higher than the lens (I use a batter grip too). <br>

What about storage? Should I take the lens off the camera before putting in a bag? Is there a bad way to handle/store your gears? Thank you for your expert advice.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Obviously, big and heavy lenses are easy to bump into things, but how will it really be safer for balancing it precariously while taking it off and putting it on the body? Each time you do so, there is a small possibility of dropping something.<br /> Just treat the whole ensemble carefully. Both the lens mount on the lens and on the camera body should be strong enough unless you attempt to use it as a blunt instrument in self-defense.</p>

<p>Also, every time you take off and put on a lens, the chances of getting particles into the camera and onto the sensor are increased.</p>

<p>There are special harnesses made to reduce the 'dangle' factor, but they have always been a little too pricey for me for the benefit. Some people carry the camera with the strap around the neck and arm, and the camera under the arm for protection.</p>

<p>If you do take off the lens, be sure to use a body cap and a rear lens cap to protect both from physical intrusion and dirt..</p>

<p>Longer term storage is another whole problem and involves things like taking out the battery, etc.</p>

[Andrew Garrard]

<p>Hi Misou. I wouldn't be too worried - there's a big lump of metal holding the lens onto the camera across a wide area. For what it's worth, I tend to support the lens and camera as I walk around, but that's mostly to stop it swinging and clouting me (or smashing on something). I believe the lenses for which it's actually an issue to try to support them from the camera tend to say so in their instructions (my 200 f/2 certainly does), but bear in mind that lenses like the original 80-200 f/2.8 didn't come with a tripod mount, and presumably expected to be cantilevered off the lens mount connection - although I admit I don't tend to risk it with mine. I'd not be too scared about a 24-70, although I'd certainly hold the camera supporting the lens when shooting, so as to keep it steady. If you're using a lens that comes with a tripod mount, you can probably think about holding the camera by the lens rather than the reverse (I do with my 150-500 Sigma; my 200 f/2 has its own straps) but unless you hit something with it, you're probably not going to put enough force on a short lens to cause the mount problems just by letting it dangle. I don't own a 24-70, but I've never worried about my 14-24, and that's not much smaller.<br />

<br />

I sometimes put one arm through the strap, but since I'm usually holding the camera when I'm moving about it doesn't make that much difference - if I'm going a distance, I usually have the camera in a top-loader bag anyway - I get a little nervous that the camera strap, which is only held on by friction, might eventually work loose if I don't support the camera, but I know I'm only being paranoid and I'm not too scared to let it hang most of the time. If you carry two cameras, one under each arm, there's probably a knack for not cutting off the blood supply to your brain that I've yet to discover.<br />

<br />

As for the desk, so long as you put it down gently, I'm sure you'll be fine. The 24-70 is designed to be used by journalists who come close to throwing the camera over their shoulder like a chewed drumstick when they're done. Just don't put the lens down on the end that fits in the camera without putting a cap on it first, or put a fish-eye with protruding glass down on the glass end.<br />

<br />

I agree with JDM (who got his response in while I was typing) - taking the lens off is far more likely to get dust and fluff in your system, or make you drop the lens, than protect anything. My D700 lives with my 28-200 attached (unless I've not swapped lenses since the last use), and I put bigger lenses on when needed. The only time I use the body cap - which doesn't lock on the camera properly, apart from anything else - is when I'm shipping the camera to Nikon for a sensor clean. Canon redesigned their body caps at one point to stop them shedding so much stuff into the mirror box; I don't know if Nikon did the same, but I wouldn't expect it to be perfect.</p>

[DELETE THIS ACCOUNT]

<p>I don't think the OP's fear is overblown - My wife killed a decent and somewhat heavy Nikon zoom; she had a standard strap on the camera, dangling around her neck. Her sin was to lean forward to reach something from a child in a classroom - the lens swung forward and clunked into a student desk. Mashed the front end of the lens and was un-repairable.</p>

<p>While on holidays this summer I was relating that tale as a caution to one of my kids carrying an SLR the same way; we were climbing a lighthouse - steep steps, and a ladder at the top - and I could see in my mind the camera swinging forward. Sure enough even after providing the heads up to my son, the SLR started to swing into a metal ladder but a warning cry probably saved another lens.</p>

<p>Then again neither my wife nor my kids are experienced photographers or that cautious about pricey electronic things hanging from their necks. Before I switched off of neck straps, I'd never had the experience they had... and I used to do an awful lot of mountaineering photography when I was younger.</p>

<p>These days I prefer sling straps for light and heavy cameras. The camera stays on my side whether I bend or not, and it's more comfortable to carry there. I do think it is a safer strap than a standard neck strap, and I can tuck the camera around my back or in behind an arm and be a little more discrete when I want to be.</p>

<p>While some caution is prudent, these cameras are built to take some abuse so don't be overly protective unless a damaged component would stop your budding photographic adventure in its tracks. While some of my lenses have a protective filter on the end, even those that don't have never seen a scratch on the lens and that includes my Contax film camera I've owned since 1979 and still it captures great images. Somehow all the scratches and dents of thirty years of use have ended up on the camera and lens body, not on the front lens element itself, which is just fine with me. </p>

<p>Likewise I don't put a cap on my 35mm and digital cameras; in the bag they are capless and attached to the body(s), ready to use immediately. Caps just get lost; or time is lost fumbling with caps. I will admit to being a little more cautious with my medium format Schneider lenses, but that is also largely because the photography I do in that format is far more deliberative / slower paced.</p>

<p>Beware of sand, and cameras dangling from your neck. Both have caused me problems in the past! Cheers, Mike</p>

[Andrew Garrard]

<p>Mike: Yes, actually letting the lens hit something is very different from the question of whether it will spontaneously snap off the camera just as a result of being waved around (although I wouldn't like to trampoline with my 80-200). Being as careful as you would expect for a big lump of glass in a sturdy plastic and metal tube is probably good enough advice.<br />

<br />

I do leave the caps on, but possibly because my camera bag isn't spotless (and I'd certainly keep filters on the lenses if I had them capless, just in case). If there's a deep hood on the lens, that helps. That's at the front end, of course - the camera end I'd always cap, because things like the aperture lever can snap off, and things can fall in the back of the lens - and the back is often more exposed. Then again, I store detachable lens hoods reversed on the lens in a manner that some would disparage; I reverse them before shooting if I have time, but not always if I'm not somewhere where flare is especially likely (why can't everything have an integrated hood?) If I had a bigger bag, I might do differently, but since I have too much camera kit this is something I have to suffer.<br />

<br />

Disclaimer: My advice isn't "expert", but I've not broken anything yet.</p>

[DELETE THIS ACCOUNT]

<p><em>(why can't everything have an integrated hood?)</em></p>

<p>Amen! And I also reverse hoods and slip them over the lens for storage, where possible. If one doesn't *need* a filter, a hood would be a much better tool to help reduce the possibility of front element damage because you get flare control and better images as a bonus.</p>

<p>What I had meant to impart to Misou is that it is natural to fear damaging your first really nice camera and lens, like a fretting parent with a first child, I suspect most will always be more protective of their first fine camera.</p>

<p>I felt that way about my Contax 139 when I bought it... mostly because it cost much more than other decent cameras I had bought previously. Yet after a few years of lugging it up one mountain after another, in all seasons, I started to relax. That camera still functions perfectly after 32 years. Sure, it looks like hell - although that is more to do with the poor quality leatherette Contax put on it, which I'm just about to replace - but it still does what I need it to do.</p>

[peter_simpson1]

<p>+1 for Michael Watkins' suggestion of strap over shoulder, camera under arm. I only have it around my neck when actively shooting. A hood is a mixed blessing...adds to the length of the lens, so makes it more ungainly to carry, but protrudes to keep the front of the lens safer.</p>

[misou_ho]

<p>I think Michael is right about treating this like your child :-P and I hope I will be able to relax soon and worry about taking good pictures instead. <br>

Honestly, I'm not too worried about accidents (hey, that's why they're called "accidents", right?) but more about handling the camera properly. I wouldn't want the lens' inner mechanics coming apart because I didn't hold it correctly. :-) <br>

Thanks all for your responses!</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Obviously, if you do the neck AND arm loop, you need to adjust the strap to be a little longer so you can easily swing it around and up to your eyes.</p>

<p>I use the OP/TECH and Tamrac soft neoprene straps, and they are much more comfortable than the ones supplied by Canikon and a great deal less likely to slip off the shoulder if you carry the rig with only the arm through the loop.</p>

<p>Plus you look less like a 'fanboy' if you're not wearing somebody else's name all over you, or you would anyhow if OP/TECH and Tamrac didn't plaster their names all over you. ;)</p>

[mariosforsos]

<p>There are, I believe, two issues the OP is worried about: the first is the proper way to handle the camera while on the streets and the second is short- or long-term storage. Personally I believe that both concerns, while valid, should not be inflated into something they are not.</p>

<p>First of all, carrying ANYTHING carelessly (and yes, that definitely includes hanging the strap around your neck) is bound to cause problems eventually, so normal care should aleviate most, if not all, chances for accidental damage. Even if you remove the variable "neck strain" from the equation, carrying a heavy camera-and-lens combination from your neck, however strong you may believe it may be, is inviting trouble, and not only for the reasons mentioned in Michael W's "swinging" answer...;-) Getting a sling strap (from the many that now exist in the market) solves pretty much 90% of your problems. I have one for each of my D3s and they work wonderfully under even the most strenuous conditions.</p>

<p>Second, there is a reason professional photographers will almost always suggest you keep the lens hood ON the camera even when there is no sun around and that is, surprise-surprise, to protect your lens (and, most importantly, that very sensitive front element and filter threads) against any bumps and scrapes which it may suffer during normal use. The edges of both my 24-70 and my 70-200 hoods look like they's been through a battle in Khandahar, but the front of the lens still looks as it may have come out of the factory yesterday. After all, it's cheaper for me to order a new hood for around 50-70 euros rather than pay for a repair or even replacement of the lens or parts of it!</p>

<p>As for storage, as long as you do not put extreme strain on the connection between the two, you should be okay. Personally, whenever I know I'm not going to use my cameras for more than 1 month (VERY rare occurence), I disconnect the lenses, clean them thoroughly and pack them in my Peli with bags of silica gel. Then, when I'm about to reuse them, I clean them once more, assemble and I'm done.</p>

<p>Important point to follow: ALWAYS store your camera with the sensor pointing DOWNWARDS! Even when not is use, minute particles of dust WILL always float around inside the camera and lens and, storing the camera with the sensor pointing upwards is simply inviting them to go and settle in the area with the most static. And once they are there for a week or so, removing them becomes that much more difficult.</p>

<p>However, even despite all the above, accidents do happen and that is why we have insurance...;-)</p>