Bringing your camera in a dusty enviroment?

[LasseMR]

Hi everyone

I've been out "urban exploring" a few times with some of my friends. Sometimes I come by some really interesting places but quite often they're also very grimy and the air is often very dusty. I really want to bring my DSLR, but I'm afraid the lens or camera will be ruined because of the dust.

I have a 1 megapixel-ish point-and-shoot, but it has no manual-mode so I don't think that would work at all.

Can anyone help me?

[jojonac]

I have my D700 out in Iraq with with me and there is dust everywhere out here. I always store my camera in its bag, and I try not to change lenses outside. I still have dust problems but nothing a handheld puffer cant take care of. I will be taking my camera to a professional cleaner when I get home though.

[LasseMR]

Thanks for the reply. I would really prefer not to have it cleaned, it's simply too expensive compared to the shots I would be able to take. But perhaps it wouldn't be nescessary either... I'm going to talk with my with a photofriend of mine about it, but it would be really nice if more people could share their expiriences.

[Doug Pardee]

Originally Posted by LasseMR

I really want to bring my DSLR, but I'm afraid the lens or camera will be ruined because of the dust.

John A. Shedd wrote, "A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."

At some point you have to ask yourself if your camera is just a prized possession or if it is a tool. Did you get it to protect and admire, or did you get it to take photos?

If your lens is a zoom lens and not weather-sealed like many pro lenses, you'll probably get dust in there. The dust won't show in your photographs. Your main concern would be keeping dust out of the zoom and focus rings so that they continue to move smoothly. A rocket blower can be pretty effective.

For the camera, cleaning sensor dust is part of life with a DSLR. Getting a significant amount of dust into the mirror chamber could be a problem if it gets on the joints for the moving parts. For that reason I wouldn't recommend regularly changing lenses in a really dusty environment. And again, you want to keep dust from getting into the controls.

One approach that some people use is to wrap a clear plastic bag around the camera that they can operate the controls through. Cut a hole for the end of the lens to stick out through. If you're good with craft-work, you might even make the cut-out so that a lens filter can be made to secure the bag to the front of the lens. You may want another hole for the viewfinder.

Another approach is to buy a weather-sealed camera and lens. Most of the pro-level DSLRs and lenses are weather-sealed.

I have a 1 megapixel-ish point-and-shoot, but it has no manual-mode so I don't think that would work at all.

If you can bring yourself to not worry about manual mode (which is pretty useless on most digicams due to minimal aperture range), you might consider a weather-sealed digicam. I bought the Olympus 1030SW as a "go anywhere under any conditions" adjunct to my DSLR. Used in good light with ISO 80 or 100, it produces pretty nice photos. With higher ISOs the photos get a bit noisy and (due to in-camera noise reduction) soft. But they're still better than no photo at all.

[richsuk]

Carrier bag, cut out a hole for the end of the lens and some elastic bands

[LasseMR]

Thanks for the advices all of you. I think I'm going to try the carrier bag method.

@ Doug Pardee: I agree, but then again it would be a terrible waste to ruin your camera for a few shots in one particular spot. I'm rather new to photography, so I don't know much about how cautious I should be with my camera. I tend to overdo it a bit, perhaps.