Source Image that has been adapted & remixed is by flickr user jeff_golden
Cameras find themselves in pretty precarious places and environments, which makes sense given that so do us humans that control them. Heck, we send camera’s before almost anything else when exploring the earth and beyond. It truly is one of our greatest exploratory and record keeping devices ever conceived. But going everywhere we go and beyond have its consequences, like us they get dirty. Let’s take a look at what it takes to clean a camera…
It isn’t as easy as doing the dishes or washing your car. Even when cameras were completely mechanical cleaning them had to be done carefully. First thing you’ll want to do is get a role of paper towels, a box of cotton swabs, a soft bristle brush, a blower and some microfiber cloths. Nowadays it is easy to get overwhelmed with all the different cleaning materials on the market. It can be a bit scary too because, as we all know, liquids damage electronics. So what liquids should you use to clean cameras and lenses? Don’t waste your money on expensive cleaners. The answer is pretty simple actually. Glass and hard surface cleaners are best for the exterior of cameras and lenses. You know the stuff; it’s usually blue and comes in a spray bottle. And as for the lenses glass elements and the camera’s LCD, regular old rubbing alcohol is best to use because it will not to leave any residue. You may run into someone telling you a substance called acetone is the best for cleaning your equipment. Unfortunately it is a bit overkill for this kind of thing and will damage your gear. It is so powerful that if you don’t know what you are doing it will “eat†up the plastic on your unit.
Start off with the brush and blower to clean off all the debris, sand dust and dirt. As mentioned before, liquids can easily damage camera equipment. If that surface cleaner gets inside your cameras electronics it can do as much damage as water; if you get it into your lens it can damage its electronic components as well as dry on one of your internal lens elements. Luckily it is not difficult at all to prevent this from happening. First and foremost, use the substances sparingly. All you need is a small amount to get the job done. A paper towel slightly dampened is perfect for the broad strokes of the exterior surfaces of both the camera and lens. Cotton swabs with a bit of the cleaning liquid is what we have found works best for getting the details, nooks and crannies. Use your microfiber cloth with the rubbing alcohol on the glass surfaces and LCD screens.
Just add a little time and effort and that is pretty much all it takes to clean the exterior of your camera. As for cleaning anything inside your camera and lens, well, that is a much more complicated task because it requires disassembly. However, there are other things you may be tempted to clean that don’t require taking anything apart but still can be a bit daunting. Those include sensor cleaning (DSLR’s only), battery compartment and the memory card slot(s). There are sensor cleaning kits available but this is a little more risky in that you can easily destroy your sensor rendering your camera useless. Battery compartments and memory card slots are not as fragile but can be damaged with too much liquid or too much force; it’s best just to blow them out with canned air. If you have a compact flash memory card slot it is highly discouraged you do anything other than blow it out with air because of how delicate the pins are.
Hope this was of some help to you. Just be careful and remember nothing beats an experienced professional.