Storing Gear- lenses, bodies, etc. How do you store yours?

[Southpaw]

Hi all,

Just wondering what the best practices for storing my gear- lenses, bodies, etc.

Do you keep your lenses in anything special? Where do you keep them when not in use? Do you do anything special with the bodies?

I know dust is not good for gear, so I'm wondering if there is any special way I should store things. I have been keeping caps on everything so far, but not sure if I should do anything else.

As an aside, I'm thinking of rigging up a custom bag- I have an old military surplus gas mask bag, and I want to add some padding and make compartments to keep a few lenses, and the body, and accessories. Mostly I want to do it for the fact that black nylon bores me, but the bag would be perfect for the camera and lenses I'm currently using.

Any tips?

[Mike Buckley]

I keep all but one lens in my camera bag. The other lens is in a separate bag that hangs on the outside of the camera bag. I keep my wife's camera and lens attached but they aren't stored in anything. I also don't store our backup camera in anything. All of the equipment is kept in an air-conditioned home, so there is no problem with excess humidity. I've been using the same storage for more than three decades and I've never experienced a problem.

[DanK]

At home, I just put them it in a cabinet. On really hot and humid days, we use air conditioning, so the gear is not kept in an extremely humid environment for protracted periods. This has worked fine. I've been storing equipment that way for decades. In the summer, I spend some time in an extremely humid environment. There, I do long-term storage in a Pelican case, with silica gel. Probably unnecessary.

[Gospelflier]

I don't have a lot of extra equipment (Yet), so I just keep everything in a nice camera backpack. I add silica packs to the camera bag for storage. When I am not using a lens, it is kept in the lens bag with front and rear caps on.

[Wayland]

Mine is kept in the bag, ready to go.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Shawn,

I suspect most peoples storage method will depend upon the atmosphere, space available and frequency of use.

Living close to the sea in what can be an extremely hot, humid, salty, dusty and bug infested environment I have opted to keep all my equipment in rectangular polythene food storage containers of different sizes with good sealed lids.

Lenses and camera are kept with caps on and inside Lowepro cases that have a silica gel bag in and then stored within their respective polythene containers.

Whenever I have used my camera and a lens that has been subjected to possibly seawater even if it had only been on my hands or more commonly sweat I wipe them over with a damp cloth on returning home and allow to naturally dry before storing away. One thing to beware of is when you put a dirty camera back in its case it will make the case dirty as well, clean the case also occasionally, something I learnt too late.

Another great thing about plastic/polythene storage boxes is organisation, a box for batteries and chargers, a box for filter systems, one for remotes, one for flash gear etc, etc.

Grahame

[Adrian]

I store almost everything in a large roller camera bag. Usually we chuck the whole lot in the back of a car and decant what we need into a smaller bag or rucksack as needed. Everything is insured fully.

[IzzieK]

Gears at home in their own shelves/cubes (similar to a CD storage), all labelled; cameras in my backpack with lens ready to use for the day. On hot summery days on event locations I have them in a cooler that has rollers so that it is easy to move from one place to the other. I changed the roller of the cooler to a more sturdier one than the original so I won't have problems lugging them around. Always clean my gears before storing them in shelves. Otherwise, my backpack is on top of my dining table reading to go.

Just a question, why do you ask?

[Mark von Kanel]

low pro runner 450aw and pellicase 1540, both afford mechanical and thermal protection, in the winter im very careful about allowing my gear to warm up too quickly, a friend had his sony trashed by condensation forming in the body

[csa mt]

Hi Shawn, I keep mine in an older LowePro "Polo" bag. This has served me very well, but I will have to get a larger one soon! It is a "dry" heat here, so I don't have humidity to worry about, so the bag does an excellent job for me!

[DanK]

One warning about silica gel--it hydrates (and becomes useless) quite quickly if you are in a very humid environment or if you put it in an unsealed container. For that reason, I use only silica gel containers that have a colorant to let you know when the material is hydrated. These can be dried out by heating them. I use Pelican's tins of silica gel, but there are other brands that are similar, I believe. I use them with a Pelican case because it is sealed. Simple plastic containers would serve the same purpose. If you don't put it in a sealed container, they won't have much effect, and they will hydrate very fast.

[Southpaw]

Gears at home in their own shelves/cubes (similar to a CD storage), all labelled; cameras in my backpack with lens ready to use for the day. On hot summery days on event locations I have them in a cooler that has rollers so that it is easy to move from one place to the other. I changed the roller of the cooler to a more sturdier one than the original so I won't have problems lugging them around. Always clean my gears before storing them in shelves. Otherwise, my backpack is on top of my dining table reading to go.

Just a question, why do you ask?

Because I don't want to ruin equipment by being negligent with it!

Sometimes you don't know what you don't know, so I thought it prudent to find out if there are any special care & handling for photographic equipment.

So far, looks like things are fairly durable, and don't need to be babied. I make it a point to not touch the glass on the lenses, and when I take the lens off, I point the body downwards, and put the lens on quickly, and replace caps on everything quickly as well.

Thanks to everyone so far for answering. Also, anyone that would like to add some photos of their bags, that would be cool! The photo Wayland posted was cool.

[Mark von Kanel]

Ahhh Shawn , now i understand what you want.

Its all quit basic really, keep end lens & body caps in place when not using, buy a good cleaning kit including rocket brush, fluid cloths and cotton buds and use it! some people use caned air i dont.

Dont drop your gear aviod changing lens's in unsheltered conditions.

keep your gear stored in a dry padded dust free envioroment

allow your gear to change temperature environment gradually where possible and dont change lens's soon after moving into a largely different temperature area give your camera time to temp equalise.

consider filters to protect your front element (ducking now)

use your hood when practical to do so

Dont take your lens's off or play with your settings when taking a shower.....

there will be many more bits of advice im sure!

Heres my bag for travel it air line friendly and not full to conform with hand luggage restrictions of 10kg (airlines are not always fussy about it)

[Wayland]

The shot I posted was taken to fill a space on my Photo-Expeditions website but it is the only one that shows the beaten up old fishing bag that I carry my gear in.

I like my kit to look low profile when I'm out and about.

Mark has most of the advice covered really. When I was working as a camera dealer many years ago the problems we used to see with old gear were the obvious dents and scratches, battery leakage and also mildew or fungus on the lenses.

This was caused in warm damp, humid storage conditions and would attack the coatings and sometimes even the balsam between the lens elements.

Although I don't tend to pamper my gear it's never happened to me under normal conditions. For that read "Stored in bags or cases in residential conditions in the UK." Some of my gear has been kept that way for thirty years or so and still works perfectly.

With older gear we used to recommend taking the batteries out to stop them leaking, that might still apply with flash units or other AA powered bits. Doesn't seem to be a problem with Lithium Ion cells though.

I'm with Mark on the protective filters. Mine have saved my lenses on a couple of occasions and providing I use a hood and good multi coated filters, very rarely cause IQ issues. (On the rare occasions I have problems I just take the filter off for a shot or two, Simple..)

[William W]

. . .Just wondering what the best practices for storing my gear- lenses, bodies, etc.

I store my gear in Camera Cabinets.

My Camera Cabinets are steel and well ventilated and are situated on inside wall of the building. I chuck silica gel packs as far away as possible. (see post #11) Head and tail caps on lenses that are not on a camera. I label the end caps for easy recognition. Batteries out of gear if that gear is going to be idle. I don’t leave any gear in any camera bag that is not going to be used in the next day or two. All camera bags left open, when not in use.

Coastal NSW has similar climate to southern California.

If I lived in Suva, I probably still wouldn’t consider silca gel packets, but rather stick a low wattage light globe at the bottom of the camera cabinet to ventilate a constant flow of warm dry air. That’s not in any way an argument against Grahame’s methodology: but just describing how I did it when working in Queensland. Though I do understand Suva is more humid and the humidity tends to hang low for awfully long periods. And I am confident that Grahame would regularly dry out his silica gel sachets.

WW

[William W]

I suspect most peoples storage method will depend upon the atmosphere, space available and frequency of use.

IMO, the criteria summarized in one.

WW

[JHzlwd]

Hi,

I live in a very dry rather dusty climate. I have a lot of gear. When it's not in use I keep it all in a part of our china cabinet with an opaque (wood, not glass) door which I have modified inside with seals against dust. There's a totally concealed magnetic lock and the door is labelled "Napkins, Towels, Placemats, Bowls". The objective is to throw any burglar off the scent. The shelves have some thin rubber padding. It's my contention repeatedly setting lenses and bodies down on a very hard surface repeatedly submits them to high "g" forces which might not be a good thing. An important advantage of this system is that my gear is very conveniently at hand on the main level of the house rather than being a level down or up. This encourages hauling appropriate items out for an impromptu photo session when something interesting shows up in the back yard, which often happens. In fact, I would recommend this as a priority. Whatever you decide on, make it something that isn't a nuisance to access or you might make excuses not to bother with a potential opportunity for some great pictures.

Best wishes,
JH