Taking care of your camera – Part 2

Never leave your camera’s batteries in your camera.  Here’s why.

Up until a few years ago, camera batteries used to leak acid when left unattended for longer timespans. Nowadays with new battery technology this is no longer a risk. Most camera batteries are either alkaline or lithium-ion. Leaving a battery inside your camera in a moist environment can prove detrimental as it tends to become corrosive. So, if you’re about to shelve your camera for several months; do yourself (and your camera) a favour and take out the battery.
Another measure you should consider is to check the battery contacts from time to time for corrosion. This can usually be rectified by carefully rubbing the contacts with a pencil eraser and afterwards cleaning thoroughly with alcohol wipes.

Theoretically batteries should only leak when used after being fully discharged.
With that in mind it might sound just dandy to store your discharged battery in your camera and then charge it when the need arises. While this is plausible in most cases, your camera might still be drawing small amounts of power from the battery. To be totally on the safe side it is best if you store your battery out of the camera instead.

Canned air – beware!

At your local camera shop, you will most probably come across fancy containers of canned air in the cleaning equipment section. My suggestion is to leave this on the shelf – right where it belongs.

Why, might you ask?
The first thing you need to know about canned air is that contrary to what is advertised, the contents are not actually air!
Canned air containers contain a lot of chemicals that should never be anywhere near a camera. Some manufacturers go as far as displaying warnings that the chemicals used may discolour plastics permanently. If that was not enough, they also allow dangerous vapours to escape with the air leaving marks on sensitive parts (such as the CMOS sensor), leading to long-term and costly damage.

Dirt can be very easily removed using a fine brush or a hand blower, reaching all the nooks and crannies in your camera safely.

We will delve further into this topic in my next blog post. Until then, happy snapping! ?