jeffhiew said:
1. As a photographer whose rice bowl depends on his equipment, it's within our own beliefs that we should "know" and trust our equipment like how soldiers trust their weapons.I personally shoot with my body in all kinds of whether, with no forms of protection as i know its capabilities and limitations. Places have included the dusty winds of southern africa/inner mongolia (kena saboed.. hence that assignment) to the trip to base camp 3 of some mountain near Kathmandu (forgot name) with my son's siao siao uni's odac... The bodies i've used have all held up well. (touch wood) Main pt is that you really have to know your equipment, and most of all, trust it. There have been bodies that have died on me due to usage during extreme conditions, but thoses were mainly the digital ones, including the 2hs, and mk IIs.... Hence... up till today, i still insist on shooting film for non time-senstive events, or those requiring extended outfield coverage. Regarding bags, the equipmt dept within our company issues "ponchos" for cameras, but only for the class 1 equpt, which include the 2x, 1ds and dcn (kodak) line of bodies. Honestly... i find it cumbersome and too obvious to use a plastic baggy during events, but with digital bodies nowadays, i wouldn't treat my 1ds/2x like how i trashed my F3s and F4s 15-20 years ago.
2. Oil stain on lens element? depending on what kind of oil stain. If it's from your finger/organic body oil, i carry around a bottle of denatured alcohol/spirit and lens tissue. I normally blow any foreign objects away with a blower, use a biiiiit of the denatured alcohol with a cleaning cloth to wipe the oiled area, blow it again, use the lens tissue, and blow one final time. This really depends on ppl lor... and honestly, regardless of how smashed up my lenses are, the elements almost always stay clean with my filters stuck on 100% of the time. If it's other kinds of oil, (sae 40, industrial, cooking oil !!! etc etc) then.. er... :cry:
3. I've almost never changed my lenses outdoor, as i mostly use 2 bodies during coverages, even up till 3 bodies during impt events which require rapid shooting. (Dignitaries shaking hands, etc) But if u really HAVE to change it outdoors, dusty road, etc... and knowing how jiak lat it is to digital cameras when dust/sand/sai etc gets on the sensor, my colleagues carry around a changing dome / dark bag to change their lenses if they get caught within an extremely dusty area. I find this rather slow and useless as you'll still get dust into the changing area, but they claim it helps. Other methods include spraying mist around the area to "reduce" the dust droplets, and etc etc.. i've heard TONS of these methods, but to me, the best is still to avoid changing lenses along dusty areas, and if u have to, put your back against the wind (helps tremendously) and point your camera down at ALL times when changing lenses.
4. Fungus is like cancer imho. When you've got it, it'll be here to stay regardless of what you do. It mainly eats away at the coating within your lens element... and even if u're able to clean it away, it's like leaving your raw skin exposed to bacteria, and hence, fungus will eventually grow back. What nikon/canon used to do to the fungus infected lenses we shiped back to them 10 years ago, was to apply this reddish polish called "rouge" within the infected area. This destroys any living orgnic material, but also rids all coating from the element, and then recoat that element. Nowadays, they simply replace the element to my knowledge, but that normally costs a BOMB as they have to realign la, etc.... If u do spot fungus inside the lens now, just keep it as dry as possible.. but there's often a delicate balance between the levels that prohibit fungus infection, and that which dry up the internal lubricant of your lens... so beware. :think:
