I have compiled this list from 20 years of being a full-time photographer, but also from many years of leading photo tours and teaching others. Some of these are absolutely imperative and can ruin your camera or images and others are precautionary tips to protect your gear. So without further ado, let's get right to the list.
DO NOT CHANGE LENSES WITH YOUR CAMERA UPSIDE DOWN!
If you have gone on a photo tour with me, you know that this is something I always caution people about on day 1. Any time I see someone changing a camera with the lens opening facing up I cringe. Doing this allows any dust in the air to fall into the camera and create nasty dust spots on your images. Do NOT do this! And do not leave your camera exposed (without a lens) for any prolonged period of time. Whenever I change lenses, I try to do so as quickly as I can and I never do this in a windy, dusty environment. (Note: I even used one of my older cameras to take this photo because I did not want to expose any of my current cameras to dust.)
If you have gone on a photo tour with me, you know that this is something I always caution people about on day 1. Any time I see someone changing a camera with the lens opening facing up I cringe. Doing this allows any dust in the air to fall into the camera and create nasty dust spots on your images. Do NOT do this! And do not leave your camera exposed (without a lens) for any prolonged period of time. Whenever I change lenses, I try to do so as quickly as I can and I never do this in a windy, dusty environment. (Note: I even used one of my older cameras to take this photo because I did not want to expose any of my current cameras to dust.)
DO NOT DELETE IMAGES IN YOUR CAMERA
I wrote a blog post about this way back in 2016 and it is one of my most read posts ever with almost 400k reads. Even though a lot has changed in 9 years, this tip still holds. I know many people who say "I delete images in my camera all the time and have not had a problem", but regardless, I never recommend doing this. It can cause corruption in your memory card and you can lose images. You can format the card in your camera, but don't delete individual images.
FORMAT MEMORY CARDS IN YOUR CAMERA AND NOT ON YOUR COMPUTER
It is a really good idea to format your memory cards whenever you are photographing a new event, but I always recommend doing this in your camera and not on your computer. The reason is this: your camera will format the card the way that it wants to, adding the appropriate data structure and folders. I even make sure to format my memory cards in the same camera model I am using it in. In other words, if I am using a CFexpress card in my Canon R1, I format it in that camera. If I use that same card in my Canon R5 Mark II, I format the card in that camera.
DO NOT USE YOUR CAMERAS BATTERY UNTIL THEY ARE COMPLETELY DRAINED
When I see that my battery indicator is blinking red, I almost always change batteries at that time. Will I push that a little bit? Sure. But I never shoot until the battery is dead. The reason that this is bad is because if you take a photo and the camera is in the middle of writing that image to your memory card when the battery dies, it can cause you to lose ALL of your images. I also do not fill my memory cards completely for the same reason. I don't want the camera to be writing part of the image and then the card fills. The newer cameras are basically computers as much as image capturing devices, but I don't want to leave anything to chance.
DON'T LET THE CAMERA DETERMINE YOUR FOCUS POINT
Many of the newer mirrorless camera have subject and face detection, but for any camera that does not, you want to determine where the focus is, and not leave that up to the camera. I can not tell you how many times I have helped a new camera owner with their settings and see this left as a default. Most consumer cameras (especially DSLRs) ship with all the focus points turned on, and defaulted to auto select. This means that when a novice picture taker hits the shutter button, the camera tries to determine the subject and what should be in focus. I really hate this! If you are using one of the older cameras, or if your camera randomly picks a focal point, I really encourage you to learn how to manually select that point. You will thank me for that at some point.
DO NOT LEAVE THE "RELEASE SHUTTER WITHOUT CARD" ON!
This is one of my biggest pet peeves and, for the life of me, I do not understand why the camera companies set this as a default. Why would you ever want to use your camera without a memory card??? As soon as you get your camera back in your hands, make sure this is turned off. I know several people who have gone out and photographed something like their kid's soccer game (Mike - you know who you are) to later find that they had no card in the camera and they have not one photo of the game. I have heard that the camera companies default this on so that the resellers can demonstrate the cameras without a card, but I do not like the fact that the reseller is prioritized over the user.
PUT YOUR LENS HOOD ON THE RIGHT WAY!
For all of you who have gone on photo tours with me, you have heard me push this point many times. Sure, the lens hoods ships to you in the reverse position (as seen above) because they fit better in the box, but that does not mean that you should leave them this way. Turn them around! Why? There are three reasons that you want your lens hood turned around:
1. It is good protection for the front element of your lens. If you drop your camera or bang the lens against something, you would much rather scratch or break a lens hood than break the lens.
2. The hood helps protect light from hitting the front element of your lens, which can ruin your photos (unless you are looking for that effect).
3. It is much easier to zoom or refocus a lens with the hood not in the way.
DO NOT THROW YOUR CAMERA INTO AN UNPROTECTED BACKPACK
You cameras and lenses are built to last but that does not mean that they like to be banged around. I always cringe when someone shows up to one of my photos tours with their camera equipment in a standard backpack with no separators. I use the ThinkTank bags for my camera gear and never put them in a situation where one piece of equipment might bang into another.
AVOID SALT WATER
This is one tip that I have added mainly because I have broken this rule more than once and paid the price for it. When photographing the image that you see above, I was on the front of a small boat in the ocean off the coast of Mexico. I was working hard to get this shot, but myself and my camera were getting drenched from the waves crashing against the front of the boat. A month later that camera was in for repair at Canon Professional Services and the body was corroded. It was an expensive mistake on my part. I highly recommend using a protective device over the camera or staying away from salt water altogether. Note: I have found that fresh water is much less of a hazard and I rarely ever use rain covers when shooting in the rain forest.
DON'T USE THE CAMERA STRAPS THAT COME WITH YOUR CAMERA
When I get a new camera, the camera strap stays in the box. I don't even bother to take it out. Spending more than 20 years of my life with a camera on my body, I have come to loathe any neck strap. I never recommend using the camera company straps because of the strain that it puts on your neck. I use the BlackRapid straps because they are well made, but mostly importantly they go across my body which is WAY more comfortable.
I hope that these tips help you in the future!
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• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!
• You can now purchase Jeff Cable Photography images from my new fine art site at: https://fineart.jeffcable.com/
• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Costa Rica, Peru, Galapagos, Alaska and more.
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This is one tip that I have added mainly because I have broken this rule more than once and paid the price for it. When photographing the image that you see above, I was on the front of a small boat in the ocean off the coast of Mexico. I was working hard to get this shot, but myself and my camera were getting drenched from the waves crashing against the front of the boat. A month later that camera was in for repair at Canon Professional Services and the body was corroded. It was an expensive mistake on my part. I highly recommend using a protective device over the camera or staying away from salt water altogether. Note: I have found that fresh water is much less of a hazard and I rarely ever use rain covers when shooting in the rain forest.
DON'T USE THE CAMERA STRAPS THAT COME WITH YOUR CAMERA
When I get a new camera, the camera strap stays in the box. I don't even bother to take it out. Spending more than 20 years of my life with a camera on my body, I have come to loathe any neck strap. I never recommend using the camera company straps because of the strain that it puts on your neck. I use the BlackRapid straps because they are well made, but mostly importantly they go across my body which is WAY more comfortable.
I hope that these tips help you in the future!
__________________________________________________________
• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!
• You can now purchase Jeff Cable Photography images from my new fine art site at: https://fineart.jeffcable.com/
• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Costa Rica, Peru, Galapagos, Alaska and more.
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