Protecting Your Camera At The Beach!

The beach is a harsh environment - salt, sand, wind, water, sunscreen, all of these can cause damage to your camera. Should you leave your camera at home? Absolutely NOT! This is a great place to capture some fantastic landscape images as well as documenting a fun family outing. Just be smart and know how to protect your gear!

1. Have a camera bag with zippers and cover it with a clean blanket or towel to protect your gear from those tiny grains of sand - they get into everything!

2. Use a filter - a UV filter is an inexpensive way to protect your lens from scratches and other elements. They have served me well over the years. I have cracked a few filters vs. damaging my lens.

3. Wash your hands to remove sand and sunscreen.

4. Limit lens changes at the beach. Opening up your camera body allows for the sand and moisture to contact your sensor. If you need to change a lens, make sure your gear is well protected from the elements and do it under cover of a clean blanket, towel or a plastic bag. Have everything you need ready and make sure the change is quick. If the wind is really whipping the sand around I would caution against changing the lens.

5. You should always make it a habit to keep the camera strap around your neck whenever you are using your camera, at the beach it is a must! You do not want to accidentally drop your camera into the sand or water.

Hope you found some of these tips helpful!