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Changing lenses in the field..how do you do it?

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Lens changes are inevitable, as any photographer know. Like many, I used to worry about dust but decided in my best interest to know how to clean it instead of being bothered by it. These days, I change lens whenever I need to except at the beach. Getting salt into the chambers would be bad news.

--
Jan Shim
Pro Events Photography
http://www.janshim.com
 
Why worry about dust on the sensor when a 5 minute cleaning job will remove it. Same reason I do not use Skylight/UV filters on my lenses - life is too short to worry about such things.

Worrying about dust and dirt will see you never taking your camera anywhere interesting and missing lots of good opportunites.
 
Matthew Field said:
Why worry about dust on the sensor when a 5 minute cleaning job
will remove it. Same reason I do not use Skylight/UV filters on my
lenses - life is too short to worry about such things.

Worrying about dust and dirt will see you never taking your camera
anywhere interesting and missing lots of good opportunites.
Click to expand...
You have such a positive out look on life...what the hell is wrong with you!

Jay W.
 
1) I remove the lens on my camera and depending on whether I am in a rush or not, I might not replace the front lens cap first.
2) Toss (err... place the lens gently) the lens into my camera bag.
3) Remove rear lens cap from the second lens and twist it onto the first.
4) Take second lens out of the bag and mount it on my camera.

Err.... why am I even writing this? Just change the lens any method you like as long as you don't drop either lens, your camera body, your flash or yourself onto mud or something you should be fine. :P

--
***********************************
Black is a color and so is white... :P
  • Steven Leong '05
***********************************
http://www.light-mttrs.com
 
Jan_Shim said:
Lens changes are inevitable, as any photographer know. Like many, I
used to worry about dust but decided in my best interest to know
how to clean it instead of being bothered by it. These days, I
change lens whenever I need to except at the beach. Getting salt
into the chambers would be bad news.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. I sometimes shoot at the beach and in those cases I change lenses in the car.

Other than that, I've changed them while walking down the street, camera still on or anywhere else for that matter. Keep the camera pointed down, pop off the current lens and drop it into my camera bag, grab new lens, pull of rear cap and place it on the lens I just took off, and slap the new lens on the cam. Done :)

Amy
--

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.



http://www.nyphotos.net ~ http://www.something-fishy.com/photography
 
I have the camera around my neck mostly supported by the strap. I take the new lens in my left hand with cap off (after a short blow to get any dust from the end of the lens) and hold the old lens on the camera in my right hand. I bend forward to get the camera tipping forward and hold the new lens beside the old. I press the lens release button and rotate the old lens. I slide the old lens downwards to the right and slide the new lens into place. I insert and rotate the new lens, put a cap on the old lens and I'm done.

This minimizes the time the camera is open and the "slide" motions minimize air currents that might waft dust into the camera. Tipping forward helps keep dust from falling into the camera. If I can not avoid changing lenses in a breeze, I put my back to the wind to minimize dust where I am changing the lens. The camera is also stored in my bag lens down so dust is less likely to settle on the sensor. I change lenses frequently and don't tend to have a significant dust problem.

Incidentally, you can easily check for most dust in the field by taking a high exposure, f/22 shot of a bland object and then examing the image under magnification. In a motel room, etc., I use a white image on the screen of my laptop to test the sensor. Hope this helps.
--
Leon
http://homepage.mac.com/leonwittwer/landscapes.htm
 
All replies were useful to me, including those which said, in effect..."stop worrying about the dust so much".

Petteri, I figured out for myself and already follow your procedure (which you expained so clearly) but I think I need a bigger bag on which to set the second lens.

Leon, I really liked your description of your method, but I need more practice. The part that is difficult is holding the removed lens and the camera in one hand, while inserting the new lens...or did I misunderstand?
--
-Don
 
which work great as a lens stand, yes all my lens hoods are scratched. I don't worry about dust or mist, i'll just clean the sensor. I change lenses in a kayak all the time.

These are cameras, not mantle pieces.

--



Narrow depth of field ahead
Use extreme caution

http://www.pbase.com/paulyoly/root
 
I recently changed from a camera bag user to a backpack user and while the backpack is really great for lugging your gear into the field, I found it quite cumbersome when changing lenses. Solution? I bought one of those Lowpro belts and a few soft lens cases that fit on the belt. Now when I get into the field, I place the camera around my neck and my lenses go in the soft cases for easy access. I almost always have my tripod with me, so I use that to support the camera while changing lenses (using techniques already discussed.)
--
See my daily photo at:
http://thephotomat.blog-city.com
 
I've evolved the following method which helps avoid the need for three hands, and can even be done on the move!

Stand with back to any wind and camera around neck

Get new lens from bag and place securely between right upper arm (just above elbow) and your body, with rear cap to the front. This makes "new" lens accessible but leaves both hands free to remove "old" lens. Practice with something not valuable but similar size and weight if you are unsure about this (a jar of jam maybe).

Turn camera off and tilt it down, then use left hand to press lens release button and right hand to unscrew lens, but don't remove it from in front of the lens mount for the moment, just keep holding it in place with the right hand.

Use left hand to uncrew rear cover from new lens, and screw it onto the back of the old lens while still keeping it in front of the mount to minimise the chance of dust entering.

Finally take new lens from under your arm with the left hand and quickly move it onto the mount at the same time as you move the old lens out of the way. I find I can then use the heel of my right hand (still holding the old lens) to brace the camera while I lock in the new lens.

This method means I don't have to put anything down or even take my shoulder bag off, so can be done anywhere, and even while moving.

I generally have my shoulder bag on the right side so this provides a chance of catching the lens in the bag should it slip from under my arm, though this has never happened to me.

This method is much more complicated to describe than it is to do, and with a bit of practice is both quick and easy, while minimising opportunities for dust entering the camera.

Fred
 
1-Put front cap on lens on camera.
2-Take out #2 lens and lock under arm after removing back cap.
3-Remove #1 from camera and put back cap on. Put under other arm.
4-Put #2 on camera.
5-Stow #1 in vest/case pocket.

When I was doing this on a trip to Israel, I was down to 20 seconds for the entire swap (changing between a 28mm and a 50-200).

Never dropped a one. Good luck,

Paul
 
The scene in the beginning where he's trying to swap the golden idol with the bag of sawdust... that's very much what my lens swapping looks like.

I place the camera lens-up on a flat surface (resting against my leg works if I'm holding things so it doesn't slip off).

I then grab the lens from my bag, take off the back cover and hold the lens with one hand.

With the same hand I'm using to hold the lens, I untwist the lens from my camera (hitting the release button with the hand holding onto the camera.

I then pull one lens off with one hand while quickly swapping the other lens into place with the other... leaving the un-lensed camera exposed for usually less than a second.

I screw the new lens into place, and put the back cover I just took off the new lens onto the old lens and place it into the bag.

Zip up the bag. Take the lenscap off the new lens, and shoot away.

--
N.

Personal Gallery: http://www.hplovecraft.net/gallery
 
It is called a sensor brush or copper hill. Do not miss a shot because you might get some dust in the camera. In fact all cameras have some degree of dust. Is it visible? maybe not. if you check at f22 you might see some.

Good luck. No special way to change lenses. Just do it so the wind is not blowing directly into you. use common sense. The only place I would not change a lens is on the beach with high wind, unless I was indoors.

Good luck
R Velez
 
Keep an open slot in your camera bag. Place all of your lenses in the bag facing down with front caps off and lens hoods attached. Have the rear caps attached.

(1) To change lenses, take the lens off your camera and place it front end down into the open slot in the bag.

(2) Take the rear cap off of the lens you're about to use and place it on the lens you just placed into the bag.

(3) Take the new lens out of the bag and put it on the camera.

Notice that at no time is a lens placed on the ground. At no time do you have a lens in each hand. You do one thing at a time. You limit the chances that you'll drop a lens or scratch a lens. All of your lenses are either in the bag protected with a rear lens cap or they're on the camera.

Keep at least two extra rear caps in a pocket in the bag, just in case.

--
Peter White
 
Ominous said:
Sooo much more dust there. Outside would probally have less dust
than any indoor area around.
Click to expand...
You're probably right, I never really thought about that. Thanks for pointing that out.
--
-Don
 
Thanks Peteri, this is the most logical sequence; I percolated down to it after a lot of fussing.

One small thing to add is when you have the second lens out and ready ( cap loose) align red dot on the the lens so when you pick it up the red dot is "up". Then you can, in one sweeping motion, get it on the camera ready to engage, lock and rock!

I struck on this procedure after I found myself fumbling with the second lens, rotating, swearing, roatating it until the dot lined up :-) A real lifesaver when working outdoors with heavier lenses like 24-70 and 70-200 !!

-tony
 
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