taking care of your equipment

[sean yoon]

Hi all,
I have a couple questions about taking care of cameras (equipments).
Today, i was cleaning my camera,just wiping out the dust. I guess normally i can just wipe them out with dry cloth. However, I am wondering if there is a better ways to take a good care of your cameras, such as using some kind of oil or liquid. (I was going to use the windex but chose just a dry cloth) What do you guys use? and how?
also, where do you guys keep your cameras and lens? I know that the lens gets really bad if there are some humidity. Right now, i just pack them up in a Tenba bag and put them in my closet. Is this okay?



I am really sorry if these questions are asked before, i just could not find them in the search.

Thanks

Sean

[jonathan smith]

Keep them dry and you should be ok. With lenses, clean off any fingerprints within a day or so because if left on too long they can become part of the lens.

I've heard Windex has some abrasive in it, and it does have ammonia which might be harsh for a coating. Try diluted alcohol or commercial lens cleaner.

If you use any spray for the lens, don't spray the lens, spray the cloth and use that. I just breathe on the lens and rub gently. I rarely have to do this since I rarely touch my lenses.

As far as the camera itself, an LF camera is just a wood/metal box. Mine is composite/aluminum with a neoprene bellows, I could soak it in the bathtub if I wanted to. However, I don't. If yours is wood you might want to wax those parts to repel water.

[paulr]

any good sources of info on bellows care?

not sure what mine is made of ... it came from universal bellows or western bellows many years ago. it seems like fabric coated with something like vinyl (i suppose it could be neoprene). is there any special care for these, besides not scrunching them?

obviously leather bellows are another story ...

[Jonathan Brewer]

I store all my gear w/jars of 'Dry Out', these are big jars which were keep the envirement in a closet dry, I wipe my gear w/Ilford anti-static cloth.

[Jim Ewins]

I'd been using PEC-12 to clean negatives and thought it should be ok for lenses. WRong!! Stipped the enamel off the metal. Gentle with a anti-static brush or cloth. air from a bulb, not canned air.

[Hugh Sakols]

How do you clean your glass on your flatbed scanner or a glass holder for dedicated scanner?