How to Change Your Lens #110

How to Change Your Lens #110

Everyone hates changing their lens. But as I tell people, if you don't change your lens, then you're just carrying around expensive glass. And if you don't bring your lens with you, then you need it more. Some of the impediments to changing a lens is most often the bag. I find that most people who are serious about photography carry more than one lens, but they have inconvenient bags. For instance, bags that have to be taken off completely in order to get into the bag creates an impediment for you changing your lens.So you need to find a bag that is comfortable and will allow you to quickly and easily access your lenses. Another issue is weight. Pretty much all camera equipment is heavy. Glass is really heavy, and good lenses require more glass, making them even heavier. As a result, we don't like to carry our lenses. But if you don't want to carry heavy lenses, then you probably shouldn't buy them to begin with. But if you are going to carry them,make sure that the bag itself is not going to add much weight on its own. I've seen bags that are really heavy empty. So get a bag that is light and convenient. As for changing the lens itself, you should change it as quickly as possible. What I mean is that the time between removing your lens from the camera and putting the new one on the camera should be as short as possible. Because the longer the camera stays open, the more dust you're introducing to your sensor.

So how do you do that? Before you do anything with the camera, remove the new lens from your bag and remove the rear lens cap. The problem is that many people remove their lens from their camera leaving the sensor open to dust. And then they go searching for their new lens, put away the old one, and then mount the new lens. This is a lot of time for dust to creep into your system. So after you remove the new lens from your bag, hold it in one hand. Remove the lens cap. Turn off your camera. Always turn off your camera. Trust me. With your other hand, remove your lens from your camera. As soon as it's off, put the new lens on the body. Once this is done, then go back and put the lens cap on the old lens. I know this is easier said than done and it's going to take some practice, but that's it. The key here is to deal with your lens caps first and last and not in the middle of the process. This will help reduce the amount of time the camera is open to dust.