How To-61: "How to Increase the Life of a Digital Camera"

How to Increase the Life of a Digital Camera

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Technology moves at a pretty fast pace. You can buy a brand new computer or camera, and it is, almost instantly, outdated. However, you can increase its lifespan by taking proper care of your camera.

Steps

Lens Care

1. The lens of your digital camera is its eye or window to the outside world. It is easily the most important component in any camera. To take care of the lens, make sure that you never, ever touch directly with your fingers. Also, make sure that you put on the lens cap when not shooting pictures.
   
2. If you really need to clean the lens, use good lens cleaning equipment. Investing in such equipment is really important. Always use a good lens brush, lens blower and lens cloth to do the job.

Temperature

1. The other thing to look out for is the temperature under which the camera is stored. You should always keep the camera out of sun. One mistake that newbies always make is to store the digital camera in the extremely hot temperatures (e.g. the car boot [trunk]). Don’t ever do that. It’s also important not to store the camera in extremely cold temperatures either.

Storage

1. When storing your digital camera, you need to keep it away from magnets of any form. Magnets will affect the circuitry of your digital camera and should not be placed near it.
   
2. Another point to note is to use silica gel to combat condensation. Many electronic products come with silica gel capsules. Keep these and put them in your digital camera storage box. It will prevent condensation.
   
3. The batteries of the camera should also be removed if you intend to store the camera away for a long time. The reason is that batteries can have corrosive leaks over time.

Protect Delicate Components

1. You also need to protect those delicate components. In particular, watch out for the
memory card (whether it is a CompactFlash, SD or MMC card). Handle them with care
because they are small and delicate.

2. Camera panels are also very delicate. In my Canon PowerShot S500, the panel for the USB
connect and the battery is a tad flimsy. Make sure to handle it with care whenever you
open it.

Conclusion

Your digital camera cost a lot of money and it pays to take care of it. Remember to apply the above tips to preserve your camera and it’ll last you a long, long time. Good luck!

Learn to Take Beautiful Photos

1. If you want to improve your digital photography skills, you may want to take a look at Digital Photography Success. This e-book package includes excellent step-by-step instructions on how to take pictures of beautiful landscapes, people, nature, fireworks, night scenes, etc. Learn how to shoot professional photos - just like those you see in glossy magazine covers.
   
2. You can also look around. Search on Google or your favorite search engine. One web site, with a lot of free, helpful tutorials[1] is very informative.

Warnings

. Do not drop it.

• Do not get food all over it.
  
• Do not ever touch the Lens.
  
• Do not get sand in it.
  
• Do not get it near a magnet.
  
• Do not get it wet.

Sources and Citations

↑ http://www.geofflawrence.com/


Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Increase the Life of a Digital Camera. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.