{"id":541,"date":"2009-09-07T20:36:11","date_gmt":"2009-09-08T04:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/2009\/09\/07\/default-camera-configuration\/"},"modified":"2019-11-18T20:14:04","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T04:14:04","slug":"default-camera-configuration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/2009\/09\/07\/default-camera-configuration\/","title":{"rendered":"Default Camera Configuration"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I\u2019m out shooting I often make adjustments to my camera settings to get the right shot.\u00a0 The problem is it\u2019s easy to forget what you\u2019ve done.\u00a0 Then the next time you grab your camera and start shooing you might miss the shot because something is configured wrong.\u00a0 So I have this routine I go through in the hotel room every night.<\/p>\n

\"Riverside_Walk_2008\"<\/a><\/p>\n

First, I clean everything.\u00a0 I carry a soft cotton dish towel in my camera bag.\u00a0 First I wipe down the camera body and all the lenses.\u00a0 I try to not only wipe off the surfaces but all the nooks and crannies.\u00a0 I\u2019m very careful not to damage anything.<\/p>\n

Next I check the front and back elements of each of the lenses to make sure they are spotless and dust free.\u00a0 The front element will get blown off first.\u00a0 I prefer the Giotto Tornado as it\u2019s designed specifically for cameras.\u00a0 If that doesn\u2019t get everything I\u2019ll use a microfiber lens cleaning cloth.\u00a0 As a last resort I\u2019ll use a lens cleaning solution.\u00a0 The best way to do wet cleaning is to put a drop or two on the microfiber cloth, not on the lens element.\u00a0 The back element gets blown off.\u00a0 It usually doesn\u2019t need any more than that because it isn\u2019t exposed to the elements near as much as the front element.<\/p>\n

I also check my filters, making sure they too are spotless.\u00a0 I use the same procedure that I use for cleaning the lens elements.<\/p>\n

Next I clean the camera sensor.\u00a0 Again, I blow it off first using the Giotto Tornado.\u00a0 I remove the lens, pop the mirror out of the way using the camera\u2019s manual clean function and hold the body with the opening pointing down.\u00a0 I\u2019m really careful how hard I blow on the sensor.\u00a0 I prefer to use puffs of air, not a tornado blast like the name suggests.\u00a0 The last thing I want is some microscopic particle of sand to get embedded in the sensor\u2019s filter.<\/p>\n

I have a loupe from the Visible Dust people that lets me look at the sensor under magnification.\u00a0 Its six LCD lights really light it up and if you\u00a0 look carefully you can see dust and stains.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s still dust that the Giotto didn\u2019t get rid of the next step is to use Visible Dust\u2019s Arctic Butterfly.\u00a0 You charge the bristles with static electricity by spinning the brush with the built-in motor in the handle.\u00a0 The static charge is usually enough to remove any clinging\u00a0 bits of dust.\u00a0 If that doesn\u2019t work then wet cleaning is necessary.\u00a0 I\u2019d rather not get into that here.<\/p>\n

Once the camera body, sensor and lenses are all cleaned there\u2019s one last step.\u00a0 I set the configuration of all my camera controls to their default settings.\u00a0 These are the setting I shoot with most often.\u00a0 We probably all configure our cameras somewhat differently but\u00a0 here are my default settings (I have a Canon 1Ds Mark III so some of these settings may be specific to Canon).<\/p>\n