When we buy a camera bag, the first doubt comes to our mind is how to keep camera and lenses within the bag. And doubt becomes more when we are going for outdoor shoot with this bag. A lot of permutation combination is going on to place the camera and lenses within the bag but still a big confusion remains. But there are some very simple solutions.
Many camera bags today come with customizable interiors. These usually consist of padding pieces with velcro tabs that anybody can attach in lots of different ways inside their bag. Really, there are lots of different ways that can work for particular gear. However, there is one way that I really encourage my readers to avoid, and that is any position where the camera lens is pointing down. Never place the camera in the bag with the camera lens pointing down. The reason for this is safety. Lenses are worth far more money than camera bodies, and they are also more delicate because of the glass involved. Breaking a lens is heart-wrenching. This may cause big damage of lens in slightest thrust.
It is much safer to load the camera into the bag with the lens pointed to the side. This will help to take out the camera from the bag very easily and also minimizes the risk of damage of the lens. Lens up can work as well, but it’s really awkward to pick it up that way and may cause damage to lens pinion. It is good to wrap the camera and lens by a soft cotton cloth before placing it within the bag as that provides more protection of the gear as far as the scratching and dragging is concerned. Padding pieces can be placed to support and provide extra protection to the gear.
Padding pieces should be placed in such a way within the bag that the respective gear fits perfectly there and should not be so much of free spaces.
When storing the digital camera, always avoid placing the camera near an electronic device that generates a magnetic field. Strong magnetic field could damage the camera’s IC or its other components. So there should not be any other electronic devices like mobile phone, battery back-up system, mini sound box etc. within the camera bag.
All other lenses and materials should be placed in different slots made by other padding sheets of the bag and all must be placed in the same fashion as like that of the main body and camera. This will help to put the bag always very easily in the same direction when it is not in use.
Extra memory cards, filters and other things must be kept in different pockets of the bag that will enable to prevent the lens and body by getting scratch marks. And most important is that these should be taken within their individual jackets to prevent scratching again.
The inside and outside of the camera bag should be absolutely clean and dust free. The outside of the bag is difficult to maintain dust free but little care should be taken to minimize the chance of getting dust. Dust is dangerous to camera and lens. So it is better to wrap the camera bag with rain cover every time (even the time when it is not raining) that minimize the attack of dust directly over the bag.
At last, it should be kept in mind that extra care and over protection is also dangerous. That will make the whole system very cumbersome, heavy and funny.
