Tip of the Day – 3/1/2013

If you’re an amateur photography, like many reef keepers tend to be, then chances are you load up those memory cards with image after image of those stunning corals and fish from your tank and the tanks of others. That also means that you’ve probably exposed your camera to some rather interesting environments, most of which are extremely humid and quite hot. Heck, you might have even put that expensive camera in the water to some extent, though that is usually aided by a top-down box. Regardless of the camera or the aquarium, the gear is getting exposed to things that don’t play well with electronics, mainly salt and water, and you have to take certain precautions to protect it from the elements and clean it afterward. For one, lens filters provide some protection against water splashes or even accidental submersion. There are even special cases that can be used to make the camera waterproof. Cleaning up a mess after a photoshoot is a little different, however. The most obvious thing is to remove visible water and salt from the camera, but if a camera gets soaked, then cleaning it may not help even the slightest bit.