Hello Nasim, 2 months ago I bought my first Nikon camera – D7000. I’ve read much about it and decided that this is best camera for me, but recently I am noticing that in certain lighting conditions colors are inadequate. There is an awfull yellow-green color, especially noticeable on people’s faces. Skin on pictures is also has strange color. Changing wb temperature is hardly helping. As an owner of the D7000 could you tell me if this is the problem of all D7000 cameras or is it malfunction of mine? What can i do to fix this?

And here is a sample image that was attached to the case study:

Our reader can relax – there is nothing wrong with his D7000. In fact, even the best camera in the world would not have produced an image with better skin tones and colors. Why? Because in this case, the ambient light around the subject is what is affecting the colors and skin tone. The picture was taken in the evening, after sunset, so the light is coming from what seems like a mix of incandescent and fluorescent lamps over and on the side of the subject. To understand how artificial light affects skin colors, one needs to fully understand “white balance and how it affects colors in images. The hardest and nastiest light that can make a photo impossible to fix is when multiple light sources are thrown into the mix – for example, when there is natural light on one side, bulb light on another and some flash on the front. You might have been in a situation when you want some of the ambient yellowish light in the room to be visible and yet want to throw some flash on your subject to brighten up the face. The end result – a very ugly picture with blues and yellows that is close to impossible to fix in post-processing. How do you go around those types of situations? The answer is not as simple, because it depends on the type of light around you, but you could use some very simple techniques like using gels on your flash to balance the light coming out of flash with the ambient light. These and other flash photography tips and tricks can be found in our “Flash Photography Tips” section of the website. We will be adding more content there very soon, perhaps in another “flash photography month”.

I asked my post-processing guru Lola to try to edit the above image and see if she can fix the skin tone and here is what she came up with:

She is currently working on a big project and once she is done with it, she promised to write a detailed article on working with skin colors and how to correct them in post-processing. The above image was sent in resized JPEG format (it is close to impossible to change white balance in JPEG), so she was limited in what she can do with it. It took her a couple of minutes to do this and I then resized and sharpened it a little for the web.

Another alternative is to convert an image to black and white, which should even out the skin tones. Here is her second version of the photo in B&W:

When photographing subjects, if you are not sure what White Balance (WB) setting to pick, you should shoot in RAW. When you open a RAW photograph in Lightroom or Photoshop, you will have the option to change WB to whatever you want. See my JPEG vs RAW article for more information on why you should be shooting in RAW. Recovering images with incorrect WB will also be much easier in post-processing:

The subject of skin colors can be rather complex, but once you employ good post-processing techniques, use proper lighting and have a solid knowledge of white balance, you can achieve great results when photographing people.

I have no idea what this streak is on my pictures could you give me an idea? I bought a new lens, because there was a small scratch on my old one. However, the same streak appears in the exact same place. It is a line about 1 inch on the top right of my pics. Usually seen when shooting skylines, clouds. etc.

Here is the attached image:

So, what are those spots and streaks that are clearly visible in the above image? First, the good news – the above spots and streaks have nothing to do with the lens. In fact, lens problems and even major scratches on the front lens element rarely ever show up in images. Unless the rear lens element is damaged/scratched, you should not see any lens defects show up in your images. Those of you who have seen my articles on cleaning DSLR sensors probably already know what these are. They are dust spots, along with a piece of hair that is sitting right in the middle of the camera sensor (the long dark line streak). Now the bad news – whenever you see something like this consistently show up in your images when shooting at small apertures, you will have to either clean the camera sensor yourself or send your camera for cleaning in order to get rid of all this dirt on the sensor. The latter is a safer method, but will cost you a lot of money to continue sending your camera every time you need it cleaned; plus, you won’t be able to take pictures while it is in service. The cheapest method is to clean your camera sensor yourself. As I have shown in the my cleaning DSLR sensor article, you can clean a sensor very quickly without any hassles, as long as you have the proper tools. Is it risky? Unless you do something stupid, the procedure is very safe (obviously, I take no responsibility for any potential damage to your camera). Just watch the video and then watch the more detailed videos on how to clean DSLR sensor and keep your camera gear clean for more info.

Let me know if you have any questions!

I use a Nikon 300mm f/4 paired with a Nikon D200 for my bird photography. While shooting, I notice that I do not get a clean background, which I would expect from a prime lens. I have got such a background in one image of mine, however, the subject is a little too soft for my liking (the picture is attached). Is there any way to get a clean background so as to help the viewers’ focus remain on the subject (the bird in this case)? Could you share a tutorial with us? I’m attaching sample images for this case study in JPEG format with full EXIF info.

And here are the two images Gaurav attached:

The first image above is cropped, showing a pleasant out of focus background (bokeh) with a slightly blurry bird.

The bird on the second image is sharp, but the background is busy.

So Gaurav’s question is why does the first image have a nice-looking background, but a blurry bird, while the second image has a sharp bird, but busy background?

Before I talk about the background blur, let’s first see why the first image is sharp and the second is not. Looking at the first image, the exposure is 1/350, f/4, ISO 100, while the second image is shot at 1/250, f/4, ISO 200. Both are shot in Aperture Priority Mode using Spot Metering. I am assuming that Gaurav was using a tripod or a monopod to get the above shots, because the shutter speeds are a little low to be hand-held for this lens and camera combo. As I explain in my “how to photograph birds” article, if you want to get sharp photographs when shooting hand-held, your shutter speed should be at least the total focal length of your lens multiplied by the sensor crop factor. So in this case, Gaurav would approximately need a shutter speed of 1/450 and above to get good results if he hand-held the camera + lens. But this is an approximate “suggested” value – with a good hand-holding technique, one could certainly get sharp results even at lower shutter speeds.

Why did I think that Gaurav used a monopod or a tripod to take the above images? Because the bird on the second photo, as well as the branches on the first photo appear sharp. The source of the problem on the first photo is focus – it is not on the bird, but a couple of inches off on the branch. Therefore, the only thing Gaurav could have done better, is reacquire focus and try taking another picture. If the lens he was shooting with has no front/back focus issues, he could have gotten good focus on the bird after several tries.

Let’s now talk about the background blur – the bokeh on both photographs. Why does the first image have a nice, clean bokeh, while the second photo has a busy bokeh? The explanation here is very simple – there was nothing close behind the bird on the first photo, while you can see leaves and branches of a tree behind the second bird. So the problem here is proximity of objects behind the birds. If you want to have a beautiful, creamy bokeh, you should pay attention to four things: focal length of the lens, aperture/depth of field, camera to subject distance and subject to background object distance. The longer the focal length of your lens, the larger the aperture, the closer you are to your subject and the further away your subject is from the background objects, the creamier your bokeh will be. Phew…that sounds too darn complex and too long! Basically, try to stay close to your subjects and move them away from the busy background. How could Gaurav have accomplished this on the second photograph? Aside from moving closer towards the bird and filling the frame (which would have probably spooked it), he could have changed the angle. If I see a busy background behind birds, I will move around the bird and try to find a spot that will have the least busy background. It is obviously not always practical, since the bird might not tolerate you walking around it, plus the environment you are in might not be suitable for circling like that. But you hopefully get the point.

The only other thing you can do, is try to fix the image in post-processing. Now this would require some advanced Photoshop skills, but if you have the time and patience in your hands, you can do it with pretty good results.

Here is my quick attempt to clear up the background on the second photo (took me 5 minutes):

And here is what I did in Photoshop:

1. Create a duplicate layer
2. Select the second duplicated layer
3. Select Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur
4. Radius: 125 pixels, Click OK
5. Select the second layer and set it to “Overlay” in the Layers panel
6. Pick the eraser and start erasing the bird
7. Work on the edges with the eraser tool and get rid of extra branches
8. Set the second layer back to “Normal”
9. Merge both layers
10. Sharpen the image
11. Crop the image
12. Resize the image
13. Save for Web

I did it very quickly and obviously did not do a good job with feathers, but I hope this shows what you can do with the background in situations like this.

Hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Losing images from a long-planned and expensive trip can be very painful. After it happens, you realize that it is not the financial aspect of it, but the effort you put into creating those images instead that hurts the most. We as photographers have to work with the best light during the day, which happens at sunrise and sunset times, no matter where you are located. In Glacier National Park, the sunset times in summer can be as late as 10 PM and as early as 5 AM in the morning. Northern Canada and Alaska are even worse, with sunset times close to midnight in July and sunrise in less than 5 hours. Add +1 hour after sunset and -1 hour for sunrise to get back and to the location, and we are talking about less than 3 hours of sleep at night. In addition, those late hours are also the peak and active time for wildlife, making it dangerous to hike to get to a good spot. And I am not even talking about the weather, which can go against you in those twilight hours. In addition, you carry the heavy weight with you and spent a lot of time tweaking your equipment and composing your shots using different spots and angles. So with so much effort put into making those images, the last thing you want is to lose them. What’s worse is, if you have been shooting for a while, you know if you got a great photo right at the time you take it. You take a look at the camera LCD and you know it is a keeper, a potential for your showcase portfolio. Once you lose photographs, you start to remember those keepers and deep regret hurts even more. So, why even take the chance? Take all the steps you can to protect your photographs when traveling and working on the field.

1) Back Up Your Data

Whether you are a professional photographer or a photo enthusiast, it is critical to not only back up your existing data, but also the new data that has not hit your permanent storage yet. I always take my laptop with me and back up photos from memory cards on a daily basis. I did not take my laptop with me just once when space and weight were an issue, and of course, it was the time when I lost many “keepers” on a 16 GB compact flash card. It was painful to lose so many great images, but maybe it happened for the better – going forward, I will remember to always take a backup device with me. Now when I say “back up”, I do not mean back up photos and then delete them from memory cards. You should never keep data in a single location, because any data medium can fail. With hard drives, it is just a matter of time. So when I back up my photos, I keep the originals on memory cards, until I safely get back home. Only after copying all images to my home storage and backing them up, I then format the memory cards for my next assignments.

Backing up your data on the field can be done in several different ways. If your camera is equipped with dual memory card slots (like Nikon D7000, D300s, D3, D3S, D3X), you can configure your DLSR to write to both cards simultaneously. While this means wasting one card, it is a good idea, because two cards will contain the same images. If data is corrupted on one card or one of the cards is lost, you still have a backup on the second one. Memory cards are cheap, so if you do not need the speed for video or fast action photography, get multiple slower cards that you can use in parallel.

If your camera is not equipped with a dual memory card slot or if you want to still back up your data to a different location, another option is to use an external memory card reader with a hard drive. There are many different options available on the market with devices of different hard drives sizes and obviously the price also varies depending on size and features. Something like Sanho Hyperdrive, although expensive, would work great for this purpose. Backing up your photos to an external storage device is a good idea – what if you were to lose your camera, or if you dropped it somewhere you cannot recover from? And lastly, if you travel with a laptop, just backup your photos to your laptop’s hard drive. That way you do not need to worry about getting an external storage device.

2) Label Your Memory Cards

I typically label my memory cards and provide my contact information on the back of them. If your memory card does not have space to write on, just put some white tape on it (make sure to use thin tape and do not tape over contacts) and provide at least your phone number. If anybody finds your memory card, they will at least have your contact information to contact you.

3) Properly Store Your Memory Cards

Keep your memory cards organized and store them properly in your camera bag. There are many different memory card holders out there, but the one I personally like and use is the Pelican 0940 CF Memory Card Case that securely holds 4 Compact Flash Cards. If you shoot with SD cards, you will want the Pelican 0910 SD Memory Card Case that can hold up to 8 SD and 16 Mini SD memory cards. Both card cases are water-resistant and well-protected against occasional abuse. If you have been storing your memory cards in camera bag pockets, I highly recommend getting one of these. I have four 16 GB SanDisk Extreme Pro cards stored in the 0940 Pelican. When I lost one of my memory cards, it was because I temporarily put it into my pocket in rush. Storing memory cards in pockets or in camera bag pockets is not a good idea, since dirt, moisture and other factors could damage them. Dust can get into the holes in CF cards.

If you only have one or two cards and do not want to purchase a card case, at least store the memory cards in plastic cases that came with the cards. When you are home and you are done using the memory cards, store them in dry, cool space (room temperature).

4) Label Used Cards

I once formatted a used card with photos I needed, because I did not label it after it was used. While you can recover photos from formatted cards, if you happen to write anything over the formatted card, the images you had before will not be recoverable, especially if you fill up the card with new images. You can purchase small color labels from any local store (for example green labels for formatted and red labels for used cards) or you can just come up with a method to identify used cards. If you use a memory card case like above, you can come up with a storage method for formatted and used cards without having to use labels. For example, I always put the formatted cards that are ready to use with their front up, while used memory cards are stored with their backs up.

5) Format Cards on Your Camera

If you have a habit of moving your images from your memory cards and forgetting to format the cards afterwards, I highly recommend to stop doing that and get in the habit of formatting memory cards in your camera instead. I have seen people with corrupt images and all kinds of other problems, just because their memory cards were not formatted properly. Always remember to format memory cards in your camera and not in your PC. It takes several seconds to do it in camera and if you shoot Nikon, you do not even need to get into the camera menu to format memory cards – you can just push two buttons with red labels and hold them for two seconds and once you push them together again, the memory card will be formatted.

6) Don’t Delete Images From Your Camera

If you do not like an image, or if it comes out blurry, don’t rush and delete images from your camera. This is another mistake I made during my last trip – every night I deleted plenty of images from my first memory card when it got full and many images from my second week ended up in my first memory card instead of the second on my Nikon D3s. If I had not done that, I would not have lost so many good images and my images would have been sorted better. If you run out of storage periodically, just buy more memory cards – they are cheap.

The moment I found out about his purchasing fiasco (which was on a Friday, approximately after two weeks since he placed the order), I picked up the phone and started calling AjRichard. I wanted to cancel the order as soon as possible and hoped to be able to recover his money. It was around 4 PM Mountain Time, which was 6 PM Eastern Time – the phone rang and then an automated message said that the store was closed. Unfortunately, it was the Memorial day weekend, so the store was closed for an extended period of time. On Tuesday morning before calling AjRichard, we checked the order status and the item was marked as “shipped”. A tracking number from UPS was provided, which indicated arrival on the third of June, two weeks after the order was placed – and that’s with the item being “in stock” with a free three day shipping. I called AjRichard and asked if it was possible to cancel the order. I was told that cancelling the order was not possible since the item was already shipped. Bummer. Now we had to wait till the package arrived. Meanwhile, my friend called his credit card company only to get disappointing news, that he would have to resolve the dispute with the merchant first. The whole dispute process could take several months.

I then decided to give a call to AjRichard and explore the purchasing process myself to see what I would get sold on on a $2,500 5D Mark II (as it was listed as of that day on their website). Here is an audio of the last part of the conversation, after I gave a fake name, address, email and credit card info:

Recorded Conversation with Mark @ AjRichard – click to listen/download.

And the above audio in text:

Me: Is this a new camera?
Mark: Brand new, factory sealed. OK, sold you the camera, we’ll do the warranty, then what else do you need?
Me: That’s it.
Mark: And the battery, you want to get the battery as well?
Me: Uh, doesn’t it come with a battery?
Mark: It comes with one battery, which is only 35-40 minutes, so I would definitely recommend getting one of the extended life batteries.
Me: What do you mean by 30-40 minutes?
Mark: It is a short battery, it is not a long-life battery. You need to buy the extra one, the long one.
Me: So when you say 30-40 minutes, it is for taking pictures or video?
Mark: Both of them. When the screen is on or anything, it cuts down very short (yawns).
Me: Oh, so the one that comes with the camera only lasts for 30 minutes?
Mark: Yeah. Then you have the two hour which is $129 and a four hour which is $169.
Me: Wow, so if I take this camera and take pictures, it is only going to last for 4 hours?
Mark: If you do the bigger battery, yeah.
Me: Let’s go with a bigger battery then.
Mark: OK, I will put the charger as well.
Me: Wait, wait, what is a charger?
Mark: No, you get the charger as well I am saying.
Me: Oh, so the battery comes with a charger?
Mark: Correct.
Me: Doesn’t the camera come with a charger though?
Mark: That’s what I am saying, you get the charger with that! The camera comes already with a charger in the bag with the battery.
Me: OK, so the only thing I am buying then is the battery, no charger right?
Mark: Correct. If you want, there is a separate charger, which is faster, if you want the “rapid” charger. It charges the battery within an hour, instead of waiting for 8 hours, it charges your battery in an hour.
Me: Oh, well, I guess I travel a lot, so let’s add that too.
Mark: And do you want to get a memory card?
Me: No, I already have a compact flash memory card.
Mark: Now they have a special memory card if you are doing like video and stuff. They have a special card which is for high definition.
Me: Yeah, I just got the one from Best Buy the other day and they told me that it can record video.
Mark: I mean if you want, because we have the new ones which are “error free” and “ultra high speed”. They are the ones that when you take a picture you are not going to have a 3-5 second delay time, and they actually say on the packaging “1080p high definition video”.
Me: Uh…I think that’s what my packaging says – it says “for recording 1080p video”. It is the “Sandisk Ultra” or something like that.
Mark: Hmm yeah, those aren’t error free, but they’ll work, they’ll take pictures and stuff.
Me: So when you say “error free”, what does it mean?
Mark: Error free means you are not going to get any glitches if you do action shots and someone running, you are not going to get any blur in the picture or anything like that. And you are not going to lose any pictures.
Me: Ohh.
Mark: You know, I’ll do this deal for you. I have a kit you might be better off doing, like right now if you are doing the camera with the battery, charger and the warranty and your total price was $3149.88, I have a kit I could do for you. It is a little more like $3399 as a whole bundle, but you would actually first get instead of the 4 hour battery I would give you two of the 6 hour batteries, so you get two batteries and it would be the six hour ones. You get also the charger now, which is the the charger that charges your batteries within one hour and it works in the house and in the car, so it is both AC/DC and it charges your batteries within one hour. Also, if you ever travel overseas, it is going to work overseas as well. You’ll get the 5 year warranty and I will give you the “platinum” warranty, it is the warranty you could take to any local service center. It will cover the screen, cover everything on that full parts and labor and it also covers professional cleaning as well.
Me: And the warranty we are talking about is US warranty right?
Mark: Yes, this will give you 5 years that you could take local, so you don’t have to ship to them or anything. And also covers the screen and everything. You are going to get the 32GB memory card, the ultra high speed “error free”, which is the bigger card.
Me: What brand is it?
Mark: That’s “Digital Film”, that has the full 5 year warranty, it is made for high definition video 1080p and also when you take the stills you are not going to have the delay time or the errors or anything. It is ultra high speed and error free.
Me: What was the company name again? Digital Film?
Mark: Digital Film, uhum.
Me: I have never heard of them.
Mark: Oh they are very good. The make the special ones for video and stills as well. Also if you do that kit you will get the car reader, so you get the ultra high speed card reader and you get everything for $3,399, which is worth it, because it is like $200 more, but you are getting the memory card, which is usually like $300 by itself, you are getting an extra battery, and you are getting the 6 hour one, so you are getting 3 batteries total.
Me: Oh wow, that sounds like an overkill for me though.
Mark: Yeah, so I will do that for you.
Me: OK.
Mark: So everything together comes out to…let me give you the order number as well, do you have a pen and paper?
Me: Sure.
Mark: The order number will be 1152214 and the total with everything will be $3549.98. And that’s with shipping, insurance, everything in that.
Me: What kind of shipping do you guys have?
Mark: You will get that probably within 3 to 5 days.
Me: So on the website it says “free shipping”.
Mark: Yeah, that is free shipping I did for you. The insurance is extra, usually it is like 8 percent, I gave you a break on that as well, so this way it comes to you insured and everything.
Me: So insurance is 8 percent of the total dollar amount on top of that?
Mark: It usually is, but I gave you a break on that, I did not charge you the 8 percent.
Me: Got it, OK, sounds good. How much did you say it was for shipping?
Mark: Everything together was $3549, with insurance and everything.
Me: So that includes the shipping.
Mark: Yeah and everything. I put the express shipping and everything for you.
Me: When you said “express” shipping, is that like through Federal Express?
Mark: No, UPS. Instead of like 10 days, you will get it in like 5 days, so you will get it quicker.
Me: Oh, OK. Can I change that to 3 day shipping?
Mark: Yeah, you want to do that? I can do that for you.
Me: How much is that going to cost?
Mark: I will do it for the same price.
Me: So instead of 5 days I will get it in 3 business days then?
Mark: Yeah, you will get it by Friday.
Me: OK, that sounds good.
Mark: All right, so I will do that for you and I will process it right away.
Me: Sounds good, thank you very much. What was your name again?
Mark: My name is Mark, my extension here is 218.
Me: Thank you very much Mark.
Mark: Thank you Nick.
Me: Bye.

The camera that was $2,499 is now $3,549, thanks to Mark’s sales efforts. Wow. I can’t imagine what they are selling to other people that don’t know what they are doing. Everything was going so wrong, I don’t know how I did not just explode in laughter (which we did, as soon as I hung up). The best part is when he says “Error free means you are not going to get any glitches if you do action shots and someone running, you are not going to get any blur in the picture or anything like that”. A lesson for beginners – now you know where all that blur is coming from! Just buy the right card and your images will be sharp and you will catch all the action shots in the world. LOL. Did you notice how smooth he went from $3399 to $3549? And that was apparently for “insurance” that he gave me a break on. That’s $150 that I got screwed on for shipping on a $2,500 camera.

Wondering what happened to my friend’s order? He received an opened half-empty 5D Mark II + 24-120mm kit box with what looked like a new 5D Mark II, with no lens or warranty card. Everything else was in the box, including manuals and battery + charger. The second battery and charger he got were from some unknown brand. He also received a worthless $3 cleaning kit and some other junk he did not need. He called AjRichard and this time it was supposedly a different guy, but with the same voice as Mark. The sales person said that he shipped a brand new 5D Mark II and that the box was not open. When my friend told him that he wanted to return the order and get his money back, Mr. Mark said that he would have to charge a 15% restocking fee for the entire order. Plus, he would be responsible for shipping and insurance as well. My friend decided to keep the camera.

Lessons learned:

1. Never buy photography equipment from an unauthorized seller/dealer.
2. Never fully trust third party sites like Nextag.com for vendor ratings and trustworthiness.
3. Know that if anybody lists prices significantly lower than top sellers like B&H and Adorama, most likely they are scammers.
4. Do not assume that your credit card company will help you when you make stupid decisions.
5. Do not engage in phone conversations about your order with sales people, unless the company is calling to verify your payment/address information.
6. Do not believe in 8% insurance fees, there is no such thing.
7. Buy from reliable online and local sellers with a long history.
8. Always check your gear after buying it. Check for camera shutter actuations and check all lenses you receive.
9. Always be extra careful when buying from online merchants. Read seller reviews from multiple sources and Google for information on the seller.

These guys should be shut down for what they are doing. The good news is, they are probably not going to stay in business much longer. The bad news is, they will probably reopen another company under a different name and continue to rob people. If we as consumers do not learn how to differentiate good guys from bad guys, companies like AjRichard will thrive on new, often “not-so-knowledgeable” customers. Please spread this message to your friends and family and do not let it happen!

Let me know if you have experienced anything like this before – our community should know who to stay away from. I will soon create a list of sellers I fully trust in a separate post and provide some tips on purchasing camera gear.

1) Why Clean Camera Lens?

Besides the obvious answer “because it is dirty”, keeping your lenses clean will ensure that you get the best and highest quality results from using your gear. During a Photo Walks that I led a couple of years ago, a novice approached me with a question about his camera. He told me that his images look cloudy and he had no idea why it was happening. I asked if I could take a look at his camera to see if I could find anything wrong with it. As soon as I opened the front lens cap, I knew exactly what the problem was. The front element of the lens was very dirty and had oily fingerprints and other stuff all over the place. I showed him the lens and asked if he knew about the problem. He told me that he had a toddler that likes his camera too much and apparently, that’s how the lens ended up getting all the stuff on it. He did not know how to clean the lens properly and after spending so much money on the camera gear, he was too scared to clean it himself. Gladly, I always carry my cleaning kit with me, so I took a picture before and then another after cleaning the lens. We compared the images and as expected, the first one indeed looked cloudy, while the second one was clear and sharp. This is one example of how dust, dirt and oil can affect your images.

Another important reason to clean your camera lens is keep your images free of particles that might show up in background highlights and other parts of the image. Take a look at my earlier post on “the effect of dust on lens bokeh” – you will see, that dust on the rear element of your lens will show up in your images, especially if you have large specks of dust there.

Dust is a normal part of a photographer’s life. While it is a good idea to prevent dust from landing on your gear, whether you like it or not, you will eventually end up in a dusty environment some day. So, it is not a matter of how, but when. If you see a beautiful sunset on a windy and dusty day, are you not going to take a picture? Some photographers say things like “do not get your gear dirty in first place”, which I consider to be a ridiculous statement. I would never want to miss an opportunity for a good picture, just because I wanted to keep my gear clean. Every time I go to places like Sand Dunes, I know beforehand that it is most likely going to be windy. Take a look at this shot:

I captured it on a very windy and cold day. The sand was all over the place and it ended up going into every hole in my camera and lens. It took me several hours to get everything cleaned and even after cleaning, the lens had some screeching noise when I moved the zoom and focus rings. If I worried too much about dust and sand, the above image would never have been captured.

2) Dangers of Improper Lens Cleaning

Most people end up with bad equipment because of their creative ways to clean it. Remember, camera lenses are very similar to glass lenses on eyeglasses, which means that they can be easily scratched. Lenses are generally made of tough optical glass, but if you attempt to clean it with cloth that might have sand particles on it, you will surely scratch the optical surface. That’s because sand is harder than glass. If you use a wrong type of chemical liquid on lenses, you might damage the lens coating. If you put too much of the liquid on the lens, some of it might get inside the lens and give you all kinds of trouble afterwards. The list goes on and on.

If you decide to clean your lenses yourself, it is very important that you choose the right tools for the job and use them properly.

3) Using Protective Filters

Every lens I own and use has a high quality protective filter in front of it. I also suggest protecting expensive lenses in my articles on purchasing camera gear and other gear-related articles I post on this blog. Why? Because filters make it easier not only to protect your lens, but also to clean it. Some lenses have threads or “steps” right by the front lens element (separate from filter threads), which attract dust and even cut off pieces from microfiber cloth. Overtime, it gets difficult to keep the front of the lens clean due to all the stuff that gets attached to those threads. A protective filter will go over those threads and you will spend much less time cleaning your lenses. If you are too worried about image quality, don’t be – take a look at my gallery and Lola’s weddings page. Every picture you see was taken with a lens that had a protective filter. Do you see any problems with image quality? Just use professional multi-coated filters from companies like B+W and Hoya. Those filters will have the least impact on image quality, because they are made of high quality glass. They are expensive, but definitely worth it. When you consider the amount of time you will be spending on cleaning your lenses and when you weigh in all potential problems such as scratching your lens, you will quickly realize the benefits of using filters. If you happen to scratch or break your filter, you just buy another one and your lens stays protected.

4) Tools to clean lenses

There are plenty of different tools available on the market today for taking care of your lenses. I have used many different solutions before and I found some products to be more effective than others. Here is the list of tools that I personally use and recommend for cleaning lenses:

1. Zeiss Liquid Lens Cleaner or Eclipse Optic Lens Cleaning Solution are the liquids I personally use and recommend for cleaning lenses
2. Visible Dust Magic Cleaner is a large piece of microfiber cloth for cleaning lenses. Grab a couple of these.
3. Tiffen Lens Cleaning Paper to clean the optical lens elements.
4. Giotto’s Rocket Blower to blow off the dust from lenses.
5. Giotto’s Hair Brush or any other soft & clean brush you can find for removing dust before cleaning lens elements.
6. A hard toothbrush or some other hard brush for cleaning the rubber focus/zoom rings.

There are many other types of liquids and tools you can find online or in a local camera shop that also work great. Giotto’s Lens Cleaning Kit is also great if you don’t want to spend much – just don’t buy the other kit that comes with a small blower, you will need the large one.

5) Lens Cleaning Process

My process of cleaning lenses is divided into three parts:

1. Cleaning the exterior of the lens, including the lens hood – I first start off by using wet microfiber cloth to remove any dust or dirt from lens exterior and lens hood. I apply the same optical formula that contains anti-static material on microfiber cloth or if the lens is too dirty, I start off by using regular water (distilled water would work best) and then finish off with using the solution. To clean the rubber zoom and focus rings, I use an ordinary toothbrush, which works great for removing particles in between the rubber lines.
2. Cleaning the lens mount – a very important part of the process that sometimes requires me to clean the mount several times due to oil and dirt. Apply the same lens cleaning solution on microfiber cloth and clean the mount thoroughly. Don’t forget to clean the round contacts on the lens as well.
3. Cleaning the rear and the front optical elements – I find microfiber cloth to be unsafe for cleaning optical lens elements, especially if you reuse the same microfiber cloth that you use to clean your lenses outside. Also, sometimes microfiber cloth will leave particles that are hard to remove with the rocket blower, so I rely on lens cleaning tissues instead. They clean glass very well and if they leave anything on the lens, it can be easily removed by the rocket blower.

The process is pretty straightforward and you can do it with ease yourself. Here is detailed video of the entire process:

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

1) How to Inspect Lens for Dust

So, how can you find out if you have dust inside your lens? Actually, let me rephrase this question – how can you find out how much dust you have inside your lens? Because even brand new lenses normally do have some foreign particles in between lens elements. A quick visual inspection of the lens front will often reveal large dust particles behind the first lens element, if there are any. Just make sure that the front is thoroughly cleaned beforehand and any protective filters are removed. Look straight and then inspect the lens at an angle and you might see some dust behind the front glass element. Now if you really want to see dust, and I promise you will, here is the best way to do it. First, find a very bright LED flashlight. You can find those pretty much anywhere nowadays, even in a grocery store. Next, you will need to open up the lens aperture (the lens obviously needs to be dismounted from the camera, rear lens cap should be removed). If you have an older lens with an aperture ring, you just need to set the aperture ring to the smallest value (which is the largest aperture) like f/1.4 or f/2.8 and you are ready to go. If you have a modern lens like Nikon “G” type AF-S lenses, then you will need to push up a small metal lever to open the lens aperture as seen below. To keep the lens aperture open, you will need to keep pushing it with one finger:

Once the lens aperture is fully open, turn on the flashlight and point it towards the rear of the lens with the front lens cap off. Do this in a dim indoor environment with lights turned off. Look at the front element of the lens at an angle and see how much dust you have inside the lens. If you have never seen any dust, you will certainly see it now. Better yet, now you can see dust in between pretty much every lens element, because it will be visible when a bright source of light goes through the lens. Now here is a word of warning – as I have pointed before, don’t be surprised to see dust even if you have just bought your lens. Some of those particles might be dust, others might be small bubbles and other glass imperfections. Why? You guessed it right, no lens is perfect! But don’t panic, every lens I own has dust in it, even the brand new Nikon 35mm f/1.4G prime that I have recently received from B&H. Take a look at how much dust my Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G accumulated over the years of abuse:

And here is how the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G looks:

Looks scary, doesn’t it? But I don’t really care, because both lenses produce excellent results and I am sure will continue to do so for many more years.

2) How and Why Lenses Get Dust

You might be wondering how and why lenses get dust inside. Let me explain a couple of things about lenses. Every time a lens focuses or it is zoomed in and out, it “breathes”. And no, I am not talking about the effect of lens “breathing”, when an image appears smaller or bigger when focus is adjusted – I am talking about the process of inhaling and exhaling. Lenses have to breathe, due to lens elements constantly moving inside them when focus is adjusted and/or when zooming takes place. Remember what happens with pressure inside a closed plastic container? If you try to reduce the container size, the pressure inside the container will only let you reduce it to a certain level before it pushes back. A simple concept of air pressure in physics. Now take the same concept and apply it to lenses. What would happen if lenses were completely sealed from all sides? You would only be able to zoom in a little before the lens would force you back to its original state due to pressure, especially on lenses that extend in size. A similar thing would happen with lens focus. Hence, there was no other way for camera manufacturers to design lenses – lenses with moving lens elements must inhale and exhale air. Some lenses are better than others in managing the air flow. While some expensive lenses are sealed against dust (which does not fully stop dust from entering the lens) and will only suck the air in and out of the camera chamber, cheaper consumer zoom lenses are the worst in this regard – they might suck the outside air and blow it out right into the camera chamber. Let’s take a look at which lenses are worse than others in handling dust.

3) Lenses Prone to Dust

As I have explained above, some lenses are more prone to dust than others. Here is the list of lens types that are more prone to dust than others, in the order of “worst to best”:

1. Consumer zoom lenses with extending barrels – examples: Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR DX, Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. Most cheap plastic consumer lenses have no weather sealing of any kind, including rubber gaskets that wrap around the camera mount. In very dusty environments, they will suck the outside air into the lens and then into the camera chamber.
2. Professional zoom lenses with extending barrels – examples: Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR, Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS. Cheaper pro-level lenses with Red (Canon) and Gold (Nikon) rings often have similar weather protection as expensive pro-level zooms, but are generally more prone to dust due to significant changes in lens barrel length. Most come with rubber gaskets on the lens mount to prevent dust from entering the camera chamber through the lens mount.
3. Expensive/top-of-the-line professional zoom lenses with extending barrels – examples: Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L. Top-of-the-line professional zoom lenses typically have better weather sealing all around the lens. Rubber gaskets are always included and other rubber seals are present in other parts of the lens such as zoom ring, focus ring, switches, etc.
4. Professional zoom lenses with fixed barrels – examples: Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS. Lenses that do not change in barrel size are generally better against dust and moisture. Since nothing moves, there are fewer places where dust can accumulate and then make into the lens. Rubber gaskets and other rubber seals are also present in all areas where dust can potentially enter the lens.
5. Prime lenses with extending front element – examples: Nikon 50mm f/1.4D, Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM. Prime lenses are generally less prone to dust than zoom lenses, because fewer parts move inside them. Prime lenses with moving front element that changes in length as you focus are generally better than zoom lenses, but dust can still make it into the lens through the front. Rubber gasket on the mount is sometimes absent (especially on older models), which can also contribute to dust making it into the camera chamber and the lens.
6. Prime lenses with fixed barrels – examples: Nikon 35mm f/1.8G, Nikon 24mm f/1.4G, Canon 24mm f/1.4L II. Prime lenses with non-extending barrels are typically protected best against dust. Some of the prime lenses with rear focus feature (such as Nikon 24mm f/1.4G and Nikon 35mm f/1.4G) might have a moving rear lens element as you focus, while others have a fixed glass element that never moves. The latter is typically better than the former. Many of the modern prime models are designed with rubber gaskets around the lens mount and high-end models have additional weather sealing in other parts of the lens.

As you can see, prime lenses are generally better protected against dust than zoom lenses. However, there are exceptions, where some primes are worse than some of the zooms in terms of handling dust and moisture.

4) What to do with lens dust

Once you spot lens dust, what should you do with it? The answer is – nothing. Don’t worry about it and just keep on shooting, concentrating on creating great images. As I have explained above, lens dust is a normal fact of life, just like dust on your camera sensor. Even if you take a good care of your gear on a daily basis, you will eventually end up with dust in your lenses and cameras, guaranteed. You can certainly minimize the amount of dust getting into your gear by storing it properly and performing regular cleaning and maintenance (which I will cover in an upcoming video tutorial), but you cannot fully prevent it from happening. Dust is inevitable and it does get into camera gear one way or another, so you should not be sweating over it if you have it. Try an experiment – come close to a dirty window in your house and look outside. When your eyes focus on the outside, can you see the dust or dirt on your window with your eyes? No, unless the dirt particles are huge. The same thing happens inside the lens, if there are small dust particles, it is not a big deal. So take a deep breath, chillax and stop worrying about dust.

The only case where you might need to call your lens manufacturer, is if you spot an abnormally large spec of dust more than several millimeters in size that moves when you rotate the lens. There are cases, when particles break off inside lenses, typically after lenses are dropped/damaged.

5) How to remove lens dust

Never, under any circumstances try to remove dust from inside lenses yourself. Disassembling your lens will not only void the warranty, but I can almost guarantee that you will not be able to assemble it back the way it was yourself. If large amounts of dust are heavily affecting your images and you have a very low level of contrast, call the lens manufacturer and find out if they can clean the lens interior and how much it will cost. Your normal lens warranty will NOT include disassembling the lens and cleaning its interior, so you will have to pay a hefty sum for that kind of service. In many cases, you are better off buying a new lens than trying to get an old one fixed. So, once again, never attempt to do this yourself and certainly never let a non-professional attempt to do it for you.

6) Minimizing dust and fungus

Shooting in relatively clean environments, properly storing your gear in a cool, dry place and taking care of it by performing regular cleanup and maintenance is a good way to eliminate fungus and minimize the amount of dust that ends up on and in your gear.

1) AutoExposure-Lock / AutoFocus-Lock

The AE-L / AF-L button stands for “AutoExposure-Lock and AutoFocus-Lock” and its primary function is to lock camera exposure and/or focus. What does this exactly mean? If you are using any of the camera modes like Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or other scene modes, the button could be used to force the camera to use a certain value for shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance. Since in any of the automatic modes the camera uses its metering sensor to determine the optimal exposure, instead of having your camera re-evaluate the light every time you recompose, you could lock the exposure to a value you are comfortable with – hence the term “AutoExposure-Lock”. There are many cases where using this feature is very helpful. One example is when you photograph panoramas. It is extremely important to use exactly the same exposure from frame to frame in panoramic photography. If one exposure differs from another, it is practically impossible for panoramic software to stitch images together in a consistent, continuous form. Another good example is if you are photographing a subject with a constantly changing background and you want to expose the subject exactly the same way from shot to shot. Basically, any time consistency of exposure is required and you do not want to switch to a full manual mode, the AE-L button can be very useful.

What about AutoFocus-Lock (AF-L)? Similar to exposure lock, autofocus lock can be used to stop the camera from making the lens reacquire focus when you recompose. For example, if you are photographing indoors in dim environment, you will find that using the center focus point is going to give you the most accurate results. This is because the center focus point is always the most accurate, especially on entry-level DSLRs that only have one cross-type sensor. So if you want to use the center focus point to acquire focus, it does not always mean that you want to position your subject in the center. As soon as you recompose your shot, the camera will see that the area the center focus point is on has changed and it will force the lens to reacquire focus on the new area (provided that your shutter button is set to acquire focus when half-pressed). To prevent this from happening, you could use the AutoFocus-Lock feature to lock the focus on your subject, then you could recompose the shot and take a picture. The focus will remain on your subject and the camera will let you take a picture even in “AF-S” or “Single Area Focus Mode“. Please note that you have to be careful when recomposing shots like this, because the focus plane that is parallel to camera sensor changes, which will often result in bad focus when using large apertures.

2) Default AE-L / AF-L Behavior

The default behavior of the AE-L / AF-L button is typically set to lock both camera exposure and focus. Entry-level DSLRs typically have a limited control over this button’s functionality, while pro-level DSLRs have many ways to control the behavior of the AE-L / AF-L button. For example, the Nikon D3100 only has 5 options for this button: AF / AE lock, AE lock only, AF lock only, AE lock (hold) and AF-ON (see more on these below), while Nikon D300s has all of these, plus 12 more ways to control the button’s behavior. So the number of ways to customize the AE-L / AF-L button will depend on the camera model.

3) Types of AutoExposure and AutoFocus Lock Modes

You might be confused when you see the different types of AE and AF options in the camera menu. Which one does what and what should you set yours to? Let’s go over each one, but first, go to your camera menu and Navigate “Custom Setting Menu”->”Controls”->”Assign AE-L/AF-L button” (on D5000, D5100, D90, D7000, D300s, D700, D3s and D3x) or to “Setup Menu”->”Buttons” on D3100:

You should see some or all of the below:

1. AE/AF lock – the default behavior of the AE-L/AF-L button. Will lock both camera exposure (shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance) and lens focus. The feature will only be active while you hold down the button. Once you release it, the lock will be released as well.
2. AE lock only – will only lock the camera exposure, so focus will be reacquired if you recompose the shot. Also only works while you hold down the AE-L/AF-L button.
3. AE lock (Reset on release) – exposure will be locked once you press the AE-L/AF-L button and will stay locked until you take a picture, even if you release it.
4. AE lock (Hold) – exposure will be locked when the button is pressed and will stay locked even if you take multiple pictures. The lock will be automatically removed if the camera is inactive for a time period set in the “Auto meter-off delay” menu setting, or can be also removed by pressing the AE-L/AF-L button again.
5. AF lock only – only focus will be locked while the button is depressed. The lock is removed as soon as you release the button.

Please note that when the AE-L / AF-L is depressed and the camera is set to any of the AE modes, you will see an “AE-L” indicator in your viewfinder. If you set it to “AF lock only”, the indicator will not light up.

You might also find many other options under “Assign AE-L/AF-L button” such as “FV Lock”, “Live View”, etc. I won’t go over these, since these options depend on your camera and will also change the functionality of the AE-L / AF-L button. The only option I will mention, is “AF-ON”, because it is a very useful feature on entry-level DSLRs like Nikon D3100 and D5100. Since entry-level DSLRs do not have a dedicated autofocus “AF-ON” button, you can set the AE-L / AF-L button to acquire focus instead (which will de-activate focus acquisition when you half-press the shutter release). That way, you can acquire focus with the AE-L / AF-L button and take pictures with the shutter release. Then, you don’t have to worry about locking your focus when you recompose, since half-pressing the shutter release button will do nothing.

So, which lock mode do I personally use and why? When I use an entry-level DSLR, I either choose “AE/AF lock”, so that both exposure and focus stay locked together, or I set the button to “AF-ON” and use manual mode to keep my exposure consistent. On higher end DSLRs with a dedicated “AF-ON” button, I always choose “AE lock (Hold)”, so that only the exposure is locked – the camera will not automatically reacquire focus when the “AF-ON” button is activated. I use this feature quite a bit when taking panoramic shots and I like the fact that the exposure stays locked while I take pictures. Once I am done, I either press the button again, or let the lock time out. Turning the camera off also releases the lock. Oh, and if you happen to change your camera mode from say Aperture Priority to Shutter Priority or to Program, the exposure values will stay locked.

4) Exposure lock and metering

You might wonder about how to properly meter your camera before even locking the exposure. If you are confused about metering, I highly recommend checking out my “understanding metering modes” article, where I go through different types of camera metering modes in detail. Determining the correct exposure is relatively easy nowadays with modern DSLRs, because cameras are equipped with complex metering systems that use various algorithms and preloaded templates to accurately set exposure values. On top of that, plenty of options to control and fine tune the exposure are provided to end users – different metering modes can control the way exposure is evaluated by the camera, while exposure compensation can be used to override the calculated exposure.

Let me give you an example on how you can combine camera modes, metering modes, autofocus modes and autoexposure lock to take a picture. Say I am photographing my son at sunset on a beach, with the sun behind him and me in front of him. I am in Aperture Priority mode, where I set the aperture and my camera automatically calculates the shutter speed. I normally use Matrix Metering” mode, so the camera most likely would expose the background correctly, while my son becomes a silhouette (because the background is much brighter):

So if I wanted to expose my son correctly without worrying about blowing out the background, I would switch to Spot Metering mode and position the focus point on his face. The camera would then meter off his face instead, exposing him properly and not paying attention to the background. If I take a picture and he is still underexposed, I would dial positive exposure compensation to further brighten him up or if he is overexposed, I would dial negative exposure compensation. Once my exposure looks good, I would press the “AE-L / AF-L” button on the camera (which is set to “AE lock hold”) to lock the exposure and continue taking pictures without worrying about setting the exposure again. If he constantly moves while I take pictures, I would pick Continuous Autofocus Mode (AF-C) to track his movement.

Remember, all these tools are given to us to simplify our photography, so that we can concentrate more on capturing great images, rather than worrying about properly calculating the exposure. Once you learn how to use these different modes and features, you will be able to capture images the way you want to with ease.

Hope you find the above article useful. Let me know if you have any questions!

In the video, I mention that you should only use a swab once. You can also use the other side of the swab, but you might end up putting the dust back on the sensor if you don’t keep the swab properly angled. I find that it is best to use swabs once, but you might get better results. When inserting the swab, tilt it horizontally first, so that you do not touch the top and bottom parts of the chamber. Don’t forget to do the same when removing it. You might find some dust specs on the side of the sensor, where you picked up the swab. If those specs do not disturb you, just leave them there. If they do, then you have two choices – either to use corner swabs or a sensor brush to pick up those remaining dust specs. I personally do not worry about them unless the dust particles are huge.

I know that some people will try to reuse the swabs, but I highly recommend NOT to do it. Do not try to wash and dry the swabs either – this particular product is designed for one time use only. Trying to wash and reuse the product might introduce other nasty stuff besides dust on your sensor. You have been warned!

Let me know if you have any questions – below are the links to the three products in the video:

1. Visible Dust Sensor Clean Solution
2. Visible Dust Vswab 1.0x for full-frame cameras and Visible Dust Vswab 1.5x for cropped-sensor cameras
3. Giottos Rocket Air Blower (Large)

Nikon 85mm f/1.4G

1) Inspect the lens

Most of the time, the lens you purchase is going to be brand new. However, there are cases when some retailers will try to sell a used lens as brand new. Ever since I switched to online purchasing from companies like B&H and Adorama, I have not had such a problem. Either way, it does not hurt to check if your lens is in good condition or not.

The first thing I do is inspect the lens mount (where the lens gets attached to a camera body) and see if I can find traces of lens use. Usually, you will see dirt on both the rear lens cap and on the lens mount or if the lens was cleaned, you should see some scratches on the metal mount. If everything looks good and there is some clean grease on both the mount and the lens cap, I then inspect the rear lens glass element and make sure that it is clean, without any scratches as well. Next, I move to the front of the lens and inspect the front glass element for scratches and dirt. After that, I use a flashlight to check if there are any large chunks of dust behind the front lens element. Small pieces of dust are never a problem, but if you see a piece of plastic or another large particle, you should return the lens for replacement immediately. Finally, check the lens barrel for damage and scratches.

2) Clean the rear mount and connectors

Every single lens that I have bought new had some grease (some had more than others) on the lens mount, which is normal. If you do nothing about it, the grease will eventually end up on your camera body and other lenses. Therefore, it is best to remove the grease from the lens mount, its contacts and the rear lens cap. You can do this by using a microfiber cloth and some medical alcohol. Just put a drop or two of medical alcohol on the cloth, then gently wipe the rear lens mount and the contacts. Make sure not to touch the rear glass element while doing this. Next, clean the rear lens cap and use a Rocket Blower to remove any particles left by microfiber cloth. Put the rear lens cap back on afterwards.

Here is the rear of a brand new Nikon 24mm f/1.4G lens:

And here is the grease that I removed from the rear of the lens and lens contacts (the little round balls):

3) Protect the lens with a filter

I personally use UV/clear filters on every single lens I own for two main reasons – for protection and for easier cleaning. There were a few cases when I was glad that I used a filter – I managed to scratch my filters several times when I was walking through dense bushes and woods while scouting for photo spots with a camera on my shoulder (and yes, I did have the lens hood on the lens). I ended up replacing the scratched filter later, which was much cheaper than replacing the lens. As for cleaning, some lenses have “threaded” plastic right next to the rounded front lens element (for example Nikon 50mm f/1.4D), which makes it extremely difficult to clean the front lens element without leaving stuff on those threads. Once you put a filter on the front of the lens, you have just one straight area to clean and worry about (see Photography FAQ #5 for more details).

I know that some photographers argue that using filters degrades image quality. Sure, adding filters in front of a lens does degrade image quality, but only by a very small margin. As long as you use high quality filters, you do not need to worry about image quality degradation. Pretty much every single picture I have taken so far (see my Portfolio and Wallpapers), was taken with filters (UV/Clear, Polarizing and Neutral Density) on my lenses.

B+W 77mm UV Filter

If you are considering purchasing a filter, the last thing you want to do is spend your money on a crappy filter that will certainly impact your images. I personally use B+W filters (see Our Gear page for the types of filters I use) on my filters and although they are expensive, they are totally worth the price. Make sure to get Multi-Coated (MRC) F-Pro series – the above photo is for illustration purposes only. You certainly get what you pay for!

4) Test the lens

You have inspected, cleaned the lens and protected it with a filter – now it is time to get out and shoot! Mount the lens on your camera, then take it out for a real test. Go out for a walk in your neighborhood and take lots of pictures. Try focusing on your subjects from a close distance, then take some pictures of subjects far away, while playing with different aperture values. Pay very close attention to how you focus and take multiple pictures of the same subject while re-acquiring focus.

Once you get home, go through your pictures and see how you like the results. If it turns out that most of your images are out of focus, you might have a lens with a focus problem (or you just don’t know how to properly focus). While most manufacturers are pretty good with their Quality Assurance processes, there are some cases when a lens might need some tweaking and calibrating to focus better. Testing your lens for a focus problem is easy, but you will need to use a tripod and a test chart for accurate results. See this or this article on instructions how to properly perform a simple focus test. If it turns out that you do have a problem, then call your lens manufacturer and tell them what’s going on. They will most likely ask you to send both your camera and your lens for calibration. Before you do that though, perform the test several times very carefully – don’t just send your gear if you are not 100% sure it has a problem.

5) Register the lens

Don’t forget to register the lens with Nikon, Canon, Sony or whoever else you bought it from. It is a good idea to register your lens right away, since manufacturers like Nikon require registration to get the 5 year extended warranty (although they will still accept the lens for service if you can show them the original receipt and proof that you bought it from a Nikon authorized dealer). In addition, if a lens is recalled for whatever reason, you will get notifications from your manufacturer and if you need to send it for repair, tech support will be able to help you quickly. If you have a Nikon lens, visit this Product Registration page or simply go to http://support.nikonusa.com, then click on “Service & Support” -> “Product Registration”. If you have never registered anything with Nikon, now might be a good time to register your gear. I have every single Nikon camera, lens and accessory registered with Nikon USA. Once you register, you will be able to see every Nikon gear you own on one page, along with serial numbers.

6) Take it for a ride!

Every lens is different and requires some learning and getting used to. You have played with the lens and shot some sample pictures, now you need to take it with you on a real photo shoot. If you have an upcoming event, a vacation or a real photo shoot for your photography business, try to use your new lens as much as you can. Not only will you learn how to use it better, but you will also find out what its limitations are (unfortunately, no lens is perfect) and when to use its best. When I do my lens reviews, I always try to take them on real photo shoots, so that I can get a good feel on their performance. Shooting test charts and brick walls just won’t produce great pictures!

The above picture was taken while I was testing the Nikon 24mm f/1.4G lens.

7) Correct lens problems in Lightroom/Photoshop

Like I have pointed out above, no lens is perfect. Some lenses have problems with too much vignetting while others have issues with chromatic aberrations and distortion. The good news is that most lens problems can be dealt with in post-processing today. The latest version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, for example, comes with a cool feature called “Lens Correction“, which automatically fixes distortion, chromatic aberration and vignetting issues for known lenses (see screenshot below). If your lens is not supported, you can manually correct those problems in one image, then copy-paste the settings to all other pictures taken with the same lens.