Your technique for switching lenses in the field?

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RobT

Oct 18, 2012
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#1
I feel like this is a stupid question, but one of you (or all of you) must have a safer technique then me, and I'd like to start using it now that my clumsy fingers could cost me hundreds of dollars.

I always point the camera down when removing or adding a lens in hopes to minimize dust getting into the sensor, and add the rear element cap from the lens I just stuck on the camera to the one I just took off.

However, I have huge hands and have gotten into the bad habit of gripping a lens and something else (sometimes another lens!) in one hand while I put the other on the camera.

Do you guys put the lens cap back on always? Rear element cap? Always kneel down so if you drop the lens you're a foot from the ground instead of four?

I figured I'd ask now before you see me make a topic about shifted elements.
 
#2
I wonder about this myself... and have gotten into some precarious situations before.

The best solution is to have another set of hands - my wife's work well for instance. Here are my general steps for that scenario:

1. Take off hood and reverse on the lens that is currently on my camera.
2. Put lens cap on the lens that is currently on my camera (my lens caps are always in my front right pocket... so they are easy to get to).
3. I use a backpack that I can swing around and get into without putting it down... so I generally swing it around and snag the lens I want. Then I take off the front-cap (it goes in my front-right jeans pocket) and loosen the back-cap and hand the lens to my wife.
4. Unmount lens and snag the loosened back cap off the lens my wife is holding. Place back-cap on newly unmounted lens and stow lens in backpack.
5. Mount new lens
6. Swing backpack back around.

You can achieve this without the extra set of hands by doing the same thing but leaving the lens you're going to mount in your bag (with the front-cap off and the back cap loosened), but there is a moment where you have your lens unmounted and you've gotta snag the back-cap off the new lens and attach it to the old lens and put away the old lens and mount the new lens and that gets pretty finicky with all your gear dangling off of you. Often I will just stop and set my bag down and do it on the ground... especially for heavier / longer lenses (harder to deal with with a single set of hands.

I'm interested to see what others do.
 
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#3
I flip my lens facing out from my BR strap. Pull out my other lens and Turn the lens on my camera just enough to un-engage the button. I remove the rear cap on the lens in hand and take off the lens on camera. Quick swap later, i put the rear cap back on to the lens I removed and back into my bag.
 
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#4
I use a Boda lens bag. It is great for weddings and will fit anything as big as 70-200 2.8's. I use it for quickly switching between 24-70 and 70-200. You leave the hoods on the lenses and hold them by the hood to take them out. It's really fast and only requires one set of hands. The bag is weather proof and you don't have to worry about putting end caps or lens caps on.
 
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#5
Body facing down on strap, remove lens (to table, bag etc), remove rear cap from incoming lens, apply lens, use rear cap from incoming to close the outgoing. Then worry about the front (it its on) - been using the Shootsac, so all caps end up going into a back pocket, then I sort it out at the end of the shoot.

It gets more cumbersome when you want to slap on / remove a 1.4x / 2x in between the body and your 70-200 !

I usually have the rear caps all rotating between lenses, and the extenders have a different depth cap it seems - I've lost one and none of the lens rear caps seem to fit!

Step rings help with both filters and front caps (I really like the 3rd party Nikon-like caps) - not having figure "which one is in the pocket". They do get in the way of hoods though - as most of my filters are 77mm. This makes for a funky looking 40/2.8 (52mm thread) if I want a couple of 77mm NDs on it !
 
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#6
I use ThinkTank holsters deep enough to hold body and lens with hood in shooting position. I generally don't use front caps on my 70-200 2.8L II and my 17-55 2.8. The hoods always stay in the shooting position.

Granted, if I need both lenses, I carry two bodies and avoid changing. But, on occasion, I'll carry just the 7D with 70-200 and a 35 2.0 for wide shots (ok, normal shots on crop). I would carry a single holster with side pocket for the 35. It helps to have one pocket or bag dedicated to each lens so you don't have to swap them out. When I change lenses, camera strap is around the neck, body is tilted down to avoid dust. The mounted lens is removed and straight to the holster or side pocket, hood first. Second lens rear cap removed and transferred to first, second lens then mounted to body.

Things were a little easier with the old FD lenses. One could use the thumb to flip the rear cap off into the camera bag, then mount to the body one handed while still holding the first lens in the other hand.

Oh, for smaller lenses where I do use front caps, I use Tamron caps. They are similar to Nikon and much easier to remove than Canon caps. (There's no way I'm putting a Nikon cap on my Canon...just can't do it.)
 
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#7
Body facing up with lens on it set down on something. First push button and losen that lens without pulling it off yet. Hold other lens next to it facing up, remove end cap from bottom. Then fast swap and hold the one you took off the same way it came off with the open end down. Then put that end cap on that one. If you always do it that way and fast enough it's hard to get anything in there.
 
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#9
I think you are thinking too much about this. Yes you can probably do a few things to minimize sensor dust, but if you think pointing the camera down or any other silly maneuver is going to keep dust out then I have a bridge in Brooklyn you can buy. A camera is a tool, use it.
 
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#10
One other thing that I have used when I'm only using one body is to take two rear lens caps and epoxy them together back to back. Have that double lens cap on the second lens. When you get ready to change lenses, hold the second lens in your left hand, use the first finger on your left hand to press the lens release button on the camera, dismount the lens on the camera with your right hand, insert it into the open lens cap and tighten it. Then, holding the lens caps with your right hand, unscrew the second lens with your left hand and mount it on the camera. Takes very little time, and very little dust is going to get into the camera.
 
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#11
Assess the conditions. If there is discernible swirling dust or sand, I don't change lenses. Use multiple bodies where you know the conditions are going to make lens changes hazardous. Hopefully there is a car or an inside area to make the change.

I shoot a lot of medical stuff, so if I'm in a theatre, I know it's super clean so I can be relatively careless. In more averaged situations I switch off so there is no static charge on the sensor and just do it swiftly. I don't put body or lens back-caps in pockets where they may pick up dust & lint. Stored body & lens back caps are always locked into each other to keep them together & clean.

You can get over obsessed with this...usually it's best to read the conditions and trust plain common sense.

One definition of intelligence is the ability to differentiate between relative importances. So if you're in a windy, dusty outdoor location, and suddenly the money shot or hero shot of the day needs a very quick change from your 24mm to your 300mm for example, don't sweat it for a moment. Make the change, get the shot and deal with a sensor clean later.

-PW
 
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#12
Over time you'll get dust and other weird stuff somewhere in your system, you can be very careful and have a neat procedure in keeping things clean, but all it takes is one bad condition and all that caring was kind of pointless. Of course, if you think it'll help your body and lenses last longer then of course
 
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#13
I know I'll inevitably get dust in the camera after awhile, its not so much my main concern as is dropping a lens onto concrete.

Hearing that there are so many different techniques is helpful though. I think I'll start making sure the first lens is completely in the bag before pulling out the second.
 
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#16
I've faced the same problem so now I use the Lowepro slingbag which makes maneuvering quite easy. It has a number of pockets for me to keep the lens caps and stuff. Changing lenses is a breeze without having to deal with the backpack.

I make sure that before every trip to the field, I clean the insides of the bag using the vacuum cleaner to ensure that there is no dust inside the bag. From there its pretty easy, unscrew the lens cap on the incoming lens while lens is still in the bag, remove lens from camera and put it in the bag without worrying about the lens cap. Put on the incoming lens immediately and put on the lens-cap on the outgoing lens last.

Mind you the slingbag has its own shortcomings w.r.t. space and can be used for max upto 3 lenses - including one mounted on the camera
 
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#17
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#18
Lots of great pointers here. I shoot a lot of outdoor editorial in varying conditions so I'll add my two cents:

I try to minimize the amount of time my sensor/mirror is exposed by prepping everything else first, i.e. lens caps, rear caps.

Use your strap and orient the camera facing down whenever you switch. Dust and debris can still float up into the body, but if it's facing down you eliminate straight on debris carried by wind, hair and sweat from your own body, exhaust grime carried by winds, etc.

Don't remove the first lens until you have the second lens ready to hot-swap with the rear cap off. Then just play Indiana Jones and put the new lens over the hole as soon as you remove the old lens. Once the new lens is secure, worry about getting the rear cap on the old lens, taking the front cap off the old lens, etc.

Basically just streamline your process so you don't wind up with your hands full fumbling with a lens cap while your body sits face-up in a dust storm.

Like others have said, my main objective in the field is to avoid switching lenses if at all possible by keeping a short and a telephoto body on hand. I don't have a lot of gear but I will just use a rebel for telephoto if I'm running short. I'd rather focus+recompose and eschew the framerate etc than mess with lenses in a chaotic situation and potentially be out a few grand for repairs.
 
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#19
I mostly use primes so I do the lens shuffle all the time.
My second set of hands is the protective pouch that came with my RRS ballhead. I usually have a Think Tank pouch mounted outside my rucksack, so the drill goes something like this
1. Put the new lens in the tripod pouch
2. Remove the rear lens cap from my pocket
3. Remove the lens, cap it's rear surface and drop in in the TT pocket
4. Remove the rear cap from the new lense, install it and drop the rear cap in my pocket.

I chose pockets that are big enough so that the lens hoods stay on facing the direction they are used in. The lens goes in front element first but the hood prevents any chance of damage to the front element.

Once everything's settled, I may remove the rear cap from the old lens and give it a blast with a rocket blower - this depends on conditions.

When it's very dusty, you can pretty much do the job inside a plastic bag but it's easier if you sit down. If it's raining, I don't change lenses unless I can get shelter and dry the camera and lens before removing the lens.
 
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#20
1. Set up portable clean room
2. Put on clean room suit (otherwise known as a "bunny suit")
3. Enter portable clean room
4. Remove lens from camera
5. Unscrew cap from lens to be mounted
6. Mount lens
7. Screw cap onto originally-mounted lens
8. Exit clean room
9. Remove bunny suit
10. Break down portable clean room

This procedure is somewhat involved, but I have never gotten dust on my sensor!
 
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