Focus Screen Part 2

In my last blog post I talked about the Focus Screen on your camera and what it does. This week I am writing part two of this article on how to replace or clean your Focus Screen properly so that you can always have a clear viewfinder to look through.

To remove your Focus Screen for cleaning or replacement, you need a Focus Screen tool. This is a special, plastic, tweezer-like tool that can grab the Focus Screen by it’s little tab and remove it safely. If you take off your lens and lay the camera on it’s back, look at the top of the lens opening and you will see a small metal tab. Flip that down carefully with your finger or tweezers and that releases the frame, and there the Focus Screen is.

Focus Screen release tab is circled in white.

Once you have flipped the Focus Screen frame switch, the frame drops down on it’s own and you can see the Focus Screen. Using the Focus Screen tool, grab the Focus Screen by the tab and gently lift it out of the camera.

New Focus Screen and grabber tool in the plastic box

 To clean the Focus Screen, Canon recommends you use a Rocket Blower first to see if you can blow any of the particles off the Focus Screen. You can then re-insert it with the tool, close the frame and look through your viewfinder to see if you were successful. If not, remove the Focus Screen again and you can try cleaning it with soap and water.

Prepare some warm water in a small dish or cup, you can use Distilled water but it’s not required. Add a small amount of dish soap like Dawn or whatever you have in your kitchen. Put the Focus Screen in the solution and let it soak for a bit, remove it from the solution and gently brush it with a horsehair brush, like a small paint brush, new of course, that people use to paint models.

Next, use your Rocket Blower and blow the Focus Screen dry, never use your breath. You can use compressed air, but make sure you don’t freeze the Focus Screen by blowing it too closely with the compressed air. Once you feel it’s clean, and dry, put it back into the frame and snap the frame back into place. Never touch the Focus Screen with your fingers, other than by the side edges as the oils in your skin will make a mess of the Focus Screen and that oil is pretty much impossible to get off again according to Canon.

Rocket Blower for cleaning sensor and Focus Screen

Check your viewfinder again, if it’s clear, you are good to go! I sometimes try to clean my Focus Screens, but I have bought used cameras and had the Focus Screen just so incredibly dirty that I just replaced it. You can buy new Focus Screens from Canon, Nikon (if you are a Nikon shooter), B&H, Adorama, or Amazon. When you order a new one they come in a nice plastic tray assembly with a snap close lid and the tool comes with it. After I remove my old one and swap it out, I put the old one in the tray and store it in a drawer just in case I need an emergency spare.

Now, if you don’t have the stomach to clean the Focus Screen, you can easily just replace it yourself or take your camera to a camera shop to do it for you. I will warn you that depending on where you live, it can cost you upwards of $200 to have it changed. If you are a CPS member, Canon will clean it for free along with your sensor once a year, but you have to ship it to them and be without your camera for a few days.



Comments/Questions

How to Keep Your Camera Dry in Bad Weather

So as you all know, we are headed into the fall and winter months here in the U.S., which means nasty weather. With the arrival of Hurricane Joaquin, we got a ton of rain in the Southeast, with massive flooding in South Carolina.

When headed out to shoot this time of year, you have to be mindful of keeping your camera dry with all the rain and eventually snow. One of the best ways to not have to worry about moisture getting into your camera is to buy a Professional camera like the Nikon D4S or the Canon 1Dx. Both of these cameras are weather proofed, which means they are sealed tight against rain, dust and dirt.

Now I am sure you are saying, “Yeah as a new photographer, I cannot afford a professional camera body, those things runs thousands of dollars.” I totally understand that and hopefully someday you’ll be successful enough to afford a professional body but in the meantime, there are a couple tips I want to share for keeping your camera gear dry.

1.) Don’t waste your time and money buying fancy camera water covers, you can go to a local store and just buy a shower cap to cover the top of your camera. It may sound silly, but those cheap shower caps actually work great for covering your oddly shaped camera.


2.) Don’t use your good lens cloth to get the excess water off your lens’ front element. Use a shammy to blot, not rub the lens to get as much water off as possible and then finish drying with the good lens cloth so you don’t get streaks in your photos.

3.) When done shooting in wet weather, put your camera body in a large Ziplock bag and toss in a Desiccant to absorb any lingering moisture. Canon support recommends ALWAYS using this third method when done shooting in rain or during the winter when it’s easy for your camera to develop condensation internally. I personally went on Amazon and bought a 50 count bag of 5 gram desiccant packs for $19.

So these are 3 simple tips to help keep your gear dry in rainy and snowy weather, now get out there this fall and winter and make some great photos!

Comments/Questions

Feeding Time

Greetings fellow shooters! Tuesday Ambassador Stanley here introducing you to another Tuesday. As you all know I have departed my classes of Studio Photography and Marketing and I am currently pursuing Editorial Photography and Portraiture I. Let’s just say everything looks overwhelming right off the bat. Though, I think with solid time management I may be able to pull these two classes through. We will see.

Enough of that though as I have a little treat for you all to enjoy as my weekend was spent camping at a nearby lake. Many shots were taken that weekend but not as much as I had wanted, however, pleased none-the-less. I started with a time lapse of the night sky framed with branches and leaves waving in the foreground while the next day was filled with capturing shots of various birds, ducks, landscapes and anything that caught my eyes. Later that day was filled with more of the previously mentioned captures but instead of on land, I took into the waters.

Shooting while on water was a total transformation for me than it is shooting on land due to the fact that water is basically like a reflector when shooting birds that are just a few feet above the water. Since I am slowly starting to become known with my photo of the seagull getting splashed by the ocean, I decided to capture these wonderful creatures one last time before I would become fully devoted to the classes I am in now. I will admit, I was feeding them a ton of crackers while riding in the boat, but at least they are not feeding on plastics and such to try and stay alive. Better that they feed on stale crackers than to let it go to waste. The crackers were meant for the ducks but as I saw one seagull going in for a pick, another soon followed suite. I swear they come out of nowhere!

In turn these are the photos that came out to be and I feel that the timing I get when they are momentarily suspended in mid-air is peaceful and an art form in its own. All I can see is an art form with the way the light is cast upon each seagull thanks to the low setting of the sun and the hills and seagulls to slightly impede it. Oh do these birds move which ever way they can to get to their targets. =)

These guys as well as other birds, if I happen to run across them, are something that will never leave my sight. I just hope many of you do not lose sight of them either. And can anyone tell me how difficult it is throwing the crackers, stopping flying trash, snapping the photos while on the back of your mind you are hoping that you will not get pooped on? O.O And as always, thanks for reading.

- Tues. Amb. Stanley

I will leave you with this cute, big eyed bird that I have been trying to capture for several months after seeing this guy blurred out in several of my photos focused on different birds. Unfortunately I am unaware of its name and I hope I find out soon. Until next week.

Fun Sites!

Good Morning Everyone, and welcome to another Terrific Tuesday!

I was working on expanding my photographic skills by venturing into attempting to do some underwater pictures when I stumbled into these images of dogs underwater.  I completely forgot about what I was looking for!  I think these images are great and at the same time inspiring whenever I venture to do what I was planning to do.  Of course, I do not have a pool and I still working on getting the right equipment, but I thought you all might enjoy the images.

 

Seth Casteel @LittleFriendsPhoto.com

Click on this link to see the rest: http://twistedsifter.com/2012/02/underwater-photos-of-dogs-fetching-their-ball/

You want to see more pictures?  Here is another link showing an article from the same photographer: http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-504784_162-10011624-6.html

 

 Seth Casteel @LittleFriendsPhoto.com

Of course you can always go to his site to see more of the images: http://www.littlefriendsphoto.com/index2.php#!/4/underwater_dogs/1

I also wanted to venture into the world of macro photography, and to ease myself into it I wanted to do some water drops photography.  Wow, it was harder than I thought, but now that I have my new camera and my new macro lens, I think I can tackle this new self imposed challenge.  To get me started I did some research and came upon this site that gave me some tips in how to start doing the shots.

Here is the link to the site that showed me how to start with this project: http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2011/02/09/how-to-shoot-amazing-water-droplet-macro-photographs/

And of course, one site is never enough, check this other gallery: http://shuttermonks.com/10-beautiful-photographs-of-water-drops/

Well, I will be working on these two projects very soon I will be happy to share the images with you all.  Until then, I hope you keep taking pictures and explore everything that is out there, not only take pictures for assignments, get out there and see what else motivates and challenges you!

Have a great Tuesday!

Tuesday Ambassador

Casteel, Seth.  “12 Underwater Photos of Dogs Fetching their Ball”. Twisted Sifter. February 11, 2012.  Web.  October 7, 2013.  http://twistedsifter.com/2012/02/underwater-photos-of-dogs-fetching-their-ball/

How To Shoot Amazing Water Droplet Macro Photography.  MCP Actions. February 9, 2011.  Web.  October 8, 2013.  http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2011/02/09/how-to-shoot-amazing-water-droplet-macro-photographs/