What's your procedure for changing lenses?

[VVFF]

I'm just wondering what everyone's routine is with changing lenses when out in the field. Lets say you have a camera bag with you and that's it.

I've seen videos online with "quick" methods but those quick methods unfortunately rely on smaller diameter lenses or larger hands. Neither of which I have.

So I'm wondering how all of you switch lenses to minimize the chance of dust. Feel free to share as I'm sure this information will help more than just me.

 

[gokenin]

I normally take the lens that I am changing to out and take the back cap off an place aside. turning the camera so the lens is facing the ground I remove the lens from it (after turning the camera off of course). Put the new lens on while still holding it upside down or a slight angle so i can see the lineup points. Once new lens is on i put the back cap on the lens i just took off then place that in the bag. This method has been pretty good at controlling dust and particles getting in the camera

 

[kaffinito]

I normally take the lens that I am changing to out and take the back cap off an place aside. turning the camera so the lens is facing the ground I remove the lens from it (after turning the camera off of course). Put the new lens on while still holding it upside down or a slight angle so i can see the lineup points. Once new lens is on i put the back cap on the lens i just took off then place that in the bag. This method has been pretty good at controlling dust and particles getting in the camera

I do what gokenin does too. I haven't had a problem with dust yet. (Knock on wood)

 

[VVFF]

I normally take the lens that I am changing to out and take the back cap off an place aside. turning the camera so the lens is facing the ground I remove the lens from it (after turning the camera off of course). Put the new lens on while still holding it upside down or a slight angle so i can see the lineup points. Once new lens is on i put the back cap on the lens i just took off then place that in the bag. This method has been pretty good at controlling dust and particles getting in the camera

That's about what I've been doing but have been "playing around with" using the body cap in between the lens change to reduce the time even further that the camera body is open.

 

[RBennett]

I think we all pretty well use the same method, except I do one thing slightly different. (Or at least I think it's different from what was mentioned.) First let me say I have the BEST DW in the world and she will provide me with another set of hands to help. But whether she's there or not, when I get the new lens out I will not take the back cap off. Instead, I will just loosen it so that it's resting on the back of the lens and will then make the quick swap once the old lens is off. Also, I make sure to have the back cap for the old lens right there and ready as well.

 

[YesDear]

I do pretty much what everyone else does. I think one point to be obvious but not stated yet is to always turn off the camera first. If you have VR or IS on the lens you can screw it up with leaving the camera on.

 

[jann1033]

if you leave the camera on it also attracts more dust to the sensor. (never heard of it also messing up the is but could be. canon at least never told me to do that for IS lenses. interesting thought though)

*i try to find a seat and/or someplace steady for my bag so my lens doesn't fall and cost me $$$ to fix.

turn off the camera.

i try to keep the lens cap in my right front pocket so after first checking all other pockets and finally the right front pocket i put the front cap on the attached lens.

i take the new lens out and take off the new rear cap, put that in the bag ( my tamron back cap doesn't fit well on my canon lenses for some reason so i keep the brand caps on the brand it came with),

with camera opening down remove old lens,

attach new one,

scrounge around inside black bag to find black rear cap for lens i took off.

put cap on old one

and take off new front cap, put in right pocket of pants so i won't have to scrounge around trying to remember which pocket i put it in .

try to take photo and remember then i forgot to turn on the camera again.

turn camera back on and realize i wanted to take one more photo with the lens i just took off*.

repeat process between *

 

[VVFF]

if you leave the camera on it also attracts more dust to the sensor. (never heard of it also messing up the is but could be. canon at least never told me to do that for IS lenses. interesting thought though)

Actually, at least with the 50D canon has changed it so that power to the sensor is cut off immediately upon lens removal so dust is not attracted to it.

 

[racreel]

Double post somehow...

 

[racreel]

That's about what I've been doing but have been "playing around with" using the body cap in between the lens change to reduce the time even further that the camera body is open.

How does this save any time? If you have the new lens ready to go on, won't it be on the camera just as fast as the body cap? Seems like this could double the time that the body is open: lens off - cap on, cap off - lens on; instead of just old lens off - new lens on.

 

[VVFF]

How does this save any time? If you have the new lens ready to go on, won't it be on the camera just as fast as the body cap? Seems like this could double the time that the body is open: lens off - cap on, cap off - lens on; instead of just old lens off - new lens on.

It doesn't necessarily save time, it saves amount of time the body is open to the elements.

I can take off a lens and have the body cap in my other hand and place it immediately over the mount when I take the lens off. I can then place the lens I took off in my bag, put its cover back on and get the new lens ready to go without having to hold the camera upsidedown the entire time.

I then reverse the procedure, I remove the cap of the lens being switched to and with one have take the body cap off. I quickly place the lens on and I'm good to go.

Like I said, not necessarily any quicker, but I'm also not trying to hold my camera upside down while fumbling with putting away one lens and grabbing another. I'm deciding which way I like better now.

 

[sdshutterbug]

I use a Lowepro Slingshot, and if I'm changing lenses a lot, I keep it in position to change lenses (slung in front) even while I'm shooting, and it also has the added bonus that it helps me steady my arms in low light! Another trick I use is that I have 3 lenses but I only really use 2 rear caps. I pretty much always have a lens mounted on my camera, so there is always one that is not in use that I keep tucked away. I just rotate the other 2 on whatever lenses are not in use, which makes for one less accessory floating around while I'm changing lenses.

 

[Groucho]

i try to keep the lens cap in my right front pocket so after first checking all other pockets and finally the right front pocket i put the front cap on the attached lens.

I'm similar except that I am left-handed so usually use the left front pocket.

It doesn't necessarily save time, it saves amount of time the body is open to the elements.

It goes without saying that you want the body cap to be completely dust-free... lens rear elements usually have caps to keep the dust off them, but a body cap is usually a big flat piece of plastic that is perfect for collecting dust, hair, etc then depositing it back into your camera if you're not careful.

To the original question...

I get the rear cap off the new lens and hold it in one hand. With the other, I will press the release button on the mounted lens (sometimes need to use one finger of the hand holding the new lens), twist it off, and immediately pop on the new lens (which is ready and waiting right next to the mounted lens.) Take old lens, put free rear lens cap on it, and put in bag. Total exposure time is usually less than half a second, I'd say.

The tricky thing is when I go from M42 back to K-mount lenses, as that involves unscrewing the lens then using my fingernail to release the latch that holds the M42 adapter in place... then quickly mounting the lens again. In these cases, I make extra sure that I am blocking any wind as much as possible, but exposure times are more like 5-7 agonizing seconds!

I was at a wedding over the weekend, and there were 2-3 wedding photographers using D3s and big F2.8 zooms, and I was rather surprised that the lens changing technique involved standing the camera on the monopod straight up and facing out, removing the lens, putting it away, pulling out new lens, then mounting. Did I mentioned that this was about 20' from a beach on the Atlantic Ocean? And that there was a fair amount of breeze? Granted, the full-frame sensor won't show the dust quite as badly but it will be there, and I just can't see how they could expect to avoid it with such a laissez-faire lens changing routine.

 

[VVFF]

I'm similar except that I am left-handed so usually use the left front pocket.


It goes without saying that you want the body cap to be completely dust-free... lens rear elements usually have caps to keep the dust off them, but a body cap is usually a big flat piece of plastic that is perfect for collecting dust, hair, etc then depositing it back into your camera if you're not careful.

To the original question...

I get the rear cap off the new lens and hold it in one hand. With the other, I will press the release button on the mounted lens (sometimes need to use one finger of the hand holding the new lens), twist it off, and immediately pop on the new lens (which is ready and waiting right next to the mounted lens.) Take old lens, put free rear lens cap on it, and put in bag. Total exposure time is usually less than half a second, I'd say.

The tricky thing is when I go from M42 back to K-mount lenses, as that involves unscrewing the lens then using my fingernail to release the latch that holds the M42 adapter in place... then quickly mounting the lens again. In these cases, I make extra sure that I am blocking any wind as much as possible, but exposure times are more like 5-7 agonizing seconds!

I was at a wedding over the weekend, and there were 2-3 wedding photographers using D3s and big F2.8 zooms, and I was rather surprised that the lens changing technique involved standing the camera on the monopod straight up and facing out, removing the lens, putting it away, pulling out new lens, then mounting. Did I mentioned that this was about 20' from a beach on the Atlantic Ocean? And that there was a fair amount of breeze? Granted, the full-frame sensor won't show the dust quite as badly but it will be there, and I just can't see how they could expect to avoid it with such a laissez-faire lens changing routine.

I need to experiment with something like this. My problem comes with initially getting the lens off. The lens release on the 50D(and pretty much any Canon AFAIK) is on the left of the body. So usually I have the left side of the body held with one hand. I then twist off the lens with the other. This doesn't leave me any hand for immediately putting the other lens on.

EDIT: Just tried twice and it works pretty well provided I can relay on the camera strap to hold the camera. I push the lens release button and can finagle it off while the other lens is in my other hand. Like I said only issue is that I'm at the mercy of my camera strap in this process unless I did something "wrong" that I didn't understand from your description.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Without pausing my shooting, I shout "70-200 (or whatever lens I want), stat!" The "stat" part is critical. My lovely assistant pulls out the appropriate lens and removes the end cap. Between shutter clicks, I pop the lens off the camera and barely a moment later my lovely assistant mounts the new lens. I hand her the old lens and continue with my shooting. To prevent dust issues, both my assistant and I suck in during the lens change to draw dust away from the camera.

 

[VVFF]

Without pausing my shooting, I shout "70-200 (or whatever lens I want), stat!" The "stat" part is critical. My lovely assistant pulls out the appropriate lens and removes the end cap. Between shutter clicks, I pop the lens off the camera and barely a moment later my lovely assistant mounts the new lens. I hand her the old lens and continue with my shooting. To prevent dust issues, both my assistant and I suck in during the lens change to draw dust away from the camera.

Quite the team!

 

[boBQuincy]

:
It goes without saying that you want the body cap to be completely dust-free... lens rear elements usually have caps to keep the dust off them, but a body cap is usually a big flat piece of plastic that is perfect for collecting dust, hair, etc then depositing it back into your camera if you're not careful.

I saw a trick of putting a few strips of double-stick tape inside the body cap to collect any dust that may be around. It may work since I have not had any problems with dust since I started using the tape. It also may work as well for keeping elephants off the monorail, I haven't seen any of them since I started using the tape either!

 

[racreel]

It doesn't necessarily save time, it saves amount of time the body is open to the elements.

Actually, wouldn't you be doubling the time that the body is open? You're opening it twice for each lens change. If you had the other lens ready in your hand, it will go on just as fast as the body cap.

As to holding the body face down, I don't see how this would really help, dust floats in all directions. I wouldn't want to leave it open for very long facing any direction.

When I'm changing, I get the new lens ready, make sure it's dust free. Then take off the old, on with the new. Cap goes on old lens and into the bag.

 

[Groucho]

I saw a trick of putting a few strips of double-stick tape inside the body cap to collect any dust that may be around. It may work since I have not had any problems with dust since I started using the tape. It also may work as well for keeping elephants off the monorail, I haven't seen any of them since I started using the tape either!

I think this is actually getting to be pretty standard on current DSLRs as part of the anti-dust strategy... I've had it for a while from the factory.

 

[Jeanne B]

I think we all pretty well use the same method, except I do one thing slightly different. (Or at least I think it's different from what was mentioned.) First let me say I have the BEST DW in the world and she will provide me with another set of hands to help. But whether she's there or not, when I get the new lens out I will not take the back cap off. Instead, I will just loosen it so that it's resting on the back of the lens and will then make the quick swap once the old lens is off. Also, I make sure to have the back cap for the old lens right there and ready as well.

I do the same thing.