Don't Let the Beach Ruin Your Camera

I love my camera, but I almost ruined in on my last trip to Key West.  Today I'm going to tell you how not to do the same thing.


Capn' Dan bought it for me for my birthday.  This is the camera that I have and you can look at some of the pictures I've taken with it in the slideshow out at http://keywestcantina.com or in my Imagekind store at  http://vineyard.imagekind.com/store/gallerylist.aspx.

If you are taking pictures on the beach, sand is going to get into your camera.  Most people find out how destructive those tiny crystals can be after they’ve ruined a camera. Beach sand is also salty sand, a double whammy.  They interfere with gears and corrode electronic boards.  Plus, the more cool gadgets your camera has, the more  susceptible it is.

I was lucky.  It only cost me $95.00 to repair my $800.00 camera.  Still an expensive lesson, plus I only had my old camera to record an East Coast trip in peak foliage season.

After a wonderful two-week family vacation to the Florida Keys where I took over a thousand pictures, I noticed that my camera sometimes didn’t come on or that it went off by itself.  We thought maybe it was the battery . . . but when the expert at the photography shop looked at it, he stated that the battery was not the problem. 

“This camera has been at the beach,” he declared. 

“How did you know?” I sputtered, and he pointed out a few grains of sand in a crevice beside a dial on the top of the camera.  Then he sent me to a technician who just might be able to save my camera.  She saved my camera, and now I'm a poorer, wiser photographer. 


Here are a few tips to save you from my pain and suffering:

Do not let your camera, or even your camera bag, touch the ground.  Don’t leave your bag open, and when you get home, make sure to give it a good vacuum.

Avoid changing lenses, if at all possible, to decrease the risk of your camera being exposed to sand.


UV filters not only make your pictures clearer and more natural, they also protect your lens.

Buy an underwater housing for your camera

Put your camera inside a ziplock bag in your camera bag.

Keep Baby wipes and compressed air and a stiff brush to keep your camera clean, and clean it every time that you’ve been around salt and sand.  Some people say that the compressed air can lodge sand in more tightly.  The jury is out on this one.


Moisten your lens cloth with a cleaning solution before cleaning your lens.

Don’t hang your camera around your neck when you’ve been swimming in salt water and wash your hands in fresh water before handling your camera if they’ve been in the ocean.

Use a camera raincoat to help protect it.

If you know you have sand in your camera, don’t turn it on to see if it works.  Those tiny grains of sand can do a lot of damage. To your lens and other delicate parts.

Consider having your camera professionally cleaned after a beach vacation.

Don’t use your camera on windy days, like I did when I took this picture: