Cleaning Camera/Lens in salty conditions

[wideangle]

I was looking through my camera manual and read that "if the camera has been exposed to salty air, wipe it with a well-wrung wet cloth". Surely if you take your camera somewhere on the coast you would only be cleaning it through this method if your camera got sea spray/lots of sand blowing around? Interested to hear from people on their thoughts and those who do a lot of coastal/beach shooting.

[ameerat42]

(Changed to "salty". Don't worry! It's not the biting kind.)

WA. That sounds OK to me. You'd only be wiping off excess salt.
Am.

[Tannin]

Air anywhere near the coast contains quite a lot of salt, even when you are well out of the spray. Look at the building codes: you are required, for example, to use special heavy-duty roofing iron and even exotic materials like stainless steel for fittings when you build anywhere within hundreds of yards from the coast or a tidal river.

Use your own judgment as to how often, but a wipe down every now and then with a well-wrung, clean, damp cloth will remove any gradual accumulation before it as a chance to cause trouble. Put the camera somewhere warm and dry for a while afterwards to make sure it doesn't stay damp.

[nardes]

A friend of mine who knows an electrician that works at a surf beach, said that the electrician sees evidence of corrosion from salt water laden air as far as 5 km inland from the surf beaches.

Cheers

Dennis

[Gonk0]

Thanks for the heads up guys, I had never even thought of giving my cameras a wipe over after being down by the sea.

I have now given both my cameras a wipe over.