Cameras are made for taking photos, not sitting in a drawer in your house. Here’s how to—and why you should—carry your camera pretty much anywhere, no matter what you’re doing.
My camera has been through a lot. I’ve held it while I tumbled down a ski hill, I’ve banged or bashed it more times than I can count, it’s been splashed by waves, and it’s still sticky from where a pint of beer got spilled on it. But by having it with me and putting it through all this (and more!), I’ve taken some great photos. I’ve never missed a shot because I left my camera at home out of fear.
John Shedd once said, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” It’s the same with cameras. They’re tools for capturing images. If you aren’t going to take your camera out and shoot, you’re doing it wrong.
Now, of course, you can take great photos without your camera every leaving a photo studio, but that’s a tiny part of photography as a whole. For anything like landscapes, adventure sports, street photography, or travel photography, you’re going to need to put your camera at risk to get the shot.
Know Your Camera’s Limits
This is a manifesto for using your camera, not carelessly breaking it. My camera has lots of dings, dents, and scrapes, but I’ve never broken a lens element by dropping it straight down on concrete because I wasn’t using a strap when I should have been.
That’s why one of the most important things you need to do is know what your gear’s limits are. Professional DSLRs and mirrorless cameras are made from sturdy metal-alloys and use lots of rubber gaskets to keep out water and dust. They can take a lot more abuse than an entry-level DSLR. On the other hand, some rugged point and shoots or action cameras like a GoPro have so few moving parts that they’re practically invulnerable.
Read the reviews, look for abuse tests on YouTube, and once you’ve got an idea of what sort of punishment your gear is designed to take, you can make informed decisions about what to do with it.
Keeping Your Camera, Out, Ready, and Safe
Most of the time, when you’re shooting, you want to be able to keep your camera out and ready to use. The key is to do it as safely as possible. Your camera will always be at less risk sitting at home, but that doesn’t mean you can’t minimize the risks to it when you’re hiking, rock climbing, or shooting around New York City.
First, though, let’s talk about keeping your camera out and ready. Whether you use a mirrorless or DSLR camera, the smaller and lighter the whole setup is, the easier time you will have carrying it around. Big heavy cameras with big heavy lenses are unwieldy whether you’re halfway up a crag or pushing through a subway crowd. Also, changing lenses when you’re out doing things is a bit of a nightmare. You’re better off choosing a zoom lens that covers the range you want to shoot, rather than swapping and changing.
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Source : How (and Why) to Fearlessly Carry Your Camera Everywhere
