What cleaning supplies do you take on a trip?

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TurtleCat

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Just curious what people take on a trip to clean their gear. In a few months I’ll be Texas and they advise bringing some cleaning supplies. Since I’ll be going through TSA obviously liquids are controlled.

I’m thinking a lens brush, some Kimwipes, some astro lens cleaner (safe for all coatings), and a rocket blower. Am I missing anything? What do you take with you to dustier places?
 
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Honestly I rarely need more than a lens cloth. I do have a lens "pen" that has a felt tip coated with liquid cleaner, but I don't think I have ever used it!
 
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Small rocket blower, optical wipes, sensor swabs, Eclipse fluid, microfiber cloth and a lenspen. Helps me keep my sunglasses and reading glasses clean, too.
 
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Looks like I’m on the right path with what I’m planning on bringing. With the sensor shield on the Z8 I’m hoping a rocket blower would be all I need generally speaking for sensor. I had thought about eclipse and use that for lenses. I like using sensor wipes to gently control the application and usage of liquid on lenses, too.
 
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Rocket blower, assorted sizes of microfiber cloths (larger for body, smaller for lenses and screens, Zeiss wipes and I also use microfiber lens wipes sold by Walgreens and RiteAid, brush (currently I'm carrying a shaving brush in my travel bag and a smaller lenspen brush in my daypack). Though I have sensor cleaning stuff I don't carry it to the field.
 
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Blower, sensor brush, sensor swabs for wet cleaning if necessary, Nikon lens pen, about 10 or 12 lint free microfiber cloths (single use only so that's why so many) 1 microfiber cloth and dedicated brush for cleaning external camera and lens crevices. All fits in a small hard clamp shell case except the microfiber cloths as they just go in a small zipper pocket of the camera bag.
 
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TurtleCat said:
Looks like I’m on the right path with what I’m planning on bringing. With the sensor shield on the Z8 I’m hoping a rocket blower would be all I need generally speaking for sensor. I had thought about eclipse and use that for lenses. I like using sensor wipes to gently control the application and usage of liquid on lenses, too.
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I would also get a sensor brush. That is invaluable to get a stubborn dust particle loose that the blower won't get but without having to do a wet cleaning
 
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I only take a 1 oz spray bottle with lens cleaning solution along with a couple of microfiber cloths, a soft retractable brush, and a few packets of Zeiss lens cleaner. I use two cameras to minimize lens changes outdoors and even then try to make the changes inside a vehicle if possible.

Dust on the sensor can be a problem but primarily with images shot at small apertures of f11 or smaller and even then only in a blank sky. I keep my camera's dust free on the outside and periodically vacuum out my shoulder bags and backpacks so I minimize transfer of dust from the outside to the inside of the camera.
 
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MMoretti said:
Small rocket blower, optical wipes, sensor swabs, Eclipse fluid, microfiber cloth and a lenspen. Helps me keep my sunglasses and reading glasses clean, too.
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The Eclipse cleaning fluid is flammable, so you can't bring it on airlines (carry-on, or checked luggage). I might bring it when traveling by car though.

I typically bring ROR Residual Oil Remover when I travel by air.
 
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… I’ll add to my earlier post that I also try to remember wooden toothpicks and q-tips for getting into those stubborn crevices. Yeah, sometimes I get bored, even in fantastic places…
 
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SoCalRick said:
The Eclipse cleaning fluid is flammable, so you can't bring it on airlines (carry-on, or checked luggage). I might bring it when traveling by car though.

I typically bring ROR Residual Oil Remover when I travel by air.
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Dang, I had no idea! Maybe I can drop it into my water-filled Yeti next time, before I board…? ;) I’ll check out that ROR, meanwhile.
 
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Can anybody recommend a very small blower to take on a trip? I know the larger ones tend to work better, but space will probably be at a premium and dust somehow always seems to find it on to my Nikon sensors more than my other bodies. Go figure.

Thanks,

--Ken
 
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With my DSLR cameras I took a small spray bottle of lens cleaner and a small camel hair retractable brush and micro fiber cloths. I did not worry about sensor cleaning for two reasons. I was very careful to prevent exposing the interior of the camera to the ambient dust by making as few lens changes as possible and trying to do so inside a vehicle or building whenever possible. Having two cameras and one with a prime telephoto and the second one with a zoom telephoto meant switching cameras and not changing out lenses.

The other factor is that sensor dust is nearly always a problem in images with lots of sky and where I was using an aperture of f/11 or smaller. Most of my wildlife images have very little or no sky and often I am shooting at a large aperture so as to have as low an ISO setting as possible.

I keep my bags and backpacks as clean as possible and will periodically vacuum out their interiors. I also favor backpacks like the Gura Gear Bataflae that have outside pockets for small items and do not required opening up the main compartment to get to a battery or memory card case or filter wallet or speedlight.
 
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MMoretti said:
Dang, I had no idea! Maybe I can drop it into my water-filled Yeti next time, before I board…? ;) I’ll check out that ROR, meanwhile.
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Hand sanitizer is flammable as well and I've seen plenty of people bringing that. And while smoking is not allowed…lighters and matches are also allowed. I looked on the TSA page and there was no real definition of "flammable liquid" and what does or does not count.
 
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I have no problem with sensor cleaning and have a kit I put together with 3 solvents and extra wipes but it's a process I'd rather do at home. If I was expecting trouble it would be in my camera bag but mostly I leave it home and rely on my filtered squeeze blower. The only thing that really stuck to one of my sensors was shutter/mirror oil (D810) and that isn't the problem it used to be.
 
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