Photography Life

PL provides various digital photography news, reviews, articles, tips, tutorials and guides to photographers of all levels

  • Lens Reviews
  • Camera Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • Compare Cameras
  • Forum
    • Sign Up
    • Login
  • About
  • Search
Home → Miscellaneous

How to Change Camera Lenses Safely

By Alex Coleman 4 Comments
Last Updated On June 5, 2023

How to Change Lenses Illustration

Changing the lens on your camera might seem simple, but there are a number of best-practices that can reduce the risk to your gear, as well as cut down on the amount of dust that gets inside your camera. In this guide to swapping camera lenses, I’ll go step by step through the process, sharing some of the tips I’ve picked up along the way.

Table of Contents

  • Understand Your Environment
  • Find a Good Surface
  • Prepare for the Lens Change
  • Remove Your Current Lens
  • Swap Lenses
  • Secure Your Camera Bag
  • Extra Tips
    • Bring Spares
    • Don’t Rush the Process
    • Carry a Backup Camera

1. Understand Your Environment

Before you even begin to take the lens off your camera, consider the environment you’re in. For camera gear – or really any electronic item – the biggest risks come from salt water, moisture of any kind, and dust.

Yes, I’ve had to change lenses in each of these conditions at some point, but I take every opportunity possible to reduce my exposure to them. If it’s raining, I’ll duck under cover before changing lenses. If it’s windy, I’ll put my back to the wind and shield my gear as much as possible. And by the ocean, I always walk as far away from the waves as possible so that salt doesn’t get in the camera.

As for vehicles, they are usually filled with a lot of dust. But if the weather is really bad, I would rather change lenses in a car than outdoors. Always try to identify areas that are out of the wind and as free from dust as possible.

2. Find a Good Surface

Usually when changing lenses, you’ll need a surface to rest your gear upon (like the lens you just removed). This is easy indoors, where a clean table suits the purpose. Outdoors can be trickier.

With practice, you can potentially juggle gear between your hands and/or bags to change lenses while standing – but even with experience, there’s the risk of dropping something. When possible, I like to work off a dedicated surface instead. If there is no obvious candidate like a park bench in your environment, consider placing your camera bag on the ground and working out of it.

3. Prepare for the Lens Change

Once you’ve made the most of your surroundings, it’s time to set up the lenses that you’ll be switching. Fancy chefs would refer to this step as mise en place, or “putting in place.”

To get your new lens ready, I recommend placing it face-down so that the front of the lens is on the table, or pointing into the bag. Both the front and back of the lens should still have on their caps. This leaves the rear element, still covered by the rear cap, facing up.

As for the lens that’s currently on your camera, now’s the time to put on the lens cap, configure the lens hood for storage, and retract the lens if it extends.

It’s better better to minimize the time that a lens’s rear element, and a camera’s internal chamber, are exposed to the environment. But once you’ve finished the preparations above, go ahead and remove the rear cap from your lens.

LensChange8
Put the new lens face down on a table or in your bag. Minimize the amount of time that the rear element is exposed.

4. Remove Your Current Lens

It’s time to remove the lens that’s on your camera. Make sure your camera is powered off and has had time to run any sensor cleaning routines. Then, depress the lens release button on your camera.

LensChange5 Lens Release Button
The release button to remove a lens on the Nikon Z7

With your other hand, rotate your lens in the mount from the secured to unsecured position. These spots are often marked with dots or indicators on both the lens and camera body. Before turning, make sure you have a firm grip on the lens. This is the biggest danger-zone for dropping gear.

LensChange7 Rotate Lens
The lens has now been rotated to the unsecured position

Holding the lens firmly, face the camera toward the ground in order to reduce the amount of dust that can enter the chamber. Gently pull the lens away from the camera and put it down on the table or in your bag, with the rear element sticking up. You can now put the rear cap on the lens that you just removed, but be quick about it.

5. Swap Lenses

Now your priority is to put the new lens on your camera relatively fast to minimize the time that dust can get into your camera. Pick up the new lens, noting the position of the mounting mark. Angle it so that the dot on the lens matches the dot on the camera. Then, bring the new lens up toward the camera.

LensChange
Pick up the new lens

Now you can connect the two of them gently. If you’ve aligned the two dots, the lens should fit onto the camera smoothly and not require significant force to attach. Rotate the lens into position (clockwise on some cameras, counter-clockwise on other cameras) and make sure that it’s firmly in place. Most camera bodies will click or provide another audible or tactile clue.

LensChange2
Align the lens and connect it to the camera

Once your new lens is securely in position, you can let go of the lens.

LensChange4
After rotating to the locked position, you’ve successfully changed lens!

6. Secure Your Camera Bag

Once you’ve swapped lenses, it’s time to finish up with your old lens and bag. Put the lens away properly and zip up your bag. Stow any accessories like lens cloths or dust blowers that you were using. Then just remove the lens cap on your new lens and start taking pictures!

Extra Tips

Bring Spares

I always like to keep spare caps in my camera bag – both front/rear lens caps, as well as camera body caps. These can come in handy if you lose or drop your existing cap. Putting a gritty cap back onto a lens is just about the worst thing you can do for keeping your gear clean and functional, as the body and lens interface has delicate electronic and mechanical connections that have to stay clean.

Don’t Rush the Process

Whenever I’ve seen or read about other photographers having issues with dropped gear, the two scenarios that always jump out are lens changes and mounting the camera on a tripod. You can prevent a lot of damage in both situations by taking a few extra seconds to do things right.

Carry a Backup Camera

In fast-moving professional situations, the best option can be to carry a second camera body and attach different lenses to both of them. This is what I always do in windy desert conditions, where changing lenses is not possible. Lots of wedding and event photographers carry two or more cameras for the same reason.

Looking for even more exclusive content?

On Photography Life, you already get world-class articles with no advertising every day for free. As a Member, you'll get even more:

Silver ($5/mo)
  • Exclusive articles
  • Monthly Q&A chat
  • Early lens test results
  • "Creative Landscape Photography" eBook
Gold ($12/mo)
  • All that, PLUS:
  • Online workshops
  • Monthly photo critiques
  • Vote on our next lens reviews
 
Click Here to Join Today
 

Related Articles

  • Tamron 24-70mm vs Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm
    How to Clean SLR Camera Lenses
  • Sony Lens Abbreviations
    Sony Lens Abbreviations
  • too many lenses
    What Camera Lens Should I Buy? A Beginner’s Guide
  • Landing
    Lens vs Camera: What Should You Upgrade First?
  • Nikon_500mm_PF_Switches
    Lens Stabilization vs In-camera Stabilization
  • Sigma Lens Abbreviations
    Sigma Lens Abbreviations
Disclosures, Terms and Conditions and Support Options
Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Lens, Lenses, Photography Tips, Tip, Tips for Beginners

About Alex Coleman

I'm Alex Coleman, a commercial and travel photographer in Arizona. As an educator, I enjoy sharing my appreciation for photography with audiences both online and in person. You can see more of my work on my website.

guest

guest

4 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jonathan
Jonathan
June 15, 2023 11:44 am

It all seems a bit obvious to me. I blow on the sensor with a bulb blower with the sensor pointing down before i attach the next lens, i never have dust issues doing this

0
Reply
Bo Gussname
Bo Gussname
June 8, 2023 6:11 am

“ Putting a gritty cap back onto a lens is just about the worst thing you can do ”

If anyone doubts this, I have a Fuji 18-55 with a scratch on the front element as Exhibit A…..

0
Reply
polizonte
polizonte
June 5, 2023 8:49 pm

Great suggestions for camera care – my obsession about dust leads makes me tavoid changing lenses which is counter productive. Your website landscapes are mesmerizing.

0
Reply
Alex
Alex
Reply to  polizonte
June 6, 2023 12:59 am

Thanks!

0
Reply

Learn

  • Beginner Photography
  • Landscape Photography
  • Wildlife Photography
  • Portraiture
  • Post-Processing
  • Advanced Tutorials
Photography Life on Patreon

Reviews

  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews
  • Best Cameras and Lenses

Photography Tutorials

Photography Basics
Landscape Photography
Wildlife Photography
Macro Photography
Composition & Creativity
Black & White Photography
Night Sky Photography
Portrait Photography
Street Photography
Photography Videos

Unique Gift Ideas

Best Gifts for Photographers

Subscribe via Email

If you like our content, you can subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly email updates using the link below:

Subscribe to our newsletter

Site Menu

  • About Us
  • Beginner Photography
  • Lens Database
  • Lens Index
  • Photo Spots
  • Search
  • Forum

Reviews

  • Reviews Archive
  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews

More

  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Workshops
  • Support Us
  • Submit Content

Copyright © 2025 · Photography Life

You are going to send email to

Move Comment