Lowepro’s Workshop Tips

Your Lowepro camera bag was built and designed to protect your camera gear through the toughest situations and the most challenging assignments. It is built not only to be useful and comfortable, but also to be durable so that it can last longer, reducing both our and your environmental impact.
 
That's why we have created Lowepro Workshop Tips, a series of guides on how to maintain, repair, and refresh the integrity and functionality of your camera bag, so it can have a longer life.

Your Lowepro bag is your companion on memorable adventures, and we want to preserve it not just for the memories, but also to reduce our environmental impact.

Lowepro’s Workshop Tip #1 

Cleaning Your Bag 

A dirty bag is a sign of a well used bag. Lowepro bags are designed and built to help you through the toughest challenges and the harshest environments, and getting them dirty is part of the job. However, we understand that part of your reason for choosing your bag is also how good it looks, so here are some tips for cleaning it up.

It is best to start cleaning your bag in a dry state and only use water if you need to. You might be surprised what a nice blower or compressed air can do in terms of removing dust and dirt. You can also use air to clean your zippers. Just remember to pay attention to the direction so that you directing the dust away from the bag instead of pushing it further in. A vacuum cleaner is also a good option for removing dust.

After using air to remove any loose dust, a damp lint-free cloth can get most kinds of more stuck on dirt off. It is important to use a lint-free cloth to avoid adding bits of the cloth to the surface that you are cleaning to begin with.

You might be tempted to use some harsher chemicals to clean out sweat or other odors. Using very small amounts of non-toxic odor cleaning enzyme is an option to get certain smells out but you can expect a bit of damage, similar to leaving your bag in direct sun for a week, once or twice is fine, but you don’t want to be doing it every day. The fabric on your bag was made to repel moisture and dust, so most of the time, a simple wipe with a wet cloth will do the job.

After wiping your bag down with a wet cloth, it is important to let it dry. You may get tempted to use heat from a hair dryer or throw your bag into a clothes dryer but this kind of heat can damage the interior coatings and the padding of your bag which will shorten your bag’s lifespan. Air drying should be more than enough but if you want to speed up the process, a regular fan will help speed up the process.

Your ever reliable photography and adventure companion is dependable in almost any situation and rugged environment that you might want it to withstand. Over time, constant exposure to the elements or accidents may require you to extend a bit of TLC to reinforce or refresh your bag’s protective features. While it takes a number of years and a lot of adventures to wear them out, these very easy and simple tasks extend the life of your bags and the protection they provide your precious camera gear for even longer.