How to Clean a Camcorder

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Christopher Rokosz, actor, director, producer and I'm going to show you how to clean your camcorder. Well this is my baby right here and she gets dirty, part about owning a beautiful piece of technology like this or any camcorder is to keep your equipment clean. This is our life blood, this is how I make my money every day, it's important that it is in tip top working order and that it does not break down and keeps working for years to come, oh please, oh please and one way to do that is to do general maintenance and general care of it. What it comes down to is it is an electronic piece of equipment encased in plastic so the things that you can use for cleaning plastic are generally good for most of the main body of the camera and that is a paper towel with nothing on it or damp and then completely wrung out so there is just absolutely nothing left. In general too you may also use some things that I believe are Endust makes a product that is specifically for plastics in electronics and make sure that it is and still never apply it to the unit, always apply it to the rag. Then gently again no matter what the instructions say, no matter what happens even if you are following my instructions start off in an area and make sure that it works with your individual piece of equipment you don't want to ruin it. So a lot of it is just sort of wiping it down, being gentle in some of the areas here, a Q-tip, a cotton swab is a great way to get into the details and this is the key for a lot of the stuff. My camera gets very dirty coming in and out of its case. The plucko foam that keeps it steady in its travel case gets very dusty so a lot of the stuff you deal with is dust. You want to use your canned air to get into the little pieces you can't, right in here at the microphone and I am going to hit it around all the places that cut through right in here is a place where things can accumulate. Also don't forget, now this is where you get delicate into the tape tray in here. Now you want to make sure that when that pops off that you are taking care of it and gently remove and you want to take a peek in and give it a little blast in that area there. Now you don't want to forget the lens when you are doing this. The lens you want to use either believe it or not saliva and move it around with a lint free cloth, use a lint free cloth or they make special camera paper, the lens paper they call it and it is something that can really get in there and do it. I usually use a little saliva and a little lens paper. Remember be gentle it is an important piece of equipment, take care of it. If you do it on a routine basis it won't get super filthy like me, Chris Rokosz. We'll see you in Hollywood."