Checklist To Prepare Your Photography Gear For The New Year

Happy New Year! The new year represents a new beginning; a chance to start afresh. It’s a good time to set goals for upping your game in photography in the coming year. This can be in the form of trying new genres, learning new techniques, or honing your skills. Maybe it is just going out to shoot more often. Whatever it is, you need to prepare. That means making sure your gear is ready too. In that regard, here is a checklist to prepare your photography gear. I originally published this in on January 4th, 2021 but it’s that time again so I’ve updated and republished it as a friendly reminder.

Checklist To Prepare Your Photography Gear

Check The Info

Update your copyright information
- Most cameras allow you to enter copyright information that gets added to the metadata of every image. Be sure to change the year. Otherwise, it will be hard to explain how a photo you copyrighted in 2021 when the metadata says it was actually taken in 2022.
- You can also add copyright data to the photo’s metadata in post-processing software such as Adobe Lightroom. I do this in a Lightroom metadata preset as part of the import process. It’s easy to do but also easy to forget about updating it so now’s a good time to fix it.
Check the time. Are the time and time zone settings correct in your camera, software and computer?
Check your contact info. Similar to the copyright information, many cameras and software packages allow you to add your contact info to the photo’s metadata. Has anything changed?
Review your custom shooting modes. Set up new custom shooting modes and/or review existing ones to verify they are still relevant for the type of shooting you’re doing now.
Refresh your understanding of how your gear works. Take a few minutes and do a quick review of your equipment manuals. When you’re out in the field shooting, it’s no time to try to figure out how the camera works.

Check The Computer & Software Stuff

Update your firmware. Even though firmware doesn’t change very often so it is good to check periodically for updates from the manufacturer (Canon, Nikon, Sony). Equipment to check includes:
- Camera
- Lenses – most lenses don’t have firmware. However, some lenses do have firmware that needs to be installed on your camera.
- Ancillary equipment – GPS devices, Wacom Pen Tablets, CamRanger, Speedlite, or other devices may have firmware
Update your software
- Make sure your anti-virus software is up-to-date and is on auto-update. Otherwise you’re risking a major disaster. Make sure you protect yourself and the protection is working properly.
- Make sure your computer’s operating system and programs are relatively up-to-date. I generally recommend waiting for a few weeks after the release of updates to install them. Exceptions to this include important security fixes, an important performance issue you need to fix, or a new feature you really want right away. Occasionally, updates introduce new problems. So why not let others be the guinea pig?

A Warning

Should you update your computer BIOS and drivers? Since we are looking at updating firmware and software shouldn’t we update the computer BIOS and drivers? As Coach Corso on ESPN says, “Not so fast my friend”. The BIOS and drivers don’t change very often and usually not significantly when they do. The only time you should consider updating them are if:

Your research indicates they would fix a problem you are having
They provide a new feature that you want to use (this is rare)
You understand the risks and know what you’re doing

For the most part BIOS and to a lesser extent, driver updates fall into the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it category”. Updating the BIOS in particular is not for the inexperienced, non-tech savvy person. If you don’t do it right you can brick your computer. Yikes!

Check your software and photo backups

Please tell me you have an automated backup method. Sooner or later, you’re going to need it. Specifically, I recommend a two-pronged approach. This means having a local external hard drive for quick file recovery and a cloud solution for major disaster recovery. Having a local backup and a cloud solution may seem redundant and overkill. But it isn’t really overkill because having only one backup solution co-located with your computer is a risk. A fire or flood is likely to destroy all your local equipment. Conversely, if you have a cloud backup why bother with a local solution? The answer is speed and ease for smaller backup recoveries. An external hard drive and a cloud backup is a relatively small expense but when you need it (and you probably will at some point) you’ll consider it a wise investment.

Usually, the backup process is automatic and we can forget about it. However, you should check periodically to make sure your automated backups are actually working as planned.

Clean And Organize

Dirt and dust can damage your gear and affect the quality of your images. Backpack clutter can mean you can’t find some piece of gear when you really need it. Clutter hides the fact that you left behind a critical item you were “sure” you packed.

Repack and clean your backpack
Credit: Adobe Stock
- If you’re like me your backpack goes on just about every photo trip. This also means it ends up lying on the ground a lot. As a result, your backpack accumulates dust and dirt which can then make its way into your gear. Clear out and clean your backpack. After all, why carry around that granola bar from 2015; you know you’re never going to eat it.
- Organize your gear into 3 categories and repack accordingly. Error on the side of packing light.
  - The gear you always need with you and use frequently
  - The gear you use on an occasional basis
  - Special purpose gear that you only use infrequently. It’s “special” so leave it home until you go on a “special” shoot.
This is also a good time to clean your gear especially the camera and lenses.