I take good care of my equipment and pride myself in keeping everything in like new condition.

Yesterday, while shooting my adult son’s rugby game (I am the officially unofficial team photographer) a weird thing happened.

I had sprayed a tiny bit of bug repellant on my lower legs because it was hot as bejesus and we were in a large field at a state park. I may or may not have scratched my legs during the game, but when I put my lens away I saw where a large portion of printed data (the area where the lens focal length f/stops, etc) is usually clustered near the zoom ring) had been partially smeared or dissolved.

This upsets my admittedly anal compulsive, possibly OCD self, in how I prefer my gear to look. Obviously, it’s only cosmetic, but it still has me mildly upset and wondering WTF that would happen. Plenty of photographers shoot in buggy conditions for crap’s sake and, imo, the printed info on a lens should not dissolve by possible contact with my fingers.

After all, I applied a tiny spritz of bug spray, not fricking paint remover. As a cancer survivor (well, you don’t survive cancer until you die from something else...another subject...) I do try and limit the amount of toxic stuff I place on my body.

Vent over. Thoughts? I don’t suppose Tamron would correct this, since it is cosmetic in nature only, but dammit, the lens is only three months old!

I take good care of my equipment and pride myself in keeping everything in like new condition.

Yesterday, while shooting my adult son’s rugby game (I am the officially unofficial team photographer) a weird thing happened.

I had sprayed a tiny bit of bug repellant on my lower legs because it was hot as bejesus and we were in a large field at a state park. I may or may not have scratched my legs during the game, but when I put my lens away I saw where a large portion of printed data (the area where the lens focal length f/stops, etc) is usually clustered near the zoom ring) had been partially smeared or dissolved.

This upsets my admittedly anal compulsive, possibly OCD self, in how I prefer my gear to look. Obviously, it’s only cosmetic, but it still has me mildly upset and wondering WTF that would happen. Plenty of photographers shoot in buggy conditions for crap’s sake and, imo, the printed info on a lens should not dissolve by possible contact with my fingers.

After all, I applied a tiny spritz of bug spray, not fricking paint remover. As a cancer survivor (well, you don’t survive cancer until you die from something else...another subject...) I do try and limit the amount of toxic stuff I place on my body.

Vent over. Thoughts? I don’t suppose Tamron would correct this, since it is cosmetic in nature only, but dammit, the lens is only three months old!

The culprit is DEET. It dissolves stuff, like rubber grips, etc. When I am going into bug infested areas, I use plastic gloves to apply the DEET, then put them in a plastic bag, and use a hand wash to rid my hands and fingers of the stuff. It is one of the few things that actually work, and given the fairly serious consequences of tick and other insect bites, namely death, it's a risk worth taking. However, I've been using DEET since the 80s and I'm still around and kicking. And I have only been bitten by a tick once, that one time I didn't use DEET.

I take good care of my equipment and pride myself in keeping everything in like new condition.

Yesterday, while shooting my adult son’s rugby game (I am the officially unofficial team photographer) a weird thing happened.

I had sprayed a tiny bit of bug repellant on my lower legs because it was hot as bejesus and we were in a large field at a state park. I may or may not have scratched my legs during the game, but when I put my lens away I saw where a large portion of printed data (the area where the lens focal length f/stops, etc) is usually clustered near the zoom ring) had been partially smeared or dissolved.

This upsets my admittedly anal compulsive, possibly OCD self, in how I prefer my gear to look. Obviously, it’s only cosmetic, but it still has me mildly upset and wondering WTF that would happen. Plenty of photographers shoot in buggy conditions for crap’s sake and, imo, the printed info on a lens should not dissolve by possible contact with my fingers.

After all, I applied a tiny spritz of bug spray, not fricking paint remover. As a cancer survivor (well, you don’t survive cancer until you die from something else...another subject...) I do try and limit the amount of toxic stuff I place on my body.

Vent over. Thoughts? I don’t suppose Tamron would correct this, since it is cosmetic in nature only, but dammit, the lens is only three months old!