Camera 2 weeks in high humidity, now what?

dpurdy · Jun 27, 2018

I just spent 2 weeks at the beach in Kona Hawaii and had my Rolleiflex out there on a tripod in action much of the time. The humidity was unusually high due to the Vog (fog caused by the volcano). The temps were always high and I was always covered in sweat. The day I got back to my 50% humidity home I bought a new bag of white rice and poured it into a paper grocery bag, then I protected the camera lenses with a layer of toilet tissue and put it face down in the rice. I also opened the back of the camera and put a silica container in it. After 2 days I checked the humidity of the inside of the bag and it was right on 30%.

Does anyone have any idea how long it should stay there and did I do the right thing and are there any other ideas for drying out the camera? Visually the camera looks fine and I never splashed water on it or got any sand in it.

thanks Dennis

railwayman3 · Jun 27, 2018

I'd suggest that the humidity in itself should not be too harmful . The real problem would probably be condensation, e.g. if you had taken the camera straight out from a cold or air-conditioned room onto the hot, humid, beach. Or splashed salt water or sand, which you have wisely avoided.

I'm sure that the rice and silica environment should have cleared any damaging residual moisture, and you should now be fine to store the camera in its normal environment, perhaps leave a silica container with it (that never does any harm).

summicron1 · Jun 27, 2018

+1...you did exactly right. Rolleis are tough, temporary exposure to that sort of humidity is within their tolerances and what you did would have dried it out before any damage could be done. I would worry about chemicals in the air from the Vog, but short of a watertight housing, or at least putting it in a plastic bag, no way to avoid that.

dpurdy · Jun 27, 2018

OK thanks for the reassurances. I guess I will take it out of the dry bag today before the leather starts to peel up..
Dennis

Paul Howell · Jun 27, 2018

When in the Air Force I spent a few years in Southeast Asia, then as a PJ in Subsharia Africa, no need to bury gear in white rice, just give your Rollei a good clearing to make sure you didn't get any salt mist on it. Pro level gear like Rolleiflex was designed to deal with high humidity.

dpurdy · Jun 27, 2018

Thanks Paul, I am a bit nervous about humidity because I have a had a couple of basement enlarger lenses get a bit of haze and fungus. I also just sent my 2.8F to Harry Fleenor a couple months ago and he discovered a small spot of fungus inside the front element of the taking lens. The camera I just took to Hawaii is a 2.8FX and I don't want to risk residual slight moisture. Hopefully you are right and my dry bag was unnecessary.

Sirius Glass · Jun 27, 2018

Nothing to worry about. If you want you could leave it standing open in a room for a day or two.

Theo Sulphate · Jun 27, 2018

Humidity over 60% for three days can cause fungus to begin growing. Fungus spores exist in the atmosphere everywhere - they need just the right environment to take hold. This info isn't from me, it's from Zeiss:

https://www.zeiss.com/camera-lenses/us/service/content/fungus-on-lenses.html

railwayman3 · Jun 28, 2018

Theo Sulphate said:
Humidity over 60% for three days can cause fungus to begin growing. Fungus spores exist in the atmosphere everywhere - they need just the right environment to take hold. This info isn't from me, it's from Zeiss:

https://www.zeiss.com/camera-lenses/us/service/content/fungus-on-lenses.html

That is certainly all good and authoritative advice, but I think it has to be considered with real-life usage of equipment, otherwise we'd have to keep our gear in controlled conditions and never take it out to take any pictures ! Not contradicting you or Zeiss, but I think that summicron1 is correct and Rolleis and other quality gear is designed to stand up to normal professional usage....but proper common-sense care in use and maintenance will keep everything working well.

Theo Sulphate · Jun 28, 2018

I agree - equipment obviously is going to be used in the tropics and other humid environments. I think the guidelines from Zeiss are what can be used perhaps at the end of the day - keeping the camera and lenses in a less hostile environment for maybe 6-8 hours.

Opemus · Jun 28, 2018

I spent 4 years in Borneo with my 60's and 70's vintages Rolleiflex 2,8 E2 and 3,5 F
I took them through the rainforest and into the cave systems at 27 degC and 99% humidity. When I got back to the camp, the were stored in electrical tropical dry cabinets in an air conditioned bungalow.

No fungus, no problems, great photographs.
I bought some enlarging lenses there too from an old Chinese photography shop, no sign of fungus on these either.
I

BAC1967 · Jun 28, 2018

I had my Rolleiflex in Saipan for over a month, that was about 4 years ago and everything is still good with it. I've had a few other cameras over there that are still fine. I never did anything like you did with the rice. The best thing to do is keep the camera acclimatized so you don't develop condensation on the film and the internals. Despite how hot as it was I would drive round with the air conditioning off and the windows down. If I didn't do that I would end up with a wet camera, inside and out and couldn't use it with a fogged lens. The Rolleiflex tropical case is water tight and has a container for desiccant built in, it was made for just such occasions.

Arklatexian · Jun 28, 2018

summicron1 said:
+1...you did exactly right. Rolleis are tough, temporary exposure to that sort of humidity is within their tolerances and what you did would have dried it out before any damage could be done. I would worry about chemicals in the air from the Vog, but short of a watertight housing, or at least putting it in a plastic bag, no way to avoid that.

+1

RalphLambrecht · Jun 28, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
Nothing to worry about. If you want you could leave it standing open in a room for a day or two.

good advice' I'm sure

monst · Jun 29, 2018

There was a Rollei tropical case you could get for humid climates, it had a little can of something in it to get rid of the moisture.

RauschenOderKorn · Jun 29, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
Nothing to worry about. If you want you could leave it standing open in a room for a day or two.

That is actually storage recommendation of Mr Paepke ( http://paepke-fototechnik.de/eng/index.html ). Store your stuff open (without lens caps) in a dust-free, ventilated and dry place.

MattKing · Jun 29, 2018

I think that I might suffer more in two weeks of heat and high humidity than any of my cameras would.

Camera 2 weeks in high humidity, now what?

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