Heat related film issues defense ...

[TJer]

My wife and I moved to central Florida about a year plus ago and I've been trying to figure out some reasonable ways to defend against heat and related issues while shooting and carrying film. I've started carrying a small soft lunch size cooler for carrying film when I'm out and about but have been curious what other people who have been in this lovely state longer than I, have figured out for controlling heat, humidity, lens and film fogging, etc. while the loaded camera is in use or being carried in a camera bag with lenses and the like. I've tried carrying small commercially available frozen blue ice sleeves at the bottom of my camera bag covered with towels to absorb the moisture while keeping the camera and lenses relatively cool and dry but they take up too much space and I'm worried about mold, mildew and fungus growing on my bag and gear. I've started carrying a medium size Coleman cloth cooler as a makeshift camera bag; it has a plastic basket that can be removed so you can put those thin blue ice sleeves at the bottom, under the plastic basket, but the exterior cloth still gets wet and I get condensation at the bottom of the basket. What do y'all use to enjoy photography in our balmy state!?!

 

[BAC1967]

The biggest problem I experienced shooting in tropical climates was going from an air conditioned room or vehicle into the hot humid air. That allows moisture to condense on your equipment and film. I find it's best to keep everything acclimated to the climate to prevent that. The heat is not much of an issue unless you leave your stuff in it for an exceedingly long time like leaving film in your hot car for weeks on end.

 

[jeffreyg]

I've lived in southern Florida for seventy years and have been actively photographing for over forty of them. Our house is airconditioned as well as the cars. I take none of the measures you describe and never had or have any problems. I use film 2 1/4 and 4x5. By the time I set up or reach where I will be photographing the equipment and film has warmed up. Even shooting from the car itself has not been a problem. I hate to tell you not to bother and then you turn out having problems but my experience has been positive. The one thing I do is to not keep batteries in equipment when not in use. I don't refrigerate my film Ilford Delta and HP5 and that has also been no problem.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

 

[BAC1967]

I've lived in southern Florida for seventy years and have been actively photographing for over forty of them. Our house is airconditioned as well as the cars. I take none of the measures you describe and never had or have any problems. I use film 2 1/4 and 4x5. By the time I set up or reach where I will be photographing the equipment and film has warmed up. Even shooting from the car itself has not been a problem. I hate to tell you not to bother and then you turn out having problems but my experience has been positive. The one thing I do is to not keep batteries in equipment when not in use. I don't refrigerate my film Ilford Delta and HP5 and that has also been no problem.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

I don't live in that climate but I have spent a lot of time in the South Pacific where I experienced the condensation on my cameras and lenses. I have had to wait for the fog to clear from the lens to shoot until I just started driving around with the AC off and the windows down. I was probably being overly cautious.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Sounds like the OP is doing the right things. Beware of fogging going in and out of air conditioned environments.

 

[TJer]

Wow this conversation has been a bit of a revelation! I never would've guessed I'd have received the responses I did but experience is the best teacher! Thank you everyone who's responded!