Keeping humidity out!

elchinosanz · Dec 20, 2015

Greetings!

I'm wondering how you guys keep your gear away from humidity. I have 8 cameras and a few lenses that I would hate to get fungus on. Living in the caribbean it seems like it's just a matter of time before I lose a lens or two because of it. Buying a huge dry cabinet does not seem reasonable, especially since I'm always buying/selling gear.

For those of you who own more than a few cameras/ lenses, how do you keep the humidity out?

Thanks in advance!!

BAC1967 · Dec 20, 2015

You could store them in a sealed plastic bag with desiccant or rice. Also, if you take them from a cool air conditioned building or car out to heat and humidity let them acclimate to the temperature before removing them from the dry storage. That's where you will get the most moisture when it condenses on your gear.

StephenT · Dec 20, 2015

Desiccant. You can get it in aluminium containers with different dimensions. Reactivate them in your oven when needed. I keep a couple in each camera bag/case and several spread out in my camera cabinets.

Google or Amazon for suppliers.

elchinosanz · Dec 20, 2015

BAC1967 said:
You could store them in a sealed plastic bag with desiccant or rice. Also, if you take them from a cool air conditioned building or car out to heat and humidity let them acclimate to the temperature before removing them from the dry storage. That's where you will get the most moisture when it condenses on your gear.

StephenT said:
Desiccant. You can get it in aluminium containers with different dimensions. Reactivate them in your oven when needed. I keep a couple in each camera bag/case and several spread out in my camera cabinets.

Google or Amazon for suppliers.

Is just having them on the shelf with a desiccant enough? Or do I need to have a custom airtight cabinet/box? Plastic bags won't work for me as I like looking at my cameras as much as I like shooting them . I have them on a shelf displayed and always take out a different one.

Has anyone tried dehumidifiers in the room they keep their stuff?

Theo Sulphate · Dec 20, 2015

Some comments from Zeiss about humidity and fungus:

http://www.zeiss.com/camera-lenses/en_us/website/service/fungus_on_lenses.html

Do you know what your humidity levels are where you keep your equipment? Inexpensive temperature + humidity meters can be bought for under $10. I have five in my camera room and three throughout the house. Although I'm sure my humidity (~48%) is much less than yours, I periodically raise the room temperature when I see the humidity creeping up towards 60%.

Some people use a low wattage incandescent light bulb in an enclosed space (e.g. a cabinet) to elevate the temperature and reduce humidity.

There is also a sealed plastic dessicant container which some people put in cabinets or safes. They can be taken out every month or so, plugged into a wall socket for a few hours to "refreshen" the dessicant, and then put back inside.

Sirius Glass · Dec 20, 2015

Place the lenses in the window so the Sun can shine directly in them for part of the day. Regular exposure to sun light will help prevent fungus growth.

bence8810 · Dec 20, 2015

I live in Tokyo - very humid throughout summer and what I did was the following.
Bought an airtight plastic box from a camera store (Yodobashi) which has a little humidity gauge on it's front and I add in two silica packs every month or so. In the summer I increase it to 3.

It keeps humidity out perfectly - but what I found is that once I open the box the humidity immediately jumps up and takes hours to go back down again. It is working for me as I am mainly a one camera shooter and have all in all 4 cameras so not a whole lot of opening and closing of the box.

Be careful - whatever you use - leather doesn't like being in a dry environment, it'll crack and get stiff. I keep all my leather cases / straps off the cameras when they go into the dry box.

Ben

Ken Nadvornick · Dec 20, 2015

My darkroom is kept at 50% RH by a dedicated portable compressor-type dehumidifier unit. Not inexpensive, but given that it's a basement space, it's a damp temperate rainforest climate, and the value of the equipment being protected far exceeds the cost of the dehumidifier, it's an easy decision.

Ken

Peter Rockstroh01 · Dec 20, 2015

This was previously discussed in another thread. Desiccants only work in confined spaces. Putting a sachet of Silica on a shelf won't accomplish anything. I use Container Dri II, a large (125 gr./unit) desiccant presentation used to prevent container rain (condensation of ambient humidity inside seafreight containers), inside large Zip-Loc bags. For my 8x10, I use a turkey brining bag, and it can hold camera, 10 film holders and there is space left. Humidity inside the bag stays below 2%.
The product is available from freight transport companies, as every container of grains, coffee and other humidity sensitive products, must be equipped with it, to reduce risk of losses.

bence8810 · Dec 20, 2015

Peter Rockstroh01 said:
Humidity inside the bag stays below 2%.

I could be wrong but I don't think that's a great idea.
On my humidity gauge there is a scale of colors representing Wet / Good / Too Dry. Anything below 30% is too dry and can cause some damage to the lubricants.

I could be wrong but this is what I heard / read.

Ben

kivis · Dec 20, 2015

AH...I live in South Florida. Very Humid. Like 99.99999% of the residents here, I live in an air conditioned house that keeps the humidity under 55%. I keep my cameras in the house when not in use. Doesn't that suffice?

sagai · Dec 21, 2015

Well, if you use the lenses and expose those to sunlight, UV radiation does to job for fungus.
Go out for shooting with your lenses and all will be fine than

summicron1 · Dec 21, 2015

Move to Utah. Very dry ere all the time. Humidity not a problem. Negatives dry while hanging in half an hour.

Sirius Glass · Dec 21, 2015

Or move to California, we have not had rain in years.

Arklatexian · Dec 21, 2015

bence8810 said:
I could be wrong but I don't think that's a great idea.
On my humidity gauge there is a scale of colors representing Wet / Good / Too Dry. Anything below 30% is too dry and can cause some damage to the lubricants.

I could be wrong but this is what I heard / read.

Ben

Greetings from Louisiana where humidity is a problem most of the time! I would think that if low humidity is harmful to leather cases, etc., it would even be worse on leather bellows and such. My darkroom and the room where I keep my cameras are both equipped with small airconditioners which not only keeps humidity under control but keeps the darkroom at 68 degrees F. all year. This helps also with developing film and keeps sweat from dripping into paper chemicals during printing. With no windows in the darkroom and only one small one
in the other room the airconditioners are small and not very expensive. Probably less so than many used cameras that many of you own.......Regards!

elchinosanz · Dec 22, 2015

I think I will try a dehumifier since I already have one and see how that goes. Otherwise, I'll stick to the bags with the dessicant. Thanks!

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

Keeping humidity out!

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency