It seems fungus can be an inevitable thing the older a lens gets. I live in a damp house and try to regulate it with the help of Relative Humidity (RH) Meters. They indicate I can drop the humidity in a container with silica gel beads to their limit of detection at 10% very easily and quickly. This seems a brilliant way of getting the internals of gear dry, because if only a little gas exchange occurs in and out of the lens, the very dry air will have a big effect. So why don't we all do this as a matter of fact being so easy and devastating to fungus? I did see one person mention a RH% of less than 35% would dry out the lubricants used in photo equipment. Is this the case? I would think if they are not water based then a dry atmosphere would not affect them?
I don't think extremely low humidity would cause problems with lubricants, but natural materials such as leather, paper and wood may be another matter. I think a compromise like 50% RH @ 25C would do nicely.
...
I did see one person mention a RH% of less than 35% would dry out the lubricants used in photo equipment. Is this the case? I would think if they are not water based then a dry atmosphere would not affect them?
I definitely am not an expert on this, but i know that oil can evaporate. It takes a lot longer than water, but it does.
Thinking of physical class in school, a liquid only can evaporate if the air is warm enough - and not saturated. If RH is like 90%, water in a bowl won`t evaporate any more because air is (nearly) saturated.
Then it may be hard for this air to still take up evaporating oil.
If the air is low RH it should be able to take up more oil evaporation - so it very well could be that too dry air may increase drying of lubricants.
Thinking of physical class in school, a liquid only can evaporate if the air is warm enough - and not saturated.
So I can't get the quote to work. Here it is from koraks above
Evaporation of greasy lubricants will happen; the rate of this is dictated primarily by the chemical makeup of the lubricant.
This is the question. But maybe I misunderstand. Here is my thinking: Water based/containing lubes will lose that water fraction in a dry atmosphere. BUT if the lubes are entirely void of water, the water content of the air will not matter. Instead the any vapour from the oil will trend towards achieving an equilibrium in the air, independently of humidity. So if this is the case a really dry air would have no impact on lube drying and be excellent for storage. So the question is - what is the chemical makeup of the lubricants used in photo equipment? Does it contain water or not? I know it's a very specific question but repairers may know.
Sort of. Evaporation happens also at low temperatures; it's just a slower process. But the degree of saturation in the gas/air on top of the material (not necessarily a liquid) does indeed moderate the rate of evaporation also (i.e. vapor pressure). It's for this reason that on a dry, cold winter's day, ice can actually evaporate - a process called 'sublimation' (which also happens to some other solids; iodine comes to mind).
Taking this back to lubricants:
* Temperature is an important parameter like in all chemical reactions. The hotter it is, the faster it goes.
* W.r.t. RH I doubt it does much. Maybe very high RH (>90%) would slow down any evaporation, but this evidently has significant drawbacks and should be avoided.
* Evaporation of greasy lubricants will happen; the rate of this is dictated primarily by the chemical makeup of the lubricant. Generally, it's only the more volatile parts of the compound product that will separate out and/or evaporate.
I couldn't say whether the difference between 10% and 35% RH would be very significant in this context. I guess it depends on the greases involved and their chemical makeup. Even so, I expect the influence to be minor.
Avoid high temperatures; volatile parts of a lubricant can more easily spread out and wreak havoc this way. I guess we've all seen this happen on old lenses that have gone foggy. Leaving the camera bag in a sunny spot or for extended periods in a hot car would certainly accelerate this.
So I can't get the quote to work. Here it is from koraks above
Evaporation of greasy lubricants will happen; the rate of this is dictated primarily by the chemical makeup of the lubricant.
This is the question. But maybe I misunderstand. Here is my thinking: Water based/containing lubes will lose that water fraction in a dry atmosphere. BUT if the lubes are entirely void of water, the water content of the air will not matter. Instead the any vapour from the oil will trend towards achieving an equilibrium in the air, independently of humidity. So if this is the case a really dry air would have no impact on lube drying and be excellent for storage. So the question is - what is the chemical makeup of the lubricants used in photo equipment? Does it contain water or not? I know it's a very specific question but repairers may know.
Instead the any vapour from the oil will trend towards achieving an equilibrium in the air, independently of humidity.
what is the chemical makeup of the lubricants used in photo equipment
It seems fungus can be an inevitable thing the older a lens gets. I live in a damp house ...
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?