Silicon and or Rice for humidity?

[ToddB]

Hey guys,

Do you guys through a small punch of rice or a silicon pack for humidity in you camera bag? I've been worried about humidity, so I've been tossing a little pouch in my bag. Does anyone else do that?

Todd

 

[benjiboy]

It's Silica Gel Todd.

 

[wildbill]

no, just you

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Since a camera bag is essentially open to the air one small bag of silica gel is not going to have any appreciable effect.

 

[BAC1967]

The Rolleiflex Tropical Case has a desiccant canister mounted inside to absorb moisture. This case was designed for extreme conditions like shooting in a tropical rain forest. The case is water tight so if the camera got wet while you were shooting and you seal it into the case with that water you could do some damage.

I have shot in very humid tropical conditions, the biggest problem I have found is moving the camera from an air conditioned room or vehicle out to the heat and humidity will cause a lot of condensation. This will get on the lens and can even get on the film and inner workings of the camera. The best thing to do is acclimate your camera to the heat and leave it that way until you are done shooting. The condensation can get inside the lens and camera and cause problems that may not show up until rust develops. Under most other conditions I wouldn't worry about it unless your camera gets wet.

 

[ToddB]

I know I get little concerned with the winter months coming and the drastic change from being outside in cold weather and coming into heating house or building. I typically shot much in winter however if it's snow a lot, that could be a beautiful image.

Todd

 

[gone]

Winter? It was 90 degrees today in Florida, w/ a heat index of over 100. Every year I ask the same question, when exactly does winter begin here?

 

[Xmas]

Hey guys,

Do you guys through a small punch of rice or a silicon pack for humidity in you camera bag? I've been worried about humidity, so I've been tossing a little pouch in my bag. Does anyone else do that?

Todd

If you want to you need a ziplock and a pack of fresh ovened silica gel if you are out door in cold rain before going into coffee house with high humidity put the camera in the ziplock with the gel bag and seal it. Otherwise the camera is going to be below the dew point, and get condensation.

 

[mgb74]

When you bring that cold camera into warm moist air, you'll have condensation. But I've found that if in a closed, zipped padded bag it's not an issue (even though the bag is not truly air tight). You can do your own testing with a frozen bottle of water.

 

[Peter Rockstroh01]

Silica Gel works so-so when the sachets are fresh and the volume of air is small (such as the inside of a Zip-Loc bag). They saturate rapidly and becime useless. A few companies, notably Sued-Chemie, produce CalciumChloride + Clay pouches to avoid condensation in containers and subsequent water damage. Coffee, cocoa, rice, motorcycles et cetera are shipped with these adsorbent pouches. If you know anyone in the shipping industry, ask them for Container-Dri (yep, thats how its spelled). I use a 125 gram pouch for one cubic meter of closet and it keeos humidity< 10% for over six months.

 

[mgb74]

Silica gel can be "revitalized" in the oven. Basically, low heat and long time in a vented oven is best. Some silica gel has "indicator" beads that tell you if the material is saturated, but I don't know how accurate they are. I still have some 1 lb packets that originally were used for shipping motorcycles.

 

[narsuitus]

Do you guys through a small punch of rice or a silicon pack for humidity in you camera bag? I've been worried about humidity, so I've been tossing a little pouch in my bag.

To protect my cameras from damage caused by moisture, I place small packs of silica gel desiccant and/or dry sponges in the air-tight plastic bag where I store my camera, lenses, and electronic flash. I have never used rice.

Once a year, I remove the gel packs and sponges and place them in a pre-heated convection oven (about 300 degrees Fahrenheit) with the oven door open for about 3 hours in order to remove any moisture collected during the previous 12 months. After the packs and sponges have cooled, I replace them in the air-tight plastic bag with my photographic equipment.


Silica Gel by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[Xmas]

To protect my cameras from damage caused by moisture, I place small packs of silica gel desiccant and/or dry sponges in the air-tight plastic bag where I store my camera, lenses, and electronic flash. I have never used rice.

Once a year, I remove the gel packs and sponges and place them in a pre-heated convection oven (about 300 degrees Fahrenheit) with the oven door open for about 3 hours in order to remove any moisture collected during the previous 12 months. After the packs and sponges have cooled, I replace them in the air-tight plastic bag with my photographic equipment.


Silica Gel by Narsuitus, on Flickr

That should be ok in most environments but if you street shoot in places like the UK in inclement weather you need to use a zip lock with silica gel procedure before leaving the street environment and retiring to coffee shop.

The camera may be at 5C or less the coffee shop at 15C or more with a relative humidity (RH) of 95% and a dew temperature higher than 5C.

External dew on camera and at a lesser rate internal dew on the camera.
Corrosion and possible film stress!

All out pubs have fitted coffee machines and their RH may also be very high even if you only drink beer.

 

[barzune]

.....place them in a pre-heated convection oven (about 300 degrees Fahrenheit) with the oven door open for about 3 hours.....


Silica Gel by Narsuitus, on Flickr

Here in Ontario, the cost of electricity would dictate that it is far more economical to pitch out the old packets and buy new ones.

 

[Old-N-Feeble]

The way to save electricity, if that's REALLY a concern ^^, is to bake them at the same time you're warming your leftover meals.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I prefer silica gel. Rice will probably attract vermin.

 

[narsuitus]

That should be ok in most environments but if you street shoot in places like the UK in inclement weather you need to use a zip lock with silica gel procedure before leaving the street environment and retiring to coffee shop.

I think I understand.

Earlier this year, I asked a photographer, who spent a lot of time shooting in tropical climates, how he protected his equipment from the high heat. After he told me, he informed me that protecting his equipment from the high humidity was a much bigger problem.

 

[narsuitus]

Here in Ontario, the cost of electricity would dictate that it is far more economical to pitch out the old packets and buy new ones.

Now I understand why my economical parents always bought gas ovens.

 

[Xmas]

But if you use an oven your can still use it as it cools down, from five my job at grannies was relighting her multi fuel range.
Normally it was still lit in morning as I had damped it with peat dust and closed the vents... The oven hot water tank and hot plate was never cold.

 

[Mark Fisher]

Silica gel or any other desiccant isn't going to last long unless it is in a sealed space. I use them all the time at work. Throwing them into a camera bag won't really help for very long. If you want silica, clay or molecular sieve desiccant pouches, you can get them at McMaster Carr pretty inexpensively.