storing lenses in high humidity

mornin' all,

A quick question for those already living in a high humidity environment - what's the best way to store lenses?

I'll be moving to Naples (Italy) for the summer and the humidity and heat there can get a little on the high side, not to mention the fact that where I'll be staying is a little damp and, well, moldy, so my question is as already said - where's best to keep 'em lenses?

I'm not going to have access to a proper storage box for reasons that I can't fit one in my bag, so I'm looking for best way to do it on the fly really... ziplock bag with silica packets? or will the sweat in there?

thanks
d.

Naples isn't a 3rd world region, just go buy plastic storage containers when you get there and take silica gel with you it's very light.

I've been living by the Aegean and the heats the issue not humidity, it's less than here in the UK or North America. Store film as low to the ground as possible as the tempertaure in a room does vary, heat rises, you'll be surprised by how much

Ian

Ian Grant said:

I've been living by the Aegean and the heats the issue not humidity, it's less than here in the UK or North America.

Ian

Click to expand...

Well, not all of North America! 90 degrees and 15% humidity right now. Pretty typical for here.

Temperature fluctuation combined with humidity is your worst enemy. It's fine when the equipment is warmer than its surroundings but bad the other way around. I would store gear in plastic bags with plenty of silica gel... recharge them often. Keep everything in a styrofoam ice chest to slow down temperature transfer. Put the chest in a cool dry place out of sunlight. Try to notice what part of the room stays the most stable in temperature and keep it there... if it's also dry.

Or... you could ask photographers and gun collectors there what they do.

Ian,

have you been to Naples?

but thanks, I hope I have room for a box to keep them in, I'll only have a room the size of a bed, so space is at a premium.

O-N-F,

there aren't any cool dry places, out of the sun - yes, but always hot and damp or cold and damp, which then means I have to go out into the hot and damp with cold equipment, which I gather from your post is a bigger problem.

I'm not so sure about collectors, but I may be able to find a few gun owners there... I guess


oh for the days of mild, non-extreme UK weather

Never been to Naples, Italy.

I was stationed 3 yrs in the panhandle of Florida, USA.
Hot, humid, sticky, Gulf Coast, Florida. Humidity hardly ever less then 85%.

Don't go with sealed plastic bags. That would be a 'petri-dish' growth chamber.

Daylight/sunlight is your friend here, along with circulation.
Fungus has a difficult time growing/forming when lenses are in daylight, w/caps off.

I used clear glass root beer/beer stein type mugs and wide mouth glass pickle jars (laying on their sides),
with scrap patches of tee-shirt rubber banded over the end to keep bugs/dust out.
Frugal, not cheap...emphasize, poor GI.

Made my own desiccant packs from emptied unused teabags, using bulk desiccant
crystals from work. These were color coded crystals; blue when dry - pink when damp.
We dried/refreshed the crystals back-to-blue, in basically a metal bread-box w/100 watt light bulb inside.
It takes a few days, but works great.

The key to desiccant packs...they must be changed/refreshed regularly.

Same goes for diapers and politicians, too!

Marc

thanks Marc that's all great help