Drying/dehumidifying lenses after travel?

Dante_Stella

Dante_Stella

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So I was four days touring in a country on the equator with 90 degree (F) weather and very high humidity. What is the recommendation on drying lenses out? I kept them in plastic bags with silica gel over nights (the gel was almost exhausted by the end of the trip home), and right now I am home and using a small watertight box with new silica gel packs and a Hakuba antifungal cartridge.

I assume that if I leave this lens in there for a few days, it will be as dry/disinfected as it can get without disassembling it? I suppose I could expose it to sunlight, too, but that could be iffy if I'm not home and a magnifying-glass fire breaks out.

It sounds a little paranoid, I know, but I also understand that a 4 day exposure is where fungal risks start.

Thanks,
Dante
 
I don't think it sounds paranoid, Dante. I do think you are doing the right thing, with the silica gel and anti-fungal cartridge. I did try the silica gel in a plastic bag approach once for an Olympus P&S that had been dunked in the river on a canoe trip. Not just wet, but dunked like a Nikonos. Although the camera had to be replaced, the treatment made an impressive difference.

I think I would keep a very close eye on them, post-treament, and at the first sign of fungus, I would send them right in for CLA. If any are due or anywhere close to being due for a CLA, I would send them anyway.

If I left them out in the sunlight while away from home, I would worry, not about fire, but that it might rain! I don't think there would be a fire risk, because with the lenses placed on a surface (which could be metal) the rays would not come to a focus on that surface, which would be close to the mounting flange, and not the image plane. But if they got rained on, that would be worse than humidity!
 
Well I live in a sub-tropical part of Australia and keep all my cameras and lenses (a lot of gear) in electric dry cabinets set to 40% relative humidity and have no problems with fungus since the day I started doing this.
I often go on photo roadtrips and if I am worried about humidity, sometimes on my return I will put lenses inside a window, with the sun shining through the lens which will be on it's side. I suspect I probably don't need to do this, the dry cabinet is enough on it's own.


http://filmisadelight.com/
 
Dante_Stella said:
So I was four days touring in a country on the equator with 90 degree (F) weather and very high humidity. What is the recommendation on drying lenses out? I kept them in plastic bags with silica gel over nights (the gel was almost exhausted by the end of the trip home), and right now I am home and using a small watertight box with new silica gel packs and a Hakuba antifungal cartridge.

I assume that if I leave this lens in there for a few days, it will be as dry/disinfected as it can get without disassembling it? I suppose I could expose it to sunlight, too, but that could be iffy if I'm not home and a magnifying-glass fire breaks out.

It sounds a little paranoid, I know, but I also understand that a 4 day exposure is where fungal risks start.

Thanks,
Dante
Click to expand...


Hey Dante, It sounds like you need a good dry cabinet. I use a little Toyo Living unit that has an adjustible humidity regulator and a uv sterilization lamp. Works great for Japan's humid summers!
 
Dry Cabinet

Dry Cabinet

I was going to suggest a dry cabinet as well. I bought an 80L Ruggard from BH last year and absolutely love it.
 
Thanks for the info (and Peter, for the reassurance)!

Chemical treatment is something I will let run for a few days. The affected lenses spent 12 hours a day in air-conditioning on the trip, and my house is so dry the wood floors are shrinking (thanks to forced-air heating... it's down around 40-45% RH now), so I don't imagine that this is cause to get a dry cabinet.

Will, what is the size of your UV light? I have a graphic arts exposure box for UV printing that is likely orders of magnitude more powerful than something in a dry box, and maybe 10-20 minutes with that could be a good preventative. I'm just not hanging out in the room while it runs!

Dante
 
Whenever I travel I don’t do anything different than I do here at home. No problems yet.

Sorry.

Even when I spent a year in S.E Asia I never did anything. Ocean water temp some places as high as 97 degrees with about an equal percentage of humidity. That was in the heat of summer. Still have my Nikon film stuff from then and it still works just fine with no fungus or haze in the lenses. The photographer is in a little haze every now and then.
 
Dante_Stella said:
Thanks for the info (and Peter, for the reassurance)!

Will, what is the size of your UV light? I have a graphic arts exposure box for UV printing that is likely orders of magnitude more powerful than something in a dry box, and maybe 10-20 minutes with that could be a good preventative. I'm just not hanging out in the room while it runs!

Dante
Click to expand...

Sorry I was mistaken! My dry cabinet uses an LED in a photocatalysis unit in the back of the cabinet. Not a UV light. But it sounds like the UV light you have would do the job!

This link has a diagram of Toyo Living's photocatalysis unit near the bottom of the page.
 
These dehumidifier boxes are pretty cheap insurance.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dehumidify...625032?hash=item25fdaae3c8:g:HhMAAOSwCmFbRITt

Even cheaper buy yourself a plastic storage bin - the type with a silicone seal around the lid and latching mechanism to lock the lid down (price depends on size but say $5-$10) and a couple of disposable desiccant packs (say $5) from a homeware store and you are good to go.

I live in what is generally called a "Mediterranean Climate" (warm to hot dry summers and cool wet winters but with occasional summer humidity when conditions push moisture down from the tropics) and store my stuff in a closed cupboard with several desiccant packs. I check these regularly and if they show signs of being saturated they get thrown out and replaced. So far, so good. If I came back from a tropical holiday when the wet season were on I would most likely place the gear in a box of the type described above then when I was happy that any residual moister was gone store it in the cupboard with the rest.
 
I guess a small enclosed box with a 25 or 40W incandescent bulb could be a good inexpensive dry box. I imagine the bulb to be at the bottom, and the camera gear high enough above to avoid excessive heat. In a small box, a 15W bulb might be better. I remember my parents had a heating element called a "damp chaser" in our piano. The piano tuner said it was important to have that (it was in humid Miami). It made me think of the light bulb idea.
 
I have a walk-in dry cabinet -- a closet. The drying element is a Goldenrod electric device often used in gun safes. Goldenrods come in various lengths, so can be purchased for the cabinet or room size.
 
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