Care of cameras in high humidity conditions

  • Thread starter Thread starter BBR
  • Start date Start date
Hi it's not a problem with simple precautions
I wrap the camera in a placcy bag then put into camera bag
when I get into the butterfly house I leave the camera in the camera bag as long as possible at least ten minutes
then take it out still wrapped in polythene for another five minutes
the camera and lens will now be fine to use and maybe just need to wipe the front of the lens
I've done this lots of times over the years with no problems
 
I just wipe the front of the lens, unless the sensor is exposed to a sudden change in temp it will be fine it wont unless you change lenses before your camera has adjusted to the temp.
 
robj20 said:
I just wipe the front of the lens, unless the sensor is exposed to a sudden change in temp it will be fine it wont unless you change lenses before your camera has adjusted to the temp.
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You're probably right but I wouldn't want to chance it
at the butterfly house I go to the humidity is very high and its hot the camera will be soaked with water
I just leave the camera in the bag and wander around for ten minutes and look for subjects in a good position and work out which area has the best light
 
May or may not be relevant, but I've sort of worked around the misting problems I've been experiencing in my cave photography. A lot of caves are high humidity and cold; a cave temperature camera condenses breath very effectively resulting in a constant battle to see though the viewfinder and keep the lens clear.

I'm now adding a gel hand-warmer in the bag next to the camera.
The hand warmer is only enough to get the camera slightly warm (not hot); seems to work a treat.
Works best if the camera has been keeping toasty for an hour or so.
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
May or may not be relevant, but I've sort of worked around the misting problems I've been experiencing in my cave photography. A lot of caves are high humidity and cold; a cave temperature camera condenses breath very effectively resulting in a constant battle to see though the viewfinder and keep the lens clear.

I'm now adding a gel hand-warmer in the bag next to the camera.
The hand warmer is only enough to get the camera slightly warm (not hot); seems to work a treat.
Works best if the camera has been keeping toasty for an hour or so.
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Thanks, sounds like another good tip.
 
Keeping the camera just above dew point is a trick astro-photographers use too, one solution I've seen is a lens wrap with some nichrome wire to raise the glass a few degrees above ambient. I don't know how well that would work in an already warm environment.
 
Went to the Eden Project a while ago and had a similar issue. When I got inside the tropical biome there was a professional film crew in there making a documentary so asked them how they get over this issue. They told me to go to the loos nearby and warm my camera up under the warm air hand dryer for 5 minutes to get it up to temperature before quickly returning to the heat and humidity of the dome. Brilliant, warm camera, no condensation or fogging and it worked perfectly all the time I was there.
 
Quicksnapper said:
Went to the Eden Project a while ago and had a similar issue. When I got inside the tropical biome there was a professional film crew in there making a documentary so asked them how they get over this issue. They told me to go to the loos nearby and warm my camera up under the warm air hand dryer for 5 minutes to get it up to temperature before quickly returning to the heat and humidity of the dome. Brilliant, warm camera, no condensation or fogging and it worked perfectly all the time I was there.
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am hoping to go to the eden project in late July so will bear this tip in mind! thanks!
 
When I went to Eden I didn't have any condensation or fogging issues. I did have some electrical issues though, power kept cutting out and eventually died for a couple of hours. Everything back to normal a few hours after exiting the biomes (the rainforest biome in particular).
 
GlennW said:
When I went to Eden I didn't have any condensation or fogging issues. I did have some electrical issues though, power kept cutting out and eventually died for a couple of hours. Everything back to normal a few hours after exiting the biomes (the rainforest biome in particular).
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GlennW said:
When I went to Eden I didn't have any condensation or fogging issues. I did have some electrical issues though, power kept cutting out and eventually died for a couple of hours. Everything back to normal a few hours after exiting the biomes (the rainforest biome in particular).
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Sounds like maybe you had internal condensation in the camera
 
Quite a few butterfly houses and tropical reptile areas in zoos have hand driers at the entrance for people to warm their specs and/or cameras to reduce condensation. Short of there being one placed for the specific purpose, there may well be a gents nearby with a hand drier for its more usual use!
 
Lindsay D said:
I just stuff it under my coat so it's up to body temperature by the time I get into the tropical house. Easy enough if your cameras aren't too massive.
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BBR said:
Nikon D4, probably as about as massive as they come as far as DSLRs concerned, however I'm fairly massive myself so that may work!
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:D

I do a bit of cave photography and as Duncan says misting is a real issue but I have found that it is worse if the camera is kept close to my body, I often take a waterproof compact and if it is in a pocket the misting is worse than if it is in a bag. I assume this is because you body gives off a fair amount of humidity (well at least mine does when I do some exercise). The idea of using a "dry" heat, hand drier, gel hand-warmer, etc. would probably be better.
 
So, I left my camera and bag next to the Aga overnight and even added a hot water bottle to the bag before I left. The butterfly farm is only 10 mins away. Went in, got camera out and it immediately steamed up! Waited 10 mins and it was fine.

As an aside, checking my gear last night, had the camera, the macro lens, spare XQD card, spare CF card, ring flash, spare battery, all to no avail as I had lost my step down ring for the ring flash. £'000s of kit rendered useless (for what I wanted to do) for the sake of a bloody £2 step down ring. Ended up shooting at ISOs up to 18000 but was pleasantly surprised at the IQ, that D4 is brilliant.
 
After the Meet at Stratford-Upon-Avon today I now realise this thread needed less info about steamed up cameras and more warnings about steamed up photographers :p
 
LCPete said:
Sounds like maybe you had internal condensation in the camera
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Yeah I think so. To be safe I sent it off to Canon, they kept it for a few weeks and could never reproduce the issue. Not had it since, will definitely take more precautions when I return there some day.
 
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