Humidity and lenses

[2Tiggies]

This must surely have come up for discussion before but I can't seem to find anything on here.

How do you all cope with humid conditions with your cameras? We have, in the past, gone to WDW in spring/Easter time and October so it's never really been an issue. Last year we were there late September and into the first week of October and the first few days we had some high humidity and it was just impossible for me to take any pictures at some points of the day due to the lens fogging up instantly. You could see the it misting over through the viewfinder as I wiped it.

Is this just one of those things that you accept as normal for this time of the year? Is there anything that can be done to help?

We will be there from the beginning of September this year for 18 days so in the back of my mind it is bothering me slightly already.

Thanks for your help

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

Its always an issue during the humid months. I haven't found a good solution. If you have a balcony at your resort you can place your equipment outside to climatize it prior to going out. You can try to keep the equipment warm in your room by wrapping or covering it in some manner. I tried to use those packets that absorb moisture, but I don't think they worked very well. What I usually do is go out to get coffee or hang out by the pool while the family gets ready to give the equipment time to warm up. While out and about and you spend too much time indoors, I haven't found a good solution. It is maddening because at the moment you have "the shot" your lenses are fogged up! On our last trip I had just the opposite problem because we had a couple of days of cold weather and as soon as I came inside they fogged up. That usually isn't a problem except when I'm trying to shoot a ride like PotC. I missed shots from the entire first half of the ride.

 

[mom2rtk]

In September you definitely will have issues with this. I had some days when it wasn't even ready to go by the time we got to the park. Some ideas I've seen through the years:

1) keep the camera/lens in a ziploc bag in your room

2) Try to keep the camera bag warm in your room. Maybe keep it on the fridge?

3) If you drive, lock it in the trunk of your car.

4) Change to December travel. This one worked great for me!

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

4) Change to December travel. This one worked great for me!

That's when I had the indoor condensation problem! There's no easy answer.

 

[2Tiggies]

That's when I had the indoor condensation problem! There's no easy answer.

And lose my sunshine?

Thank you so much for your answers. I had actually not posted when I got back last year, although I had wanted to ask then, because I dont recall seeing folk complaining about it so I wondered if there was a simple trick I was missing out on.

I have learned something from here already - I never thought about giving the camera time to 'acclimatize' to the humidity and this would explain why I seemed to have fewer issues later in the day, once we had been out and about for a while. I recall one morning it appeared to improve after an hour or so walking around the resort and then we boarded the monorail (which broke down for about 20 minutes!) and when we got off we had foggy lenses again

One more question though: is there anything I need to do after a trip in humidity like this to keep the lens in good order? I mean is there any risk of the moisture causing damage to the working parts?

 

[Shutterbug]

The one thing that helps me with nighttime photography may help you with this. Thats using one of those hand warmer packs. I put it in a sock and put it around the lens to keep it warm. Why not try getting a couple of those activating them and keeping them and your camera in your camera bag when indoors.

 

[2Tiggies]

The one thing that helps me with nighttime photography may help you with this. Thats using one of those hand warmer packs. I put it in a sock and put it around the lens to keep it warm. Why not try getting a couple of those activating them and keeping them and your camera in your camera bag when indoors.

Now that's a clever idea! I would never have thought about that. I live in Scotland so we have plenty of those around the house Never thought of packing them for Florida in September .... until now!

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

Your lenses should do just fine. I have never heard of a problem caused by the condensation. Maybe some of our Florida members could comment.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I live in the Texas Gulf Coast area, so we have pretty similar weather. The only time it is an issue is when you are going from air conditioning to the outdoors. The colder your lens gets and the bigger the glass, the more it is a problem. If I know I'm going out in really humid conditions, I'll sometimes throw my gear in my trunk and let it sit there for a while before I shoot. I also find that it helps to where a clean, soft shirt.

 

[Donald Duck888]

I would agree with those that have said to acclimate the camera. When I was down in Disney last August I had major fogging/condensation issues. What I did was to set the camera and lens out on the balcony for a little while before heading out to the partks for the day. That seemed to do the trick.

As to having any issues upon going inside after being outside, I never really had any problem with that.

Also as to any lasting effects on the camera or lenses after the vacation, my lenses and camera were no worse for wear afterwards.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

I would agree with those that have said to acclimate the camera. When I was down in Disney last August I had major fogging/condensation issues. What I did was to set the camera and lens out on the balcony for a little while before heading out to the partks for the day. That seemed to do the trick.

As to having any issues upon going inside after being outside, I never really had any problem with that.

Also as to any lasting effects on the camera or lenses after the vacation, my lenses and camera were no worse for wear afterwards.

Here's what happens when you go from 45 deg. F to a warm, humid PotC.


Fogged Lens PotC 2151 by Gianna'sPapa, on Flickr

 

[Donald Duck888]

Here's what happens when you go from 45 deg. F to a warm, humid PotC.

Wow thats a bummer. Were ther any long term issues after that with the camera or lens?

I guess I was just lucky in it not happening to me. I know the first time it happened going from cool to HOT i kind of freaked. We had just gotten to the hotel and were waiting for room to be ready (at Yacht club) so we decided to walk over to Epcot. I took out my camera and could see nothing through it.

I could not beleive that the lens was fogging both on the outside and the inside as well as the mirror inside the camera. Being from New Hampshire we dont usually have humidity any where near those levels.

Thankfully I resisted the urge to try to wipe off the condensate on the inside as somehow i think that would have caused more long term problems.

Hopefully when we go down in early May (less than 2 weeks to wait ) we will not have those same humidity levels as we had last August.

 

[mom2rtk]

I must have just gotten really lucky in the great cold wave of 2010. It was bitter coldl most of our trip and I never had trouble with fogging when we went indoors. And we were in and out a LOT. Brrrr......

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

Wow thats a bummer. Were ther any long term issues after that with the camera or lens?

I guess I was just lucky in it not happening to me. I know the first time it happened going from cool to HOT i kind of freaked. We had just gotten to the hotel and were waiting for room to be ready (at Yacht club) so we decided to walk over to Epcot. I took out my camera and could see nothing through it.

I could not beleive that the lens was fogging both on the outside and the inside as well as the mirror inside the camera. Being from New Hampshire we dont usually have humidity any where near those levels.

Thankfully I resisted the urge to try to wipe off the condensate on the inside as somehow i think that would have caused more long term problems.

Hopefully when we go down in early May (less than 2 weeks to wait ) we will not have those same humidity levels as we had last August.

There were no issues, in fact a few minutes later I was able to take this.


PotC 7 by Gianna'sPapa, on Flickr

 

[2Tiggies]

There were no issues, in fact a few minutes later I was able to take this.


PotC 7 by Gianna'sPapa, on Flickr

That's a really nice shot! Actually there is something mysteriously cool about the first one too although I can quite see why you were disappointed with it. I actually made a folder called "Humidity" to put some of my write-offs into as a reminder! Although mine looked a lot less cool in the daytime. Trouble with misted lenses in low light is that you don't always see it when you are taking the photo

 

[atsolomon]

Howdy,

There was an earlier thread on this topic: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2710202

Here's what I wrote about dealing with the problem:

I encountered problems with cold lenses fogging on my recent FL/WDW vacation. Here's how I tackled it:

1. I left my empty camera bag in the trunk of the rental car overnight. The cold insulated bag would otherwise keep the cold lenses from warming up.

2. When I left my room to get my morning coffee, I'd bring my camera and put my two other lenses in the pockets of my shorts to come up to temperature.

3. We raised the thermostat in the room so it was still comfortable without being refrigerated.

4. If I was driving somewhere, I'd keep the camera bag and lenses in the un-airconditioned trunk of the car.

This greatly reduced the amount of time it took for my gear to come up to ambient temperature and resolved the lens fogging issue.

--Adam

 

[2Tiggies]

Thank you Adam

I didn't find that other thread when I tried to search before posting this so I will go over and have a read anyway.

You have all been so helpful and I really appreciate everyone's time taken to post here with your experiences and suggestions