MountainTop wrote:
I live near the ocean in a foggy climate, and I run a de-humidifier all winter and spring, and sometimes in summer if it stays foggy for a few days. I get about two gallons a day in my de-hu and I have a small house.
Most of the lenses I've had that got fungus were cheaper zooms that had spent time in the wet tropics. Silica packs are useless in the rainforests I was shooting in. Cleanliness was also challenging. I have a couple of Canon paperweights as souvenirs of my travels.
Other photographers said keeping the lenses clean and warm seemed to be a good preventative. And watching out for internal dust or the beginnings of the fungus threads, of course. At the first sign of something inside you've got to send the lens in for immediate servicing.
At home I do use silica inside the cases, but the de-humidifier does the heavy lifting. Well worth the $100 spent at Sears....Show more →
Where I live relative humidity is normal at 90+% so you really have to buy a electronic dry cabinet to maintain 30-60% relative humidity. I got two for the big whites and the small black lenses + bodies.
They're worth the purchase vs paying to have your lens cleaned/scrapped.
Breitling65 wrote:
To me it is not big overkill to buy $140 dehumidifier to protect $20K of optics. Besides there is some other use of this thing too. Also humidity as I specified above become brutal lately in NJ area, especially makes me worry in between seasons when no heat or AC is on.
I don't disagree. I lived in Manila for 11 years and used dehumidifiers in addition to air conditioning and would dump them 2-3 times a day (several gallons of water).
The point I was making was that without some means of measuring measuring humidity quantitatively you really won't know how high it actually is. I'm a few hundred miles south of you getting the same crappy weather a day before you and haven't seen the indoor humidity go above 50%. Right now it is 44%.
From Wikipedia:
The dew point is associated with relative humidity. A high relative humidity indicates that the dew point is closer to the current air temperature. Relative humidity of 100% indicates the dew point is equal to the current temperature and the air is maximally saturated with water. When the dew point remains constant and temperature increases, relative humidity will decrease.
So while the humidity might be 90% outdoors at 50 degrees F when you bring the same air inside the house and warm it up to 70 degrees F the relative humidity drops.
+1 Bad weather doesn't necessarily affect humidity that much (esp. indoors). This is New Jersey we're talking about, it simply doesn't get that humid there at this time of the year.
Breitling65 wrote:
Resent extremely wet/humid weather in my area (NJ) pushed me to buy dehumidifier for lens protection reason. I ran it last night and it gets about 2-3 liters of water per about 8 hours of run in small room I am storing my lenses.
Scary fact even I am not in tropics area, especially since my lens insurance doesn't cover molds related issues (verified)....
What about you?
I have been shooting in Thailand and S.E.Asia for 25 years without any fungus problems. And there is really really wet/humid compared to any parts of US. All the Thai photographers I'm shooting with, have been shooting and keeping their lenses in that environment their whole life without any problems
globalkiwi wrote:
+1 Bad weather doesn't necessarily affect humidity that much (esp. indoors). This is New Jersey we're talking about, it simply doesn't get that humid there at this time of the year.
Lars Johnsson wrote:
I have been shooting in Thailand and S.E.Asia for 25 years without any fungus problems. And there is really really wet/humid compared to any parts of US. All the Thai photographers I'm shooting with, have been shooting and keeping their lenses in that environment their whole life without any problems
I would say yes it is safe in general and I believe you, but also not as expensive to get this box to make sure it is Ok with humidity in storage room. It would be much more trouble to get fangus inside $3-$5k lens and no support from insurance ...
Not to worry, you have an early warning system: you'll start growing fungus and mold before the camera does because you are a better growth medium
You should worry more about what happens in winter when you bring your freezing cold camera from outdoors into the warmer air indoors. The moisture from the higher relative humidity indoors can cause condensation inside the lens and other camera surfaces. For that reason its best to seal the camera in an airtight bag and let its temperature reach that of the room before opening and operating. Same for stuff fresh off the UPS truck in January.
If you want to ease your worries get a pair of hydometers that will report the % relative humidity for your storage room. Use these to verify that your dehumidifier is keeping the space between 40% and 60% relative humidity.
I don't have the link off hand for reference but the majority of fungus grows in sustained 60% or higher relative humidity. Fungus is also more likely to grow on equipment that is both stored in a high humidity environment and is not used very often. Also, there are different types of fungus, though not as common, that thrive at very low humidity (30% and lower primarily).
globalkiwi wrote: That was the highpoint for the month! The low was 20% & the average 50.2 %. I think you are worrying unnecessarily.
I don't think you are getting this page information correctly, it is also saying Low -49.5 °F for temperature. I don't recall this temperature this year. What you saw is historical, probably in 100 years old period or something.
Breitling65 wrote:
I don't think you are getting this page information correctly, it is also saying Low -49.5 °F for temperature. I don't recall this temperature this year. What you saw is historical, probably in 100 years old period or something.
No mate, I'm quoting the monthly info. for October 2009. Honestly, I think you can relax, your lenses aren't in imminent danger of fungus attacks.
globalkiwi wrote:
No mate, I'm quoting the monthly info. for October 2009. Honestly, I think you can relax, your lenses aren't in imminent danger of fungus attacks.
Who said I am not relaxed? I am not getting point of your arguments, that is the main problem.
That was the highpoint for the month! The low was 20% & the average 50.2 %. I think you are worrying unnecessarily.