I noticed some folks speak highly of putting your gear in an electric dry cabinet.
I have a very large gun safe with a dehumidifier in it and I wonder is that doing the same thing? Is it safe to put my lenses and bodies in my gun safe?
PS the dehumidifier is a rod style that puts a little warmth in the air to lower the humidity.
Desmolicious wrote:
I'd worry about the oil evaporating from your guns and being deposited on your photographic gear. Not sure if that is a possibility.
Hmmm well none of them have much oil on them to begin with. I hadn't thought of that but I have never noticed any oil ever evaporating before. It doesn't get hot just a little warmth to the air which keeps moisture low.
The heater does not decrease the moisture. It decreases the relative humidity; i.e., increases the capacity of the air to hold the water without condensing. You need a refrigerant (AC or dehumidifier) to condense water from the air and decrease the absolute humidity. Ideally you should check the %RH both in the room and in the cabinet. Most of the time I find the indoor %RH never more than 50 with the AC on.
* relative humidity in the environment is above 65 % for longer periods;
* changes in the ambient temperature or changes in the temperature of lenses that you use might induce condensation or higher relative humidity for extended periods;
* ambient temperature is quite high for longer periods, irrespective of relative humidity.
Absolute humidity does not factor in as such, it's mostly relative humidity and, to a lesser extent, high (and thus unusual) temperature.
If DFW is where you are, you wouldn't need an Electronic Dry Cabinet (EDC) because the air there are dry enough almost all year round with blue sky other than a short rainy and tornado season together with snow once in about every 3-4 years. Not only that most if not all have air conditioning or heating units that will also reduce the humidity in the room.
As for most if not all EDCs that I have own, 5 operating units presently with another couple broken down and looking for another replacement for one that has broken down after this pandemic, all uses a tiny heating element with a couple having those tiny dehumidifier beats on top of it.
The recommended humidity setting is between 45-50% and the temperature reading is the same as the ambient room temperature, in my case here in Singapore is about 28-32°C or your case is about 98°-104°F in summer.
Extreme heat within the cabinet is not good for photographic gears with rubber or silicone seals harden and breaks overtime. The next thing is that most humidity meters within the cabinets are not calibrated well or mis-calibrated at the top where the units are and not at the base of the cabinets. So a re-calibration is needed for each cabinet loaded up with gears together with the use of a calibrated humidity meter place at the base. Reason is moisture is heavier than air, so it sinks to the bottom.
Hope this can help those who are leaving in Arizona, Dakota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah...mid and dry central states.
Note: do not leave the humidifier at it's maximum for long period of time because it can burnout the heating filament or melt the ABS housing holding it.
i have higher avg humidity here in NJ then you do in Texas. you just have that neat heat.
and for my friend hans98ko in Singapore he gets the relative consistency award for something many of us would need to get used to (temp is fairly consistentenly "interesting" too an acquired taste):
sjms,
It is very true for the consistency of the temperature here in Singapore, but will be very different for you guys there with at least 2 to 4 seasons and that is why I have to add summer for my reference for DFW which I spent quite some time there. For winter the worst I have experienced was during one of those ice storms which was still just a couple of degrees below freezing without wind chill and only lasted a couple of days and not months as up in the north where my head office was located, that I enjoyed spending winters with relatives for white Christmas.
We will never get that same experience here in Singapore hot and humid all year round as your chart indicates. What is worst is that it can go as high as 90% when it rains. One can smell the sea water in the air and that is how bad it is.
Any photographic equipment that were not kept in EDCs will require more money in cleaning and repair than the cost of paying for the EDCs.
One thing good here is that we do not have to wake up early in the morning to shavel snow or use the snow blower to clear the walkways in front of one's home to avoid lawsuits if someone slips and fall.
Never encounter that on a telescope.
But just wonder if you have a Japanese store by the name Daiso nearby? If you have buy a couple boxes of dehumidifier beats at about US$1.50 each and seal it up in a narrow plastic bag with all air suck-up by a vacuum cleaner.
Leave it there for a couple days and see if it helps.
If possible dismantle the eye piece so that there are openings for moisture to get out.
Diaso also sells vacuum bags for storing blankets and clothing that has a valve for the vacuum cleaner to suck out the air. If you can find one there, that is even better because they are air tight using zip lock.
Everything sold here in Singapore at Diaso are S$2 and in the US US$1.50 the last time I was there. So I am not sure if you have one in Saudi Arabia.
Like I said I have never encountered that myself, so just trying to think of a cheap and quick solution.
I keep my gear in camera bags and store them in my closet. Been this way forever, even going back to my film bodies days in the late 70's / early 80's. Never lost gear storing this way.
I guess if there's a worry someone has a sells pitch for it
I keep my cams and lenses in fireproof safes. The fireproofing gives of water vapor. I keep my gear in sealed FREEZER BAGS with a desiccant pak just in case. DO NOT USE REFRIGERATOR BAGS! They are thin and moisture gets through. FREEZER BAGS ARE MUCH HEAVIER IND IMPERMEABLE TO MOISTURE.
Sorry to yell, but this is very importasnt. I do not want anyone telling me I did not make it clear about freezer bags.
do you add dry packs to each of your sealed bags and ensure that they are active with humidity indicators?
we use various methods to protect archival items at Ellis Island being that we are plopped right in NY harbor. no camera gear gear special treatment as it is used often. as of april we have been closed to the public but maintain a normal environment in the building.
Theft, dire. I am well aware of a couple break-ins in my apt building. One in the apartment right below me. I have insurance, but it is easier to pull a camera from a safe than to go through insurance co's. When I bought fireproof there was little difference in prices. Plus, fireproof is heavier, making it much harder to carry.
hans98ko wrote:
If DFW is where you are, you wouldn't need an Electronic Dry Cabinet (EDC) because the air there are dry enough almost all year round with blue sky other than a short rainy and tornado season together with snow once in about every 3-4 years. Not only that most if not all have air conditioning or heating units that will also reduce the humidity in the room.
As for most if not all EDCs that I have own, 5 operating units presently with another couple broken down and looking for another replacement for one that has broken down after this pandemic, all uses a tiny heating element with a couple having those tiny dehumidifier beats on top of it.
The recommended humidity setting is between 45-50% and the temperature reading is the same as the ambient room temperature, in my case here in Singapore is about 28-32°C or your case is about 98°-104°F in summer.
Extreme heat within the cabinet is not good for photographic gears with rubber or silicone seals harden and breaks overtime. The next thing is that most humidity meters within the cabinets are not calibrated well or mis-calibrated at the top where the units are and not at the base of the cabinets. So a re-calibration is needed for each cabinet loaded up with gears together with the use of a calibrated humidity meter place at the base. Reason is moisture is heavier than air, so it sinks to the bottom.
Hope this can help those who are leaving in Arizona, Dakota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah...mid and dry central states.
Note: do not leave the humidifier at it's maximum for long period of time because it can burnout the heating filament or melt the ABS housing holding it....Show more →
+1 for the complete miscalibration of EDCs. I have six of them, none was accurate, two were so miscalibrated that they read 25% low. So to get 50% you need to set them to 25%!
Not a big deal but you will need to calibrate yourself, the only difficulty is that most affordable hygrometers are a bit miscalibrated. You could either buy a calibration kit or, easier, check with a few cheap ones and average. Doesn’t need to be accurate.
I do think EDCs are a good idea. I live in a borderline climate wrt to humidity, I could probably get away with it but having lost an entire camera system (4 OM bodies and fifteen OM lenses!) to fungus when I lived in a much more humid climate I am conservative. But even if the humidity is fine where you are, these cabinets it you shop around are not super expensive, and are fully sealed against dust and lockble, and have glass doors so you can see what’s within.
