AuHunter

I live in western Colorado. Now cold outside. Warm and toasty inside. My concern is Lens and Camera Body condensation. The following is what I have read.

"Keep everything inside your back pack until it warms up to room temperature. The only time you might need to use a plastic bag is if you need to prevent condensation on gear that you cannot get back into your camera bag for a while".

Does this sound correct/reasonable to you? Does it work both ways..Inside to Outside and Outside to Inside? Is there another method that you use to not have condensation form on the inside of your equipment??

I want to keep shooting but have read several "horror stories" about condensation in cold weather..

BassmanBruce Loc: Middle of the Mitten

I keep a set of freezer ready zip locks and all camera bodies and lenses stay in them (before they are even brought inside) until they are at room temp. I do remove the sd card first and keep it in a warm pocket for a couple minutes so I can view before the gear is warmed.
This might be overkill, but I'm not willing to take the chance.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

The reason why you want to put your backpack in a plastic bag is to prevent condensation getting inside. I use the black Construction bag to put my camera bag and misc equipment.Its called a belt and suspender approach to protect your expensive equipment.

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

No, it does not sound correct/reasonable at all. It is total B.S. This has been gone over on UHH a dozen times every fall since I've been around. You can use search to read all of it, but here is a summary. When a cold, non porous, object (metal, glass) is moved from a cold environment into a warm one condensation appears on the surface. Why? It is not the temperature that matters, it is the humidity and the dew point. Air is capable holding moisture (water) in suspension. The warmer the air, the greater the amount of water it can hold. When warm air with a lot of water in suspension is cooled sufficiently the water comes out of suspension and forms droplets (rain). The amount of water being held in suspension of air at any given temperature is called the 'relative humidity', usually expressed as a percentage. The relative humidity is the percentage of water that is in the air compared to the maximum water it could hold at that temperature. Thus a relative humidity of 15% indicates that the air has only 15% of the water that it could hold at that temperature (like in Death Valley in the summer); a relative humidity of 95% means that the air is very nearly saturated (Washington DC in July). When warm air is cooled its ability to hold water is reduced and thus its relative humidity goes up. The 'amount' of water in the air doesn't change but as the air cools that 'amount' of water represents a larger percentage of the total possible water. When warm air with a relative humidity of 85% is cooled enough the relative humidity will approach 100% and the air will no longer be able to hold it in suspension and it will rain. The temperature at which the water comes out of suspension is the 'dew point'. What happens when you bring your cold camera into a warm humid room is the air in contact with the camera drops to below its dew point and condensation appears on the surface. If you wipe this water off, the condensation will continue to form until the camera warms up to the point where it no longer causes the air to drop below its dew point. If the metal object is extremely cold the condensation will form and instantly freeze. The best way to prevent this condensation from taking place is to warm the camera up to room temperature in a dry environment, like inside a plastic bag. If you place your camera in a plastic bag while still outside, the air that is trapped inside the bag will have a very low relative humidity which will decrease as the air in the bag warms up. Just wait until the camera is at room temperature and there will be no condensation. Condensation can appear on your lens or viewfinder when shooting in cold weather if you breathe on it - the principle is the same. Anyone who wears glasses is familiar with the condensation problem every time they come indoors. But glasses can be warmed up quickly by running them under warm water. Don't do this with your camera - use a plastic bag. A camera bag is not as effective as a plastic bag unless it is air tight.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Your summary of what happens physically is dead on correct. But that is exactly what makes the statements the OP is asking about very correct. It's not "total B.S.", it is the way to deal with it.

Here is what he quoted: "Keep everything inside your back pack until it warms up to room temperature. The only time you might need to use a plastic bag is if you need to prevent condensation on gear that you cannot get back into your camera bag for a while".

In Colorado that is a very acceptable method, given the temperatures likely involved. The back pack will work very effectively at preventing warm moist air from coming into contact with the contents, and that is exactly how to prevent condensation. The problems with a pack pack are 1) it will be slow to warm up, and 2) if it is opened to retrieve anything inside the inside will fill up with moist air. The effect is that everything in that back pack has to stay there for too long a wait.

Putting things into a kitchen size trash bag (not a zip lock bag, which is just about as bad as the back pack) changes everything. The air can be squeezed out, and the warming process will be fast. But even if there is a need to retrieve a memory card, battery, or whatever, it just isn't a problem because running a hand down inside the bag to get things will not introduce significant warm air. The trash bag filled with equipment should be placed in a warm area with good circulation, which will cause it to warm as quickly as possible.

Note that in a pinch the back pack isn't needed either. Wrap the camera in a coat. Wrap newspaper around it. Use a towel. Put it in a cardboard box. Anything that keeps the warm air away from the cold surfaces will work. It need not be sealed unless air is being blown into it! The only real difference is how fast things warm up. In fact one can take an empty cardboard box, say a foot deep and six inches on each side, and put a camera in it at -30F outside, and then bring it inside to warm up with the top open. If it sits in a place with no air blowing into the top of the box, the camera at the bottom of the box will take literally hours to warm up, and it will not suffer from condensation while doing so. (Because cold air stays in the bottom of the box.)

Note that I live a the location with the coldest average temperature in the US. Condensation is a concern here even in July, never mind December. This topic is basic knowledge that every school kid learns while growing up here...

jim quist Loc: Missouri

I use CANON 1D Bodies and L series lenses because they are weather sealed, so I don't know if this makes any difference or not. I shoot in all kinds of weather and my fingers and toes get numb from the cold. I wear a heavy jacket that I leave open so I can tuck my camera inside the jacket when I am not taking a picture. When I come inside I take the film card out of the camera and import the images and leave my cameras on a table. I never use zip lock bags or anything like that.

tinwhistle

Yep, every fall/winter this subject pops up on every photography site there is, and everyone has their own way of dealing with condensation. I live and shoot in central Wisconsin where winters are frigid and humid. Personally, I would never seal up my equipment in a plastic bag. In fact I rarely feel the need to do anything with my gear, I simply bring it into the house, set it on it's regular spot and go about my business. However, when I do feel that it's necessary to thaw it out, I use a paper bag. It's always seemed to me that securing my equipment inside sealed plastic also seals in the moisture that is inherently with the equipment I want to keep dry, thus, the paper bag. This, however, is one of those topics that everyone has an opinion and I refer to the old axiom: "whatever floats yer boat".

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

But you should, why take a chance? Once you get fungus growing inside a lens, it is toast!

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

But you put your gear inside a plastic bag outside, before condensation forms, so you do not lock-in any moisture!!!!

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

Well you do it your way and I'll do it mine. I explained in probably too much detail why I do it the way I do. My camera bag has a large white plastic bag and a plastic clamp for closing it. If my camera gets very cold I put it into the plastic bag while outside and squeeze as much air as possible out of the bag. This air is dry but squeezing the air out lets the camera warm up more quickly. If your glasses fog up your camera is probably fogging up. You can use your camera bag if you trust it to do the job, but my way is faster. I may have misunderstood the quoted statement - I understood it to mean that you could take something out of your camera bag after bringing it indoors and you only needed to put it into a plastic bag if it was going to be some time before you could replace it in the camera bag. "Keep everything inside your back pack until it warms up to room temperature. The only time you might need to use a plastic bag is if you need to prevent condensation on gear that you cannot get back into your camera bag for a while".

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

We are about ready for a discussion on using filters for protection.....LOL!

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

In Colorado in the wintertime this question is moot. Moisture? There is NO moisture in the air! Outside or inside! It is nosebleed dry! If you have central humidification in a forced-air heat system inside you probably are still not up above 50% humidity. It is unlikely that you will get condensation when you come indoors with cold equipment.

But - the bottom line is that condensation occurs when you take cold equipment into a hot, damp environment - like in Florida or the Amazon. In THOSE situations, keeping the equipment in an air-tight bag or case until it warms up is a must. In Colorado - not so much! Do your eyeglasses get condensation when you come indoors? If so, you need to protect your equipment.

willviv 59

I use a zip lock bag and place silicone pouches in the bag to absorb the humidity that may seep in. Bottom line there are various methods to prevent condensation

Gifted One Loc: S. E. Idaho

The eyeglass condensation rule is s great litmus test. In S. E. Idaho it is a high mountain desert. Mostly dry but at times the glasses do fog. I do a transition truck in garage, pull card, wait transition to rear entry, wait and then bring inside.

J. R.

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

This is correct. If the equipment is warmed inside plastic before exposure to warm humid air, there will be NO condensation.