Lens Fog: Yesterday a stag wandered onto my front lawn. I ran to get my camera to capture the image. I went out my front door and started shooting. When I reviewed my shots, I found...

Edia Loc: Central New Jersey

Yesterday a stag wandered onto my front lawn. I ran to get my camera to capture the image. I went out my front door and started shooting. When I reviewed my shots, I found the images all fogged up. My house was air conditioned and outside was hot and humid. Is there anything I could do to keep my lens from fogging up?

mleuck

Normally, a slow warmup is needed.

Bill_de Loc: US

If I have any thought of photography around the house, which I do quite often, I take a camera out to the garage in the morning and leave it there for the day.

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Dave327 Loc: Duluth, GA. USA

Simply put - NO. Many recommend putting you camera in a sealed plastic bag (outside) and let it acclimate. I live outside Atlanta where the temp and humidity difference can be great and the same thing happens quite often to me. If I am going to shoot outside I let the camera acclimate on my shaded patio table.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Ha ha ha my bad vision I thought it said "Legs frog". That sounds very creative!! So I clicked on it. DOH! Lens not legs and fog not frog. Ok....

Condensation will accumulate on a surface that is cooler than the dew point of the surrounding air. The camera was inside in dry cool air, you took it outside in hot humid air and condensation accumulated. This is physics.

One solution would be to let the camera warm up to the outside air temp. The moisture would dissipate. So would the Stag. Not a good solution.

Bill_de and Dave337 suggestion's above could be a key to happiness. But how do you know if a deer will wander into the yard? You don't. So leave the camera outside in the war humid air during the day. Bring it inside if you want to shoot. Condensation will not occur because the camera is warmer than the cool dry air inside.

Or buy a weather sealed camera.

twowindsbear

Buy a pack of photographic lens tissue
use a sheet to blot away the condensation when it happens

JD750 Loc: SoCal

twowindsbear wrote:

Buy a pack of photographic lens tissue
use a sheet to blot away the condensation when it happens

What about condensation on the sensor?

twowindsbear

JD750 wrote:

What about condensation on the sensor?

What do you not understand about the OP's question?

". . . anything I could do to keep my lens from fogging up?"

Bill_de Loc: US

JD750 wrote:

Ha ha ha my bad vision I thought it said "Leg... (show quote)

I have more than one camera. The one I would leave outside would have a long lens on it. Anything inside wouldn't be spontaneous, so I choose a lens when needed.

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Joe Blow

JD750 wrote:

What about condensation on the sensor?

If you get condensation on the sensor then you have a serious problem. Condensation forms on surfaces that are exposed to the warmer, humid air. The sensor should be safe if you leave the lens on.

However, a zoom lens that extends has to breathe. That means as the front moves in or out, it expels or sucks in outside air. That can bring in humid air to condense inside the lens. That would be the most dangerous situation. The insides of the lens should be allowed to warm up as well as the outside.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

twowindsbear wrote:

What do you not understand about the OP's question?

". . . anything I could do to keep my lens from fogging up?"

Huh? Apparently you only read the first sentence of my reply. Understandable.

But perhaps the suggestions I made after that first sentence, go toward answering OP's question. Please read the 3rd, 4th, and 5th (all short) paragraphs of my reply. Your counterpoint is welcome.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Bill_de wrote:

I have more than one camera. The one I would leave outside would have a long lens on it. Anything inside wouldn't be spontaneous, so I choose a lens when needed.

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I suspected as much.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Edia wrote:

Yesterday a stag wandered onto my front lawn. I ran to get my camera to capture the image. I went out my front door and started shooting. When I reviewed my shots, I found the images all fogged up. My house was air conditioned and outside was hot and humid. Is there anything I could do to keep my lens from fogging up?

When I used to do weddings I used to face the same problem. 99% of the time the fog forms on the outside element or filter if there is one in place. I used to just wipe the lens a couple of times and the fog would go away after about two wipes. Took about a minute to adjust. No big deal. I had my assistant holding the bride and groom from the RICE throw (later bird seed throw) until my lens was fog free. Again, it only took a minute. Sometimes I would have the assistant standing outside getting one of the four back up camera's clear of fog so we were ready sooner but that did not always work out so holding the B/G for a minute was no big deal.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Edia wrote:

Yesterday a stag wandered onto my front lawn. I ran to get my camera to capture the image. I went out my front door and started shooting. When I reviewed my shots, I found the images all fogged up. My house was air conditioned and outside was hot and humid. Is there anything I could do to keep my lens from fogging up?

Nothing you can do immediately. I use natural cooling in my home so this is never an issue but when traveling I am at times in an artificially cooled building and it is a problem that I just have to let the camera warm up.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

Dave327 wrote:

Simply put - NO. Many recommend putting you camera in a sealed plastic bag (outside) and let it acclimate. I live outside Atlanta where the temp and humidity difference can be great and the same thing happens quite often to me. If I am going to shoot outside I let the camera acclimate on my shaded patio table.

For me, I put my D610 and 28-300MM lens in a two gallon Zip Loc Bag. We leave today for a two-week vacation on LBI, NJ. It stays in the bag in the car. I don't bring it into the house. When we get home It comes in the house and then I look at the stick. Since we are both retired. Tha laptops stay at home. It's family time.