woodworkerman Loc: PA to FL

In a response to a question about iPhones in September, Nikonbug made an interesting statement. I quote:

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"I just got back from a week in Cancun. I took a RX100m7 and my iphone 8s. Every time I left the room, it took an hour for the camera to warm up so it did not completely saturate with moisture condensation. So, all my shots were with the iphone."
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My question is about what Nikonbug said. When staying in air-conditioning and taking our cameras outside in the humidity, condensation can prevent use of our cameras for a while or even damage them. This can also be a problem going from heated buildings to the very cold outside.

How do you deal with this problem? What suggestions do you have for others?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Moisture condenses on a surface tempreature that is below the dew point.

A "cold" camera from indoor A/C taken outside and exposed to warm humid air, the moisture will condense on the camera. The condensation starts on the outside, and if the air gets inside the camera, there is a chance that moisture could condense there also. Many people keep the camera in a bag, or cooler, in an air conditioned car so it does not get cold. Damage? I depends on how how much moist air gets inside the camera. Outside, lenses will fog (just like one's glasses do).
Same thing happens when a camera has been outside in the winter, and brought into a warm house. To circumvent that, put the camera in a plastic bag while outside, then let the camera warm up in the house before removing it from the bag.

A warm camera taken to a cold outside will not get any condensation on it, as the camera temperature will be above the dew point.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Two choices that I know of:

One is to put the camera somewhere that is the same temperature as the shooting environment. Maybe the trunk of your car or the balcony of you hotel room.

The other is to put it in a ziplock, Pelican case of Harbor Freight ammo box with desiccant packs. Leave the camera in the dry environment until it warms up to the shooting conditions.

Silverrails

If the camera is in a cool room, before exiting put the camera & Lens in a sealed bag before going outside into hot, humid temps, after a reasonable time, and the temperature equalizes inside the bag, remove camera and lens, should be good to go, with no condensation formation on Lens or camera.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

I put my equipment in large zip-lock bags when going out into a humid hot environment. It only takes 10 minutes for it to warm up.

It is not usually a problem in the winter time going into a warm house because the humidity is usually pretty low.

Canisdirus

Everything stays in a dry box as a matter of storage.
I take my camera setup for the day out in the morning and let it sit near the outside door for 30 minutes.
If I am in a hurry? Blow dryer on the lens and viewfinder. Warms the lens up in 30 seconds.... and can shoot immediately.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

Thaqt's only partially correct. Whils the relative humidity may be lower inside in the winter tha ABSOLUTE humidity will be exactly the same inside or out. Any one who has skied will know that when going to the lodge glass will 'Sweat"

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

ANY "humidity" will condense. It just happens faster (and more pronounced) when the humidity if higher.
And of course with a greater temperature differential.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

I'm in Florida, Indoor humidity maximum is approximatley 35% 24/7 year round (Wife and I are comfortable with AC at 76 degrees F), only rises a little in the winter when there is less need for AC (but it is also less humid). Outside is humid, humid, humid.... did I mention humid, although much less so in winter. I usually only need a few minutes at the most for any condensation (if any appears) to go away. When I return my gear inside, it sits in a very low humidity, smaller bedroom, and gets a good dry out.

Never had to wait more than a few minutes, and the moisture is on the outside glass and metal, not inside the gear (none can be seen, anyway). If I kept my home at 68 degrees, it would be worse when taking the gear out..

If it were a bigger problem I would use the SB method (plastic bag).

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

There are a few very simple choices here. Remember that the camera bag can do just so much. Don't hope that the bag will keep moisture out. It was designed to keep stuff in. With that being written here are my options. Get a moisture resistant hard case. It saw a few available at Harbor Freight Tools. For those that are not close to one, you could head over to the internet or look online at other manufacturers But some people don't like a hard case banging into their thigh.
You could wrap your camera bodies and lenses in Ziplock bags. However, there are not that many bags available of those sizes. You could cover your equipment with a cloth towel on the inside of bag. Be extremely careful of lint!
One choice that I recommend is visiting your local pharmacy. I asked the pharmacist if he would save the little pill desiccants for me and I will stop by every now and then. So far, I fill my bag every month with a fresh handful. You could also buy some in the camera store but you have to microwave them to release the moisture inside the plastic case. Why bother? I help the pharmacist and he helps me!
If you want some I would be willing to ship some to you. Please Private Message me with your address.

ButchS Loc: Spokane, WA

Two words... hair drier.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

A hair dryer is a novel idea. But I do have some reservations. First off, if you heat up the camera too much it won't work. The sensor will shut down. So I won't suggest doing that. My camera bag is stuffed full of gear. I don't think I can fit a hair dryer in it. I just have enough room for an emergency bag of beef jerky.
That is where I got the idea for desiccants. Try it!

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

Store camera sealed for a while the temperature equalizes. Also store the equipment with several fresh silica gel packs (desiccant) - you can get them cheaply on Amazon in bulk. You should always use the silica gel packs year round in camera bags/ during storage with all equipment - fungus is the biggest enemy of lenses.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

You can never have too much beef jerky!!!

ButchS Loc: Spokane, WA

You have to use a low setting and be gentle. Don’t get it to close to the camera.

I encountered this problem while traveling in Honduras during the late 90s. At the time I was shooting film with a Nikon N90s. (My first digital camera was a Nikon D100 I bought in 2000.) I considered leaving my camera outside in a sealed bag on the balcony. But that would clearly be inviting theft. I had a hairdryer with me and decided to give it a try. While a sensor was not part of the problem, still those auto focus film cameras had a lot of electronics inside. So I was very careful not to overheat the camera and it worked like a champ.

Since going digital, I’ve been back to Honduras three times. I have also traveled the length of Mexico and been to the Cayman Islands and to Hawaii. Another thing that I do, if there is a ceiling fan or nice big windows that open, I turn the air conditioning off and go with a natural cooling environment. That has been the most effective approach yet. Too many travelers blast the air conditioning way too often way too much.