I may be travelling this summer to humid environments. Is there anything I need to be careful of with regards to using the M6? I want to avoid fogging the inside of the viewfinder and such. Also, I plan on using the air conditioning in a car. Is it bad to go from a hot humid outdoors to the cool inside of a air conditioned car?

-- tristan tom (tristan@tristantom.com), June 19, 2001

Answers

This has been gone over several times, but the upshot seemed to be that the more you use your camera, the less trouble you'll have. Having the viewfinder cleaned is less of a problem, eventually, than a fungused shutter, for instance.

Where are you going?

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), June 19, 2001.

I just came back from a very long trip of which 13 days was in Vietnam. Also, I live in a tropical climate. Believe me, Vietnam was awfully hot and painfully humid, especially Da Nang. I was in an out of an air-conditioned vehicle much of the time. When you got out of the vehicle you were welcomed with a memorable burst of heat and humidity.

Two M6's, dozens of rolls of film and a bunch of lenses came and went without a hitch. If you have an M6, then just don’t keep it in front of the air conditioning duct and you will be fine. The only thing that I would suggest is to take extra batteries and suntan lotion.

Eddie

-- Edward Steinberg (es323@msn.com), June 19, 2001.

I live in the southern part of Florida, about the same climate as S.E. Asia (I was in Thailand last Summer and felt quite at home, while everyone else was sweltering in the heat and humidity). I have learned to turn the A/C way down or off in the car when I'm hopping in and out shooting. At home, the photo gear is always stored in A/C, plus there are cannisters of Damp-Rid in the cupboard. Never had a fungus problem.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), June 19, 2001.

I live in humid Singapore.

For a trip of 14 days you won't get fungus even without special attention.

If you go from an aircon room into the open, the optics might fog. But will clear in 10 mins as the temp. evens out.

If you want to be cautious, when you retire at the end of each day put the equipment in an airtight plastic bag with some silica gel to suck out the moisture.

It likes to rain around here, make sure you have a waterproof or very water-resistant bag for the sensitive stuff.

-- Yip (koklok@krdl.gov.sg), June 19, 2001.

I spent 3 months in Thailand with my M2 and a couple of lenses. The camera spent most of the time in airconditioning. But it also went with me on the Thai railway to Bangkok, and spent a couple days shooting outdoors there. Then back upcountry on the railway again. It goes through rice paddy country, very humid, and it stops for every water buffalo. No problems.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), June 19, 2001.

I would not recommend this to anyone, however, this past December I took a trip to the west coast of Florida, Naples and Sanibel Island. While on Sanibel I took a walk down to the lighthouse on the southern tip of the island. While walking back the heavens opened up with a downpour. I was caught out in the open with no were to go for cover. Needless to say my M-6 (non TTL) and I got soaked. When I returned to my room I removed the exposed film actually pouring water out of the back of the camera. I was horrified! I dried everything the best I could. The next day I let the Sun bake the camera for a few hours. To date I haven't had a bit of trouble with the camera. I don't know if this is one of those legendary anectdotal Leica stories we've all rolled our eyes over or not. What I can tell you is it really happened and the camera still works. Living in Florida I'm very aware of the humidity and fungus problem. FWIW, I think it's a pretty tough little camera. I'm not sure any of my "vunderblaster" cameras would have survived being soaked like that. Possibly my old Nikon F3 or my old Canon F-1 would have come through, but, they were both tanks.

Your mileage may vary.

Jim

-- J. Kuhn (james.kuhn-1@kmail.ksc.nasa.gov), June 20, 2001.

You can prevent some fogging by putting your camera in a baggie before you go from a.c. to outside heat and humidity. Moisture will form on the bag instead of on the camera. -John

-- John Fleetwood (johnfleetwood@hotmail.com), June 20, 2001.

My wife fell in Dal Lake, Srinagar with her F3 round her neck. It worked perfectly after a day on the roof of the houseboat to dry out. Dry heat seems to be a good antidote to humidity.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), June 20, 2001.

I'm surprised that an F3 survived a dunking without shorting the electronics. Then again, my wife accidentally dropped her cell phone into a bucket of icewater at a fair where she was manning a booth. IT stopped working right away and she took it immediately to the dealer. The cell phone repair guy said not to turn it on for a couple days but leave it dry out, that *sometimes* that works. It did.

The other thing, if my Leica were flooded I might dry it out and use it until I got home, but I'd have it CLA'd right away. Some lubricant could be washed away, and there's always the possiblity of internal parts developing a coating of rust which would gradually eat away at them.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), June 20, 2001.

Jay,

That's the plan as soon as I find another body.

Jim

-- J. Kuhn (james.kuhn-1@kmail.ksc.nasa.gov), June 21, 2001.

It was pretty amazing. We poured water out of it. That F3 is still alive and well now, nearly three years later. On the other hand, the F3 is pretty basic compared to an F5 or F100, which I wouldn't expect to survive that sort of thing.

-- rob appleby (rob@robertappleby.com), June 21, 2001.

Don't drop your cameras in salt water.

-- John Fleetwood (johnfleetwood@hotmail.com), June 21, 2001.

I'm getting a nikonos for that!

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), June 21, 2001.