When not in use, the equipment will normally be put in an air-tight case with drying agent. Any body has experience of using too much drying agent thus causing problems with your equipment? Consequent of insufficient drying agent is easily understandable - fugus start growing on your lenses ..etc. Any better suggestion of keeping your equipment (expecially lenses) in good shape, though understand that keep on using it all the time is the best solution. Regards.

-- tom tong (tom.tong@ckh.com.hk), October 13, 2001

Answers

I prefer a slight amount of heat to chemical drying agents for a few reasons - First, chemical drying agents can lose their effectiveness over time depending on humidity and temperature; Second, some chemical agents can "out-gas" and the compund could possibly react with coatings on lenses. (Silica gell does not do this.) For a heat source, you can mount a small light bulb - about 15 watts - in the bottom of your camera cabinet or use an item called a "Golden Rod", which is designed specifically for that purpose.

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), October 13, 2001.

Tom:

For a few decades, I have kept my house at 38% humidity and 68 F; year round. It seems to have gotten rid of camera problems; it is also great for the furniture.

Art

-- Art (AKarr90975@aol.com), October 13, 2001.

Do put your cameras and lenses into air tight containers. Air flow helps to dry things out and dead stagnent air will encourage fungus growth. You can buy or build a "dry" cabinet if you are in a moist climate. EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT, do not store equipment in areas with no air circulation!! A simple dry cabinet is a box with with spaces top and bottom to let the air flow and a small 15 watt light bulb that you keep on all the time. Build a little cage around the bulb to prevent your equipment from touching it.

Cheers,

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), October 13, 2001.

OH POOP!!!

That should read:

DO NOT PUT YOUR EQUIPMENT IN AIR TIGHT CONTAINERS!

Sorry,

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), October 13, 2001.

your sugestions are great, but how much of success depends of atmosphere of the area. Idea of the bulb seems great, but will it work in a higly humidity place? or a tight container would work best in such conditions?

Tom, what kind of weather is the place you live in?

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), October 13, 2001.

Roberto:

Humidity in any climate is of almost no concern as the heat source will keep the equipment in the cabinet warmer than the surrounding air, and moisture will therefore not be able to condense on it. Also, the heat source initiates convection, which keeps the warmer air inside the cabinet circulating. I should have clarified in my above post that it is best for the heat source to be placed low in the cabinet as heat rises and will better aid in the convection/circulation.

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), October 13, 2001.

This was sugested to me years ago when Mr.Torres used to live in Mazatlán and his dauther were my girl.

I actualy designed a lamp to be used to store lenses; and as a regular lamp; my idea was to turn it on few hours during the nigth, but I never made it.

My idea was as follow, this would be a tall cabinet, like 1mt.; at the bottom a regular 60w bulb above it a pice uf wood or metal with holes for each lens, and over the lenses a pice of glass; a set of one mirrow for each lens would make the bulb ligth to go exactly through axis, and the direct ligth of bulb would be indirected, beautiful lamp, isn´t it?

A bouglar would love it too...

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), October 13, 2001.

Thanks for all the advices. Roberto, I live in Hong Kong, in wet and hot summer days, the R.H. can be 90-97%. I tend to keep my gear in my office where it is air-cond. and have humidity controlled most of the day.

-- tom tong (tom.tong@ckh.com.hk), October 14, 2001.

that´s a good idea Tom.

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), October 15, 2001.

I think there's one thing we'd all like to know:

Roberto, who is Mr Torres and what happened to his daughter?

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), October 15, 2001.

Mr. Torres is a man on his seventies now; he comes from a family of photographers in Michoacan Mexico, an excelent portraitist; he has seven dougthers, all of them beautiful, I was in live with one of them, so much that I began doing portraits in his studio, he though me much about photography, but I never wanted to do portraits and his douther and I took diferent roads in life, I saw him four years ago, and his dougther two years ago, he´s still a good photographer and I´m still in love to her dougther.

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), October 15, 2001.