How much moisture is in the bag

[kwokask]

After someone noticed spidery residue (from fungus or mould) on one of my filters a couple of years ago, I have been paranoid about my gear - and I live in Sydney, not the most humid place!

I have since bought a dry box where I keep all my equipment when not in use. The demoisturising part requires recharging every few weeks, but it definitely keeps the moisture away.

[Schmenz]

hmmmn i might raid the camera and laptop bags at work and get all the little sachets out!

ive never worried about it. my camera sits in a bag in a cupboard and doesnt get used very often

[mikew09]

After someone noticed spidery residue (from fungus or mould) on one of my filters a couple of years ago, I have been paranoid about my gear - and I live in Sydney, not the most humid place!

I have since bought a dry box where I keep all my equipment when not in use. The demoisturising part requires recharging every few weeks, but it definitely keeps the moisture away.

My line of thinking is even if you live in a dry area, it is possible to generate the right conditions with you bag etc if they get damp, maybe sweating with back packs. Much less so but can't do any harm.

[ricnak]

The only way I can sleep at night in QLD is knowing that my gear is tucked away in a Legend dry cabinet. Kayell stock them.

[piXelatedEmpire]

I hadn't even thought about this before stumbling into this thread

[mikew09]

OK, I have ordered two of those suckers. Will keep one in my bag at all times and one in the glass front cabinet I know store my gear in. Sign, I feel I can breath a little easier now.

[Boofhead]

Ok, ok, you have scared me enough. I am now looking into buying a dry cabinet.

Andrew

[clm738]

Mike, give "para" a PM. He lives in Cairns and should be able to help you with humidity control. They have a lot of stuff up there at places like dive shops that you cannot get down here.

[mikew09]

Ordered two 40 gram Silica Get units yesterday - arrived today, 1 in the back pack and 1 in the cuboard - Phew!, a sign of releif.

Will still pm para, interested to see what there approach is with humidy control.

[Darvidanoar]

Yep I've been running one of the reusable ones. Amazing how often you have to recharge, but at least I have some peace of mind.

I bought mine from the case shop in Capalaba

[mikew09]

Good to here David, I expect the one in my bag will need more recharges than the one in the cabinet. Do you find they take long to recharge and how often do actuall need too?

Mike

[Darvidanoar]

Good to here David, I expect the one in my bag will need more recharges than the one in the cabinet. Do you find they take long to recharge and how often do actuall need too?

Mike

The instructions for recharging are: 3 hours at 150 degrees celsius. So I always give it the full three hours. I probably do it about once a month.

Breaks my wife's heart to see the oven running for 3 hours just for that....

[stevemack]

Mike fair call to you for being paranoid,totally understandable with the price of lenses but i think your letting get to you a bit to much i have kept my camera in the boot of my car in a non brand padded camera bag nothing special for two years and never had mould condensation form anywhere on the camera or in the lens and i can guarantee there would be moisture in my bag over night in these cold nights.

steve.

[mikew09]

The instructions for recharging are: 3 hours at 150 degrees celsius. So I always give it the full three hours. I probably do it about once a month.

Breaks my wife's heart to see the oven running for 3 hours just for that....

Thanks David, hmmm, once a month wont be too painful if that is the case for me. Ta

[Philr]

Good to be cautious but like Stevemack says I leave my stuff in the car a fair bit too and it goes out in summer and gets stormed on and the bag and camera gets wet. I give it a quick dry with a towel but dont stress too much about it. I have never used silicia gel or anything else and never had an issue.

[mikew09]

Mike fair call to you for being paranoid,totally understandable with the price of lenses but i think your letting get to you a bit to much i have kept my camera in the boot of my car in a non brand padded camera bag nothing special for two years and never had mould condensation form anywhere on the camera or in the lens and i can guarantee there would be moisture in my bag over night in these cold nights.

steve.

I agree mate - I am definately paranoid. But figured $12 was a worth while spend even if just for piece of mind. That was so weird when reading your post, I was only thinking about that today driving to work. I was thinking about your post of the sunrise (Macarrel sky I think you called it) when you ran out in just your daks to take a shot, I remembered you saying you had to grap your camera out of the boot of the car - I was wondering how you cope with moisture. Ha, pyshic, theres the anwser. that was wierd.

Thanks Steve, interesting to hear your comments,

Mike

[mikew09]

Good to be cautious but like Stevemack says I leave my stuff in the car a fair bit too and it goes out in summer and gets stormed on and the bag and camera gets wet. I give it a quick dry with a towel but dont stress too much about it. I have never used silicia gel or anything else and never had an issue.

That is interesting to hear Phil along with David's comments.. I suppose the web can be accountable to an extent, did a search on mould / fungus and it seemed pretty possible and much more common than I had expected. Fair to say with the cost of items a bit of panic can set in.

Thanks for the comments, good to have some real experience feed back from locals - ta

[mikec]

mikew09, if you are really so worried about moisture coming in contact with your gear then storing it in your normal bag with just silica gels isn't going to cut it.

You should probably get something that won't allow moisture to enter the case / enclosure as normal camera bags are not air tight, You are basically throwing money away at the moment because you need to make sure no air / moisture can enter the environment in which you are storing the gear to let the silica gels bags do their job.

[Darvidanoar]

mikew09, if you are really so worried about moisture coming in contact with your gear then storing it in your normal bag with just silica gels isn't going to cut it.

You should probably get something that won't allow moisture to enter the case / enclosure as normal camera bags are not air tight, You are basically throwing money away at the moment because you need to make sure no air / moisture can enter the environment in which you are storing the gear to let the silica gels bags do their job.

While I agree most camera bags are not hermetically sealed, I'm pretty sure air doesn't extactly flow freely through mine (unless I leave it open).

You have only to roll down the top of the bag inside a box of corn flakes to keep them fresh, you don't need to keep them in sealable plasticware.

I certainly don't go as far as keeping my gear in a dry storage cabinet but keeping some dessicant (that has an indicator so I can see when it needs recharging) in my kit is some cheap, as I said, peace of mind.

[flash]

as I see it a bag of moisture sucker upperer stuff is going to cost between $5 and $15, in some cases free, takes up bugger all room and can only do good, I've only just updated my gear and I am in the red, so far, roughly 3 gorillas, I intend to get another two lenses which will add another $2,000.00 on the total, the gel sacks are a small price to pay for insurance, I travel and would not have thought too much about the moisture content in the northern areas, never have before, but looking back that was pretty stupid of me, I will be taking the container wherever I go from now on, I have arranged a little "pocket" for it now, note to self....... "get a larger camera bag, this lowepro inverse aw 200 is too small"