Camera Storage Query

[thomas610]

Hi everyone, I don't know if this is the right place to post this but if it isn't then please let me know. I'm currently storing my cameras in a 'Really Useful' brand plastic box with some silica gel sachets in. The box is not airtight so allows air circulation. Is this a good way to store my gear especially in this current UK humidity? Thanks!

 

[Designer]

Hi everyone, I don't know if this is the right place to post this but if it isn't then please let me know. I'm currently storing my cameras in a 'Really Useful' brand plastic box with some silica gel sachets in. The box is not airtight so allows air circulation. Is this a good way to store my gear especially in this current UK humidity? Thanks!

I sure hope so, because that's what I do also. I think the determining factor is how often the box is opened. We might think about opening the lid once in a while to exercise the equipment, even if it's only to move the parts and put them back in. Choose a day with low humidity if possible. If you're paranoid about humidity, run some tape around the edge of the lid to keep air exchange to a minimum. Good luck to us both.

 

[idcanyon]

I have almost lost a few cameras to the environment. I had the kids put a mirrorless camera in a Pelican Box and throw it down a waterfall into a pool so my wife could take pictures of the kids rappelling from the bottom. Safer than trying to have someone catch it, or it would have been if they'd closed the Pelican Box properly (I should have checked). It came open and the camera drowned. No more pictures that day. It worked again several days later after it dried out, good as new. I also once dropped a camera, a DSLR while I was on a scree slope above a slot canyon. I chased the camera as it tumbled toward the abyss, but I wasn't able to gain on it. A tiny shrub managed to catch it just before it plunged over a 30 meter cliff, so lucky. The camera body had a few dings and there was a chip in the lens hood. Later that same day I used that camera to get one of my best pictures ever. I won more money off that one frame than that camera was even worth.

All this is just to say you may be overthinking your storage concerns. I have a camera on my desk right now with dried mud embedded in the grip and focus ring. Sometimes I get around to scrubbing that out with a toothbrush before the next caving trip, and sometimes not.

 

[TCampbell]

Tropical humid climates tend to be a problem for fungus growth. But northerly climates -- even if humid -- don't seem to be nearly as bad. Bringing a camera in to a warm environment after being out in the cold is a recipe for condensation ... so always make sure my camera is back in the camera bag and zipped up (so the cool air is trapped inside and it warms up slowly without condensation). If I need to recharge the batteries, I eject those before I zip up the bag (so I don't have to open the bag once I come inside.)

As for the desiccant packs... they do eventually hit a saturation point where they no longer work. SOME desiccant packs can be refreshed (you bake them in the oven and it forces them to give up any moisture. (Pelican makes some that are oven-safe and you just keep refreshing them. Do a Google search for 'Pelican Desiccant' and you should get lots of hits.) The are initially blue... and fade to pink or clear to let you know that they've pretty much absorbed as much humidity as possible and should be refreshed.

 

[Overread]

In the UK storage is basically a non-issue unless you're going for very long term storage. We don't get the freezing nor high humidity periods for any length of time that would typically be damaging to cameras. At least assuming they are kept indoors in a decently insulated/heated/inuse building. A few silica gel packs and it should be fine.

You tend to encounter humidity (eg mould growth) issues more so in the tropics where the heat and humidity are way way greater and sustained for very long periods of time.
Cold/frost/ice might be more of an issue in the winter, but more so outside in use and then generally the worst is the whole condensation aspect as outlined above.

Rain can be an issue though, we do get some we weather (fun fact technically much of the UK is sorta bordering on rainforest levels of wet - yeah - let that just sink in when you consider the current state of the ecosystem and how vibrant we consider rainforests to be); though a simple OPTech Rainsleeve thrown over should be more than enough protection for most cameras.