Foggy lens

[JClishe]

I'm on vacation in Myrtle Beach. Yesterday was laying on the beach with the family, with my camera in my bag. A rain cloud appeared out of nowhere and rained for about 5 minutes. I threw a towel over my Tamrac bag. The inside of the bag stayed dry, but when I took my camera out about 10 minutes later, the lens was foggy. A few hours later I reached for the camera again and it was fine.

This morning I took a walk on the beach with the intent of taking some sunrise shots. It was about 85 degrees and 90% humidity - you could cut it with a knife. When I took the lens cap off, the lens fogged up immediately.

So my questions are, is it safe to wipe down the lens with a lens cloth when it fogs up, and is there anything I can do to prevent it?

 

[Dao]

I'm on vacation in Myrtle Beach. Yesterday was laying on the beach with the family, with my camera in my bag. A rain cloud appeared out of nowhere and rained for about 5 minutes. I threw a towel over my Tamrac bag. The inside of the bag stayed dry, but when I took my camera out about 10 minutes later, the lens was foggy. A few hours later I reached for the camera again and it was fine.

This morning I took a walk on the beach with the intent of taking some sunrise shots. It was about 85 degrees and 90% humidity - you could cut it with a knife. When I took the lens cap off, the lens fogged up immediately.

So my questions are, is it safe to wipe down the lens with a lens cloth when it fogs up, and is there anything I can do to prevent it?

If the camera was inside a air conditioned place and then went out to a hot and humid place, the lens will fog up. Of course, if the camera was still inside the camera bag, you can let it warm up slowly inside the bag.

As for wiping the lens, you can only wipe the outside of the lens. Other stuff inside the camera MAY fog up as well.

 

[benlonghair]

So my questions are, is it safe to wipe down the lens with a lens cloth when it fogs up, and is there anything I can do to prevent it?

Rain and condensation is basically distilled water. Probably not a big issue.

The only way to keep stuff from fogging up is to let it aclimate to the temperature. I had this problem the other day as a storm front passed through. I'd had my camera in the AC of the office all day and when I took it out to shoot the storm, it fogged immediatly. Kind of annoying, but that's just how it works.

 

[JClishe]

OK cool, thanks for the replies. I just wanted to be ensure I didn't have a problem with my lens or anything. And yes, this morning I went from my air conditioned hotel room to a hot and super muggy beach, so I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

Thanks!

 

[benlonghair]

Actually, if you look at my flickr, the lightning shots from 7/24 were done in the pouring rain. My lens dripped for half an hour when I was done. (basically kept the body dry with a trash bag and let the front half of the lens be exposed.)

No problems with the lens or the body yet.

From what I know about electronics, small amounts of water won't hurt them. Salt water, however, is bad... mmmmmkay?

 

[musicaleCA]

90%!? Eep.

Definitely let your gear acclimate in the bag. 90% humidity is above spec for Canon cameras (the 1Ds MkIII is rated to operate in 85% humidity and below). Not saying that your camera is going to fry (the water isn't liable to have many, if any mineral solutes), but it'd be wise to treat it carefully in such harsh conditions.

 

[manaheim]

I keep several very large ziplock bags in my bag with me. If you find you will be changing climates to a significant degree with a camera, put the cam and lenses in ziplock bags and let them acclimate to the change in temp before removing them.

You also really don't want to keep getting condensation inside the lens... eek. So make a point to be careful about this.