How to prevent fogging on lens?

[molested_cow]

Hi all. Every time when I try to shoot through the night, my lens fog up within a few minutes. Ive left the camera out for the whole day and it still fogs up. The weird thing is, it doesn't happen to my friends when shooting together. The main difference is he has lens hood and I don't. Does lens hood make such a big difference? Is there something else I can do to prevent fogging especially for long shoots, like time lapse?

 

[dunfly]

Get a lens hood and see. I never shoot without a lens hood. It helps with lens flair, protects the lens without any distortion and, just maybe, keeps the lens from fogging up. Lens hoods are relatively cheap and there is no downside to using one.

 

[RowdyRay]

Won't get into the lens hood argument making a huge difference, but in your case, I think it does. I'll explain why.

Moisture, dew, fog or frost will settle on anything over night. ESPECIALLY if there is no wind. Compare notes with your friend. Was there a wind that night, or was it calm? How much moisture was on your cameras in the morning? A decent hood wouldn't let the moisture settle on the front element. Just my two cents.

 

[molested_cow]

Won't get into the lens hood argument making a huge difference, but in your case, I think it does. I'll explain why.

Moisture, dew, fog or frost will settle on anything over night. ESPECIALLY if there is no wind. Compare notes with your friend. Was there a wind that night, or was it calm? How much moisture was on your cameras in the morning? A decent hood wouldn't let the moisture settle on the front element. Just my two cents.

My friend was right next to me haha.
I had to wipe my lens every 5min, his was fine the whole time.

Maybe I should attach a portable fan to blow at my lens next time?

 

[D7K]

Same camera? Same lens? I've only experienced this minor fogging when going from one extreme to another temp. wise..

 

[greybeard]

To the OP: What you are describing reads like evening doo settling. I think that the lens hood is sheltering your friends lens and keeping moisture off the lens element.

 

[waday]

Maybe I should attach a portable fan to blow at my lens next time?

Wouldn't it be easier to use a lens hood?

 

[petrochemist]

Maybe I should attach a portable fan to blow at my lens next time?

No, that will probably make things worse, moving more damp air to the glass. Just fit a lens hood!

There may be times when a hood is not enough (your friends results suggest this isn't one of them) - For astrophotography heater tapes are sometimes used to keep the scope/lens slightly warmer than the environment. This is awkward for a portable system, but not so noticeable for big astro telescopes...

 

[RowdyRay]

My friend was right next to me haha.
I had to wipe my lens every 5min, his was fine the whole time.

Maybe I should attach a portable fan to blow at my lens next time?

Lol. No, just try a lens hood. A little Googling should give you the correct part number.

Without the whole scenario, we can only guess. Sounded weather related and why I asked.

 

[shane.haumpton]

Its near impossible to 100% prevent it as it is maid up of glass

 

[DGMPhotography]

Get a lens hood and see. I never shoot without a lens hood. It helps with lens flair, protects the lens without any distortion and, just maybe, keeps the lens from fogging up. Lens hoods are relatively cheap and there is no downside to using one.

There is definitely a downside. To me, they were cumbersome. They take up extra space in my bag, so I stopped using them. They also add a tiny bit of weight to the camera.

 

[petrochemist]

Get a lens hood and see. I never shoot without a lens hood. It helps with lens flair, protects the lens without any distortion and, just maybe, keeps the lens from fogging up. Lens hoods are relatively cheap and there is no downside to using one.

There is definitely a downside. To me, they were cumbersome. They take up extra space in my bag, so I stopped using them. They also add a tiny bit of weight to the camera.

Most reverse over the lens so barely take any extra space. Perhaps they get in the way of the focus/zoom/aperture controls if you don't turn it the right way round, but that's rarely a significant problem even for people like me who use manual focus quite a lot.
They do add a tiny bit of weight, but add a lot of image quality & protect your lens far more than a filter...

 

[DGMPhotography]

Get a lens hood and see. I never shoot without a lens hood. It helps with lens flair, protects the lens without any distortion and, just maybe, keeps the lens from fogging up. Lens hoods are relatively cheap and there is no downside to using one.

There is definitely a downside. To me, they were cumbersome. They take up extra space in my bag, so I stopped using them. They also add a tiny bit of weight to the camera.

Most reverse over the lens so barely take any extra space. Perhaps they get in the way of the focus/zoom/aperture controls if you don't turn it the right way round, but that's rarely a significant problem even for people like me who use manual focus quite a lot.
They do add a tiny bit of weight, but add a lot of image quality & protect your lens far more than a filter...

I didn't like have having to take it off, reverse it, and do the opposite every time I wanted to take it out, or put it back in my bag. Especially when I'm shooting a wedding or something fast paced, where I don't have time to do that. The lens didn't fit in my bag without reversing the hood, so I nixed em.

 

[ac12]

Get a lens hood and see. I never shoot without a lens hood. It helps with lens flair, protects the lens without any distortion and, just maybe, keeps the lens from fogging up. Lens hoods are relatively cheap and there is no downside to using one.

There is definitely a downside. To me, they were cumbersome. They take up extra space in my bag, so I stopped using them. They also add a tiny bit of weight to the camera.

Most reverse over the lens so barely take any extra space. Perhaps they get in the way of the focus/zoom/aperture controls if you don't turn it the right way round, but that's rarely a significant problem even for people like me who use manual focus quite a lot.
They do add a tiny bit of weight, but add a lot of image quality & protect your lens far more than a filter...

I didn't like have having to take it off, reverse it, and do the opposite every time I wanted to take it out, or put it back in my bag. Especially when I'm shooting a wedding or something fast paced, where I don't have time to do that. The lens didn't fit in my bag without reversing the hood, so I nixed em.

Man if you think the weight of a lens hood is significant, you should be shooting a smaller format camera. Most of the hoods today are made of plastic, and they are so light as to be insignificant. Even my old Nikon metal hoods were light.
When I was carrying and shooting, in the film days, I used screw on metal hoods on all my lenses.

The hood helped to keep my fingers off the filter, so I did not have to deal with cleaning finger prints and greasy smears off the filter during a shoot. Having to clean the filter during a shoot was an avoidable waste of time.

My working bags were deep enough to put the lenses in, with the hood attached.
I don't let my bag drive what gear I use, my gear drives what bag I use.

 

[molested_cow]

So for those who shoot night time lapse, there's no sure way of avoiding fogging? Sure I will use a lens hood. I have one, just didn't have it with me at that tkme. However getting to the location and the opportunity never comes easy and I hope to have a sure method to rely on.