Indoor to cold outdoor temerature. Camera fogging?

zombiesniper · Jan 8, 2017

There are two ways you camera/lens will fog.

Winter: This is when you go into a warm place from outside. This is where I see the most fogging and the only thing I do is make sure the lens is covered and leave the camera alone. The fog will clear and as long as no dust or debris had access to the lens then it'll be fine.

Summer: This is where you leave your cooler home/car and go out to a warm humid day. This type of fogging I leave the lens cap off and again allow it to defog naturally. I do keep a lens cloth in near by in case something gets on the lens where blowing won't remove it.

There really is no quick cure since the get needs to be acclimatized before use.

Edit: If you can fit your camera in a bag do as others have stated. I normally can't so I lave the bag part out.

purpleorbes · Jan 9, 2017

Thanks for all the info guys and gals. I appreciate it (and I needed it)

astroNikon · Jan 9, 2017

It's the humidity in the air that's the main culprit. I've had it happen both ways coming in and going out in hot/cold, cold/hot. But mostly from an a/c'd interior to a hot and humid outside as that's when you need it. There's really not much you can do. I'll take the camera outside and stick it in my locked car for about 20 minutes when it fogs up to give it time to acclimate. Doesn't do much for aircraft photography as I need it that second, so it may stay in my locked car until I need it that instant.

KmH · Jan 9, 2017

purpleorbes said:
Thanks for all the info everyone. It's my 1st camera and just got it on Friday and I am intimidated by all the settings and afraid to somehow mess it up one way or the other.

The way you avoid that is by reading the camera's Reference Manual .
Have the camera at hand as you read the manual so you can see on the camera what the manual is explaining.

These tutorials will help too:
Digital Photography Tutorials

purpleorbes · Jan 9, 2017

I know this is probably a stupid question but... Can you mess up a Camera the same way you can a computer? Messing around with settings and such?
I don't mean ruining a shot with to much or little of something but like can you brick your camera irreparably?

purpleorbes · Jan 9, 2017

KmH said:
purpleorbes said:

Thanks for all the info everyone. It's my 1st camera and just got it on Friday and I am intimidated by all the settings and afraid to somehow mess it up one way or the other.

Click to expand...

The way you avoid that is by reading the camera's Reference Manual .
Have the camera at hand as you read the manual so you can see on the camera what the manual is explaining.

These tutorials will help too:
Digital Photography Tutorials

I have been. I've read the manual probably 20 times since Friday and I'm also reading Nikon D5300 for dummies..lol

Also, How necessary is a screen protector for the lcd screen? It's not a touch screen or anything so I'm not sure how it would get scratched up.
Thanks

Overread · Jan 9, 2017

purpleorbes said:
I know this is probably a stupid question but... Can you mess up a Camera the same way you can a computer? Messing around with settings and such?
I don't mean ruining a shot with to much or little of something but like can you brick your camera irreparably?

Pretty much impossible. The camera settings don't let you have enough leeway to actually get any kind of setup where you could cause it confusion.
There are a few ways you could cause trouble:
1) Sometimes when the batteries are very low a camera might take a shot and then lock-up (it basically thinks its got enough but then finds it hasn't and dies mid- shot). Typically removing the battery and reinserting it (or ideally a charged one) should set all to rights with a few flicks of the on-off switch.

2) There are 3rd party firmwire options around; some are very good in unlocking new features. However incorrect installation of them can corrupt your camera. They are typically very simple to use so shouldn't normally pose any problem.

3) Pulling out the memory card when the red writing light is flashing (ergo when its reading/writing to the card). Generally the only risk here is to the memory card and the data upon it.

Note for memory cards its typically advised to format them in-camera using the format command in the cameras menu instead of doing it in a computer. Of course only do AFTER you've copied the photos off the card (formatting removes the menu that allocates the files so whilst you can restore the data after formatting; its only possible if you don't write any data to the card after formatting - and of course you need some software to restore missing formatted data).

matrosov · Jan 25, 2017

For my shooting glasses and rifle optics I use product called "catcrap". Works very well on those haven't tried on my lens but I don't think it will ruin a lens my glasses and optics are doing just fine.

.

zombiesniper · Jan 25, 2017

Anything you put on your lens will degrade picture quality and some products may ruin any coating on the lens. I wouldn't put anything on my lens. Let it acclimatize and you'll be fine.

nerwin · Jan 25, 2017

I felt that it was relevant to share. Lol

https://petapixel.com/2010/12/09/when-protecting-your-lens-goes-too-far/

matrosov · Jan 25, 2017

purpleorbes said:
Thanks for all the info everyone. It's my 1st camera and just got it on Friday and I am intimidated by all the settings and afraid to somehow mess it up one way or the other.

I'm coming out of the very long dark ages back to the photography. Haven't shot a photo the way you supposed to since my Smena 8M

. So I am in the same boat as you. I have 5100 series body. What I'm doing is going thru slew of creative live online classes that john greengo teaches that guy is a top notch lecturer. Those classes are not inexpensive but well worth it IMHO. He has a walk around lectures for a lot popular cameras outthere including 500 series where he not only visually shows majority of the buttons and settings but also explains what they do how they do it and how to use them properly. Saved me quite a bit of boredom of reading a manual. As far as messing it up it's a precision computerized instrument if it works out of the box only way to mess it up is to drop it and run it over with a truck(ie physically mishandle it). If you mess up settings to the point beyond recognition you just reset it to factory defaults and start over. I already did it half a dozen times in the past two weeks playing with every setting and taking hundreds of crapy pictures just to see what affects what.

purpleorbes · Jan 25, 2017

nerwin said:
I felt that it was relevant to share. Lol

https://petapixel.com/2010/12/09/when-protecting-your-lens-goes-too-far/

LOL, 19 filters! I thought the pic would have turned out much worse.

I'm sick as hell right now (bronchitis,sinusitis,ear infections,fever) with a lot of times on my hands. Im re reading the d5300 manual and the d5300 for dummies and am going to watch a lot of youtube photo video's.

astroNikon · Jan 25, 2017

purpleorbes said:
nerwin said:

I felt that it was relevant to share. Lol

https://petapixel.com/2010/12/09/when-protecting-your-lens-goes-too-far/

Click to expand...

LOL, 19 filters! I thought the pic would have turned out much worse.

I'm sick as hell right now (bronchitis,sinusitis,ear infections,fever) with a lot of times on my hands. Im re reading the d5300 manual and the d5300 for dummies and am going to watch a lot of youtube photo video's.