Lens Condensation

[anthony derose]

Up on a shoot this weekend in Northern CT. Its suppose to be around 25 degrees during the day and in the teens at night. Most of the day of course is EXT. and then we move inside to shoot INT. at night. What is some good advice of keeping condensation minimal?

 

I was thinking of putting the glass in a zip lock bag bringing the case in and let it warm up to room temperature as the lighting is being done. Any other suggestions?

 

Thanks

[anthony derose]

If I do keep the lens in a bag to reduce condensation. When I move into the warmer INT. should I open the lens case rather than keeping it closed?

[Gregory Irwin]

There is no real way to stop the condensation. My suggestion is to simply get all of the lenses into the warmer climate, open up all of the lens cases and sit the lenses upright as to prevent the foam from retaining the cold. Also, have a blow dryer ready to help climatize the lenses a bit quicker.

[John Sprung]

Condensation happens when a cold surface comes in contact with warm humid air. Warm air can contain more water than cold air, so when the air gets cooled by the surface, the water comes out. If you put things in ziplock bags outside and carry them in, the air in the bags is dry outside air, and any condensation will be on the outside of the bag where you can wipe it off once things warm up. Pulling your lenses out of the foam cases will speed the warming. The air in the bags also acts as insulation, so the tighter you wrap them, the faster they warm. It's not just lenses, the camera body and magazines are also subject to condensation.

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Gregory Irwin]

In my opinion, you don't have time to bag everything up like we would like. At least that's been my experience over the past 3 decades of doing this. Just try and anticipate the gear move into the warmer climate and have everything opened up along with a blow dryer to warm the lenses as you go. No big deal.

 

G

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

ditto

 

In my opinion, you don't have time to bag everything up like we would like. At least that's been my experience over the past 3 decades of doing this. Just try and anticipate the gear move into the warmer climate and have everything opened up along with a blow dryer to warm the lenses as you go. No big deal.

 

G

[AlexJBender]

Hi Anthony

 

Over here in England, we camera assistant deal with cold environments on a daily basis..the advise I was given recently, was to take a lens that you're not going to use first up, for example an 8mm or whatever you have, that you wont use as your first lens of the day. Breath on to the lens and see if the condensation clears without any assistance..if so you can leave the lenses with the caps on within the lens box and all should be fine. If you have condensation on the lens that doesn't clear, get them inside your location with the both caps off, and rest them on the foam on the lens box. I would really refrain from spraying or using any liquids on the lenses, as this is only going to lengthen the process of getting the lenses to working temp. just keep the lenses warm when possible.

 

A

[Marque DeWinter]

Besides the suggestions above which are all right on, there is some anti-fogging fluid which will help a little bit. But be careful with lenses that have coatings on them. I think film tools carries it.

 

~Marque