A85 Housing & Silicon ( DO NOT EAT)

[JohnDough]

I have Olympus and housing that fogs if I dont use a silicon (Do Not Eat) packet if there is more than 10 degree temp difference between air and water temp. Actually just the camera lens fogs. Packets are included with the housing and the instructions say to use them with every dive.

My Friend just purchased a Housing for his Canon A85 and there are no silicon packets or mention of them... Are they not needed with the canon? If not any idea why? I would think there would be moisture problems inside a sealed housing with rapid temp changes...

 

[hdtran]

I'm sure that silica (note spelling) packets would be useful. Silica gel beads are silicon dioxide (sand) porous beads which absorb up to (I think) 20% of their weight in moisture.

They can be regenerated by baking out at 250F for 2-3 hrs.

 

[Scuba65]

I have the A95 and housing and haven't had the need to use them. no problem with fogging up.

 

[mwrager]

I was in Cozumel 2 weekends ago, I had to use them because my camera fogged up. I say use them, I would hate to have it fog up when your needing to take a picture. They dont cost very much and its good insurance. Just my .02

 

[Coffeyman]

I was in Cozumel 2 weekends ago, I had to use them because my camera fogged up. I say use them, I would hate to have it fog up when your needing to take a picture. They dont cost very much and its good insurance. Just my .02

Don't cost anything - as many shoes as my wife buys I just snag all the ones out of the boxes. Last pair of sandals I got I just asked the lady helping me and ended up taking home like 25 of the dang thing with my shoes.

...man it takes a select bunch (divers) to go hunting through the shoe boxes to find a posionous substance that says 'THROW AWAY" and "DO NOT EAT"....

Love it!

 

[KrisB]

I don't think it's "poisonous" per se -- it's just not a good thing to eat as it will absorb the fluid in your stomach, turning to gel and then you have to have that dealt with... I imagine the worst it would do is give you terrible stomach pains (at least initially, anyways).

In fact, it's an ingredient in herbal supplements deal with: "thinning hair, dull skin and splitting nails." And from a site noting issues with their packets in a medicine: "Chemically, Silica gel is very similar to silica (quartz or white sand). It is quite harmless. If someone does swallow a large amount, it is a good idea to drink a glass of water."

So... it's just not good to eat. I'm not sure why someone would and it would need the label "Do Not Eat" that it comes with... I mean, doesn't everybody eat the other stuff that comes in their shoeboxes?

 

[MoonWrasse]

Well, my little brother used to eat my shoes but he stopped doing that before he worked on wall street

 

[hdtran]

I have Olympus and housing that fogs if I dont use a silicon (Do Not Eat) packet if there is more than 10 degree temp difference between air and water temp. Actually just the camera lens fogs. Packets are included with the housing and the instructions say to use them with every dive.

My Friend just purchased a Housing for his Canon A85 and there are no silicon packets or mention of them... Are they not needed with the canon? If not any idea why? I would think there would be moisture problems inside a sealed housing with rapid temp changes...

You can also buy them from a number of places. One of the least expensive is McMaster-Carr Industrial Supply (www.mcmaster.com; search on "desiccant"). They have no minimum order qty. I bought 4 packs of 10 (total of 40 packs), for about $10 + $4 shipping.

 

[orangeBloke]

Use gel packs as they won't do any harm but to fix the fogging on the front port try a drop of mask defogger on a cotton bud and rub it on the inside of the port. Then rub off the excess and anything that might obscure the port. I do this at the start of every trip and it works a treat

 

[yakivet]

Don't cost anything - as many shoes as my wife buys I just snag all the ones out of the boxes. Last pair of sandals I got I just asked the lady helping me and ended up taking home like 25 of the dang thing with my shoes.

...man it takes a select bunch (divers) to go hunting through the shoe boxes to find a posionous substance that says 'THROW AWAY" and "DO NOT EAT"....

Love it!

Another helpful Free source of the silica packs:

Best Buy/Circuit City etc. Usually there is atleast one packet in each of their camera/video bags. The employees usually just give them away. Ken :42: