Desiccant packs.......or not?

[Interceptor121]

There is space in the Nauticam RX100 for a silica gel packet but with the aluminum housing the set up dissipates quite a bit of heat in water so if it does not fog do not bother
I use the RX100 for video and I put a packet in the flash space but I never have the flash actually out

 

[TSandM]

When I first got my EPL-1 and Olympus housing, I had fogging problems and had to make sure I had desiccant in the housing. I don't know when I stopped doing that, but I haven't used a desiccant in the last year or so, and have had no fogging issues. I load the camera into the housing most of the time in the house, where temperatures upstairs are about 70 and downstairs in the low 60's. Water temperatures where I dive are in the high 40's or low 50's.

 

[jghflash]

I don't know where this story of putting the camera in the housing in an air conditioned room comes from, what you need is same temperature and less humidity, if you put the camera in blasting air cond you create dampness not remove it have you never noticed that clothes smell if you keep them in blasting air cond?

I'm not sure about the clothes smelling thing, but the air coming directly out of an air conditioner is definitely less humid than the ambient humidity within a room. It's just part of the physics involved in cooling the air. Thus, while the air conditioner is on, the relative humidity of the room (or house) is lower than the relative humidity outside. The drier the air inside the housing the better (it would seem) but I definitely agree that the temperature differential between where the camera is loaded in the housing and where you dive would contribute a lot toward potential for fogging. The ambient air temp and water temp are pretty much the same here, thus reducing the humidity in the housing with the cooler seemed like a good idea.....but apparently not necessary for me. One less thing to forget when prepping the camera!

 

[Interceptor121]

I was referring to excessive cooling, whilst it is true that an air conditioning unit is as well removing humidity from the room blasting cold air onto the camera or the housing like some people do putting the housing in the freezer (!) has the effect of generating condensation in the camera as this transfer heats out
A dehumidifier in the room or a ventilated not dusty environment are perfectly fine and guarantee the device does not undergo thermomechanical stress that does not help at all

 

[Hollywoodivers]

I use them most of the time although most of the Aluminum housings out on the market that I have used, (Gates, Nauticam, Sea and Sea, Light and Motion) Have never fogged without them. The fogging issues I have encountered usually were from the smaller cheaper housings like Canon (powershot) or Ikelite if the housing sat in the sun for a few minutes and got really hot. Much like a terrarium, clear medium does tend to let heat and moisture ebb a little bit. My advice, use the moisture muncher and keep the housing covered by a towel or go inside the boats galley or under the shade of the deck tarp. If you put your camera in the boat rinse bucket them hopefully it has a cover. I take mine out after the initial rinse and wrap it in a towel etc...
Hope that helps.

 

[klausi]

I think it's also a matter of the camera and housing's size, and the temperature gradients between the water during the dive and the place where you assemble it. Diving in Bonaire should be less of a problem than in California. Also, my large aluminum SLR housing never fogs, because the temperature capacity of this huge chunk of metal is larger than of a small compact housing.

 

[dpaustex]

I think I would still use the dessicant.

I, too, have been to Bonaire (and many places), always closing up my housing in "dry" air (air conditioned).

A few points to consider:

- The moisture that is in the case when you close it is always there. While the cases undergo relatively modest volume changes, they do experience pressure increase at depth.
- The pressure inside the case tends to force the moisture into places it is not - i.e. into your camera body, etc.

I feel you're better off putting the dessicant into your housing. The stuff is dirt cheap to buy, and you can "re-use" it simply by micro-waving it, then re-bagging straight out of the microwave (use the cloth packed ones, or porous paper).

After all, the basic gas laws and diffusion laws say the moisture is going to be forced somewhere.

So my two-cents (and I had a video body get ruined from not using dessicant packs - and no fogging).

 

[Rahotu200]

I have been messing around with this underwater photo thing for 6 or 7 years now. I have always been a vacation diver like most folks so every dive was mission critical and I did not want to miss a shot. I always have put in fresh batteries every couple of dives in the strobes and camera. I always clean and lightly regrease the oring every time I open the case up. I also always tried to load the camera into the housing in an air conditioned room (drier air) and put in a new desiccant pack every time. I have never had a problem with fogging in any way on any dive.

I moved full time to Bonaire in September so I am diving fairly regularly (understatement!) and I started "backing off" of some of my processes to see where the problems would start. First I took the big step of not putting a desiccant pack in the housing (blasphemy, no doubt) but still loaded the camera in a cold, air conditioned room....no problem. Then I started loading the camera in the housing with no desiccant, but in a warm room with air conditioner turned on a for a few minutes and holding the camera in front of the AC to "flush" the housing with cool dry air.....no problem. Then i just put the camera and housing on the table in a room with no air conditioning and load it at my leisure paying no attention to anything other than being ridiculously careful with the oring prep. Now i just load everything outside on the patio in the hot humid air and still no problem with fogging at all.

At what point WILL there be a problem? Is desiccant just overkill? I'm wondering what others are experiencing.

To find out the best GoPro Hero camera anti fog / anti condensation options I applied the following six different tests:

1. Use GoPro 2 as normal - nothing added
2. Tissue paper inserted down both sides and on back of camera (warning -this could easily jeopardise the water seal if a small amount of tissue is on the seal)
3. Heat camera housing and camera with a hair drier to warm then close housing.
4. Add 3 GoPro dry silica / desiccant strips inside the housing to absorb any moisture in the air and use camera straight away
5. Hold the camera and housing under an air conditioner outlet for 1 minute then close.
6. Insert GoPro 3 dry silica / desiccant strips inside the housing to absorb any moisture in the air and use camera after 17 hours.

These tests were all carried out in Singapore (tropical - 90 miles from Equator c.80% humidity) by submersing the operating Go Pro Hero2 camera in 4 degree Celsius water then removing and trying to film (extreme fogging test).

The anti fog test results are on “Rahotu 200” youtube channel

Other possible anti fog solutions:
a) Store your charged camera in a zip lock plastic bag with silica desiccant pill packets which you get with most electronics. Just before use place in housing while still in plastic bag. This would also assist with keeping your camera away (protecting it) from moisture when not in use.
b) Make sure the inside of the housing and camera is as dry as possible e.g. dry hands, no sweat
c) Don't leave the camera in the direct sun or near heat (put a towel over it or turn your surf board over to keep the camera under the water)
d) Don't leave the camera on (generating heat) when not needed. One button mode I.e. turn off and on at top of camera. – Remember that all the time the camera’s on it’s warming up (built in battery warmer in the Hero2) and all the time it’s off it’s cooling down,
e) Opening the fogged camera housing and wiping off the fog inside then closing seems to lead to less fog next time. Maybe this is to do with the housing/camera being drier.
f) Disable the LED’s – the new GoPro HD Hero has LED’s on the camera body, I’m not sure if this makes a really big difference to the temperature in the housing but it’s easy to disable some, or all of the LED’s. You can tell if it’s recording by listening for the beeps when you turn it on/off or looking at the LCD display.
g) Compact cameras are more susceptible to fogging.
h) Spray on anti fog treatments only allow fog droplets to “flatten” against the lens and are therefore not optically the best solution– removing the humidity is better see Rahotu200 youtube channel.