Fogging problem with Camera Housing

[scubapatton]

try to tuck them away from buttons. I used them for a while but then went with the Moisture Munchers because I can wedge them in places and do not have to worry if part of the silica gel pack gets in the housing door. I keep two in, and I use the defog on the lens but wipe VERY well.. honestly not even sure if the defog is still there by the time I finish wiping. I used to have bad issues with this.

Turning off the review screen really helps, or set it for as short as possible on the timer...

 

[BurBunny]

Great thread for me! I bought my long awaited DC500 two days ago, dived with it yesterday. Since I'm completely new at this I didn't expect much, but some pics were OK.
The housing did fog after about 20 minutes, but I hadn't used any of these ideas, so I'll try them all. Question: if I use the little silica gel packets , say from medicine containers, where in the housing can I safely put them?

Anywhere they fit and won't interfere with the function. In general, I found putting one underneath the camera mount worked well, and if I needed a second, the left side of the housing between the camera and wall was my second location.

 

[randini]

Anywhere they fit and won't interfere with the function. In general, I found putting one underneath the camera mount worked well, and if I needed a second, the left side of the housing between the camera and wall was my second location.

Exactly. It depends on the camera/housing and where you can find empty space in the housing that doesn't interfere with the lens, controls, screen, flash or focus light. In the fantasea housing for my P3 I put them in the hand grip area.

 

[texey]

Hi SeaHorseWoman,

That IS a good question. Put them some where where they don't interfere with the buttons and make sure the case closes securely around the camera. I myself have not used any silicone packets other than the cylindracle sticks that came with the camera. I'm thinking that when the camera is being stored I'm going to fill the empty underwater case with silicone packets and seal the case with them in it.

 

[ghostrunner007]

What I find that works the best is to load the camera into the housing , close it up (ready to dive) and then let it sit for a while before the dive. This gives the mosture muncher time to get rid of the mosture before the temperature change. Never had it fog again

 

[herman]

If at all possible, I hold my housing, camera installed, in front of an AC for several minutes with the air stream blowing into the houseing and then close it while it is still in the air stream of the AC. This ensures that the camera, housing and air inside are all as dry as they can be. Make sure the compressor on the AC is on to ensure the air you are blowing over the camera is dry. Keeping the camera as cool as possible also helps. I transport my camera to and from dive sites in a large plastic bag, wrapped in a wet towel or t-shirt. This is esp helpful if clean rinse tanks are not readily available......keeps the seals from drying off with salt water on them before I have a chance to soak the housing.

 

[GeorgiaT]

foggin is non existent for me when Im on electrical sync and turn off the camera flash vs much fogging when I switched to an optical synch system that needed the camera internal flash to be on. I feel the most heat comes from the flash, and the smnaller the case the more heat.

 

[Darol]

I got a tip from a dive guide in Cozumel, use a hair dryer to warm, not cook, but warm the inside of the housing prior to leaving the room. This really dries it out. Worked for me. Use common sense, and don't over do it.

 

[randini]

I got a tip from a dive guide in Cozumel, use a hair dryer to warm, not cook, but warm the inside of the housing prior to leaving the room. This really dries it out. Worked for me. Use common sense, and don't over do it.

I got the same tip about two weeks ago from a guy who was just in Brazil. He said it worked great. Instead of trying to heat anything up inside the housing, he said they just blast the inside of the housing for a couple of seconds to flush out the humid air with the warm dry air from the hair dryer, and then seal the housing.

Thursday I have to go to "la capital" to run some errands and while I'm there I'm going to look for a small battery powered hairdryer to take with me on the boat and give it a try.

 

[bleeb]

Shoot tank air into your housing if you opened it between dives.

I've been thinking about a variant of this one for a while, and figured it was worth seeing if anyone had ever tried anything similar, or had any comments or suggestions. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet, though.

There are several businesses where purging and bagging things with dry nitrogen is a common technique, such as electronic components (chips, resistors, capacitors, etc.), scientific optical instruments, and spacecraft. Some techniques might work well to minimize the humidity captured inside a camera housing.

Place housing, camera, batteries, memory cards or what not in a large clear plastic bag, along with a reg attached to a tank. Press the bag flat to get out as much air as possible. While holding bag closed around the hose, use the reg purge valve to inflate the bag. Press the bag flat again to flush out most of the remaining diluted humid air. Depending on how much unflushed volume is left when the bag is pressed flat, you may want to repeat this a third time. While deflated, use a couple of twist ties (one next to the other) to seal the bag to the hose. Partially reinflate bag, and then do whatever work is needed. When you seal up the housing, the air inside should be dryer than even what you get in an air conditioned room, although some desiccant will probably still be needed.