Since my work makes me spend time in air conditiones rooms and cars and buildings, well most places are cooled here, I live in the pacific coast of mexico; mazatlán to be precise, lattely humidity has been near 100% and heat around 35°C, when going out from air conditioned places, my M4P and lens get misty for about ten minutes until camera and lens reach the local temph, what should I worry about and how could I solve this?, until now only front element lens have noted misted, could mist get to inner elements? Thank´s and enjoy the better weather.

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), August 21, 2001

Answers

This is almost the same thing that happens when you go from the winter ourdoors in to a heated building (except that the humidity is higher in the cold environment vs the hot). Other than underwater cameras, they're not hermetically sealed, so condensation can take place inside the camera as well as outside. Cameras with greater use of metals in their construction are much worse for this than plastic for 2 reasons: they transfer heat and cold more readily, and certain metals rust. The standard advice for the cold-to-hot transportation of camera equipment is while in the cold, to place it in a plastic bag, squeeze out as much air as possible, and do not remove it from the bag until you can feel that it has warmed up to the ambient temperature. Since the temperature differential between an AC'd building and even tropical outdoor heat is much less than between sub- zero winter and a heated building, the time it takes to equalize is less. This is one time where a black never-ready case has a purpose.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), August 21, 2001.

Hey, Roberto! I think the plastic (ZIPLOCK)bag is the right idea, but I would suggest adding one or two of those silica gel dessicant bags. They are the little paper packages that contain stuff to absorb moisture. They come packaged with new cameras and lenses and other stuff to keep the humidity out during shipping. When my girlfriend's camera got dunked in the river, I used some of these in a ziplock bag to suck the moisture out of the lens and viewfinder. Believe me, it worked, and her camera just took some great pictures in Santa Fe. You can renew the silica gel from time to time by drying it in the toaster oven, or in the sun on a hot dry day.

Take care.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), August 21, 2001.

"what should I worry about and how could I solve this?"

Excessive pollution, man's inhumanity to man, do you look good in a swimsuit, anything but a little condensation. Perhaps a valium would solve the worrying problem. . .

Sorry, feeling a little rambunctious this evening. When I've been faced with this problem and needed to "de-mist" the equipment in a hurry, I've just blasted it with a blow dryer for a minute.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), August 22, 2001.

Thank´s to you for advices, I´ll opt for the ziplock bag, hope it doesn´t become a problem of aneverreadyantimoistureziplockbag, thank´s Bob.

So I better feel lucky to live in the tropics and not in Alaska, it makes sense Jay.

Since discovering photography as a way to express my self, that has been fixed in my photography, for me a good image is that in wich I can see my self as well as others, thank´s for remaind me that Mike, after all some moisture is not the end of the world, but it could be the end of my camera that in a way is my world, and the way I make my life have a sense.

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), August 22, 2001.

Didn't mean to imply that you shouldn't care for your camera. I would have concerns about storing the camera for long periods in a high-humidity area. But it sounded like the high-humidity conditions were transient, and that the camera would be spending most of its time in a drier environment.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), August 22, 2001.

Once while on vacation in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, my M6 viewfinder fogged up due to the fact that my condo was air conditioned and the weather outside was extremely hot and humid. When I arrived home I noticed something unusual inside the viewfinder. It looked like a fungus growing inside. I called Leica and was told to place the camera in a sunny spot with the lens covered until the fungus disappeared.It did eventually disappear and I have not had the problem since. My question is; how did the fungal spore get into the viewfinder in the first place? I think at the factory during assembly. Possible??

-- John Alfred Tropiano (jat18@psu.edu), August 23, 2001.

John

Fungal spores are pretty well everywhere and have dimensions of only a few microns. Usually all they need are the right conditions to germinate. They were probably in Solms, or indeed could well have worked themselves into the viewfinder, just as other dirt does.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), August 28, 2001.