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Storing lenses
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PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2007 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Attila wrote:
Yes, they have no shop in Italy Sad http://www.conrad.com/. This is their international site.


Excellent site Attila! They have some fascinating things. There's a depot in England and I've never heard of them before!


PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2007 8:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I am glad if you found something useful things. They have lot of interesting choices , not every item is perfect, but mostly well built usable items.


PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2007 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
peterqd wrote:

Orio, often it rains because warm, humid air has been forced upwards by cooler, less humid air at ground level. So although the weather is wet, the air can be very dry. Similarly, it can be very warm and humid at ground level when it isn't raining!


yeah...
here we live in a very humid area. There was the ocean here in the Prehistoric age. My father as a young kid found a fossile of a big prehistoric fish, the size of a shark, when he was playing in the country with his friends. The fossile is now in some paleontological musem.
The humidity made the economic fortune of this area (this is why our ham and cheese are so good), but it's not very good for things like storing lenses.
Luckily, I live in a well built building. I only have a couple of traces humidity on the walls, and oneof them because I have a stupid landlord that did not want to spend the money to fix a crack in the upper apartment when i first warned him (and the blot was still small). Now he will have to break the whole floor probably.


PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2007 8:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
This is my "new" lens cabinet:



PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2007 8:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Excellent! Perfect storage place! Always watch out the humidity inside.Two hygrometer from different vendor better than one.


PostPosted: Tue May 08, 2007 12:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, I also think that this is quite a good solution.
The meter inside says 19°C and about 45% RH at the moment.
But I've just had the dehumidifier in that cabinet for two days.
There is about 55% RH in my study, so the dehumidifier has worked already.

And I turn on the lamp whenever I am in my study (which is very often, actually) or generally when I am at home.
This not only is good for the lenses, it also looks very nice. Smile

Carsten

P.S.: I have cross-checked the hygrometer with another one. They both show very similar levels.


PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 9:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hi!

I don't know if this has been posted already, but it is really interesting:
http://www.mypentax.com/Fungus.html

Carsten


PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I was just about to post a question about storage and what do you know, you guys have covered this topic at length and provided very useful information and tips. Thanks to all of you.

I have the opportunity to order from Conrad so I will probably get a Hygrometer with adjustable alarm settings to warn me if the humidity reaches above a certain threshold.

My current problem is to find a suitable storage shelf or (more preferred) a cabinet. Think I will talk to my good friend IKEA and see what kind of solution is offered. Smile


PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I take care my lenses I store all of them in dry boxes keep humidity all time below 45 %, one lens is a toy for my bird, humidity is often 60% , bird kissed many times front lens. Lens is covered with dust and ?!! no fungus ...


PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
As far as I know, it is not only humidity.
Fungus need three things to grow:
- nutrition (esp. organic material)
- darkness
- humidity (but a constantly high humidity of 60% is not too bad, much worse is regular and quick change of rel. humidity and temperature because this will cause little droplets inside the lens and this creates perfect conditions for fungus)


PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
LucisPictor wrote:
As far as I know, it is not only humidity.
Fungus need three things to grow:
- nutrition (esp. organic material)
- darkness
- humidity (but a constantly high humidity of 60% is not too bad, much worse is regular and quick change of rel. humidity and temperature because this will cause little droplets inside the lens and this creates perfect conditions for fungus)

Fungus also needs still air, no ventilation, and this is what worries me about keeping lenses in a cabinet. I guess your dehumidifier is really effective Carsten, but do you have to monitor the RH and switch it on manually, or is it controlled by an auto humidistat?


PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
In my experience better to keep them in dry cabinet than in room with air if humidity is high.


PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
peterqd wrote:
LucisPictor wrote:
As far as I know, it is not only humidity.
Fungus need three things to grow:
- nutrition (esp. organic material)
- darkness
- humidity (but a constantly high humidity of 60% is not too bad, much worse is regular and quick change of rel. humidity and temperature because this will cause little droplets inside the lens and this creates perfect conditions for fungus)

Fungus also needs still air, no ventilation, and this is what worries me about keeping lenses in a cabinet. I guess your dehumidifier is really effective Carsten, but do you have to monitor the RH and switch it on manually, or is it controlled by an auto humidistat?


Very true, Peter, I forgot. Ventilation is important to prevent fungus.
I open my cabinet several times a day. And the dehumidifier is a chemical one and thus constantly active. It just has to be recharged (just by connecting it to the mains for an hour) every two weeks. The little dhumidifying balls inside are dried then.


PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
LucisPictor wrote:
[And the dehumidifier is a chemical one and thus constantly active. It just has to be recharged (just by connecting it to the mains for an hour) every two weeks. The little dhumidifying balls inside are dried then.

That's clever! I should have known you'd thought about that. Smile


PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Have not read the whole thread, but has anyone tried the Humibox? They are quite cheap, the smaller ones atleast.

http://www.shutterbug.com/news/060308humibox/

http://flickr.com/photos/ruel_photo/2252319863/


PostPosted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 6:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Orio wrote:
This is part of my lens collection as it is currently stored, vertical and with caps on, from the left you can see the Carl Zeiss Jena and Pentacon lenses, then the Russian lenses that are big. On the far right, the only 4 Canon lenses that I own:

http://www.imageshock.eu/img/lenscoll1.jpg

Sorry for the picture quality, it is 1600 ISO and almost wide open, as I am not feeling very well I did not care about mounting the tripod, I will take a better picture one of these days.


I have mine stored the same way Orio.


PostPosted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 9:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
spiralcity wrote:
Orio wrote:
This is part of my lens collection as it is currently stored, vertical and with caps on, from the left you can see the Carl Zeiss Jena and Pentacon lenses, then the Russian lenses that are big. On the far right, the only 4 Canon lenses that I own:

http://www.imageshock.eu/img/lenscoll1.jpg

Sorry for the picture quality, it is 1600 ISO and almost wide open, as I am not feeling very well I did not care about mounting the tripod, I will take a better picture one of these days.


I have mine stored the same way Orio.


Don't forget to measure humidity continuously,modern windows keep to much humidity inside in room.


PostPosted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 11:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Here's the shelf in my study, I also have two cabinet with gear.
It's a bit of a mess and really not the best way to store gear. Confused




PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
As a use to be gun collector the solution to the humidity problem is here.....

http://www.goldenroddehumidifiers.com/

I'm building ...or may buy a safe very similar to a gun safe for my cameras and lenses...fire resistant and with a UV light inside it is as good as the sun without the dust problem. The golden rod stick will keep the humidity down.

Dawg


PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm making something similar - a bookcase with glass doors and two 4' fluorescent lights mounted vertically inside, with a tubular heater like the Goldenrod at bottom, but also using a small Peltier dehumidifier in the cabinet, coming on for a few hours per day.
A heater on its own will have a significant effect, but in itself it's not really a very good dehumidifier.


PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I was very worried when I came living here last December. One year ago I measured the humidity in the ground floor and it was 78% in a day when in my previous apartment it was about 50%.
Now, after the restoration works, I don't even have to use the boxes to store the lenses. I have an average humidity of about 42%, which can go to 45% or at the very worst near 50% when it rains outside. During good weather, it is lower than 40% (two days ago it was 38%) so I might actually start to worry about lack of humidity!

-


PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I store the lenses in cabinets with glass doors, do nothing else.
Where I live is fairly dry place even though it is close to the lake Ontario,
but the apartment is air-conditioned whole year round and humidity is
always between 30% (winter) to 50% (summer). For humans it is a bit
low side, but the photographic lenses it seems an ideal condition. Very Happy

I do not even open door for a week or so, although doors are not air tight.
So some dust is accumulated eventually, but not much. We use 3M's
air filter for our heat-pump, changing every 4 months. Its grade is 1,700,
ie. it stops larger size bacteria accoring to their description. Wink


PostPosted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:10 pm    Post subject: Storage System Reply with quote
For lens storage I use a system of 3 Pelican Cases each with renewable dehumidifiers and min-max temp-humidity gauges. Temperature varies, but humidity is always 20-25% in cases 1 and 2.

case 1. lenses and equipment used infrequently.

case 2. lenses and equipment I shoot with more or less regularly.

equipment moving from cold to warm environment gets sealed in plastic bag first, to prevent condensation while it warms to room temperature

case 3. used as a "dryer"; lenses fresh from the field go in here to dry before moving to case #2.


here's some of what i know about fungi:

fungi are everywhere. infection is universal. fungi can be murdered, however new fungi grows particularly well on the corpses; clean it off! growth is easily prevented by keeping humidity low. air flow prevents fungi growth only if the air drys out the fungus; the air must be lower in humidity than the fungus; increasing air flow also increases the amount of fungi.


PostPosted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Welcome Sirius!


PostPosted: Sun May 03, 2009 12:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
spiralcity wrote:
Here's the shelf in my study, I also have two cabinet with gear.
It's a bit of a mess and really not the best way to store gear. Confused




The bottom level is flexing....I would recommend you displace some of the excess weight by sending me some of that good stuff!



In regards to the OP, like others, a cabinet. Unless you live in a relatively humid region, I wouldn't worry about it at ambient atmosphere.

If humidity is a relative issue, a diy'er can build an air-tight plastic chamber (I've seen a few done from those plastic compartments that people store clothes in) and perhaps throw some absorbents in there for good measure.
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