Silica Gel- how much- in the field?

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viper699

viper699

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I have my z8 with a rented z100-400 lens. Out in the rainforest, developed a slight haze now. First time for me, didn’t happen with different gear last rainforest trip.

Took ten mins to get back to lodge.
I immediately switched out to a different lens, and to attempt to identify if the issue was the lens itself.
With the second lens, everything was fine, 5” later put back on the 100-400 and it was fine too.
I noticed a small rotation of both lenses when locked on the body maybe a few degrees. Never experienced this with my F mounts. Is this common with Z mounts?

Never needed to use silica gel for removing humidity.

1 How much silica gel should one use, and how long does it take?

2 Once water is removed, how do I identify what the problem is? I didn’t have this problem with my d5500 at all.

This is new territory for me.

Thanks in advance
 
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viper699 said:
Limited internet access-

I have my z8 with a rented z100-400 lens. Out in the rainforest, developed a slight haze now. First time for me, didn’t happen with different gear last rainforest trip.

Took ten mins to get back to lodge.
I immediately switched out to a different lens, and to attempt to identify if the issue was the lens itself.
With the second lens, everything was fine, 5” later put back on the 100-400 and it was fine too.
I noticed a small rotation of both lenses when locked on the body maybe a few degrees. Never experienced this with my F mounts. Is this common with Z mounts?

Never needed to use silica gel for removing humidity.

1 How much silica gel should one use, and how long does it take?

2 Once water is removed, how do I identify what the problem is? I didn’t have this problem with my d5500 at all.

This is new territory for me.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

The sloppiness of the connection at the mount is troubling, particularly if it has allowed moisture ingress. My first thought was that the lens mount on the rented lens has been deformed a bit. I’ve had that problem with a rented 70-200 a couple of years ago. It had a sloppy connection to my camera’s mount. When I purchased a new lens, it was a tight fit with no rotation at all. However, if you’re having the same mount sloppiness with a second lens, perhaps the problem is with the mount on the camera? If you have a third lens, give it a try. If the mount on the camera or lens is deformed enough to allow moisture ingress, it’ll require Nikon repair servicing.

Also, in my experience, longer lenses have a slight bit of play at the mount because they are more likely to put stress on both sides of the mount when the lens isn’t properly held when shooting.

Regarding silica gel, I travel with packs of silica gel and ziplock style bags sized for camera or lenses. If needed I’ll put a few packs inside a bag with camera or lens, squeeze out as much air as possible, seal the bag, let it sit overnight.

I’m sure others will have ideas on what’s occurred.
 
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I have found a little play on the lens mount with most lenses on a D5600, D500, z7ii, and Z8, across all lenses both new and used, long and short. I have also seen it on the FTZ adapter, both on the camera and the lens side. The only exceptions has been the 35mm 1.8 DX lens attaching to the FTZ adapter. That connection seemed almost too tight and made me worry when I'd put it on. I've also asked on various forums about this and gotten many responses from people saying that it is the same with their equipment, so I have always taken it to be normal.
 
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Thank you both! I’ll look into the z mount with my Nikon kit lens, and 186

I’ve honestly never had this happen both vapor and lens rotation, but I’ve always only rented lens 3 times. My lenses have always been tight, and I like it. Good to know there’s a bit of tolerance and it MAY not be my body mount- will see!

On silica

1 how do you know when the silica is saturated and needs to be thrown out?
 
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JAJohnson said:
The sloppiness of the connection at the mount is troubling, particularly if it has allowed moisture ingress. My first thought was that the lens mount on the rented lens has been deformed a bit. I’ve had that problem with a rented 70-200 a couple of years ago. It had a sloppy connection to my camera’s mount. When I purchased a new lens, it was a tight fit with no rotation at all. However, if you’re having the same mount sloppiness with a second lens, perhaps the problem is with the mount on the camera? If you have a third lens, give it a try. If the mount on the camera or lens is deformed enough to allow moisture ingress, it’ll require Nikon repair servicing.

Also, in my experience, longer lenses have a slight bit of play at the mount because they are more likely to put stress on both sides of the mount when the lens isn’t properly held when shooting.

Regarding silica gel, I travel with packs of silica gel and ziplock style bags sized for camera or lenses. If needed I’ll put a few packs inside a bag with camera or lens, squeeze out as much air as possible, seal the bag, let it sit overnight.

I’m sure others will have ideas on what’s occurred.
Click to expand...
What size packs do you use for a given volume of ziplock bag?
 
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As a related or secondary question, how worthwhile or effective are these? I've read that unless they are brand new and rapidly put into a completely airtight container with whatever is being protected that they don't actually work.
 
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viper699 said:
On silica

1 how do you know when the silica is saturated and needs to be thrown out?
Click to expand...
You can tell when the gel is saturated because the pack will feel damp. When they’re saturated put them on a baking sheet in an oven at 200° F for an hour or two to dry them out and refresh them. I discard them only when the outer packaging is frayed.
 
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SCoombs said:
As a related or secondary question, how worthwhile or effective are these? I've read that unless they are brand new and rapidly put into a completely airtight container with whatever is being protected that they don't actually work.
Click to expand...
The ones I buy come is a resealable bag. If they’re left unsealed they’ll absorb moisture from the air and be useless when you need them.
 
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JAJohnson said:
The ones I buy come is a resealable bag. If they’re left unsealed they’ll absorb moisture from the air and be useless when you need them.
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Yes, I get that you can keep fresh ones sealed up before use. I'm talking about putting them in for instance a camera bag for protection. I've read that doing that is pointless since the camera bag will not be airtight and so they'll just absorb whatever moisture is in the air even if it's not a danger to the camera.

Are we talking here exclusively about using them to treat a lens which has developed a problem by sealing it up with some of them?
 
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SCoombs said:
Yes, I get that you can keep fresh ones sealed up before use. I'm talking about putting them in for instance a camera bag for protection. I've read that doing that is pointless since the camera bag will not be airtight and so they'll just absorb whatever moisture is in the air even if it's not a danger to the camera.

Are we talking here exclusively about using them to treat a lens which has developed a problem by sealing it up with some of them?
Click to expand...
Before I head out for a day of shooting I put a dozen or so in a gallon sized ziploc freezer bag to take with me. I have larger ziploc style bags into which I can put my largest lens. Because they begin to absorb moisture immediately, I don’t ever leave the desiccant packs exposed to open air. In my bag they stay sealed in the gallon sized ziploc bag until I need to use them.
 
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I wonder if the haze I observed was actually condensation? I looked at the lens and didn’t seem to see any, but again maybe I needed to look more closely.

Since then all was fine- then an early morning we set out at 4am to catch some birds. In rainforest there’s a lot of “fog” at times at the canopy.

Was shooting, all was fine, then same haze occurred for both 100-400 and 600mm PF.

Had to switch back and forth between lenses in order to shoot. It’s really odd.

This went away as the air became warmer.
 
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If the gear is showing signs of condensation, and if that goes on for long (few days), then you are at risk of getting fungus growth.

Fresh silica gel will dry the air in a sealed container. You don't need much, but it should be fairy fresh. Silica gel is available as an indicating product. Granules will change color when they have absorbed a lot of water. It can be hard to tell, though, depending on the product. If you don't have silica gel, warm the gear (carefully).

Or go to dry places!
 
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Archibald said:
If the gear is showing signs of condensation, and if that goes on for long (few days), then you are at risk of getting fungus growth.

Fresh silica gel will dry the air in a sealed container. You don't need much, but it should be fairy fresh. Silica gel is available as an indicating product. Granules will change color when they have absorbed a lot of water. It can be hard to tell, though, depending on the product. If you don't have silica gel, warm the gear (carefully).

Or go to dry places!
Click to expand...
I'm in a more dry area now. It happened one day. Then the next few days nothing happened-things were fine! Then a big shoot day they both had "fog", and when I immediately changed lens, the camera was fine, then it would fog up a bit, I'd switch a lens, keep shooting until it fogged up. I THINK the warming of the air as the sun rose was a factor because the fogging decreased in frequency quite a bit. Who knows.

I have found silica that changes color, I have not found a local source. As I'm not in the rainforest anymore, I may have to wait till I get back, as I cannot locate them in my area, but still working on doing so.

I didnt have my reading glasses on, and honestly while I looked at the both lens during the BIG day, I didnt notice any condensation anywhere clearly it was there somewhere.

Maybe there was such a small amt of water that I couldnt see it...I'l never know. I'm just glad I captured amazing images, rather than only looking through binos.
 
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I leave my cameras and lenses inside the bag until it has had time to adjust to the ambient temperature outdoors. Usually it is a 20-30 minutes drive from my room to a location and this is enough time in most situations. I have never had need for a silca gel desiccant when traveling or a special bag.
 
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I just returned from 2 weeks shooting in VERY humid conditions in Panama. We were careful to not use AC when traveling to the destination so that cameras/lenses could acclimate to shooting conditions.

About 3 times I had light fogging on the lens. A simply wipe of the viewfinder, lens or the back of the lens that connects to the camera solved the problem.

Others had similar problems and quickly solved them in the field.

I do keep 1-2 small dessicant packets in my camera bag.......but in most cases I was traveling without my bag. At night I would drop my gear back in the bag without zipping up.
 
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Calson said:
I leave my cameras and lenses inside the bag until it has had time to adjust to the ambient temperature outdoors. Usually it is a 20-30 minutes drive from my room to a location and this is enough time in most situations. I have never had need for a silca gel desiccant when traveling or a special bag.
Click to expand...

ButlerKid said:
I just returned from 2 weeks shooting in VERY humid conditions in Panama. We were careful to not use AC when traveling to the destination so that cameras/lenses could acclimate to shooting conditions.

About 3 times I had light fogging on the lens. A simply wipe of the viewfinder, lens or the back of the lens that connects to the camera solved the problem.

Others had similar problems and quickly solved them in the field.

I do keep 1-2 small dessicant packets in my camera bag.......but in most cases I was traveling without my bag. At night I would drop my gear back in the bag without zipping up.
Click to expand...
Thank you both

The river boat ride was 2 hours away, starting at 4am. Camera lens and body attached in the dry bag. I had been using the gear previously in the same area this week.
Indeed Panama is humid, no different than parts of S. America relatively speaking for me. I didnt have AC. Gear was in my "cabin", which was exposed to the elements so humid outside was humid inside my cabin hah. It was light fogging on my side too There parts of the FOV that were sort of clear, and other parts, sure you could see things, but it appeared out of focus due to water.

I switched lenses between a 100-400 and the 600, and that worked. I'll bring dessicants next time.. I wish I had my reading glasses in the boat, as I looked at the inside and outside surface of the lens and I didn't see a thing. Who knows what happened.
 
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I use renewable desiccant packs, available from sporting good stores in several sizes.
 
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viper699 said:
Thank you both! I’ll look into the z mount with my Nikon kit lens, and 186

I’ve honestly never had this happen both vapor and lens rotation, but I’ve always only rented lens 3 times. My lenses have always been tight, and I like it. Good to know there’s a bit of tolerance and it MAY not be my body mount- will see!

On silica

1 how do you know when the silica is saturated and needs to be thrown out?
Click to expand...
Silca Gel can be “recharged” in an oven at 200 degrees or in a dehydrator. No need to throw it away
 
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