How to stop your housing from fogging 
Last Update: 06 August 2009 10:12 AM
9 comment(s) | discuss in forums
Author: Giles Shaxted ( Giles )
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Everyone who has taken a camera under (especially in the tropics) has at some point or another run into the problem of the lens port fogging up. One of my favourite discussions brings up a lot of the reasons why your housing would fog up. Unsurprisingly it is all to do with humidity and temperatures. If you open your housing in a warm humid environment and take it in to relatively cooler temperature water you are likely to get condensation on in your housing. We tend to only notice this when it is on the port blocking our cameras view to the underwater world.
There are things we can do to counteract this and the most popular one would seem to be dry silica / desiccant packs inside the housing to absorb any moisture in the air. Some people have used tea bags (undoubtedly Americans, no Brit would waste a good tea bag!), damp towels over housings when in the sun, hair dryers and LP hose air guns. Whilst these methods of trying to stop the fogging from affecting your photo taking the best solution is to stop fogging from happening at all.
All you need to do is keep the moisture out of the housing by putting your equipment together in the driest environment you have. This could be anything from an air conditioned hotel room to a vacuum sealed chamber (ok, less likely). The point is that fogging is preventable and shouldn’t be the reason you come back from a dive with no photos.
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Comment(s):Giles,
Firstly, would any self respecting Brit use a tea bag? May be PG Tips?
Many people say do not assemble your rig in A/C; it will condensate. Well yes, it will. On the outside that is. I do this all the time with no problems. But, I do not dive in very cold waters. I do keep my rig covered with a wet towel to lessen the formation of salt crystals between dives and heating up the housing would increase the pressure on the inside. The housings at not designed for increased internal pressure.
Posted by Deep6 on 08/06 at 10:57 AMTotally, cold air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air, so close the housing in the coldest / driest possible place. Then as you say keep it out of the sun, covered if possible. Also don’t have the camera on when not needed as they generate their own heat.
Posted by jonny shaw on 08/06 at 01:18 PMdon’t laugh.... (or screw your faces up in disgust at such a cheap trick!)
uncooked rice is one of the best desiccants on a boat. I’ve often helped some poor victim of in-housing condensation stick some uncooked rice into an emptied teabag, roll it up and stick it in the housing for GREAT results!
(no I’ve never needed to personally test this technique but everyone who I’ve suggested it to has always had positive results...)
Posted by WaterWorks on 08/06 at 07:46 PM@ WaterWorks
Makes sense to me! Uncooked rice in the salt shakers at the local post-dive watering hole does the same thing. Good tip!
Here in the Florida Keys, humidity is a big issue. I find I like to assemble my housing in the early morning, outside, just a few hours before a dive. Find a table, a clean towel (or sheet) for protection and a cup of coffee. Of course I don’t take the housing back into the climate controlled house after that, but I do take care to ensure it is well protected from the heat.Posted by LuckyInk on 08/07 at 09:20 AMTeabags are great! Just think..enough condensate and you’d have a marvelous drink after the dive...hehe. BTW, I have actually baked dessicant inside a toaster over for 3 minutes to “recharge” the little expensive packets. I’ve also stuffed teabags in (although you need to careful that the bag is sealed well)
Posted by ce4jesus on 08/07 at 01:12 PMDiving in Northern California, never had great luck with commercially available desiccant packs; decreased but did not totally eliminate port fogging on my S&S;D70 housing. Best advice was to keep camera out of direct sunlight. If the housing must ride outside, keep a light colored towel covering to stop heating.
Also agree that should not open housing in warm/moist environments. On day trips usually only try to open the camera housing at home where humidity is generally low.Posted by mchalup on 08/07 at 03:36 PMairco does the trick for me also…
Posted by jejochen on 08/09 at 11:27 PMAs you close it, a quick squirt of compressed air from the cylinder will eliminate all fogging, it’s pure dry and clean..and blows the housing dry too.
Keep out of the sun is a no brainer too.
Posted by nudibranch on 12/15 at 12:27 PMFirst, make sure you fasten your underwater camera housing in an air-conditioned room/car or purge the air inside your housing with the air from your diving cylinder. Both these methods will reduce the amount of moisture in the housing.
Also try Leak Insure Absorbent Sachets, not Silica Gel, they react faster, and can also absorb water from leaks.Source(s):
http://www.leakinsure.co.ukPosted by johnno on 07/02 at 02:35 AM
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