Best time to put camera in housing?

[sean00xj]

Well my trip to Cairns is about to happen. I'll be taking my Sony p10 and mpk-pha. When is the best time to close the camera into the housing to preven fog? when i'm in the 72 degree hotel room?

 

[ssra30]

I usually clean the housing, inspect and assemble everything in the evening before the dive next day. This way I have plenty of time to do everything carefully. I usually put one of those little packets that absorb moisture (like in medicine bottle) inside the housing as well. I think the housing usually fog up when you have the LCD monitor on a long time so it should not make a difference whether the camera is in the housing overnight or only an hour before as long as it is off before the dive.

 

[ReyeR]

sean00xj, the cause of fogging is the moisture (in the air) trapped in the housing and not so much the temperature. If you have air conditioning then yes the hotel room will be the best place. Try and stick fresh desicant, as many as you can without compromising the watertightness of the housing.
Have a great time at Cairns - I suppose you're doing land based dives and not a liveaboard?

 

[desertdiver]

I usually put fully-charged batteries right before the dive. This way im am assured that the batt will last throught the dive. im not sure with Sony, but the Canon S30, once its inside the shell, current drain is unavoidable, even if its supposedly off.

As with the condensation prob, I can avoid it by closing the housing in a dry room, i.e. in airconditioned cabin of the boat. Silica paks will also help, but its not quite effective IMO.

 

[Gno]

Dessertdiver!

Can I assume that you are also using the Canon S30?

I'm looking for fellow users to compare notes.

 

[desertdiver]

Gno:

I've sent you a PM. Im using the canon S30.

 

[annie]

Hi Gno

I use the Canon s30! I had a lens fogging problem.
I tried silica packs and they didn't work. The last time I dived I used ordinary mask anti fog solution on the inside of the housing lens - one drop and then I wiped it off. It worked fine.

Annie

 

[Gno]

Hi Annie,

Didn't you use the anti-fog solution that came with the underwater casing. I find it very effective.

BTW, do you have strobes on your setup and the colour correction filter?

I can't seem to find a suitable filter for the Canon housing for the S30 save and except the one from Sea & Sea which is very expensive ( I think it was like 60 pounds sterling if I remember correctly)

Nice to know I have fellow S30 diver mates!!

 

[Rooster]

I agree with ssra30. I too try to do everything the night before. I also “try” to do everything, open and close, in a climate controlled (dry) environment. If you keep the air dry, then there is no moisture to condense on your lens or port. It also helps to let the camera/housing warm or cool to room temperature before you open it. If I do have to change film out in the open, I make sure it has acquired ambient temperature before it’s opened.

 

[ssra30]

Hmm, actually now I am kind of curious. Consider that the humidity in Thailand is generally quite high, I never really had any problem with fogging. I have opened and closed the housing in air conditioning room, on a boat deck etc and of the40+ dives so far I did with my camera, it only fogged up once when I forgot to turn off LCD monitor and it was on for 20 odd minutes. Once I turned it off for about 7-8 minutes, the fog went away. Wonder if part of the reason would be the internal volume of the housing. The Ikelite housing for my Oly C4040 has quite a bit of space inside as well. May be the ambience temp might have something to do with it as well. So far the air temp is generally over 30C and water temp has never dropped below 27-28C here.