Desiccant packs.......or not?

[jghflash]

I have been messing around with this underwater photo thing for 6 or 7 years now. I have always been a vacation diver like most folks so every dive was mission critical and I did not want to miss a shot. I always have put in fresh batteries every couple of dives in the strobes and camera. I always clean and lightly regrease the oring every time I open the case up. I also always tried to load the camera into the housing in an air conditioned room (drier air) and put in a new desiccant pack every time. I have never had a problem with fogging in any way on any dive.

I moved full time to Bonaire in September so I am diving fairly regularly (understatement!) and I started "backing off" of some of my processes to see where the problems would start. First I took the big step of not putting a desiccant pack in the housing (blasphemy, no doubt) but still loaded the camera in a cold, air conditioned room....no problem. Then I started loading the camera in the housing with no desiccant, but in a warm room with air conditioner turned on a for a few minutes and holding the camera in front of the AC to "flush" the housing with cool dry air.....no problem. Then i just put the camera and housing on the table in a room with no air conditioning and load it at my leisure paying no attention to anything other than being ridiculously careful with the oring prep. Now i just load everything outside on the patio in the hot humid air and still no problem with fogging at all.

At what point WILL there be a problem? Is desiccant just overkill? I'm wondering what others are experiencing.

 

[Nemrod]

My Nikon F in Ike housing never fogged. It had no battery and never got hot. It would only fog if I left it in the sun. My Nikonos never fogged, no housing, no battery. Everything else I have had would fog and did fog.

N

 

[Kilili]

Overkill, I think not. Though I've never experienced fogging, I have had a small leak twice, and the packets absorbed most of it, containing the problem with no ill effects.
Without the packets, the result might have been the same. Really, though, how much bother is it to just stick one in the housing? I've never seen one do any harm.

 

[chile7236]

it's never a problem....until it's a problem. if i coulda stuck one in my Nik V, i would've.

 

[Searcaigh]

Like you I have loaded camera into housing in a variety of conditions mainly tropical, never used desiccant packs in my Aquatica, Tussey or Sea&Sea housings and never had fogging.

 

[Kenr]

why not, they don't cost much. Better to put one in just in case

 

[Interceptor121]

You put one if the housing is not so small that you risk flooding it by forcing a packet in

 

[kwinter]

Since desiccant packs are not intended to help leaks, I will only address the OP's question about fogging. You are probably diving in warm water, so it doesn't matter much if there is already some moisture in the housing or desiccant when you start. If you went deeper or colder, I suspect there would be more condensation and fogging. As long as the packs you use are large enough and dry enough when you start to handle the ambient humidity, I doubt you will see any problem in warm water.

 

[Interceptor121]

The fogging of the camera depends on how hot the camera gets while shooting and by the amount of moisture that is inside it to start there is no general rule

In so far as not fogging one putting the camera in an environment with a significantly different temperature to the water you will dive in actually helps condensation
I don't know where this story of putting the camera in the housing in an air conditioned room comes from, what you need is same temperature and less humidity, if you put the camera in blasting air cond you create dampness not remove it have you never noticed that clothes smell if you keep them in blasting air cond?

So if YOUR specific camera tends to fog after you put it in a dessicant packet if not you don't

The same camera will be more prone to fog in a polycarbonate housing than in an aluminium housing because plastic is a good insulator

So if your camera never fogs in the conditions you dive you do not put a desiccant packet. However if there is room there is no issue putting one in so that you don't find out when it does actually fog. Putting a dessiccant packet at all costs is number one cause of flooding

Another good practice is to keep the camera in a sealed container at the same ambient temperature with a dessiccant packet in the battery compartment if you can't put a packet in the housing itself and then make sure there is sufficient dry air around it when you put it in the housing

 

[jamjam]

I was wondering the same thing, actually. Have a new Nauticam for the Sony 0RX-100 after my previous Canon S90 flooded (my fault - didn't check the O-ring which was badly dented). Have 20 dives with the Nauticam so far but no fogging (in warm waters - Philippines). Was wondering about the dessicant packs but am more worried that they will catch in the O-ring and cause flooding, than I am about having fogging on a few dives...