Keeping mist from lens and filters

FiestaRed

FiestaRed

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Mike
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Anyone know of a way to keep the mist from fogging up your lens and filters early in a morning and later in the evenings?

I've heard of the "Dew" heaters that are often used by Astro Photographers but never seen them in action and not really sure if they would help with the filters. I just wondered if any of the landscape photographers on here had any weird and wonderful ways for helping stop the fogging?
 
Hand warmer sachets, the scrunch to activate type, in your bag. You've got to keep the lens warmer than ambient air temp to prevent condensation. Lenses are big chunks of glass and metal so tend to be slow to change temperature coming out of a cold car.
 
Thanks all for the help. How do you use them and what do I Google to find them, is it as simple as Hand Warming Sachets?
 
Dew heaters are the way to go. Adjustable straps which just Velcro around the lens and attached to a 12 volt battery pack which lasts for ages. I think I paid about £16 for mine which is 16" long.
 
FiestaRed said:
Thanks all for the help. How do you use them and what do I Google to find them, is it as simple as Hand Warming Sachets?
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:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

It would have been quicker to just do the search and see rather than ask us if you should..

(and yes, #1 hit for me on Google is the stuff in a 20 pack bulk box from Amazon, they come with instructions if "scrunch to activate" and "put it in your bag" isn't enough detail :angelic:)
 
sirch said:
:agree: with @Alastair. You can reuse the gel ones by boiling them in a pan of water.
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Thanks for the help Chris, really appreciated.

If it's not to much of a head banging question, how do you apply the gel pack to the lens? Do you just sit it on top of the lens near the filter or somehow fasten it below the lens (hot air rising).?

Any help or advice would be most welcome.
 
Elastic band, velcro strap, sticky tape, take your pick. Under the hood.
 
FiestaRed said:
Thanks for the help Chris, really appreciated.

If it's not to much of a head banging question, how do you apply the gel pack to the lens? Do you just sit it on top of the lens near the filter or somehow fasten it below the lens (hot air rising).?

Any help or advice would be most welcome.
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I generally use this when I am caving so my experience may not be relevant to cold landscapes but I guess it depends a bit on your camera bag and size of camera/lens and temperature. Because camera bags are well padded I find it's enough to tuck it down the side of the lens, you only really need to keep the lens a bit warmer than the outside temperature. If you have your camera out of the bag for a long time, say on a tripod you might want to elastic band a hand warmer to it. On the other hand I find after about 15 minutes the camera has settled down and is not misting anyway
 
Thanks again Chris.
 
The simplest solution is to use a rocket (air) blower. Just blast the front element/filter with air from the blower when it begins to mist up.
 
gregww1 said:
The simplest solution is to use a rocket (air) blower. Just blast the front element/filter with air from the blower when it begins to mist up.
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Thanks Greg. An ultra simple idea that I'll give a try out this weekend. If the filters mist up that is.
 
FiestaRed said:
Thanks Greg. An ultra simple idea that I'll give a try out this weekend. If the filters mist up that is.
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Good luck with that. Once dew point is hit (which is variable on a number of factors) then if you clear the lens it will just keep returning within minutes. The only way to go is to keep the lens temperature above the dew point temperature. I'll post a pic in a minute with my simple set up :)
 
Okay here's the best simple cheap setup.

Kendrix dew heater - measure the circumference of you largest lens and buy one for that length as it just wraps around and velcos on for smaller lenses.
8 x AA battery back and some velcro. Less than £20 for everything.

I had it running in the week doing a 2 1/2 hour star trail in the Brecons (clouds rolled in after this time), damp cold and liable to dew. Not a bit on the lens and it would have been able to go on all night as they draw so little power. I haven't shown the cable release and also used an extra piece of velcro to tidy up the cable ( stop it flapping in the wind).

DSC_9720 by Martin Coomer, on Flickr

DSC_9722 by Martin Coomer, on Flickr

Hope this helps :)
 
Last time I was out photographing star trails my lens fogged up like crazy. I ended up just getting a couple of the single use hand warming sachets and wrapping them around my lens with a scarf. Worked a treat and was super easy. They're the cheapy ones that you see in Tesco quite often. Think they're £1 a pair, but you could just use one if you want so it's cheaper.
 
MartinCornwall said:
Okay here's the best simple cheap setup.

Kendrix dew heater - measure the circumference of you largest lens and buy one for that length as it just wraps around and velcos on for smaller lenses.
8 x AA battery back and some velcro. Less than £20 for everything.

I had it running in the week doing a 2 1/2 hour star trail in the Brecons (clouds rolled in after this time), damp cold and liable to dew. Not a bit on the lens and it would have been able to go on all night as they draw so little power. I haven't shown the cable release and also used an extra piece of velcro to tidy up the cable ( stop it flapping in the wind). DSC_9722 by Martin Coomer, on Flickr

Hope this helps :)
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Thanks for that Martin, the set up looks great. Can you tell me a bit more about the battery pack, did you buy it, make it yourself? I can see you're a Screwfix customer from the batteries. Pretty good value aren't they.

Could you also post a link to the heaters please. Although your post states "Kendrix", the only ones I can find are "Kendrick" and they start from £30 for the cheapest and that's without any batteries.
 
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FiestaRed said:
Thanks for that Martin, the set up looks great. Can you tell me a bit more about the battery pack, did you buy it, make it yourself? I can see you're a Screwfix customer from the batteries. Pretty good value aren't they.

Could you also post a link to the heaters please. Although your post states "Kendrix", the only ones I can find are "Kendrick" and they start from £30 for the cheapest and that's without any batteries.
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Hi Mike, yes it was a typo, they are Kenrick ones. Had a quick look and found them cheaper on the following link. £20.79 for a 30cm strap.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/W-W-Astro...597918?hash=item2cb275609e:g:n9gAAOxyVVJR9QUs

The battery pack is a cheap 8aa holder off ebay. The only adaption is soldering on a female RCA plug to take the male one from the dew heater. Glad the screwfix batteries were cheap as I forgot to unplug them after doing the test shots for you. Dead batteries this morning lol :mad:. Hope this helps :)
 
MartinCornwall said:
Hi Mike, yes it was a typo, they are Kenrick ones. Had a quick look and found them cheaper on the following link. £20.79 for a 30cm strap.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/W-W-Astro...597918?hash=item2cb275609e:g:n9gAAOxyVVJR9QUs

The battery pack is a cheap 8aa holder off ebay. The only adaption is soldering on a female RCA plug to take the male one from the dew heater. Glad the screwfix batteries were cheap as I forgot to unplug them after doing the test shots for you. Dead batteries this morning lol :mad:. Hope this helps :)
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Thanks for the help Martin, really appreciated.
 
There are a few ways as listed above @Jayst84 mentioned one I have used, pick up a small PC fan and I'm talking old PC processor fan as they are small light and consume next to no current knock up a bracket to fit on your tripod and have the fan pointing across the face of your lens. I used a 40mm square fan off an old celeron processor, you actually need very little airflow to keep it all clear. Then pick up a battery pack from Maplins for AA cells to give you the correct voltage for the fan. 5 or 12 volt I guess if 5 volt you could use one of those 5volt rechargeable battery packs you see every where with USB 5 volt output, but AA cells are probably more convenient and easy to replace.
BTW if you use a small enough to fan there is no effect of vibration it settles when it's up to speed however if it bothers you as James says fit on a separate monopod or tripod.
This method is consistent and low consumption keeps filters AND lens clear and has the benefit of not inducing condensation by heating and cooling...

Now remember cold will eat your batteries camera and any dew heater or fan, but the fan solution may be more economical.

I have also used a fleece balaclava pull this over the camera and lens so where your neck should be is for the lens and where your face is, is over the camera body. Then you can set the camera by just pulling up the back of the balaclava adjust then pull back down and shoot with a remote release. I also popped those reusable hand warmers in the loose neck of the balaclava to keep the chill off.

I have used both in Northern Norway and at minus 21 and a little below. So it depends on how cold is cold, at those temps it eats batteries. Of course it also depends on how far you have to lug your equipment and how much you have to carry weight can be a factor.

Oh and importantly don't bring your cold camera back into a warm car / house, do this gradually stick it in the boot or in the porch or a cool area then gradually introduce it into the warmer environment slowly to prevent condensation either that or invest in some silica gel packs.
 
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Thanks for all the help and advice Steve, really appreciated.
 
MartinCornwall said:
Okay here's the best simple cheap setup.

Kendrix dew heater - measure the circumference of you largest lens and buy one for that length as it just wraps around and velcos on for smaller lenses.
8 x AA battery back and some velcro. Less than £20 for everything.

I had it running in the week doing a 2 1/2 hour star trail in the Brecons (clouds rolled in after this time), damp cold and liable to dew. Not a bit on the lens and it would have been able to go on all night as they draw so little power. I haven't shown the cable release and also used an extra piece of velcro to tidy up the cable ( stop it flapping in the wind).

DSC_9720 by Martin Coomer, on Flickr

DSC_9722 by Martin Coomer, on Flickr

Hope this helps :)
Click to expand...


I use disposable hand warmers as most of the info I read about dew heaters seem to imply a fairly large battery. Can I ask where you got the battery carrier with the right connection on Martin? Ignore Martin, I've just read the rest of the thread. Duh
 
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