Keeping Your Camera Gear Dry

As I sit here in the office with the rain gently falling, a low soup like fog hanging in the air and the de-humidifier softly humming in the background, it reminds me are we all doing our best to keep our gear dry?

Your camera and accessories don’t like getting wet – and that wetness can be caused from direct contact or contact through the atmosphere: as in humidity.
Humidity is a silent killer. Direct contact with water is more often an instant killer. Cameras and lenses do not like water and are not happy chaps when they are wet.

If your camera gets wet, do NOT turn it on and remove the batteries and memory card from the camera. Unfortunately, if your digital camera is wet with salt water, chances of your camera being resurrected are slim. Salt is highly corrosive and, depending on how wet your camera got, the damages could be beyond repair. In this case, you really have nothing to lose by taking your camera apart, washing/wiping it down with fresh (or distilled) water and a cloth to attempt to remove any salt. It is however, time often wasted.

For those battling humidity, pack your bags with rice or silica gel crystal sachets. The sachets can be popped in the oven every six months for a quick revive and another round till the next shoe shopping spree.

If you are caught out in the rain, do anything to keep your camera dry. Even a plastic shopping bag and rubber band, which pack flat, are a good start and a lens hood to keep droplets off your lens.

Dry your camera as quickly after your exposure as you can and when finished open all doors, extend all lenses and place all your gear in a well ventilated area. Some even use a hair dryer on the lowest/coolest setting to gently blow air around their equipment. It is important the pressure is soft and drying as that is what you want to do is dry the water, not push it around.

And when the worst appears to happen, get an expert to look at it. In reality, you may be better off buying a new one and hopefully your insurance will cover that – now there’s another blog!

This image was taken as the camera took a nose dive into the sea.
Unfortunatley it ended the cameras life.

Many thanks to Anna Billingham (C) for allowing us the use of this image.