How to store your photography equipment

A lot of peoples have no clue that they actually need to stores their photography equipment properly when they are not been used for over a long period. This is especially true in Malaysia where humidity is pretty high over the whole year.

The word Humidity may sound new to you, it is actually the amount of water vapor in the air and is measured as Relative Humidity in Percentage. . It is somehow not commonly seen that Humidity is reported here in Malaysia but it is part of the weather forecast in many other countries as it certainly affecting the daily lifestyle and activities. I have not really do any search to look at local %RH in Penang but my own meter is reading around ~70% normally and it goes up to > 90% on rainy days.

So, what does this high %RH could do to your camera, especially to the optical components ? Mold ( Fungus ) is known to start growing in 12°C ~ 38°C when %RH is > 60% and the optimum growing environment is around 20°C – 30°C & 80%RH – 90%RH. If you have the habit of keeping your cameras, lenses in a bag, closet that are away from sunlight, it is even speeding up the growth of the Molds. I personally have experienced this in the past, my old EF75-300 Tele lens has been found with Mold growing in it. The lens originally cost around RM600++ where it cost me RM200+ to get it cleaned which after that does not last more than 1 year before the Mold started to grown again and I just have to give up on it. Even with the Mold removed, it may have already damage the lens’s coating or have degraded the optics quality.

Following are the few methods you can use to keep your lens free / minimize from mold growing.

• Take photo everyday … why bother to keep it.

• Exercise the lens in broad day light frequently to let UV to shines into the lens.

• If the lens was last used in a very humid environment, cycle the air in the lens when you are back to a normal / less humid area by zooming in / out, or focusing near / far before proceeds to storage. ( Some will debates that doing this will attract more unwanted stuffs into the lens barrel.. so, you decides for yourself )

• Using Silica Gel in an Air Tight container.
  • Some said Silica Gel would be too dry for the Equipment and may cause the lubricant, rubber / plastic material to cracks but some said the equilibrium %RH of Silica Gel is around 40% which is safe for usage.
  • This may only take cares of the %RH but it does not provides fresh air cycles.
  • You can get an Air Tight container with a built in Hygrometer or can buy a standalone Hygrometer to put into the container to monitor the %RH.
  • You can get these from photography shops or can just keep those that you got after opening some packaging that have a pack of Silica in it.
  • You constantly need to monitor and check when you need to change the silica gel.

• Using “Thirsty Hippo” type of product in an Air Tight container. Again, it has the same concern as per the Silica Gel.

• Using an active dehumidifier storage system which are sometimes call Auto DryBox, desiccators, auto-electronic desiccators, auto dry, dry box, humidity control box, dehumidifying cabinet, dry cabinet, low-humidity storage box, low-humidity keeper etc.
  • These are storage cabinet with active power control on the internal humidity and normally cost a bit for basic system and may cost a lot of a more advance system.
  • They will provide fresh air cycle besides keeping the %RH to the selected range.
  • Some expensive system may also provide temperature control beside humidity control.

I personally have tried using the Silica Gels, Thirsty Hippo in the past and at the end decided to invest in a proper storage cabinet for the convenience and peace of mind solution. Spending a few hundred in a proper storage cabinet will still be worth it Vs if a few thousand ringgit lens turns into a mold garden.

This is the Eureka’s DS-2001B from the Smile Series that I am using currently. It is considered as one of the basic / cheap Auto DryBox in the market ( Which still cost around RM200++ ) with the following specification.

• RH Range – 25% ~ 55%RH
• External Size (W x H x D cm) – 32 x 44 x 37.8
• Sliding Trays – 2
• Capacity (Liter) – 38.5
• Hygrometer – 1

It is consider as a pretty small cabinet which could still fit my following items ( A bit pack when everything are put into the cabinet )

• 1 x Digital Camera Body with Battery Grip
• 1 x Film Camera Body with Battery Grip
• 1 x 50mm Lens
• 1 x 90mm Lens + Hood
• 1 x 70-200mm Lens + Hood
• 1 x 17-40mm Lens + Hood
• 2 x Flashes ( Don’t really need to be in the Cabinet actually )
• Few pcs of Filters

In order to find out if the accuracy of the built in Analog Hygrometer, I have put in another 2 x digital Hygrometers from Accurite to compares them. It is pretty obvious that my built in Hygrometer is not very accurate where my 2 other meters are pretty consistent and close to each other.

As you can see from my personal Weather Station ( I put one of the Wireless sensor into my Auto DryBox ) The Humidity outside of the Cabinet is 61% and the Humidity inside the Cabinet is 39%. So, the cabinet is keeping the humidity low in the cabinet even when the external environment has a higher humidity.

So, don’t be stingy on the storage solutions if you have invested quite a bit in optics. Some little investment would be preventing you from facing a bigger losses in the future.