 Poster: A snowHead
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I seem to be plagued by lens fogging on my Sony action cam, so I thought I would share my experiences and see if anyone else has any suggestions?
From my research and personal experience the likelihood of fogging is increased my a few factors.
- The waterproof case is plastic, apart from the glass lens. The lens gets much colder during use so attracts moisture from the inside of the case which fogs the image.
- The camera is usually sealed in its waterproof case indoors. Warm air contains more moisture, making fogging more likely.
I bought some official Go-Pro anti fog strips on my last trip and still suffered with fogging. I think this was due to me charging the camera overnight, and sealing it in the case 5 minutes before going outside. The fog strips didn't have a chance to absorb the moisture before it condensed on the inside of the housing.
So this is my plan for the next ski trip.
- Dry anti fog strips in an ELECTRIC oven. I dried mine in a gas oven last time, and I didn't think about it at the time but I was once told each kg of gas burnt produces a kg of water.
- Use some anti fog paste on the lens (Cat Crap)
- As soon as I get in from skiing, charge the camera and transfer the videos to my laptop.
- As soon as its fully charged, put the camera and housing (not sealed) in a ziplock bag. The bag will have some "Heavy Duty" reusable desiccant in it.
- Just before I leave I'll assemble the camera in its housing before removing it from the bag. Hopefully this will ensure there is only 'dry' air sealed inside the housing as the desiccant will have absorbed any moisture overnight.
There are some other ideas I've come across but for various reasons I don't think they will work, or aren't really possible.
- Put the camera case in front of an air conditioner for 10 mins and seal it trapping the dry air inside.
This would probably work or help but isn't really possible on ski trips, most hotels don't have A/C.
- Heat the camera/case with a hairdryer before use.
I can understand why people might think this would work - as hair dryers dry things. But warm air does contain more moisture, so I'm dubious.
I've also just found out about wine preserver - Squirt a bit of canned inert gas "wine preserver" into the housing with the door facing up and the lens down. You will have SUPER DRY air/gas in the housing. The dew point will be close to the freezing point of water. You will not get condensation.
If anyone else has other suggestions, please share!
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 25-03-14 13:24; edited 3 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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ChinxSkis, problem with lenses fogging up is not when you get them from warm to cold, but the opposite way. So there's no need to put them out on cold before use.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| jogi wrote: |
| ChinxSkis, problem with lenses fogging up is not when you get them from warm to cold, but the opposite way. So there's no need to put them out on cold before use. |
Actually I think your both kind of right..
In theory assembling the camera in a cold place should help, but not for the reason Chinx thinks.
It comes down to understanding dew point and and condensation.
The air contains water at varying levels. Air at different temperatures can hold different amounts of water.
So at 18–21 °C (room temp) the air can hold 44–52% water. At under 10°C the saturation is 30% or less.
The dew point temperature is the temperature at which the air must become cooled to in order to become completely saturated with water vapor. If the air is cooled to the dew point temperature, it will become saturated and condensation will begin to form (the key bit).
So the key is keeping the humidity low which reduces the dew point. If you seal a go-pro housing indoors at 21°C its possible the air will contain up to 52% water. But for now lets say it's at 35% saturation. If you then take that sealed housing and cool it to 11°C, the amount of water in the sealed case is the same 35%, but now the air inside has reached its dew point (11°C is about 35%) so condensation starts to occur.
But, if we had sealed the case in cooler air (outside or in the fridge) this would reduce the chance of the humidity being high. Therefore lowering the temperature at which the water condensed on the lens. If we use anti-fog patches inside the case, this would hopefully soak up that last bit of moisture, allowing the case (and lens) to get much colder without hitting the dew point and condensation occurring.
But now to throw a spanner in the works, just because we assembled the camera outside doesn't mean the humidity of the air is lower then indoors. If its foggy outside, air saturation is at its maximum for the temperature. So at 11°C we have about 35% water in the outdoor air. Inside the temperature is 21°C, which means the dew point is higher, but it could be quite dry - so lower than 35% humidity.
This product has got quite a lot of promise - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Private-Preserve-Preserver-Prevents-Oxidation/dp/B0000DCS18/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1395750806&sr=1-1&keywords=argon+gas&tag=amz07b-21
It's basically argon gas. Pure argon contains virtually no water, so in theory if you squirt it in the housing before its sealed, the temperature of the glass lens would have to get to almost freezing before it reached the dew point.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| dangerMouse! wrote: |
or get one of these Sony Action Cam HDR-AS100
its IPX4 rated without a case, so no chance of condensation! |
but no mounting point without buying the skeletal frame.
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| dangerMouse! wrote: |
or get one of these Sony Action Cam HDR-AS100
its IPX4 rated without a case, so no chance of condensation! |
Sorry not true, the problem is due to moisture in the case when moving between different temperatures, the ipx rating of the housing is not the issue, its moisture in the case which gets in when being opened and closed.
I always suggest letting the camera acclimatise in the housing and if not mounted keep it somewhere where the temperature difference is minimal (outside pocket of jacket or rucksack).
also whilst the gopro strips help (especially if they are dried correctly between uses) what helps more is putting a silica gel packet in the housing overnight and also opening the case as little as possible when outdoors.
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If you're mucking about with Sony then wait a couple of weeks for the AZ1, although the pound/ dollar exchange rate is a joke.
I've never had a problem with GoPro, or with ordinary cameras. I've never bothered with any particular gadgets to achieve that, although some people must have trouble or they would not sell gadgets for it. I ride and shoot in everything from rain to minus 35 or so.
It seems odd that you'd have a problem in normal use - as someone said, it's only taking them from cold to warm which is likely to cause issues, and that's an end-of-day issue. For the end of day thing you can stick the camera it in a plastic bag before going indoors, but I can never be bothered, plus I want the cards out of it, so I just wrap my cameras it in a towel. If you want to swap cards during the day, then get bigger cards, or do the swapping outside where it's cold.
I do keep my cameras away from body heat. If you need to heat the batteries, you can take them out for that.
I do use that wine preserver, which is Argon, Co2 and Nitrogen according to my cylinder, for preserving wine. It works well for that purpose.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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When you take a cold camera into a warm, humid environment then the moisture in the air will condense on it. But similarly, if you have warm, humid air in the case then it can condense onto the lens when that cools down when you take it outside.
I've never had the problem with my gopro, but I'd imagine other peoples advice of keeping the air inside as dry as possible, using a moisture absorbing packet (and maybe sealing it the night before so it has time to absorb the moisture), or using a dry gas should sort it.
One thing to bear in mind is that the absorption packets need to be fresh to work. After a while they'll be full of moisture and will stop working. They can be dried out in the oven and reused though.
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The Sony Actioncam is awful for fogging, it seems the heat from the camera causes the condensation on the lens despite all the tips and tricks. Only moisture absorbing pads seem to work reliably.
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