Preservation Of Equipment

I'm new on this site and new to photography but have made a discovery

that may be useful to all camera lovers and collectors who value

their equipment and don't want it degraded by humidity or moisture.

I know about the moisture absorbtion bags and sealed containers but I

reckon this is easier and more effective in the long term. I live in

an area that is warm and humid (sub tropical) and because I'm a

couple of thousand feet above sea level, often buried in cloud!

Over the last few months I have bought about six Leica cameras from

M3s to my latest M5. I have lost numerous expensive items to the

elements in the time I have lived here and wasn't about to see my new

babies go the same way. I bought one of those home food sealing

units that suck all the air out of a plastic bag and then heat seal

it under vacuum! You can buy the plastic in a continuous roll and

use as much as you need to fit the camera in. The unit I bought is

called Seal A Meal and was not much over $100.00 Australian. It

probably costs cents to seal up a camera or lense very efectively ...

if you need to use it, break the seal, use it and when you feel that

you are not going to use that particular camera or lense for a

while ... bag it again! I personally think that a camera or lense

sealed and protected this way would be safe for years ... a great

thing for long term collecting! It seems simple ! Keith

The problem is you are sealing the camera with whatever moisture is present in the air as it is sealed.

 

 

The only way to do this is to fill the bag first with an inert gas that cannot hold any moisture, and then seal it.

 

 

Would this be a good way to protect from splashing or soaking water, yes. However, it would not be a good way to stop water vapor from doing damage.

Keith,

 

Maybe along with the cameras you could toss in a few of those moisture absorbtion bags and seal them in with the cameras as well.

 

Roger

Yes I thought of that .. the idea of including a moisture absorber in the camera body to remove whatever residual water would be in the air left in the hollow space. The vacuum created by the sealer ... lets not forget .... will minimise the quantity of air ... thus the water content that would be left in there. The fact that there is no air curculating through the camera at all though, must be an advantage surely! In this industrialised world we live in there's a lot more than H2o seeping into everything ... including our lungs too I guess! Keith

Put 'em in a cupboard with a 5 watt bulb. The light bulb will keep the humidity down.

>>Put 'em in a cupboard with a 5 watt bulb. The light bulb will keep the humidity down.<<

 

This does work and it's easy to maintain over a long term. You can buy expensive "dry boxes" designed for guns and electronics, but those are nothing but cabinets with mild heating elements. A low-watt incandescent light bulb works just as well. This is what I did while living in the Pacific for nearlyt 12 years (Philippines, Okinawa, Hawaii).

This is all true -especially about the inclusion of dessicant- but for ease of access, a ziplock bag is going to be water tight, and a lot more convenient. If you have need for one anyway (to justify the cost for more than just dry storage) a Pelican case would be even more convenient than a ziplock. Some people use Tupperware or similar type things; if you can find one that's the right shape.

 

For longer-term storage though, the vac seal method has the distinct advantage of giving obvious indication if it has any kind of a tiny leak.