Cameras and Smoking.

<p>So I'm currently trying to quit smoking, and because of this, I am realizing the full extent of what I have done, not just internally, but externally.</p>

<p>I only smoke outside. Whenever I am outside, I usually have my camera with me around my neck, or very close by. I try to keep the cigarette, with its smoke, embers and ashes, as far away from my camera as possible. That said, there have been times I have forgotten to be be careful.</p>

<p>Considering the camera has never had direct contact with cigarette smoke like it would if I blew it right at it, should I still be worried that the smoke has, or will damage the camera gear from being blown into it by a passing breeze? <br>

<br />Also, if it helps, I have had this gear for less than a year. Nikon D5100, 18-55mm lens, 55-200mm lens, Pentax ME Super, you get the idea.</p>

<p>As far as I know, none of my friends have any problems with the functionality of their electronics, and many of them smoke in the house, engulfing everything around them in a cloud of nicotine. So far I personally haven't had any problems yet, but I still have this fear that a layer of gunk HAS built up on or inside my lenses, reducing image quality, but because it has happened so gradually, I have not noticed.</p>

<p>One more reason to quit. This list is getting long.</p>

<p>There's smoking and then there's smoking.</p>

<p>Some of my neighbors - all over age 55 - smoke continually while they're awake, probably 1-3 packs a day. They're easy to spot. The formerly white venetian blinds are stained brown. That level of airborne gunk can destroy electronics. It causes televisions and old style CRT monitors to emit ozone, which in turn damages nearby plastics.</p>

<p>The worst case I've seen was so incredible I should have videotaped it. A couple of years ago I hauled away an elderly neighbor's TV set in pieces - it fell apart in my arms. She was a heavy smoker, mostly indoors. She'd only noticed "poor reception". From her doorway I could hear the TV sizzling. It was spitting brown gunk on the wall behind the TV set. After unplugging the set I tried to turn it around to view the back - the plastic case crumbled apart. The electronics were covered in brown sticky residue. I had to haul it away in two or three large pieces.</p>

<p>I've also known some heavy smokers who smoke only outside and it seems to cause fewer problems with deteriorating plastics, rubber and adhesives.</p>

<p>Matt, I think airborne particulates will eventually adhere to or settle on any available surface regardless of source which might include cooking, smoking, or simply naturally occurring environmental air pollutants. I doubt cigarette smoke as you've described will cause any problems given the essentially insignificant level of exposure.</p>

<p>One thing you might try is to see if the camera passes a sniff test with a non-smoker; you'er probably okay if they're unable to smell it. </p>

<p>WOW. That is the most disgusting TV story I have heard. I am certainly not that kind of smoker. I've smoked maybe half a pack a day for 2 years, and I started smoking in 2009. Also, like I said, I've only had this gear for less than a year and they are by no means engulfed in smoke.</p>

<p>What about people who use their gear at smoking venues, like bars or concerts, or photographing fires, or war photography, or hell, just living in China? I have never heard about them having serious problems from that kind of exposure, at least none that can't be fixed. </p>

<p>I suppose if I quit smoking, I could afford to fix or replace any gear damaged from smoking, LOL.</p>

<p>I don't know of cigarette smoke affecting camera equipment, but it must leave a fine deposit on any surface it touches, or else houses where smokers have been wouldn't develop a hard-to-remove stink. I certainly don't want that stuff on the surfaces of my lenses. Since lenses inhale and exhale ambient air as they move for focus and zoom, that stuff is likely to get on the inside surfaces as well.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if you do stop smoking, which is a very good idea, you will find that your cameras and lenses will get grouchy and probably begin to gain weight.</p>

<p>If cigarette smoke is affecting electronics and optics, just think what it must be doing to your lungs. </p>

<p>The heck with your cameras. You can buy new ones. In fact, if you spend much time on photonet you will become a gearhead and have to order the new Nikon 900 as soon as it is rumored. I just want to say that I sincerely hope you do quit. It takes guts and determination to quit but I know you can do it. I did it a couple of decades ago and it was perhaps the most important thing I have ever done.</p>

<p>Six months from now when you are rid of cigarettes forever you will be seriously amazed that you ever smoked in the first place. You will feel better, your clothes will smell better, and if you are not married, your choice of dates will improve and the number of them to chose from go up astronomically. </p>

<p>Man just do it. We are all on your side. </p>

<p>Fortunately, cigarettes only affects those indicated on the warning label of the package, that's why men should only smoke packages labeled as harmful to pregnant women. </p>

"if you are not married, your choice of dates will improve"

 

As a non-smoker youth I found that my choice of dates actually reduced because I couldn't stand the taste of cigs on

girl smoker's mouths.

 

:-o

 

If you give up the cancersticks you'll be around longer to choose too. ;-)

<p>I smoke, and my TV and radio work fine and have been working for the past 15 years. Then again maybe might sense of sight and hearing may have been dulled by cigarette smoke and I don't know any better.</p>

<p>I have heard stories that if you smoke in your car it brings down the value of the car when you try to trade it in or sell it. I also heard the same stories about some electronic equipment like stereos, but not cameras. My advice to smokers is if you are going to smoke inside the house, better have some good ventilation going. I keep a fan running all day long just in case, but mostly I'm forced to smoke outside. </p>

<p>Some other advice would be to use cigarette filters such as these: <a href="http://www.targard.com/?gclid=CPzy5uyElbYCFY6e4AodSlkA4Q">http://www.targard.com/?gclid=CPzy5uyElbYCFY6e4AodSlkA4Q</a> they block out major gunk that would wind up lining your mouth, teeth and lungs, not sure about your camera equipment though.... </p>

Such advice, Harry, amounts to not much. It gives a false sense of doing something good about something not so good. And that's it.<br>Stories about cars selling for less if when you open the door and sit in them you get the distinct sense of entering a huge enclosed ash tray are more than just stories. It's hard to sell stuff that reeks.

<p>You're at risk, not the gear. For what it's worth, I tried over and over to quit smoking, and it finally clicked when I saw how that Nicoret gum worked. At the time it was by prescription only, so I simply used the same principle w/ another thing. Walking into a tobacco store, I mentioned that this was probably heresy in there, but I wanted to quit, and was looking for something that would put tobacco into my system w/o dipping or smoking. They directed me to these cute little tins that had small pellets inside that were tobacco w/ different flavors. Mint, wintergreen, etc. I think they were Danish. Each day when I had that urge I'd stick one of those little pellets into the space between my gum and teeth, just to get the drug into my system. Over the course of a few weeks I'd tapered it off from about 8 times a day to one, then none. The fiddling-with-the-pack habit was replaced w/ gum, as it's pretty close to the same lenght as a pack of smokes, and you have to tear the package and get them out in a similar way. That was 12/7/92, and except for 3 Indian Biddies that I didn't know had tobacco in them I've not revisited the smokes. It still smells good to me though, unlike what other people have reported.</p>

<p>G.Q. any advice on large soft-drinks ? </p>

<p>I smoked about 1 pack a month for many years (exotic Turkish tobaccos, with the occasional pack of Delicados). I quit completely about 5 or 6 years ago. The old car that I smoked in still smells.</p>

<p>However, I also confess that if they told me I had terminal cancer, I'd start smoking again tomorrow. :(</p>

<p>I did once buy a camera that was described as coming from a "smoking house" -- when I got the little gem, it was clear that the house indeed had been smoking - there had been a fire!</p>

<p>" If you smoke in bed the ash you burn may be your own"<br>

I have lost a few friends because of those cancer sticks.<br>

I smoked one summer 1948. somehow I did not " get the habit"<br>

all those folks except one ( bad health serious stroke)_ are gone.<br>

I suspect that there is something in cigarettes or paper that is not in cigars<br>

O see no rational reason to smoke. Tobacco is a new world plant.<br>

and smoking was unheard of before europeans picked it up from native americans.<br>

Medical people call it the most preventable cause of death.<br>

Almost the last words my Brother in law said before he dropped dead was " honey can OI have some money for cigaretted" he was in his early 60's he is still missed. This is REAL not a story.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I'm sorry to hear about everyone's losses. Smoking really is stupid. And yet, we do it. The smoker is the only person responsible for their own health problems they get when they KNOW it is more than just unhealthy. Never the less, I think there is a LOT to be said about the fact that the two deadliest drugs in the world are the ones whose use is legal, socially accepted, and in many cases, socially expected. At least in the USA. Look at alcohol too. Withdrawal from that can kill an otherwise healthy person, and in America, I guarantee a massive portion of drinkers are addicted and they don't even know it simply because drinking is socially expected. Hey its Thirsty Thursday, its Friday, lets go to the bar, lets go to the bar again, its Saturday, hey its New Years, Thanksgiving, Christmas, St.Patty's, the Superbowl, NASCAR, the World Series, lets drink, here's a toast. I think prohibition ended because people realized they were literally going to die if they stopped drinking.<br /> <br />And Walter, you are right. There ARE other things in cigarettes that are not in cigars. You can vastly understate the amount of chemicals in cigarettes by just saying there are 100 chemical additives. Crazy right? There are 599 additives and 4,000 chemical compounds that are created by a cigarettes ignition. It is not unreasonable to say that many smokers are NOT addicted to nicotine, and that they are addicted to the sum of a few hundred other addictive chemicals. That is why quitting is so hard. You are suffering withdrawal of varying levels from hundreds of chemicals. <br /> -------<br /> All that said, is the consensus that this kind of exposure to smoke, given the length and amount of exposure, has negligible effects on the camera's and lens' insides? Is the other consensus that if you are smoking, that worrying about the camera gear is a bit irrelevant?</p>

<p>I bought a used camera that wasn't described as coming from a smoking household. As soon as I opened the box, the stench of stale smoke came out. I don't know whether the smoke affected the functionality, because the camera was shot anyway. Fortunately, it wasn't very expensive. That said, I doubt the smoke it received was anything related to what yours does...I'm sure the former owner had to be a heavy smoker (or several in the house). Considering the dust buildup on the case, it may have been a table decoration that sat near an ashtray.</p>

<p>I think you are safe, as far as your equipment goes, but quitting is still definitely in your best interest!</p>

 

If i may answer for G.Q., Harry: yes. It would be advisable (so i would advice just that) that you don't consume more of those than are good for you.

<p>When you use the camera outside near any traffic, you will have the same problem with particulate deposits as you will get with cigarette smoke, perhaps even worse if you are near very busy streets and/or highways with diesel engine powered vehicles.</p>

<p>Back in the late 70s and 80s the smog around LA looked like a cloud of brown gunk when you flew into LAX. Back in the 80s I lived in Toronto Canada, it was said that jogging for an hour in downtown Toronto was the equivalent of smoking four packs of cigarettes and that was not as bad as LA.</p>

<p>PS - I quite smoking cold turkey 6 months ago from a 2-3 pack a day habit that had lasted for over 40 years ... with the money I saved in 6 months I could buy a Nikkor 200-400 mm f/4 zoom ... probably the best reason to quit smoking, you can afford the NAS.</p>

<p>Lorne, I live in Fairfax County, Virginia. While it is not necessarily the city, our traffic has been rated as one of the top three worst in America for the last few years with Honolulu, NYC, and LA constantly switching around in the list. I'm guessing that isn't helping my electronics.</p>

<p>BTW, I think you just sold the idea of quitting to me. 400mm? Yes please.</p>

<p>I did a bit of quick looking on the web and found evidence that W. Eugene Smith and Robert Capa smoked. I also found an indication that Ansel Adams did as well. Given societal norms, I would be willing to bet that at least 75% of professional photographers from photography's invention until the 1970's smoked. I will let everyone else here speculate based on their biases against photography about just how corroding and corrupting an influence it can be on equipment, but I will default to the reality that hundreds of the photographs I have seen from that period are absolutely astounding in quality (and they didn't have the megapixels we have today).<br>

For the record, I have never smoked in my over 50 years of life. I don't doubt that perhaps cigarette smoke does have some very little effect on equipment. Still I get irked when we put our politically correct 21st century ideology in place of simple and obvious facts.</p>

<p>Lorne, congratulations! That is a hell of an achievement. Amazing. My mother just quit 6 months ago, too, from 2 packs a day for exactly 70 years. It took a new heart valve and an unwanted hospital stay to do it, but it appears to be done. Her apartment indeed has a yellow crust of grime and nothing is untouched. The sticky smoke residue seems to absorb other airborne particulates as well that drift in through open city windows and becomes worse over time. I have monitored the yellowish waxy film over 26 years on a wedding portrait of my wife and myself that hangs on her wall. You would think the bride wore yellow.<br>

This damage does affect all of your exposed electronics and LCD screens so of course any photography equipment as well. I purchased an F5 years ago on eBay that had come from a smoking environment and learned right away one more question I should have asked! It took a long time for the aroma to dissipate. I learned from an electronics technician years ago what damage smoking does to a car stereo and have been very aware since then.<br>

As far as Matt's question is concerned, I doubt your equipment will suffer from your description of the amount of exposure its seen in only a year unless you really hang it around your neck everytime you light up ;)</p>

 

<p>I would wager that smoking outside won't affect the camera much, but the I can tell you that a camera stored in a house with a smoker makes for a foul used camera...got a Bronica ETRS off the 'Bay a few years back that I had to return to the guy because it smelled terrible, and it is most def bad for electronics. Worked a stint in radio back in the day, and if there's one way to get the station engineer all mad at you it's to smoke in the studio around the control board. Airborne particulate matter and electronic contacts do not mix. <br>

All that said, I concur that your health is far more important - hard to quit an addiction but it can be done with support - hope you are able to kick it.<br>

Matt<br>

<a href="http://www.pittsburghfilmphotographer.com/">http://www.pittsburghfilmphotographer.com/</a></p>

 

<p>I'm in process of restoring (cleaning) this 103yr lens of funk, oxidation, human touch and cig smoke (no doubt). Maybe some of you don't see it, but the edge rings were brown/black.....and it took several applications....and some of the dark streaks are indicative that I still have some work to do.</p>

<p>Congrats to Lorne and JDM for quitting. </p>

<p>Les</p>

<p>Having an issue to upload the photo.</p>