Photography Thailand Forum

[Marc Schultz]

As I mentioned before on this Forum, all lenses in Thailand should be stored in a dehumidifying cabinet to avoid fungus to grow on the lens elements, which is something that can eventually ruin your expensive glass. Basically, if the humidity goes above about 60-70%, then fungus can grow. And since the humidity is above that level almost all the time in Thailand, one needs to be careful. As a validation to the fact that dehumidifying cabinets work though, I just took a number of my Canon lenses to be inspected and cleaned by a technician. I took in my 70-200mm L, 24-105mm L, 17-35mm L, and 135mm L to be checked. None of them have ever been cleaned before and 2 of them are around 10 years old already. But all of them have always been stored in a dehumidifying cabinet while not being used and, upon inspection by the technician, all of them had a bit of surface dust on the outer elements on both sides, which is normal. Some of them had a bit of light hazing too, but no fungus!

The hazing was caused by taking lenses on and off the airplane and all the condensation that occurs within your equipment as you exit a plane in Thailand. The sudden change from 0% humidity and about 20 degrees on the plane to 80% humidity and about 30+ degrees in Thailand does it every time. The condensation leaves water spots behind on your glass when it dries up which then creates a bit of haze and should be cleaned out from time to time. But the good news is I had no signs of any fungus at all as I mentioned. Good stuff and kudos to the cabinets. So if you ever wondered if they really work, or if you really need one in Thailand, the answer is yes to both questions.

Also, for those of you who have been following my thread about my Canon lens woes, I also had the 135mm prime lens checked for focus problems and the lens flare issue looked at that I mentioned before. The technician told me the lens is fine, but that some of the flaring problems could be caused by the bit of condensation spots I had inside the lens. He also tested the focusing in various lighting conditions and said there was no problems with it. Lastly, he mentioned that a lot of prime lenses, particularly Canon lenses, seem to flare easy at the wide F-Stops and which can be caused by a bit of back light coming into the lens or some bounce-back light off of a background. So be careful is the message. The good news though is that there is nothing abnormal with the lens it seems.

[Gary Dublanko]

Good advise. I'm taking three lenses in for cleaning next week after finding mold growing on the interior glass surfaces. It's never been a problem before but a 12 month period of inactivity in a dark cabinet was all it took.

[Paul Whitehead]

Marc,

if you dont mind me asking, what is the approx cost of having a lens cleaned at Canon? I ask because the bill always makes me cough at Nikon.

[bkkdave]

After discovering fungus on the 70-200 and paying around 7000 thb to have the element replaced I went straight to a shop that sells dehumidifying cabinets and bought one. Wish now that I had bought a larger one. Fortunately that was the only lens with a problem.

[David Salmanowitz]

I moaned and groaned some years ago buying a big dehumidifying cabinet, as it was not cheap I thought. Then I started to think of the repair costs with my lenses and whatever else and realized the cabinet was a deal--as in saving repair costs and having peace of mind and not always worrying if the lenses would become a fungus factory.

[Marc Schultz]

Good advise. I'm taking three lenses in for cleaning next week after finding mold growing on the interior glass surfaces. It's never been a problem before but a 12 month period of inactivity in a dark cabinet was all it took.

I am sorry to hear that Gary. But a couple of points worth adding here:

1 - If the lenses are in constant use, even if they are not stored in a dehumidifying cabinet and in a high humidity situation, there is less of a chance fungus will grow. So in your case the inactivity definitely was part of the cause I think.

2 - When you discover fungus (or mold as you call it), it is best not to delay getting it removed. The sooner you get it cleaned out the better as it will lessen the chance of the mold doing some permanent damage to your lens elements and usually wont cause any permanent damage if you tend to it quick enough.

I also often hear people say they think if they just store the lens well packed in a dark closet it will keep them nice. That is actually what causes the fungus most of the time.

Anyway, all the best and I hope your lenses are all back to the way they way before you had them cleaned.

[Marc Schultz]

Marc,

if you dont mind me asking, what is the approx cost of having a lens cleaned at Canon? I ask because the bill always makes me cough at Nikon.

I think they charge around 300 Baht, but it has been a while so I am not sure if that is still the current charge or if it has gone up. If you find out do post the info here please.

[Marc Schultz]

After discovering fungus on the 70-200 and paying around 7000 thb to have the element replaced I went straight to a shop that sells dehumidifying cabinets and bought one. Wish now that I had bought a larger one. Fortunately that was the only lens with a problem.

Unfortunately you got a taste of the worst case scenario I think where the fungus caused some permanent damage already from being on there so long. That's too bad and I am sorry you had to bite the bullet on that cost.

You can actually get quite a bit inside one of those cabinets if you have one of the small double shelf type. You don't need to store camera bodies or other stuff in there, just lenses.

[Marc Schultz]

I moaned and groaned some years ago buying a big dehumidifying cabinet, as it was not cheap I thought. Then I started to think of the repair costs with my lenses and whatever else and realized the cabinet was a deal--as in saving repair costs and having peace of mind and not always worrying if the lenses would become a fungus factory.

I hear ya David. I also had that same feeling about the added cost when I bought my first cabinet and now I have two :)

With lenses in Thailand it follows the old saying a dentist once told me about tooth brushing. He would say "only brush the ones you want to keep".  

[Marc Schultz]

By the way, there is an older discussion here on the subject of lens mold and it includes a picture of some mold that turned up on a second hand lens I bought from someone on eBay:

http://www.photographythailand.com/Forum/index.php/topic,609.0.html

[Adzz]

Three Quick Humidity tips for everyone.

 1: Put your gear out in the direct sunlight once and a while, UV kills those nasty spores that do all the damage...

 2: If you cant afford a Dry Cab, Tesco sell cheap foot deodorizers that are Silica bags, pop them in a cheap air tight container
     and you will have a cheap but small dry cab.              
     Microwave the Silica bags when full of humidity, and reuse.

 3: If you have a Dry Cab, Keep your most Important DVD's in there, they will last mush longer
 

[Marc Schultz]

Good advice Adam, although I find that Silica stuff is useless in Thailand. It gets saturated so quickly it seems to offer very little protection at all.

[Adzz]

Take a look at this product : Powder Dry Ultra

www.powerdry.co.th/giggs_products_powerdry_ultra_en.php