Camera fogging up

[justhrowit]

I was out in Tyler this past weekend at Tyler State Park. I was pretty excited to exercise the camera a little bit. However, the heat and humidity had its way with the camera. I'm shooting a Canon XSi with the 18-55 kit lens. It fogged up right when I got it out of the bag. I made the mistake of taking off the lens, and that just made things way worse! How does everyone keep this from happening?

Jay

[Casey]

Don't keep it inside where the temps are low due to a/c. The issue probably comes from taking a cold camera into the warm/muggy elements where condensation can form.

[Snakelover]

Casey is right. This happened to me in Cancun. I would take the camera from the hotel room and as soon as I walked outside... BAM... instant condensation. You're taking a cold camera and putting it in contact with warm humid air. The air comes in contact with the cold camera and the moisture condenses on the camera. The same way it will do on the outside of a cold bottle of beer or whatever. The only thing I know to prevent this is to allow the camera to acclimate to the temperature. Once it's as warm as the outside air, the water won't condense on the surface. When it condensed on my camera in Cancun, I found that if I just didn't do anything, in a few minutes the camera would warm up and the water would evaporate, leaving no trace that it had ever been there. I made sure not to switch lenses while the condensation was present.

[Shadow]

just leave the camera alone with the lens caps etc.. all in place and let it warm up to the same temps your exposing it too. Allowing condensation on the lens glass over time will create a little bit of a film on the lens and would need to be cleaned, one or two times shouldn't hurt but any more than that I would suggest a good cleaning of the lens.

EDIT: I'm not a pro or expert but this is what I have found with my experiences.

[justhrowit]

Thanks for the guidance! I'm relieved this is a somewhat common problem, and not a malfunction with my camera/lens. I ended up putting the camera back in my truck and walking around the park for a couple hours without it. I know now to just wait a bit.

Thanks!

J