Hi

I’m a newbie trying to enter the exciting world of time lapse photography. I would like to do some 24 hour shoots of the sky and therefore I need to make some weather protection for my camera. I’m considering making something like this:



But after doing to reading on the internet I’m being aware of that condensation could harm my camera. Since I’m a student I don’t have a lot of money and thereby I can´t afford to damage my gear. So my question is what do I do to avoid condensation and keep my gear safe?

I think this has been discussed several times in the forum, the following link has some ideas and it was the first one I found this morning:

http://timescapes.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2623

Scott

I have done some searches on this forum and read the posts that I could find, but I get the feeling that the reason why most people are trying to avoid condensation is because they want the best pictures as possible and not to protect their gear. I would also like to get great picture quality but my main concern is the safety of my gear. So can condensation damage my gear and if so what can I do to prevent it?

look at the bottom of this thread
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3191&p=20311&hilit=pelican#p20311

So correct me if i'm wrong: i only need water protection and condensation is only a problem when going from outside to a warm house?

yes internal condensation is caused by going from cold to warm and not vice-versa - I actually have a plastic freezer bag in my camera case to use when I go from outside when it is cold and damp to warm indoors - I give it about 15 minutes to warm up.

Dew on the other hand - you could use an old sock or something. If it's actually raining or very wet where you are you may want to use the pelican case idea - I think in the equipment thread some ingenious person posted a picture of a tupperware container with a hole cut out and mounted upside down - that always seemed like a good idea to me that I've been meaning to try one of these days.

Would the contraption in the picture that I posted, protect the camera against dew or could dew form on the inside? Excuse me if this a stupid question, but i just want to be on the safe side.

If your doing an overnight time lapse the temperatures may drop to the dew point and you can get condensation one the lens and the camera. This type of condensation will likely not harm your camera. Your plastic bag over the camera may prevent the condensation on the camera. You may want to seal the camera as best possible in the bag and maybe add something like silica gel in the bag. This would not prevent condensation on the camera lens.

Scott

In the Astronomy field we make active use of 'dew heaters'. These are low power heating straps that wrap around lenses and produce just enough heat to keep the glass above ambient and clear of dew/condensation.