Anti-Fog Spray for Ground Glass, Lenses and Eyeglasses

[Alan Klein]

I use Cat Crap on my ground glass and it works very well. It’s available from Amazon and elsewhere. I love recommending it too!

I wouldn’t put anything on my photo lenses. They shouldn’t fog up if you condition them first, i.e., don’t use them until they have been in the cold for a while. If you take them into the cold from a warm house or car, you have a good chance of having them fog up.

Isn;t that the opposite?

[Drew Wiley]

Typically in winter the risk of fogging occurs from transferring your equipment from a dry heated interior environment to a cold damp exterior one. But that's not always the case. It's relative, and I've often had it occur simply by removing removing the camera from inside the pack. Once in my life I even had moisture condense on my film itself when I removed the darkslide, which is somewhat a thermal insulator. I allowed my lens itself to clear up first, but those tiny droplets which developed on the film surface during a somewhat long exposure on an especially cold damp day acted like micro-lenses, which created a pretty strange look once that 8x10 sheet was enlarged.

For that reason, I typically keep camera gear outside a tent in the mountains, but with a rain cover over the pack. If a bear or chipmunk steals something from it, simply walk to the nearest wildlife pawn shop and explain your issue. The badger in charge will understand. But never argue with a skunk; they're armed.

[Alan Klein]

Typically in winter the risk of fogging occurs from transferring your equipment from a dry heated interior environment to a cold damp exterior one. But that's not always the case. It's relative, and I've often had it occur simply by removing removing the camera from inside the pack. Once in my life I even had moisture condense on my film itself when I removed the darkslide, which is somewhat a thermal insulator. I allowed my lens itself to clear up first, but those tiny droplets which developed on the film surface during a somewhat long exposure on an especially cold damp day acted like micro-lenses, which created a pretty strange look once that 8x10 sheet was enlarged.

For that reason, I typically keep camera gear outside a tent in the mountains, but with a rain cover over the pack. If a bear or chipmunk steals something from it, simply walk to the nearest wildlife pawn shop and explain your issue. The badger in charge will understand. But never argue with a skunk; they're armed.

It's the opposite. . In winter, cold cameras condense moisture when you enter a warm humid house, not the other way around. Warm air at let's say 85F can 6x the amount of water vapor than air at freezing at the same RH. In summer, a cool camera from an air-conditioned house might condense moisture when you go out in hot humid weather.

[Drew Wiley]

Alan ... I've spent my entire life going into the mountains, and once even lived there. Circumstances vary. Right now, we're experiencing a totally different kind of storm than what just happened back East. It's called a "Pineapple Express", with warm air containing a lot of moisture coming across the Pacific from Hawaii, rather than from Canada or the arctic. Here on the coast it dumps rain, and in the mountains deep snowfall, but with a high water content. It's what skiers contemptuously call "Sierra cement", as opposed to the drier powder snow they prefer. Different kinds of temperature, snow, and humidity conditions can even occur on the fore versus aft sides of the same storm, or on one side of a high range versus another. Avalanche forecasters stake the lives of skiers, road travelers, and trains on forecasting the specific avalanche hazards correctly, their own lives too.

And for those of us who have photographed in different mountain ranges, it takes awhile to read the seasonal personality of each. Being prepared for anything is what is important, including how to reliably keep optics from condensation. In many areas of the West there can be tremendous differences in climate within just a few miles due to great elevation changes. Where I lived, the same road at the top of the pass was 9,000 feet higher than down in the canyon; and the actual mountain summits could be even 4000 ft higher than that. In much of the Southwest, the difference between sheer desert and being up in the aspens might be only a ten mile drive. That's the only kind of air conditioning I knew about growing up. We had dry summer heat, not humid, and it could get up to 115F. Want relief? - drive uphill to high altitude and spend the day there, or maybe the week, and return after dark.

Interiors vary too. Lots of mountain homes use wood fires which create dry air. Gas heat does that too. We don't even need heat today here, despite a large storm being underway. Last week it was a totally different story. Sometime today, I need to check the condition of my desiccant canisters in the lab and darkroom, to make sure they're handling the fluctuating humidity levels correctly. I only use electric heating in that building, which doesn't dry out anything, including the interior air itself.

Even the manner in which houses need to be insulated and duly ventilated differs dramatically with climate itself; what works in one region well might induce dry-rot or termites in another. And here it's all about micro-climates. Ten miles inland, and it's an entirely different climate than here on the foggy coast. Get up in the mountains, or out in the desert, and its something else again.

[Alan Klein]

Alan ... I've spent my entire life going into the mountains, and once even lived there. Circumstances vary. Right now, we're experiencing a totally different kind of storm than what just happened back East. It's called a "Pineapple Express", with warm air containing a lot of moisture coming across the Pacific from Hawaii, rather than from Canada or the arctic. Here on the coast it dumps rain, and in the mountains deep snowfall, but with a high water content. It's what skiers contemptuously call "Sierra cement", as opposed to the drier powder snow they prefer. Different kinds of temperature, snow, and humidity conditions can even occur on the fore versus aft sides of the same storm, or on one side of a high range versus another. Avalanche forecasters stake the lives of skiers, road travelers, and trains on forecasting the specific avalanche hazards correctly, their own lives too.

And for those of us who have photographed in different mountain ranges, it takes awhile to read the seasonal personality of each. Being prepared for anything is what is important, including how to reliably keep optics from condensation. In many areas of the West there can be tremendous differences in climate within just a few miles due to great elevation changes. Where I lived, the same road at the top of the pass was 9,000 feet higher than down in the canyon; and the actual mountain summits could be even 4000 ft higher than that. In much of the Southwest, the difference between sheer desert and being up in the aspens might be only a ten mile drive. That's the only kind of air conditioning I knew about growing up. We had dry summer heat, not humid, and it could get up to 115F. Want relief? - drive uphill to high altitude and spend the day there, or maybe the week, and return after dark.

Interiors vary too. Lots of mountain homes use wood fires which create dry air. Gas heat does that too. We don't even need heat today here, despite a large storm being underway. Last week it was a totally different story. Sometime today, I need to check the condition of my desiccant canisters in the lab and darkroom, to make sure they're handling the fluctuating humidity levels correctly. I only use electric heating in that building, which doesn't dry out anything, including the interior air itself.

Even the manner in which houses need to be insulated and duly ventilated differs dramatically with climate itself; what works in one region well might induce dry-rot or termites in another. And here it's all about micro-climates. Ten miles inland, and it's an entirely different climate than here on the foggy coast. Get up in the mountains, or out in the desert, and its something else again.

Well of course everyone should adjust to the best method according to their own situation. Thanks.

[Jim Jones]

In my three years a thousand miles above the Arctic Circle (Thule, Greenland), condensation on camera gear while outside was rarely a problem after we learned not to exhale near lens or viewfinders. Leaving gear in its camera bag for an hour or two after returning to buildings reduced problems there. Winding and rewinding 35mm at a frame per second eliminated static electricity marks on film. Shutters on fairly new Nikon and Leica equipment were reliable down to -60 degrees F, and we were forbidden to go outside when it was colder.