[MikeyBugs95]

So recently I've been looking at getting a small dry cabinet to store my camera and lenses in when I'm not out shooting. Right now I keep all my lenses in 2 bags with desiccant packs but I've read that really isn't a great idea. I don't want to spend more than I need to but I do have a few lenses that I don't use often so they just sit in a separate bag until I decide to take them out. I live in lower New York so it doesn't get extremely humid very often but the humidity can still tick up.

[UncleVanya]

If anything sealed plastic bins with desiccant that gives an indication when it needed refreshing would work well particularly if light can penetrate.

[MikeyBugs95]

If anything sealed plastic bins with desiccant that gives an indication when it needed refreshing would work well particularly if light can penetrate.

Yeah I think that was actually my original plan but I forgot about it. I have a few large bins so I'll have to go through them and see if I can empty one out.

[Alex645]

So recently I've been looking at getting a small dry cabinet to store my camera and lenses in when I'm not out shooting. Right now I keep all my lenses in 2 bags with desiccant packs but I've read that really isn't a great idea. I don't want to spend more than I need to but I do have a few lenses that I don't use often so they just sit in a separate bag until I decide to take them out. I live in lower New York so it doesn't get extremely humid very often but the humidity can still tick up.

My biggest mistake over the years was storing camera gear (and guitars) in an airtight container and trusting the desiccants to keep things dry. In retrospect, a dry cabinet is best if you can afford it and makes sense if it's cheaper than replacing your equipment due to humidity, mold, or fungus issues.

Most homes with heating and/or air conditioning are fairly dry and the key is to keep the dust off but allow the gear to "breathe". The danger of any air tight containers is that it can seal in moisture (i.e. bringing cold gear into a warm room, the air will condense water on the cold gear).

[Gerbermiester]

All my camera gear is kept in the credenza, which is wooden except for it's sliding glass front. To keep things nice and dry, I've dumped a 2kg bag of indicating 100% silica crystal kitty litter into two plastic totes. I think this cost ~$20 CAD. So far, this solution has worked great.

Once the blue crystals turn white (~once a year), I pour them into a baking tray and then pop it into the oven for an hour or so until the moisture is driven out and the crystals are blue again.

My original thought was to buy myself a camera drying cabinet, but given the price they fetch and the power they draw (and the fact that they're rather ugly to look at) I decided against it.

Since humidity where I live is generally high, and air conditioners aren't all that common, the DIY route seemed the best solution. That's been my experience here in British Columbia, living on the outskirts of worlds largest deciduous rainforest. Your mileage may vary.

In the end, I think with enough desiccant, you'll be fine with whatever route you go.

[Michail_P]

I don’t own one. But I really should. The house is very humid. Old ...
they were having a sale on B&H recently I think. A member had posted it.

[tryphon4]

There is an interesting thread here:
How do you store your lenses? - Page 2 - PentaxForums.com

I may buy a dry cabinet one day but I currently store my lenses in several airtight transparent plastic boxes containing dessicant (silica gel or calcium chloride) and one hygrometer.
Dessicant can be restored in an oven at 110-120°C.


Hygrometry shall vary between 30 and 60%, when you reach 60% it's time to restore the dessicant.

[ramseybuckeye]

Back in March when we were getting ready to move B&H had one of their Deal Zone deals on Ruggard dry cabinets, I decided to buy one since North Carolina is even more humid than Ohio. I bought the 30 liter which is small but good enough for me. I particularly like to put gear in there after an outing around the ocean, since the sea air is damp. I’m happy with it, my only large lens is the DA*300 which fits nicely on the slide out top shelf, the rest of my lenses are pretty small. It keeps the humidity around 40% and the temperature around 70-72F.

[jlstrawman]

Kept my lenses in my bags without desiccants for 54 years with no problems. Houses have been air conditioned/de-humidified. Iowa, USA, get pretty humid at times.

[DeadJohn]

I live in lower New York so it doesn't get extremely humid very often but the humidity can still tick up.

I'm in NY too (Long Island) and IMO there are 3 okay ways to protect lenses against humidity.

1) If you already run air conditioning most of the summer, that keeps humidity acceptably low. You don't need to do anything else.

2) Use an electronic dry cabinet.

3) Use a passive dry cabinet. You can make this yourself from an airtight storage bin plus desiccant packs. Some packs are rechargeable by baking in an oven, and others can be plugged into a wall outlet to recharge.

I use a passive cabinet because the place where I store my lenses doesn't have a nearby electric outlet for an electronic cabinet.

[c.a.m]

Do I NEED a Dry Cabinet?

Depends on your environmental conditions -- fungus is generally prevented when the relative humidity is below 70% regardless of ambient temperature.

Here in Ottawa, the outdoor relative humidity varies through the year, averaging 55-75% monthly. In houses, the indoor RH can be controlled to well below the 70% level.

This thread references two technical papers on the subject: Environments favourable to Fungus - PentaxForums.com

- Craig

[microlight]

Wow - never even considered it, but then it rarely gets anything like humid here. My camera plus 55-300PLM is currently sitting on the bedroom floor next to the bed with the 20-40 and 10-17 in their bags beside it. The A50/f1.4 is on the bookshelf behind me, as is the Takumar 135/f3.5...

[Just1MoreDave]

I moved to Colorado, whole state is a dry box.

[jbrill]

There have been plenty of excellent responses already addressing the humidity concerns. I have found a couple other tangible benefits to using a dry cabinet aside from humidity control: they are dust-free and can be very space efficient.

I now have 3 of the Ruggard 120L cabinets that were all purchased on sale from B&H over the years. Some of my observations after adding the second cabinet can be found in Electronic Dry Box - PentaxForums.com. My primary concerns are dust-free storage, maximizing the storage contents, and minimizing the amount of physical space required. Humidity control is a bonus. The current approximate dimensions for all three cabinets side-by-side are: 47" wide, 40" tall, and 17.25-20.25" from the wall (depth). One cabinet is further from the wall due to cable and network drops.

The 120L has the approximate footprint of a mini fridge and is just under 40" tall. The pictures of the 30L unit above in post #8 by ramseybuckeye shows one adjustable shelf. The 120L unit has 5 adjustable shelves. The holes in the supports to adjust the shelves are slightly less than 1 inch apart. The closest that two shelves can be set allows objects approximately 2 inches tall. The bottoms of each shelf are approximately 12.75" wide and 12" deep. The usable space is slightly larger than the dimensions of the bottom of the shelf. Due to the "boxes" mounted on the back of the inside of the cabinet (see the third picture in the post above), not all of the shelf mounting positions are feasible. As the shelves pull out, the shelves can be configured to minimize unusable vertical space. All of my lenses are stored standing up to maximize shelf contents.

To give an idea of the space efficiency, here are a few examples of what can be stored on a single shelf:

• 4-5" tall: 16+ (4 rows of 4) compact lenses (e.g., m42/k/m/a/f/fa/da primes) and teleconverters.
• 6+" tall: 9+ (3 rows of 3) larger/fatter/newer lenses.
• 5" tall: 6 digital bodies (K1, K3, K3ii, 2xK01[IR], A7ii) and a Panasonic superzoom
• 4" tall: 4 flashes (lying down without stands) and 3 triggers
• 2" tall: 18 batteries (cameras and camcorders) plus other miscellaneous flat items

The bottom of all three cabinets is used to store taller and/or heavier lenses. The bottom shelves (i.e., the distance from the bottom of the unit to the underside of the first shelf) range from 9-11.5" tall and hold between 9 (3 rows of 3) and 12+ (3 rows of 4) lenses. Access to items stored on the bottom shelf in the back typically require pulling out two or more lenses for access.

As the adjustable shelves are made of plastic, they can sag/deflect in the middle of the shelf due to the weight of the lenses. Careful organization and placement of lenses can mitigate this problem (e.g., heavier lenses on the sides and lighter lenses in the middle.

If you decide to go with a dry cabinet, I suggest going with a cabinet that is a little larger than your current needs to allow some room for growth if your budget allows. In addition, the more adjustable shelves there are in the unit the more options there are in configuring, and then later reconfiguring, the available space.

[DWS1]

I moved to Colorado, whole state is a dry box.

If by chance that's not dry enough, you can move across the border into Utah. south of I 70. I was in Moab in the late summer/early fall. Relative humidity 13%.