Is this adequate storage for my lenses and camera gear?

[lay-z]

I understand the dangers of keeping lenses in a humid environment as it promotes mould and fungus growth and essentially turning them into expensive paper weights. So I was wondering if what I'm currently doing is OK at keeping humidity levels at bay.

I'm currently storing my lenses and body in a plastic container with silica gel packs to absorb any moisture. The gear is kept in open space in my computer room/office. However, I can't help but think the chances of the inside of the container "sweating" under certain conditions and thus creating high levels of humidity within the box itself.

Can anyone tell me if what I'm doing is OK or should I look into something else. If I need to improve my storage, what should I be doing?

Thanks.

[kiwi]

i do nothing, and im in a humid climate :)

[Adrian Fischer]

I keep my bodies in air tight bunnings case with some silica packes when they are not sitting around on the desktop. My lens are generally kept in a lopro bag. Not that I want to, but lenses can always be cleaned professionaly if the got that bad.

[Rattus79]

I have a pellican. Makes me feel like a pro. ;) but my most used stuff is just in a lowpro backpack.

[WhoDo]

I keep mine in my Pentax padded camera bag with a few silica packs strewn across the bottom. It keeps the light out, the packs take care of most of the moisture and they aren't in there for that long anyway; at least not if I can help it!

I "lost" a great 100-300mm Sigma zoom lens to mould but that was my own stupid fault for not keeping the bag properly supplied with silica packs a few years ago. I won't make that mistake again! I'm not prepared for either the cost or the risk with professional cleaning to retrieve it; I'd be too concerned to put the lens back in touch with my camera body and every other lens I use on it!

[lay-z]

Thanks for the insight everyone and seems like what I'm doing appears to be OK.

That's a real bummer Waz, and you're right; you never know if there's any residue fungus left after cleaning for it to initiate growth again and spread to your other gear.

[peterb666]

Not sure that the box will seal that well. I started off that way with a large clip lock box that had a seal along the edge. I replaced it with some yellow water sealed boxes from Bunnings and some silica gel bricks. I usually have to bake the bricks about once every 3 months to recharge them. Seems to work well but I only use this for the lenses I don't use regularly.

[peterb666]

That's a real bummer Waz, and you're right; you never know if there's any residue fungus left after cleaning for it to initiate growth again and spread to your other gear.

I lost a Nikkor lens about a decade ago to fungus. I could have had it cleaned but the cost didn't make sense when you could buy a clean one second-hand for the same sort of money. The problem with todays lenses are that there are so many elements and cemented groups that it is often not economic to have them cleaned. Fungus can also eat the coatings on lenses.

[WhoDo]

I lost a Nikkor lens about a decade ago to fungus. I could have had it cleaned but the cost didn't make sense when you could buy a clean one second-hand for the same sort of money. The problem with todays lenses are that there are so many elements and cemented groups that it is often not economic to have them cleaned. Fungus can also eat the coatings on lenses.

Thankfully the fungus in my old Siggy 100-300 was just up behind the front element, so it had a long way to go to migrate into the lens mount and camera body. As soon as I spotted it I asked a couple of other APer's if that's what it was and decided discretion was the common sense approach. I don't know enough about fungus to know if it exists in second-hand gear either, so I'm pretty nervous about investigating that avenue, too. That Japanese second-hand store sounds worthwhile though.