Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: BruceHouston on January 10, 2008, 04:22:03 am

Title: Canon 40D Humidity Problems?
Post by: BruceHouston on January 10, 2008, 04:22:03 am

I was shooting in Tampa Bay on a tourist catamaran two weeks ago.  There was no salt spray and the humidity did not seem unusually high.  The air temperature was about 75 degrees.  Two disturbing things happened with my 40D.  (1) A centimeter or so at the left end of the top LCD turned discolored as LCDs sometimes do with heat or moisture; and (2) colored fringing was visible through the viewfinder in the form of slanted vertical lines, like perhaps might be caused by humidity on the prism.  No such fringing was visible on the stored shots themselves.  Both of these phenomena disappeared before the boat docked an hour or so later.  This camera is only about one month old, and I definitely don't want to live with a defective unit.  Has anyone else seen this, or does anyone have suggestions about what it might be or if I should send it in to the service center?  One concern is that it may come back "no problem found" unless CPS is able to subject it to whatever humidity or atmospheric pressure caused the problem.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,
Bruce

Title: Canon 40D Humidity Problems?
Post by: daethon on January 10, 2008, 09:08:58 pm

Sounds like typical humidity problems.  Normally you'll see humidity on the ends of the lenses (or inside it even).  

The best thing to do when shooting or dealing with Humidity is to open the body, remove the lens and its caps, about 15-20 minutes prior to going out to shoot.  The humidity will clear up, and everything'll be good.  Don't use a cloth to clean the lens, as it'll just make it harder to clean up in the end and won't deal with the humidity problem.  

I've had this problem...many times, in Puerto Rico, Acapulco, Miami, works every time.  


Chances are that it isn't a problem, and if it isn't affecting your final shots, i wouldn't worry about it.

Title: Canon 40D Humidity Problems?
Post by: marcmccalmont on January 11, 2008, 02:35:50 am

I always throw a couple of Zorb-it's in my camera bags
Keeps the camera and lenses free of humidity
http://www.zorb-it.com/Scripts/default.asp (http://www.zorb-it.com/Scripts/default.asp)

Marc

Title: Canon 40D Humidity Problems?
Post by: BruceHouston on January 11, 2008, 05:24:18 am

Thank you for the Zorb-Its suggestion, Marc; I will definitely order a few of those.