Does Anybody Use a Dehumidifying Dry Cabinet ?

I have been storing my lenses and camera bodies in a small safe but I am afraid of moisture. I was thinking about getting a gun cabinet but saw this. Is it worth the money?

https://www.amazon.com …fRID=CTJB11F3AZ​JXHCH4GW7B

It is if you are in a really humid location like Houston or pretty much anywhere in Florida. As your location shows Napa, I would think that the humidity is rather low when compared to really humid locations.

You are correct. I am really looking for a decent cabinet to store everything in my office and I don't think a safe is a good idea because it is dark and sealed. I do tend to run my AC and heat quite often so stabilizing the humidity is not a bad idea - just don't know of this is overkill

gjl711 wrote in post #18949302
It is if you are in a really humid location like Houston or pretty much anywhere in Florida. As your location shows Napa, I would think that the humidity is rather low when compared to really humid locations.

If you want something a bit smaller (80 liters vs. 125) see https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …onic_dry_cabine​t_80l.html.

You can scroll to the bottom of the page for some other size options.

Rick Anderson wrote in post #18949407
You are correct. I am really looking for a decent cabinet to store everything in my office and I don't think a safe is a good idea because it is dark and sealed. I do tend to run my AC and heat quite often so stabilizing the humidity is not a bad idea - just don't know of this is overkill

Not sure what you mean by "stabilizing the humidity". Humidity does not need to be stable to control fungus or corrosion. It just needs to be sufficiently low.

If you want security, I would not put my gear into a cabinet with a picture window.

Would this help? They come in various sizes.

https://www.eva-dry.com …3-renewable-dehumidifier/

I live in Thailand and see the ocean from the deck of my condo.

So yes, I own not just one but three dry cabinets. They're really not needed except when I leave my condo for extended periods of time as I have a temperature/humidity gauge for monitoring purposes.

What is the humidity level of your camera equipment storage area?

Rick Anderson wrote in post #18949264
I have been storing my lenses and camera bodies in a small safe but I am afraid of moisture. I was thinking about getting a gun cabinet but saw this. Is it worth the money?

https://www.amazon.com …fRID=CTJB11F3AZ​JXHCH4GW7B

I presume, then, that your primary consideration is that you want your equipment securely locked away.

First, make sure you've got a problem. Go to a home store, or Walmart, or Amazon and buy three cheap hygrometers (humidity meters). Get three so that hopefully two of them agree. Put them in the safe for a few days as you use your equipment and check them from time to time. If your home is air conditioned, you shouldn't have a problem.

If you do have a problem, then do what people who have gun safes do: Get a Goldenrod heater and have that installed. I keep my equipment in an ordinary wooden cabinet, but I installed an electrical receptacle and plugged in a Goldenrod. It's provides a mild heat (consumes 18 watts) that drives down the relative humidity. The humidity in the room of the cabinet usually runs in the mid 60% range, but the Goldenrod keeps the humidity in the cabinet in the 40% range, even though the cabinet isn't air-sealed or anything. The temperature in the cabinet runs about five degrees warmer than the room air because of the Goldenrod.

I live in south Florida and keep all my camera gear in a large gun safe next to my guns. I keep a small tub of damp rid in there and dump out the water and refill it every couple weeks.

If you live in America and afford to be on this forum, high humidity (eg. >55%RH @75degF) in home should not be a problem.

Vast majority of ppl across the US will have a temp in their home 65degF -80degF @ 20-55%RH all year. At those parameter, mildew mold or rust can’t form.

Perhaps the best practice is to level the equipment temp and RH to room condition before storage

Trey T wrote in post #19007614
If you live in America and afford to be on this forum, high humidity (eg. >55%RH @75degF) in home should not be a problem.

Vast majority of ppl across the US will have a temp in their home 65degF -80degF @ 20-55%RH all year. At those parameter, mildew mold or rust can’t form.

Perhaps the best practice is to level the equipment temp and RH to room condition before storage

Certain areas of the house or room might be considerably more humid, particularly areas of "dead air" like the corners near the floor and closets. Those can be checked out with hygrometers from Walmart or Amazon. But for sure, a big problem is with people keeping their gear stashed in bags and cases that contain more humid air from outside the house.

RDKirk wrote in post #19007674
Certain areas of the house or room might be considerably more humid, particularly areas of "dead air" like the corners near the floor and closets. Those can be checked out with hygrometers from Walmart or Amazon. But for sure, a big problem is with people keeping their gear stashed in bags and cases that contain more humid air from outside the house.

Humid air in corners and in bags and cases won't be there for long and is not an issue, not of itself, if the rest of the surroundings are normal humidity. Problems can be created in areas that are significantly cooler, because cold lowers the relative humidity - and in places where there is a source of water, such as damp walls or moisture that might have absorbed into the material of a camera bag from rain or other watery source.

Once I put a camera bag away that had snow stuck on the bottom. I put it in a corner with little ventilation and then forgot about it. The snow melted and soaked the lower part of the bag. A few weeks later the bag was full of fungus. This could have been avoided by putting the bag somewhere with reasonable ventilation where it would have dried.

Archibald wrote in post #19007699
Humid air in corners and in bags and cases won't be there for long and is not an issue, not of itself, if the rest of the surroundings are normal humidity. Problems can be created in areas that are significantly cooler, because cold lowers the relative humidity - and in places where there is a source of water, such as damp walls or moisture that might have absorbed into the material of a camera bag from rain or other watery source.

Once I put a camera bag away that had snow stuck on the bottom. I put it in a corner with little ventilation and then forgot about it. The snow melted and soaked the lower part of the bag. A few weeks later the bag was full of fungus. This could have been avoided by putting the bag somewhere with reasonable ventilation where it would have dried.

You seem to have agreed with what I said.

However, humidity moves with air movement. A humid dead-air space will remain a humid dead air space because it's the dead air space that reflects the normal humidity of the room (caused by room activities that create humidity, like plants and people) absent a flow of conditioned air. If you measure the humidity in a corner and find it significantly higher than the center of the room, it's a sure bet that corner will always be more humid than the center of the room unless you change the air flow (changing the furniture arrangement, for instance). Don't believe me, get three hygrometers and check it out.

I finally broke down and bought a 120L sized one from B&H because I live in the south and humidity is a thing down here.
But the biggest advantage is I bought one big enough to hold almost all of my camera gear in so I'm not looking in a bunch of random places for one piece of equipment or another.
I went down to Ikea and bought a two drawer cabinet to set it on (so I don't have to bend over to get to the bottom shelf) and all of the accessories that don't need to be in the dry cabinet will fit in those two drawers.

Its saved me a bunch of time already because everything is in one place and I don't have to worry about fungus in my expensive L glass anymore. I don't regret buying it for one second.