Let’s talk electronic dry storage cabinets

**Not sure if there is a better place to post this-
I recently received the unfortunate news that Canon had found fungus on my sensor, (sickening feeling) but (not quite as bad a feeling as the message we received here in Hawaii that a missile was inbound) but that a different subject.
So now I want to do everything I can to be more pro active to better protect my photography gear.

I’m looking at purchasing a electronics dry cabinet, I’m currently using selica gel and think there has to be a better way to store my gear at home.

What dry box are you using (brand, type, etc)? Or other form of, and what are you thoughts about it?
So far I’ve been looking at- Rugged Electronic Dry Cabinet @ BH photo, Slinger Electronic Dry Cabinet @ Adorama, and Forspark dehumidifier camera cabinet.
What would you recommend and what advice would you give on the subject?

Thanks for you thoughts and help

You can pick up those closet desiccant packs from Walmart, Home Depot, etc. and stick them in a waterproof plastic camera case of your choice to pull double duty. Pelican, SKB, Hakuba Dry Box (did not last), etc. work for me in Mililani.

Wonderful. Had one for a few years, was getting crowded so sold it to a friend and got a bigger one. Original smaller one still working after 11 years.
The bigger one I have now still working after around 8 years. They have digital ones now but I prefer the simple analogue meter and they're cheaper.

I have had a few electronic devices that got water in them and stopped working (mobile phone, Bluetooth hands free kit etc) and all worked fine after a week or so in the dry cabinet.

3rdFriday wrote in post #18542789
You can pick up those closet desiccant packs from Walmart, Home Depot, etc. and stick them in a waterproof plastic camera case of your choice to pull double duty. Pelican, SKB, Hakuba Dry Box (did not last), etc. work for me in Mililani.

I would probably do something like this as well. There are plenty of drying products on the market - https://damprid.com - and having a nice, rugged, camera case is great. I have a Pelican as well as a smaller Halliburton. I would carry the pelican around in a downpour and not worry one bit about the contents.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18542850
I would probably do something like this as well. There are plenty of drying products on the market - https://damprid.com - and having a nice, rugged, camera case is great. I have a Pelican as well as a smaller Halliburton. I would carry the pelican around in a downpour and not worry one bit about the contents.

What ever you do don’t use damprid. It draws water and collets it. Selica gel binds the water and holds it.
Im look at a simpler way to ensure protection like this-
https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …wE&is=REG&m=Y&s​ku=1151012

I lived and shot on Oahu for 8 years...never needed a humidity solution. I lived and shot in Okinawa and the Philippines as well--where I did need a humidity solution.

Trying to deal with humidity if you don't really have a humidity problem is an unnecessary complication in your life, and fooling with silica gel is too much trouble as a lifetime humidity solution. You have to do silica gel right--every day, all the time for the rest of your life--or you're as likely to cause the problem as to solve it.

This is the thing about fungus: It requires 24 straight hours of >70% relative humidity to grow. If you consistently break that cycle, never give it 24 hours of >70% relative humidity, fungus will never be a problem.

So first, go to a home store and buy three inexpensive hygrometers to make sure you have a problem in your home and where in your home the problem is. Get three of them because you want at least two to agree.

Humidity travels with air movement, so humidity levels will vary in a house and even within a room. It will tend to be higher in "dead air" spaces in a room, such as near the floor in the corners. Check the places you'd store your equipment.

If you have home air conditioning, that should basically solve the problem. If you live on the windward side without aircon, you'll probably have to find a room with good airflow. No closets.

Also: Do not store your equipment in a bag or case. Those will become humidors in themselves...and probably why you have fungus now. Remember that humidity moves with the air, so you need air movement if the air is basically below 70% relative humidity. Even if you have aircon, you have to store your equipment where it's actually exposed to the conditioned air. I keep mine on shelves with clean cloths draped over them to keep off dust.

If you have no place in your home where you can store your equipment at less >70% relative humidity, then look into a dry box--as I said, silica gel is too much trouble for a lifetime solution.

All a dry box is going to do is provide a mild warmth that drives down the relative humidity in the box. Back when I lived in Okinawa and the Philippines--before commercial dry boxes were within affordability--I DIY-ed my own by mounting a 20-watt incandescent light in a kitchen cabinet. The science is that simple.

RDKirk wrote in post #18543192
I lived and shot on Oahu for 8 years...never needed a humidity solution. I lived and shot in Okinawa and the Philippines as well--where I did need a humidity solution.

Trying to deal with humidity if you don't really have a humidity problem is an unnecessary complication in your life, and fooling with silica gel is too much trouble as a lifetime humidity solution. You have to do silica gel right--every day, all the time for the rest of your life--or you're as likely to cause the problem as to solve it.

This is the thing about fungus: It requires 24 straight hours of >70% relative humidity to grow. If you consistently break that cycle, never give it 24 hours of >70% relative humidity, fungus will never be a problem.

So first, go to a home store and buy three inexpensive hygrometers to make sure you have a problem in your home and where in your home the problem is. Get three of them because you want at least two to agree.

Humidity travels with air movement, so humidity levels will vary in a house and even within a room. It will tend to be higher in "dead air" spaces in a room, such as near the floor in the corners. Check the places you'd store your equipment.

If you have home air conditioning, that should basically solve the problem. If you live on the windward side without aircon, you'll probably have to find a room with good airflow. No closets.

Also: Do not store your equipment in a bag or case. Those will become humidors in themselves...and probably why you have fungus now. Remember that humidity moves with the air, so you need air movement if the air is basically below 70% relative humidity. Even if you have aircon, you have to store your equipment where it's actually exposed to the conditioned air. I keep mine on shelves with clean cloths draped over them to keep off dust.

If you have no place in your home where you can store your equipment at less >70% relative humidity, then look into a dry box--as I said, silica gel is too much trouble for a lifetime solution.

All a dry box is going to do is provide a mild warmth that drives down the relative humidity in the box. Back when I lived in Okinawa and the Philippines--before commercial dry boxes were within affordability--I DIY-ed my own by mounting a 20-watt incandescent light in a kitchen cabinet. The science is that simple.

A bit of heat, such as from a light bulb, will reduce relative humidity effectively. Just be careful if you DIY that you don't make a fire hazard.

You can just get any cabinet, and add a separate dehumidifier device. The gun guys use a thing called the "goldenrod"

http://www.cabelas.com …?productVariant​Id=3773291

There are cheaper knock offs at Walmart.

As for incoming missiles, you'd need something larger and subterranean to protect your gear from that I would assume.

My dad works for a large spice house in the photo department. They use a 1dsmkiii and 24-70 lens. They never take the lens off the body, they just put it in the safe every night for years. It was having tether issues so I was given the task to check it out. I blew out all the ports and removed the lens from the body, noticed right away staining on the lens from fungus that I could not clean. I really need to suggest a system like this for them. I also suggested they send the thing in for cleaning at least once a year. GAH!

When I lived in Saigon and worked all over Vietnam, I stored my photo gear in a standing metal gym or military type locket with the shelves removed and replaced with mesh shelving.

I kept a low wattage tungsten electric bulb (I seem to remember that it was about 40 watts) burning at the bottom of the locker.

I never had any problems with mold or fungus. However, one thing that I did was to get rid of any leather accessories (On those days, cameras were normally supplied with leather straps and sometimes leather cases) and replaced the straps with nylon strapping and never carried the cameras in a case.

Very apropos thread, as I happened to see one of these cabinets on BH deals today in an email. I had never heard of such thing before that, and now this thread. Wow.

Update- bought "FORSPARK Camera Dehumidifying Dry Cabinet |8W 100L-Noiseless & Energy Saving, For Camera Lens & Electronic Equipment Storage"

Im glad I bought the size I did, its really nice quality, the shelves slide out nicely and are padded, its set at 40%RH from the factory and can be changed if you want more or less RH. after putting my gear inside it was fairly quick to get to 41%RH.
Now I can rest more easy knowing my gear in in a proper storage cabinet, especially since the humidity over this past weekend was 75-80%RH (reading from 2 different humidity meters I bought).
https://www.amazon.com​/gp/product/B077138THP​/