Wet, hot bodies. What do I do?

I really hate shooting swim meets because of the extreme humidity. It takes at least 30 minutes for my camera to be useable at all beacause everything fogges up instantly when I enter the pool and stays foggy until the lens and camera are adjusted to the new environment.

Any tips for keeping the lens unfogged? As soon as I wipe it off with some lens paper, it instanly fogs up again.

Here's something from the meet to help entertain you while you entertain my question

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

Put you gear in a sealed zip-lock type bag for aout 30 mins prior to using it. Any condensation should form on the bag, rather than your camera.

Nice pics, although they look a little over-sharpened?

TeeJay wrote in post #2353196
Put you gear in a sealed zip-lock type bag for aout 30 mins prior to using it. Any condensation should form on the bag, rather than your camera.

Nice pics, although they look a little over-sharpened?

Thanks for the tip! About the sharpening, there is a lot of noise in these shots which might add the appearance of oversharpening... or maybe I just oversharpened . Noise Ninja makes swimmers look like plastic dolls (all the smooth water), so I don't use it on swimming photos.

These look good to me.

go very early to the meet. or keep ur gear in a similar warm condition. ur probably coming in from somewhere cold so once you get to somewhere where it is warm all that fogginess comes up. good luck!

If it is cold outside, most likely you are driving to the pool with your gear in the heated cab of your vehicle. If you have a trunk, and aren't putting your stuff in there you may try that. That solved my similar problem in the tropics with having my gear inside the car with the A/C on.

Close up shots of the butterfly are fine, but I'd also like to see the entire butterfly "wings." What ISO did you use?

I really like the first one! the second one looks like shes going to attack you. Looks very well exposure wise

Thanks for the help. Looks like I can't show up exactly when the meet starts... so sad. I must wake up even earlier now.

SYS wrote in post #2363394
Close up shots of the butterfly are fine, but I'd also like to see the entire butterfly "wings." What ISO did you use?

ISO 1600. The lighting is worse than a basketball gym. It's like taking photos in a dark sauna.

Water condenses on surfaces colder than the air its suspended in. You just need a way to keep your camera and lenses warm before you show up.

It might be as simple as throwing a few hand warmer type heat packs into your bag ahead of time. The padding of the bag should hold the heat in.

If that's not enough, a portable cooler (ironic, isn't it?) with a few of those microwaveable heat packs sold at drug stores for therapeutic purposes.

Nice shots Chris!

Wish I could help with the condensation issue. Never tried this before so I can't help.

Nice shots Chris, I shoot swimming also and I simply turn up early to allow my camera to adjust to the humidity. I have tried 1 or 2 methods to prevent fogging to no avail and now prefer to just let the camera adjust in its own good time. Have to agree with you about swimming pool lighting, I think it is the worst light of any sport I have photographed. Steve

perfect shutter speeds! Awesome shots.

best tip, carry a large blower with you and blow on the lens for a few minutes. i hate shooting at swim meets because it's always so damn humid...

Love the shots I personally like the sharpness, especially in #2, sort of emphasises the power and energy of the swimmer.
Nice Work.

Would also suggest you watch your gear if your suffering condensation as humidity is very good at creeping into electronic's and playing havoc internally... What you suffer on the outside could (most probably is) also happen inside the body / lens. Get your camera gear as close to the ambient temperature of the event as you can before you get there, this way the air within the camera is also warm and won't condense on the internals.