Polypropylene, or ‘Peli’ cases are a great solution for transporting camera gear and offer substantial impact protection along with waterproofing.
However, many of us make the mistake of storing our kit in these boxes when we get back from the shoot and that’s really not a good idea.
Moisture, however slight, will naturally collect on your equipment and once the lid is closed on your protective case, the moisture will have nowhere to evaporate and can cause fungus to grow in lenses and the viewfinder of your DSLR.
Keeping a few sachets of silica gel in the box will certainly help absorb some of this moisture, but these sachets are only effective for around 6 months, and to be fair, do you really know how long you’ve had those tatty packets in your case?
The golden rule then, is to store your kit in camera bags and only use the cases when you’re transporting gear.
I agree with all of what yo have said. I would add that we should be careful how we handle and particularly insert our cards. I teach photography and have seen some CF sockets where the prongs have been totally mangled. Never force! Also keep your paws off the contacts with sd cards. I always use Think Tank pouches and always place the cards contact and female side down minimising human contact and other forms of contamination
Just leave your pelicases slightly open back home/in the studio to allow them to adjust to climates after each trip. Has worked for me for years!
Great advice, and thank you.
About silica as a moisture absorbing media: when these first came out my father and I understood that they could be refreshed by placing in a warm oven for half an hour or so, believing that this forced the moisture that the crystals had absorbed out of the crystals.
Is this a total misaprehension?
I remember on trips that when the silica crystals turned pink that meant they were saturated, and I would dry them out in a warm oven until they turned blue….in South East Asia obviously you’d keep the container boxes tight;y closed otherwise the silica was trying to absorb the 90+ humidity of
the entire continent!
no it’s correct. You can do the same by putting them on a radiator for a few hours.
I have silica packets in my camera bag , not sure how old they are . Where can I buy new ones please.
Hi Ron. We don’t sell them I’m afraid but I found these people online who do: http://cpc.farnell.com
Ron – it pays to keep drying them out. After you have cooked a meal, when the oven is part way down the cooling curve, stick them in there. Or leave them out in the sun in hot weather, or for most of the year, put them in the windscreen of your car facing the sun – you would be surprised at how effective this free greenhouse is.
Amazon sell them.
Always good to have some silica bags handy in every camera bag especially during the winter months if your going from inside a warm environment to a cold one.