Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
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- MarkSturtevant
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Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
I did a dumb thing by getting wet in the field (lying down in a fen to take pictures of pitcher plants. You would have done the same thing!), but I forgot to put aside one of my Raynox lenses. Now there is condensation between the glass. This is btw the Raynox 150. I also have a Raynox 250 (and that's the one I use 99% of the time now). So the possible loss of the 150 is tolerable.
Anyway, I've kept it under a warm light and its had little effect. I am thinking of trying to open the housing to separate and clean the glass, then epoxy the housing together. There are no screws or design features in the housing to open it up, but I do have Dremel cutting tools that I think can slice into anything except really hard metal. I think the housing is mostly very hard plastic (not sure). If this fails, as I said no real big deal. But I thought to ask the folks here if they have suggestions before I start. Here are pictures.
Anyway, I've kept it under a warm light and its had little effect. I am thinking of trying to open the housing to separate and clean the glass, then epoxy the housing together. There are no screws or design features in the housing to open it up, but I do have Dremel cutting tools that I think can slice into anything except really hard metal. I think the housing is mostly very hard plastic (not sure). If this fails, as I said no real big deal. But I thought to ask the folks here if they have suggestions before I start. Here are pictures.
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Mark Sturtevant
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- rjlittlefield
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Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
How about drilling a vent hole through the side, then putting the lens in a sealed container with dry silica gel for a while?
--Rik
--Rik
- MarkSturtevant
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Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
I've thought of that. But under the circumstances, with the source of water that got into it, I think there is a good chance I'm going to get mold unless I crack it open and clean completely.
Mark Sturtevant
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Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
Try putting a bag of pennies in the oven to heat them up, then put the pennies and this lens together in a tupperware box.
- MarkSturtevant
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Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
I could just put the lens in a very warm space, right? Not sure what the pennies are for. Maybe the idea of drilling into the side to open up things a bit more for forced evaporation is worth a try. But I would be surprised if its pure water. Most likely lake water, and even after evaporation I can get mold.
Mark Sturtevant
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Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
If it condensed water (ie pure water) then just putting it on a heater radiator for a couple of days could help a lot. I got rid of water droplets in an expensive big zoom lens this way.
If it‘s dirty water then you‘d have to dismantle the lens and clean the lens elements, chances are that it wont perform the same after assambly unless you‘re a trained lens technician.
One thing which might be worth a try is to immerse it in pure alcohol (Isopropyl?) and hope the dirt dissolves into the alcohol and so that after draining and drying stays clean. This is risky though and I’ve never attempted this myself.
If it‘s dirty water then you‘d have to dismantle the lens and clean the lens elements, chances are that it wont perform the same after assambly unless you‘re a trained lens technician.
One thing which might be worth a try is to immerse it in pure alcohol (Isopropyl?) and hope the dirt dissolves into the alcohol and so that after draining and drying stays clean. This is risky though and I’ve never attempted this myself.
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Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
I would try using a proper dessicant first and go from there. It got in, it has to be able to get out too.
Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
The standard trick that tropical biologists use is to put it in a bag with very dry rice, and seal it.
- MarkSturtevant
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Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
These are helpful. I can try to expose the side glass a bit to increase the rate of evaporation, and then apply dry heat. The wife also just handed me a bunch of desiccant pouches that she collects from pill bottles (Why does she collect this? I dunno, but she's a treasure).
Mark Sturtevant
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Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
Drierite is only like 20 dollars for a pound.
Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
Those dessicant pouches are jokes, they saturate almost immediately unless the package is airtight (that's why dessicant with indicator dyes are so useful--you can tell when the dessicant is useless). You will have to heat them gently for along time (if they are silica) before you can use them again.
Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
you could rinse it in pure alcohole in order to dillute/wash off the dirt water. But for such a lens that might not be worth the effort.
I just finished a tube setup for the Mitutoyo lenses I have and was thinking off cutting out the dcr-150 lens in order to insert it in a custom setup without the need of adapter rings. But your pics suggest that they will fall apart when cut open and then are no longer adjusted to each other. So thanks of saving me from this experience!
I just finished a tube setup for the Mitutoyo lenses I have and was thinking off cutting out the dcr-150 lens in order to insert it in a custom setup without the need of adapter rings. But your pics suggest that they will fall apart when cut open and then are no longer adjusted to each other. So thanks of saving me from this experience!
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Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
What you want may be doable. It depends on how far you want to cut the housing.lothman wrote: ↑Sun Sep 06, 2020 1:27 pmI just finished a tube setup for the Mitutoyo lenses I have and was thinking off cutting out the dcr-150 lens in order to insert it in a custom setup without the need of adapter rings. But your pics suggest that they will fall apart when cut open and then are no longer adjusted to each other. So thanks of saving me from this experience!
See viewtopic.php?p=186594#p186594 and my post two up from that, for some more information about inner structure of the Raynox DCR-250. I'm guessing that the DCR-150 is the same.
--Rik
Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
To reiterate Lou Jost posting..The standard trick that tropical biologists use is to put it in a bag with very dry rice, and seal it.
try this first, just leave for a few days.
try this first, just leave for a few days.
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Re: Moisture in my Raynox lens. Suggestions?
Dessicant + time!
A few weeks in dry rice or fresh silica gel at moderate temperatures (20C or below, even in an airtight container in the fridge, so you don't encourage mold).
A few weeks in dry rice or fresh silica gel at moderate temperatures (20C or below, even in an airtight container in the fridge, so you don't encourage mold).