How do you store your Oly gear?

[Greytop]

In view of the potential for fungus in optics I'm interested to know how forum members store their gear when not in use.

Mine either sits in my camera bag or a fairly large oak blanket box (hinged lid) set aside purely for camera gear. Both have silica gel sachets placed strategically to minimise the potential build up of moisture.

[shenstone]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

In view of the potential for fungus in optics .

IMO this is not much of a risk in any modern / centrally heated house.. Mine live in piles on the shelves and in any drawer that's got a corner at the moment

If this is a real problem in your house then ventiation is the key. Of the house not a cabinet because if the fungal spores are there they will do you a lot more harm than they will a well sealed camera lens

Regards
Andy

[Jim Ford]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

Both have silica gel sachets placed strategically to minimise the potential build up of moisture.

Silica Gel has a limited capacity to absorb moisture and needs reactivating in a oven from time to time. You also need a lot of it. For the sort of size I guess a blanket box would be, you'd need several kilograms! The tiny sachets provided with various consumer items are useless.

Jim

[Alan Clogwyn]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

Well. the GH1 with lens is sat on the dexk to my left, ahead of it is my 135mm zuiko, sat on it' fron telement (with caps on both ends), to my right are both my Vivitar 24mms, and scattered around are a few od lens caps, 4/3 adapters, lens hoods etc. The zuiko 50mm and all my other gear are sat in my backpack over in a corner.

Organisation doesn't exist in my house, bu teverything is very readiy at hand!

[Greytop]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

Silica Gel has a limited capacity to absorb moisture and needs reactivating in a oven from time to time. You also need a lot of it. For the sort of size I guess a blanket box would be, you'd need several kilograms! The tiny sachets provided with various consumer items are useless.

Jim

Several kilos! Blimey I didn't realise that
Actually I do have a reasonable supply of sachets, not the tiny ones you find when you purchase a lens or body but larger ones.

How do you store your gear Jim?

[snaarman]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

My gear lives in camera bags or on shelves. Plent of ventilation. Lens caps always on.

However if this were a Damp House it would be a very different story....

They say if you get the camera really cold, you sould put it in a sealed plastic bag before you bring it indoors so condensation settles on the outside of the bag, not on the camera. However this particular photographer has no intention of being ouside under those circumstances anyway

Pete

[Wreckdiver]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

I store my Olympus gear in the pouches they came with and then in a custom made cabinet I made. All six drawers are full of just Oly gear but no room for my two biggest lenses.

The studio kit takes up a good wedge of bedroom space.

Steve

[Greytop]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

They say if you get the camera really cold, you should put it in a sealed plastic bag before you bring it indoors so condensation settles on the outside of the bag, not on the camera.

Yes I can see that certainly makes sense, something worth remembering. Thanks Pete.

[Greytop]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

I store my Olympus gear in the pouches they came with and then in a custom made cabinet I made. All six drawers are full of just Oly gear but no room for my two biggest lenses.

The studio kit takes up a good wedge of bedroom space.

Steve

You've made a lovely job of that cabinet Steve, very nice.
Full of Oly gear too, wow

I too tend to keep my lenses in their pouches with caps on.

[David M]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

They say if you get the camera really cold, you sould put it in a sealed plastic bag before you bring it indoors so condensation settles on the outside of the bag, not on the camera. However this particular photographer has no intention of being ouside under those circumstances anyway

Pete

Or keep it outside at all times and just bring the CF card and batteries indoors when necessary.

[Wreckdiver]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

You've made a lovely job of that cabinet Steve, very nice.

Cheers Huw, woodworking is one of my many hobbies.

Steve

[sapper]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

I store my Olympus gear in the pouches they came with and then in a custom made cabinet I made. All six drawers are full of just Oly gear but no room for my two biggest lenses.

The studio kit takes up a good wedge of bedroom space.

Steve

I daren't show you a photo of my storage. So well organised that I can't find the stuff I don't often use. Must obey her indoors, tidy my room.

[Jim Ford]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

If you're worried about humidity, treated paper is available that warns about high values. It's blue when safe and turns pink when not. I don't know where it can be obtained, but you can make it by soaking paper in a solution of cobalt chloride.

Jim

[Greytop]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

I daren't show you a photo of my storage. So well organised that I can't find the stuff I don't often use. Must obey her indoors, tidy my room.

Dave, your last sentence very much applies in our household too

If you're worried about humidity, treated paper is available that warns about high values. It's blue when safe and turns pink when not. I don't know where it can be obtained, but you can make it by soaking paper in a solution of cobalt chloride.

Jim

Thanks Jim, though I'm not really worried about humidity as such, our house isn't a problem in that area luckily. The silica gel sachets are just a slightly a**l precaution of mine

[bazza2764]

Re: How do you store your Oly gear?

My Gear what there is stays in its bag, i have a pocket full of silica gel sachets, i get from work, they are not the little ones these ones are about the size of a choc ice (sorry couldnt think of another comparison) i have stands and tripods that stay in a corner of my bedroom. I wont venture out in these temps mainly because i fear slipping and landing on my gear.