It's been a while since I did not write anything here, this doesn't mean that I've completely forgotten the blog and all you out there, but it's due to the fact that I've been moving from one place to the other with some work that I did not have time to pause to write a few words in here.Been working on several projects at the same time so time is not on my side for the moment.
Been also struggling with Canon because of focus issues with my cameras and that has drive me crazy for sometime now... but that's story for another long post soon ;)
Meanwhile and back to today's announcement.
A lot of people been writing me for a couple of times asking me some of my technical questions to make this, avoid that, build something and one of them that often gets in is about Fungus and humidity.
Quite frankly I never had any problems with that in the digital world, maybe due to the fact that my cameras never have the time to rest in one place for some time or even due to the fact that I never let them rotten in direct sun exposure nor inside my bags.
One thing I learn to do over time and after each assignment is to get all the equipment out of the bags (clean it properly if it was under heavy dust or rain) and put it inside a normal cabinet with many drawers I have with lots of small silica bags.
Been doing this for almost 10 years and no arm has come to my lens and cameras.
So my first advise is to take proper care of your gear and have it clean after every use, you will see that it will last much longer. A small thing for a heavy cause.
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from my friend Jim Lee from BRNO company about his new product, me and Jim we met at Photokina 2008 where he was showing another of his own creation and also a wonderful product the baLens a White Balance lens cap.The product he talked is called dri+cap (Dry Cap) this is a dehumidifier for your lens and body, I found it so interested that he told me he would send me a sample so I can try it out and check for myself the difference it would make on my lens and body.
I decided to give it a try has this humidity thing is always something that you never plan when doing assignments abroad and this lens cap can save the day.
First, and before we talked about the product itself, let's talk about what this could be helpful for.
Has you may know excess of humidity can be a pain to cameras and lenses and in some cases can destroy them completely if you just forget about this factor.
Fungus can forms between the lens elements and under the lens coating in dark humidity environments and can be very expensive to remove them, sometimes even impossible to remove, after they have been detected.
With this system the idea is to keep your equipment under proper RH levels that is considered to be between 35% and 45% under storing environment.
The dri+Cap absorbs the damaging moisture that can turn into mold, protects from ambient RH fluctuations while traveling in climates with heavy changes in temperature, even if you are moving from cold air conditioning into a hot humid environment and can avoid the build of moisture into the lens and body.
The idea is to carry them on your gear replacing your original lens cap with this ones.... Bam!!! Just that simple.
Let's take a look at the product itself...
If you opted to buy both the back lens cap and the body cap then they would come in a package like this (chose the brand of your equipment accordingly, micro 4/3 caps are planned but may take some time) with a set of instructions on the back of the package.
Inside you will find the back lens cap and the front camera cap as well as 8 silica gel well wrapped in this silver plastic protective bag.
Here is the front body cap.
...and here the rear Lens cap.
Here is how they look from the inside part when removed from the back protective plastic.
They both have a protective orange rubber that seal it against the body and lens.
A see through to show you the holes that the rear lens cap have.
A view from the other side where you will attach the cap with the silica gel (front of the cap).
The same view for the body cap.
You immediately see that the body cap has a lot more holes in it to cover a wider gamut to cover the all body camera hole.
Here is the silica gel pack when removed from the protective silver cover.
It's very easy to install has you just have to press it against the cover and screw it in.
Just like this ;)
After you screw it in this is what it will looks like with the silica gel already inside the cap and ready to use.
The the silica gel will changes it's color from orange to green when you need to change it. This is very practical as it will let install it and forget about it until it changes color and for that you just have to take a look through the holes. FANTASTIC!!!
For some, the size may be a problem (I do not believe it will matter that much consider what it will save you in protecting your gear) so here is a side-by-side with the original Canon lens caps.
I match the body cap against the Canon original and a AAA battery and a CR2 battery. For the body cap it's the same size as the CR2 and it's half the size of a AAA.
So it's almost 2 Canon original front body caps on top of each other.
I also matched the rear lens cap against the Canon original and a AAA battery and a CR2 battery. For the rear lens cap it's a little bit taller than the CR2 and it's little bit more than a half size of a AAA. I also matched 2 of a normal Canon lens cap on top of each other and they almost match the BRNO lens Cap.
So it's almost 2 Canon original rear lens caps on top of each other.
Here is what it will look like on the lens itself.
View from closer look.
BRNO dri+Cap rear lens cap.
Canon original rear lens cap.
Here is how it looks in the body.
The original Canon body cap.
From another point of view.
Front view of the original Canon body cap.
BRNO dri+Cap front lens cap view.
Well, I was very impressed with this dri+Cap system and I'm sure I will have it on all my lens and bodies from now on.
This will replace my originals Canon lens caps, that no longer screw in conditions, and also would have a great protection from humidity and dust since they are rubber sealed.
You can get them through our LightingMods Amazon store, and if you live in Portugal the official retail store is Niobo.
Prevent your cameras from getting Fungus and other humidity problems by replacing them with this magnificent product.
The official BRNO page here.
Enjoy
