De-fogging Your Lens

If your gear has been in your nice air-conditioned hotel room, and then goes in your nice air-conditioned car, there’s a good chance that when you pull it out at your warm, sunny shooting location, your lens is going to be fogged up with condensation on the outside, or inside, and your shots are going to be just as foggy. It’s that rapid change of temperature that causes the problem. This condensation will go away over time as your lens becomes acclimated to the current conditions, but it’s going to take time (sometimes as much as 30 minutes). This is another reason why I tell folks to get to their shooting location earlier than they think they need to, especially for a dawn shoot. It’s possible you’ll need an extra 15 to 30 minutes for your lens to unfog (defog? unfogilate?). First, let’s talk about what we can do to minimize our chances of this happening. One popular technique is to put your camera and lens inside a large, sealable plastic bag (like you’d use for storing food—you can find surprisingly large ones online), but before you seal it, try to get as much air out of the bag as possible. Then, put your camera into your camera bag and zip it up tight, which will help warm up your gear a bit. As you get closer to your shooting location, start making the car a bit warmer so your gear can start to acclimate to the warmer temperature. If you take your gear out and there is some condensation on your lens, don’t wipe it off. Just let it go away naturally. Don’t wipe it with your shirt (always a bad idea) or your microfiber cleaning cloth, or your lens will get smudged and smeared, and you’ll just have to clean it all over again in a few seconds anyway. Instead, just “let it be” (sorry, Paul) and give it a few minutes to go away on its own.