I got myself a Desiccant Cabinet, also known as a Dehumidifier Cabinet, Desiccator, Humidity Chamber, Constant Humidity Storage Chamber, Environmental Chamber, Dry Cabinet or Dry Box.
A fairly simple device but hard to find here. I don’t know if it’s because there aren’t that much retailers here, or simply because people don’t know what to call it. When you’ve got descriptors like the above mentioned, you can’t blame the regular hardware store people to know what you’re talking about.
I finally found them in Handyman Galleria. There were 3 sizes in stock: one small-ish, 2-level cabinet for 4K+, a “medium-sized,” 3-level model for 8.4k+ and one large version 5 levels I think, about as tall as a chair (you literally had to set it on the floor) for 13k+.
I got the middle one. And I was lucky, they marked up the price already, but I was sold the model with the “pre-markup” price (about 7k+).
A Desiccant Cabinet (or whatever the hell you call it) is basically a cabinet (duh) with electronic components that regulate relative humidity inside the storage chamber. So all you people who use silica gel to keep stuff “dry,” this is the high-tech version of doing it.
Anyways, being the tech geek that I am, I have a lot of electronic gear. Gear that I don’t use all the time (but still useful enough not to throw or sell them) But these equipment aren’t that sensitive to humidity (e.g. MiniDisc player, etc.) So just keeping them in a relatively dry place was more than enough.
Now since I got into Photography however, the “equipment” were much, much more investments. And as we all know, Photo equipment are very sensitive to humidity. Moisture on layers upon layers of glass on your lenses (which are unreachable to clean, unless you’re crazy enough to take them apart), or camera innards (e.g. sensor) is a real no-no, because these stuff aren’t easy to clean at all – you can’t just wipe them dry. And leaving accumulated moisture to dry on them is also a no-no, unless you’re fine with strange spots where dirt/dust/grime mixed with the moisture “hardened.”
So the best way to take care of your camera stuff is to keep them clean and dry. Hence all this concern with humidity. A point and shoot may or may not merit the need to go to such lengths for storage, but when you’ve got a a camera body that cost more than a computer, and lenses and accessories at tens of thousands each, you pretty much want to make sure they don’t spoil.
Especially if you don’t use them for extended periods of time. There’s nothing more painful than finding out that you suddenly had mold over your lenses and camera sensor because you just left it somewhere not noticing the build-up. Fortunately, I have not been a victim of this, but it is a possibility because I’m still a hobbyist. I don’t take out my camera every single day and get to notice if or not there’s something starting or not. Hence I needed “dry storage.”
I had tried silica gel, but I had a difficult time replacing the gel because it really drained quickly – which worried me too because that meant that I had way too much humidity in my room. It proved to be too impractical to scoot on over to the supermarket to look for refills. Of course the “regenerative/reusable” silica gel bags 1 You just heat them up (sunlight or microwave) and you can use them again are the cheapest and best alternative, but are almost impossible to find as everyone’s after them. So I figured why not spend a little to protect my stuff. After all you only need to buy once (unless you need more space) for maintenance-free operation and no recurring costs (for refills).
So the Dessicant Cabinet is now on my room happily keeping my shit dry. The gauge is pretty cool. I left the cabinet plugged and empty for 4 hours as prescribed and saw the RH 2 Relative Humidity drop to about 20% (from 80% or something), then I put in my camera and it rose (detecting whatever moisture there is in the camera I guess. So I put a bunch of stuff in there, and it went up to 60%, and now it’s at 45%, slowly going down as the moisture is being spirited away hehehehe.
I could never have that confirmation (and sense of assurance) with silica gel, you basically just hope the gel’s doing its job and be content if you see water in the chamber (which indicates that it has caught the moisture)
If I may be so bold to advice people who are planning to buy one too: get the medium or large one, you have no idea how small the 4k+ unit is until you actually try putting your stuff in it. When you look at the units, you’d think the small would be enough already, so you go one size larger to be safe… then come home realizing that you could actually use an even larger space (if only you could justify the extra 5k that is)
I myself found the medium too “exact” (I’m used to having extra space). It’s perfect for all photography equipment assuming that’s all you would put in it. Of course I wanted to put other electronic devices in there like my MD walkman, FM transmitter, or basically everything electronic that you don’t use often.
I like keeping things organized when talking about storage, in the context of these cabinets, I like each layer to host a certain group of equipment types. So all camera stuff in one tray, all audio stuff in another. But alas space issues just forced me to put everything like puzzle in there. Everything did fit with extra space to boot – but it just wasn’t organized the way I wanted them to be.
Anyways, that’s it for this post, I’m not posting some humidity related info for my future reference.
| Production and Process Environment | Recommended Relative Humidity – RH (%) |
| Sugar Storage | 20 – 35% |
| Breweries | 35 – 45% |
| Coffee Powder | 30 – 40% |
| Milk Powder Storage | 20 – 35% |
| Seed Storage | 35 – 45% |
| Unpacked Medicine | 20 – 35% |
| Transformer Winding | 15 – 30% |
| Semiconductors | 30 – 50% |
| Books and Paper Archive | 40 – 55% |
| Paper Storage | 35 – 45% |
| Preventing Rust and Corrosion | below 55%, < 40% for no rust |
| Library | 50 – 55% |
| Spray Paint | 30 – 50% |
| Laboratory electronics | 45 – 60% |
| Plastic Pallets | 5 – 30% |
| Computer Peripherals | 50 – 60% |
| Rust Resistance | Below 40% |
| Medical Syrups | 30 – 40% |
| Capsule Storage | 30 – 45% |
| Powder Storage | 30 – 45% |
| Wood Drying | 25 – 35% |
| Explosives | 35 – 50% Note! lower RH may cause static electricity and sparks ignition |
| Normal Storage | 50 – 55% |
| Musical Instrument | 45 – 55% |
| Leather Product | 40 – 55% |
| Cable Wrapping | 15 – 25% |
| Chemical Laboratory | 30 – 45% |
There’s not mention of Photography equipment here, but I was able to find something which I’ll quote:
Several people have asked me about the best relative humidity to keep their lenses at. I have not seen any hard data on this, but anything below 50% should be reasonably safe. If you go below 30%, the lubricants in the lenses (diaphragm, focus, zoom mechanisms) might dry out faster than you like. The best temperature would probably be around 20 degrees C (68F).
So I guess 40% is a good average.