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Author Message   Steve_s Tinkerer Username: Steve_s Post Number: 43 Registered: 07-2006 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 Posted on Saturday, June 30, 2007 - 02:22 am:    Due to damp I have to keep my cameras and lenses in plastic bags when not actually in use, with silica gel as a dessicant. This can keep the relative humidity down to 25% or less for months at a time, and if the volume is small it can go to less than 5%. Anything containing wood or genuine leather I keep separately at 50 - 60% RH, but this needs frequent monitoring. According to the fungus prevention page on the Carl Zeiss site http://www.zeiss.com/C12567A8003B58B9/Contents-Frame/3CFD45E4A65DEC10C1257100005 6AC85 a RH below 30% is "dangerous for the instrument", though they do not say why. Does anyone know what could be damaged? All I can thing of is possibly shutter curtains, or maybe some varieties of glue. It would be a shame to keep the mushrooms at bay, only to cause some other dire problem! The same Carl Zeiss page reckons it is OK to store at up to 50°C as a means of reducing relative humidity, which I would have thought much more likely to cause problems. Any ideas?