Vanuatu humidity and camera damage?

hey guys!

i'm heading off to Vanuatu (Port Vila) for a couple weeks in early december and was planning on bringing my d-SLR camera.. but have been warned about how the humidity is a lot higher compared to australian conditions (i think average relative humidity in december has been about 75%) and this could damage my camera... i was wondering whether i should actually be worried about this? or should it be ok, which is what i initially assumed considering that there has to be people with cameras or electronic equipment in vanuatu..?

would love to hear from locals or people who know a bit about camera care... it's a new camera, and i'd hate to damage it on my first south pacific holiday! i'd really appreciate any advice:)

thanks,
Jen

"have been warned about how the humidity is a lot higher compared to australian conditions and this could damage my camera...

Bollocks.

Not in 2 weeks. I had no problem with humidity affecting cameras while living in Solomon Islands for 4 years.

wrap it in a dry towel when going from air con to outside- keeps it from having water condense inside and outside. We had a good slr (before digital) in the islands for 4 years and no problems. But do carry around the towel.

I also wouldn't have thought 2 weeks would be an issue, but if you love it that much you can follow 5Waldos's suggestion or keep it in silica gel. Hot and humid weather does destroy things fairly quickly so it is a valid concern - there will be electronic equipment in Vanuatu of course, but they won't last as long as somewhere that is not hot and humid!

Perhaps I didn't have a problem because we didn't have air conditioning?

Air con to outside was our biggest problem ozzie so you may be right. Of course the other problem we had was bugs in the computer- as in cockroaches. Computers do rust up fairly quickly there and we often found really nasty things that had crept in while we weren't looking.

I never had any trouble with any old film SLRs in Solomons, up to 4 months at a time, but I did have a big problem with a brand new film SLR in Costa Rica. It seized up within 2 days, and later a professional photographer I met there said that the newer the camera, the easier it was to bagarap. Now I'm leery of taking a digital to Solomons, not only because I won't be able to re-charge the batteries where I stay but mostly because I can't afford to replace cameras that crash. I still have an old film SLR that will have to do.

I know that my Solomons friends lucky enough to have VCRs have continual problems with them, the high humidity plays havoc with anything like that. But Vanuatu isn't quite as humid as Solomons.

Edited by: Watsoff

ok cool i'll try to keep a dry towel with me wherever we go and i suppose keep the camera indoors on really humid/rainy days. it's good to know that it could potentially be a problem, i shall warn my friends.. thanks for the help guys

"i suppose keep the camera indoors on really humid/rainy days"

More bollocks.

jahnybrew- if you keep the camera inside on really humid/rainy days you will probably have it indoors all the time-

Watsoff, I had a laptop and digital camera in Solomon Islands for 11 months, with no problems. I buy lithium batteries for the digital in Australia - you can't get them in Solomon Islands, and they last several months. However, I only buy cameras that use AA batteries, as anything else is not easy to replace in Solomon Islands if the batteries do need replacing.
I left my last set of Lithium batteries with a local friend on my last trip.

Good advice Ozzie, thanks. I'm not sure if I can get lithium for my SLR, it doesn't take AAs, nor does my point-and-shoot digital. I'll have to look into that.

I have an old point-and-shoot digital that I think takes AAs - I don't use it anymore - so I guess that's the one that will have to come with me next time. On the last 4-month visit my friends had electricity and borrowed a wontok's refrigerator, so I was able to keep my film cool. Now they've moved nara side of Vara Creek and don't have electricity anymore.

hardnosethehighway - um... really great advice there..?? i posted the question here cuz i didn't know the answers.

anyway thanks for the help guys, i will do the towel thing, and bring my waterproof backpack. fun times ahead!

I was surprised 18 months ago to find that even in the Lau Lagoon there were facilities to charge things. Someone had a solar with an inverter, and the kids were able to charge the DVD player I had brought with me - they are huge Jack Sparrow fans.

My 'family' have a small generator but numero uno will only allow it to be used on special occasions for a video, or for an hour or so in the evening, they can't afford to keep it up and running. Can't recharge camera batteries in an hour ....

Northern Australia has pretty similar conditions to Vanuatu and our cameras are fine. The average humidity in Cairns is 78% in March, Weipa it's 75% in Dec, Darwin it's 76% in Dec - you get the idea. Innisfail has an average humidity of 86% in July, though admittedly it isn't as hot then (not cold either though). Point being it gets pretty humid up here and pretty hot too during summer and our cameras are fine.

Keep in mind, no matter where in the world you are, if it's raining, it's very high humidity. A rainy day in Sydney is no less humid than a rainy day in Vanuatu. Would you take your camera outside on a rainy day in Sydney? Yes, though obviously you'd put it in a backpack or something. No different in Vanuatu. Your condensation problems would stem from a combination of the heat and humidity, and temperature changes between aircon and hot humidity. I've never had such problems in Northern Australia though. The only place our camera has ever had problems thanks to the weather is Mt Thredbo and Perisher in winter where it gets too cold (and we get condensation problems thanks to taking it between heated buildings and the cold outside!)

Perhaps it might have long-term effects- like a camera in Vanuatu might only last 7 years as opposed to 10 in a cooler, drier place - but I can't see it having any problems during a holiday, unless you leave it outside to get rained on :-\

Watsoff - buy Varta 15-minute rechargeables and your batteries are recharged in 15 minutes ;)

Thanks Leah - I've never heard of Varta batteries, let alone Varta 15-min rechargeables. I'll have to do a search, sounds like they might be the answer if they fit the camera that is; I'm assuming they're AAs - if so, then I will have to keep the old point and shoot :-) And of course providing 'numero uno' will run the generator for 15 minutes ... sometimes not an option.

I have seen Varta in Australia, but never used them.