Let optics warm up before unboxing?

[josmann]

Hey folks,

So winter has come to California and it's an icy 50 deg F or so some mornings . A couple times now, I've unboxed an optic which is very cold compared to my apartment and moisture starts to condense on it. Should I be letting these come up to temp slowly before pulling them out?

Thanks,

Jason

[BramHuntingNematodes]

good idea

[MicroBob]

Hi Jason,

there are different aspects to this:

- A complete instrument can trap condensing moisture e.g. inside an eyepiece tube and develop mould later => Let warm up in parcel or plastic bag
- A basic component gets wet and dries again => no big problem in most cases, but why take the risk of moisture seeping into seams?
- Cemented optical groups dislike deep temperatures and especially thermal shocks => warm up slowly to avoid delamination

I would not recommend to ship high end micro optics in cold weather, the more expensive the more fragile. Zeiss used to have special microscope objectives that were always delivered in person. Someone appeared on your door step and drew the objective from his shirt pocket. For a basic achromat this precaution would be way overthe top.

Bob

[EYE C U]

CHANCES ARE THE TEMP HAS GONE UP AND DOWN THROUGHOUT ITS VOYAGE ALREADY.. STICK IT BY A WINDOW AND LET THE SUNS UV GET IN