Hard cases and lenses - foam, offgassing etc?

junct

junct

Active member
I recently purchased a small hardcase to put some of my lenses in - my storage has been pretty chaotic, so I'm trying to organise myself a little better (and safer).

I was thinking of using plasti-dip to stiffen the foam (the pick and pluck foam is quite flimsy).

But I've seen a few comments from folks online about damage caused from off-gassing of foam, and suggesting foam lined hard cases are a bad call for optics.

What do you guys use for secure portable storage? Is this a real issue that needs to be addressed in portable storage solutions?
 
Never heard anyone bring up any concerns about 'outgassing' from the foam in shipping/storage cases damaging equipment. All the major rental houses have their lenses in cases with foam. And cameras. And countless other things. Pelican has been around for decades. So has Thermodyne. If there was a real issue, you would have heard about it besides from just a "few comments from folks online". I keep my Canon primes in a Pelican with a custom foam insert I designed and had made. The Pelican I have my Denecke slate in(I bought it used and it came with it) has pick 'n pluck and I sprayed it down with Plastic-Dip a few months ago and I let the foam sit out for a day or two after I sprayed it before I put it back in, and it's been fine.

IMO, it's a non-issue.
 
I have the same concern with my Storm cases, all that wind and rain can't be good for the lenses. But to paraphrase the expression, "any [lens] port in a storm"...
 
Run&Gun said:
Never heard anyone bring up any concerns about 'outgassing' from the foam in shipping/storage cases damaging equipment. All the major rental houses have their lenses in cases with foam. And cameras. And countless other things. Pelican has been around for decades. So has Thermodyne. If there was a real issue, you would have heard about it besides from just a "few comments from folks online". I keep my Canon primes in a Pelican with a custom foam insert I designed and had made. The Pelican I have my Denecke slate in(I bought it used and it came with it) has pick 'n pluck and I sprayed it down with Plastic-Dip a few months ago and I let the foam sit out for a day or two after I sprayed it before I put it back in, and it's been fine.

IMO, it's a non-issue.
Click to expand...

Lots of talk on camera forums, though mostly about long term storage. Which is kind of my situation - space is minimal at my place, so I have been storing stuff in their transport cases, rather than on a gear shelf - the rental shops here do seem to keep lenses on shelves, and pack them into cases when renting them out.

I suspect concerns being overstated is likely, though
 
I think the cheap pre-cut cut foam pelican cases often come with DO outgas more than other materials/more expensive foam. I smell the difference. Enough to affect your glass...meh. If you had an additional barrier between the foam and the lens (for long term storage) that would be wise. If the cases are stored in a cool dark climate-controlled environment the risk for damage to glass has to be near non-existent
 
junct said:
But I've seen a few comments from folks online about damage caused from off-gassing of foam, and suggesting foam lined hard cases are a bad call for optics.

What do you guys use for secure portable storage? Is this a real issue that needs to be addressed in portable storage solutions?
Click to expand...

I can only go on personal experience. With both alloy and thermos plastic cases like Pelicans I've seen the following. With lenses that are used on a regular basis no adverse foam reactions. With a number of lenses, primarily Canon B4 lenses I witnessed problems. These cases had not been opened for about three years or so. When I moved studio when checking the lenses I noticed the following. Canon and Fujinon use some kind of tactile silicon rubber on the lens servo grips. This coating on the grips had small series of pimple like bubbles erupting in various spots on all three lens grips that had been shut up for those years. Also the foam in those cases had lost a large amount of its bounce resilience or whatever you want to call it. If you pinched the foam it stayed squashed and had little capability to resume its shape. A couple of other cases that had a totally different type of much harder foam, the sort that's much easier to cut with a blade seemed to have had no adverse effect on the lenses inside. My conclusion is that there is foam and foam. Though lenses that had been kept in the softer type foam that had degraded in the long time closed boxes didn't exhibit the same degree of degradation nor had it affected the lens servo grip coatings on the lenses that were used on a regular basis.

Discussing this with someone else he said it was like new cars. New cars have a certain type of smell, the new car smell. And he's right I think. Some of you have probably noticed that with a new car if left closed up in hot sun you can get a hazy film build up on the inside of the windscreen and windows. Following up on his suggestion I was told that this film is made up of gassing from the plastic and foam used in the car's upholstery. I'm now of the belief that this is what happens with some of the foams used in the film and photo industry. Check out the following:

https://blog.firsttimedriver.com/blog/what-causes-the-new-car-smell/

Chris Young
 
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