Keeping insects out of your gear

Egg Born Son

Egg Born Son

Veteran
What camera/lighting/grip gear should I be cautious of flyspray and residual surface spray around?

Been sorting out my gear today and keep finding redbacks and other assorted bugs, even a lizard making their homes in my lighting housings and inside storage bags that haven't been disturbed in a while. Was about to get in there with the surface spray when I wondered whether it might damage my gear.

Obviously lenses and other optical elements shouldn't be exposed. What about inside light fixings? I spray into my domestic fittings all the time (all the bugs hang out there sooner or later) but the hottest light I've got is 100W. With the higher temps in my tungsten fittings will the spray do any damage? Okay if I take the bulbs out first? Pretty sure fluoros and all the stands and clamps will be fine. What about spraying in bags that will contain camera gear, if I let it air out a bit before putting anything back in. Risk of contamination? Any other gear to be concerned about?

Anyone dealing with insects have any non-spray alternatives to insect control? Any tips appreciated.
 
I have no knowledge on the bug spray question, but I had a couple of mice take up residence in some soft equipment cases of mine a few years ago. They shredded the nylon and threads in the bags and used that to build big messy nests, then spent their time chewing on the cables and connectors they could find. (For some reason, there was one type of wire I'd used to make several audio cables that they were especially fond of.) I had to throw away a pretty nice Kata audio bag and quite a few cables after that little adventure, although they didn't damage any serious hardware like cameras, lenses, mixers, mics, etc.

- Greg
 
That sucks. I guess the audio cable was good for sharpening their teeth. Expensive tastes. I know from working in telecommunications that rats can get addicted to chewing on live phone lines. Apparently the voltage gets them high but isn't enough to kill them. They're fond of optic fibre too. At least I haven't had to throw anything away. A couple of the spiders were the kind that build their webs in hollows, just spent half an hour with an old toothbrush scraping out webs from tubing and hollows but at least everything is fine. The props got it even worse, a modified nerf gun was almost solid web inside. Wouldn't want a bite from whatever that was.
 
oh animals love cables, they are great for their teeth, or so I believe (when I say Animal I am talking about Rats, squirrels mainly and rodents in general). Bitten cables were the main cause of underground phone cable breakdowns... I had to repair lots and lots of them while I was working as landlines technician.... They even ate (well not actually ate but gnaw) the steel cable guide... Once I met a guy that had a rat infestation... You can't even imagine how his stingers were hahaha.....
 
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