eyepieces misting up

[alcol620]

Hi everyone.

Out in the garden last night, home made dew shield worked very well no misting on scope but when I went to change eyepieces over, suddenly found that those on the table awaiting use had misted up. I am a newbie so would appreciate tips on how to keep eyepieces from misting up. Keep them in your pocket???

[John]

Try and keep your eyepieces a little warmer than the outside temperature. Mine are kept in a foam lined case and go back in the case in between use as the case and foam seem to retain some residual heat. 

As well as dewing, cold eyepieces can mist up from the warmth of your eye too.

[NGC404]

Have a good bulb blower at hand. This will help clear the mist of the lens

Resist the temptation to wipe them

[Tinker1947]

I give my EP's a gentle warming with a hairdryer stop any misting up, your warm eye causes this to happen, keep them in a warm place or warm them with a hair dryer inside a shed/room as a dewed-up hair dryer will be liable to send you to a early grave......

[starnut]

As above or make eyepiece heaters

[sbooder]

Just keep them insulated with a case or old camera bag or the like.  I keep mine indoors and just nip in when I want to change them.  It is not too bad in the height of summer when the temperature is higher you can leave them outside but it is still cool at night at the moment.

[faulksy]

thats the best way, optics heaters, or those hand warming pads in your pocket and put the ep,s in there, keep the caps on though

[gooseholla]

I put them in my pocket when not in use. But I am looking at making/buying eyepiece dew bands.

[Tinker1947]

I put them in my pocket when not in use. But I am looking at making/buying eyepiece dew bands.

Would the movement from one EP to another many times in one evening not end up with the heater wire breaking....????

[John]

Would the movement from one EP to another many times in one evening not end up with the heater wire breaking....????

Thats my concern although I'm sure eyepiece dew bands are very effective. I swap eyepieces about a lot during a session. My scopes mainly don't use any power either so I'd prefer not to have to lay on some just to keep dew at bay. If you already have a convenient power supply at the scope for other purposes then an additional powered accessory is not a problem other than in battery drain terms.

There are some good options in this thread to help alcol620 though, which is great. 

I find pockets work fine for light weight, compact eyepieces like orthos where you can have one in each pocket to stop them clacking together. If I put my 31mm Nagler in one pocket and my 21mm Ethos in the other I reckon my trousers would fall down which would create other issues 

[jackruff]

Just keep them covered. They're cooling by radiation to a temperature lower than air temperature causing condensation.

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[AlexB67]

I find pockets work fine for light weight, compact eyepieces like orthos where you can have one in each pocket to stop them clacking together. If I put my 31mm Nagler in one pocket and my 21mm Ethos in the other I reckon my trousers would fall down which would create other issues 

orthos are great for that, they go in pockets, as do most of my eyepieces anyway, though pentaxes get a bit on the large side though for that. Can't say I've had much issue with fogging up so far luckily, though had my barlow fog up on me last night, but only myself to blame for that when I forgot to put the caps on and put in the scope rack for a bit. Most of them just go in the case with caps on, and the workhorses I have usually at least one in my pocket, one in the scope I can swap with readily.  A coat with some lined big pockets works well me to give them that little bit of warmth.   

[alcol620]

Thanks for all your helpful comments people. Shows what a newbie I am when the answer is simple and not expensive. Thanks again everyone.

[faulksy]

Thanks for all your helpful comments people. Shows what a newbie I am when the answer is simple and not expensive. Thanks again everyone.

in no time at all you will be helping other, and thats a fact

[SW130p]

Get one of those small camera cases with little pockets alround, you can put things like filters, lens cloths, blower etc to keep at had attached to the tripod and I made a heater pad from resistors to go in the bottom of the main compartment to keep the eyepieces nice and warm.

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[Mark in Macc]

I keep mine in a plastic food box with a lid next to the scope when observing. I only have one out at a time. Never had a problem.