My new dew heater strap just saved a whole night of shooting

I was out near Flagstaff last weekend trying to get some shots of the Orion Nebula. About an hour in, my lens started fogging up bad, like you could barely see through it. I remembered I had bought one of those cheap heater straps online for maybe 35 bucks, so I wrapped it around the lens barrel. It cleared the fog in like two minutes and I got the rest of my frames. Anyone have a go-to brand for these things that lasts more than a season?

3 comments

3 Comments

kevin_flores1mo ago

Yeah I saw that about the melted hood and @ninasanchez I think you're probably right that it was a one off thing. But honestly I've had cheap plastic gear warp just sitting in a car during an Arizona summer, so I could see it happening if the strap got real hot and the hood was thin. I remember I had a cheap lens hood on an old kit lens that started cracking after a few months in the heat, nothing to do with a heater strap. For the original question though, I've been using a Kendrick brand strap for like three years now and it's still going. No melting issues either, just a steady warm glow that keeps the fog away.

ivan_fisher992mo ago

My buddy’s strap melted his lens hood once.

ninasanchez2mo ago

Honestly, a strap melting a lens hood sounds like a one in a million thing. Tbh I've left my camera bag in a hot car plenty of times and the worst I get is a warm body. Unless his buddy was shooting on the surface of the sun, I have to wonder if something else was going on. Maybe it was a cheap plastic hood that was already messed up.