I’m so glad I found you on here man. You’re the Alton Brown of astrophotography. If you don’t know who he is, he’s a chef that brings science and math into his explanations which immediately clarifies why we do things the way we do when cooking. You’re employing a very similar technique and it’s quite helpful. So thank you.
Thanks for getting to the point rather quickly. I get so tired of people wasting my time with the first minute and a half of the video talking about that they will be talking about the subject, plugs, ads, or their "cool" B-roll with Lo-Fi music. Subscribed. Much love from Houston Texas! Very helpful video
I love your videos, so clear and explanatory with a brilliant use of visuals to aid this. I'm so pleased to see I have a lot of the equiptment you are using and by chance I have just purchased this exact same lens heater. Thanks to you I don't need to do any pre testing. You just saved me some valuble time. I shall invest this time into more of your RUclips videos. Keep up the excellent work!
You know something strange has been happening to me. I'm a new astrophotographer and every time i search for a RUclips video, you already have a video made on the subject. Love your work, keep it up!
Thanks Dave! I’m eager to start astrophotograph-ing again - for the past few months the clounds make it impossible - but it should get better soon and I have some cool stuff planned so stay tuned!
I’ve bought the same lens heater about 6-8 month ago, and it works like a charm. I’ve always use the high heat due too that there is often a lot of dew and moist in the air at night in denmark🤔. Defently a value for the buck heater👌
Hej Kenneth kunne jeg evt. bruge sådan en til at lægge ind i en lille kameraboks og varme fronten nok op til at være dugfri. Der sidder et 67 mm. filter som gerne skal være dugfri gennem hele vinteren. Den skal altså være tændt konstant i de næste måneder.
MS-DroneService hvis jeg har forstået dig korrekt, så skal du nok op i en voldsom stor powerbank. Jeg bruger omkring 10-15% strøm til ca 2,5-3 timers brug på en 20.000mAh powerbank på max varme.
The defogging test at 4:27 was done indoors so any room temperature would manipulate the timelapse. It would have been helpful to see a defogging test outdoors in real use where the heating element has to compete directly against the outside temperature.
I have had success using a small pc fan blowing across the lens on an angle so as not to be detected by the view angle of the lens. I live near a beach and have high humidity, It has worked well for me so far. Will defiantly buy one of these to try it out. Thanks for the informative video.😊
Thanks for explaining all of this. I went out and bought a power bank and heater immediately. It always wondered about the relationship between power output/power consumption and amperage, now I know. Thanks.
I have one of these for my astro photography and reviewed this on my channel recently all be it very loosely. a good video yet again Kamil. I wouldn't mind having some clear skies here in the UK, not had any good skies for 2 weeks now and the weather is still not looking great.
Thanks! Yeah same here down in Poland. All rain and clouds but actually the weekend is supposed to be pretty nice - I have a moon alignment planned for Sunday - fingers crossed 🤞
@@kamilkp it is actually clearing a little out there right now here in the UK but clouds do keep pestering me lol. so ill keep an eye on it tonight, I am using a 70-200mm f2.8 lens on a eos R on ioptron star tracker with the coowoo heater on the high setting and using the eos r clip in light pollution filter for the north American nebula, I am testing to see if i can cut through the light pollution of the full moon, I will be very surprised if the filter is that good but as I said just a test, I am doing a number of shots at 60 seconds at f/2.8 I may well stop down to reduce star stretching ill see how it goes. ISO is 800
This is how would my father explain to me how that works. Charts, time on X , results on Y etc :) he was in maths and physics, and funny too. I think your study background and taste for humor are going to improve your videos.
I have 2 of the same warmers and they work really well for me. They work best if you get them on right away, and don't wait for condensation to start forming.
Nice video Kamil. Question: what about atmospheric turbulence caused by the heated front lens in a cold and humid environment? As far as I understand you haven't tried it yet.
Correct. But lens heaters in general is a pretty standard approach to the fogging problem. From what I see on people’s rigs (even very fancy ones with expensive refractors) all of them have some kind of heating strip strapped around the front of the tube. So I think that’s not a problem.
Just to confirm there is no issue using the heat band on the end of the lens I am actually doing just that right now as it seems a little clearer out there right now.
nice calculation for the powerbank, did you think about the temparature where it operates,... when using a dew heater it's probably cold outside, when it's cold battery lifetimes go down as well,... I suggest that you put the powerbank in a nice jacketor bag where it's out of wind and cold, most of the times it saves battery lifetime. I'm looking for one right now , but also for a good powerbank ( it's 2021 and i don't have one yet ;-) ) now it's time to wait for a clear nightsky so I can try everyting out,..
True that! But the truth of the matter is that when in cold, part of the energy stored in batteries just becomes inaccessible - it’s not like they drain faster. So if it starts dying you can warm it up after the fact to make the remaining juice accessible again. It doesn’t need to be kept warm from the beginning!
I had already been using two of the CooWoo dew straps but I got the ones which didnt have any controller on them. Now that I realize a controller is good to have, I decided to order the Kiwi dew heater straps from China directly as they cost less than 1/2 of the Coowoo. I also needed MUCH shorter than the 18" one you are reviewing, and the Kiwi is only 10-12" which is great for my guide scope and my Z61 refractor. I really wish they sold just the controller cable by itself so I could just add that to my two existing Coowoo straps.
2:58 I will have to correct you there. Very thin and soft material is usually not so great with heating elements inside. They can burn through the fabric way more easily and damage the lens. Plenty of pictures on amazon on exactly this device that provide proof of this. Also, there are no modes. It is just cosmetic. A french guy showed how he took the sticker off, there's only the one mode, the others are fake.
Yeah, that’s the kind of stuff I was doing in college! I could probably make an addon for it on Raspberry Pi that would act as a PID controller. Well PI would be enough, D is only needed for fast-response regulators
I'm having a tough time with the heat/humidity here in Florida with my Canon 10-22. I'm also thinking about purchasing the Samyang 14mm 2.8. Would a lens warmer help my situation? How about a lens hood? Are these warmers ok to use with wides? Good video review. Thanks.
Would it work if im going from a warm environment to a colder environment during winter? Got one for my upcoming trip in hopes that i would not ruin my lens 😅
I've got 2 of the coowoo usb heater scraps but they don't have control panel like yours as cord goes into heater strap then usb other end but still not tested them out yet. I needed something very light weight and compact so I can use on my Canon 700d and evostar 72ed ds pro refractor. It's annoying when lens fogged up or ice forms when it's really cold. I have power bank so I can keep lenses warm. I've noticed smartphone camera lenses don't foggy up when I'm doing astrophotography. I'm only looking for lightweight gear for my astrophotography gear and I now need laptop that I can take with me. Any suggestions on laptop? I recently bought Hauwei p20 pro smartphone and yep I tested it by doing astrophotography and I must say it's camera is better in low light than the Hauwei p20. Star trails on p20pro look great. Star tracker telescope dslr I'm going to have a fantastic time this winter. Glad you shared this video and thanks!
super Kamil , wiesz co mi sie pojawia kondensacja pomiedzy body a obiektywem na tym pierwszym szkle w obiektywie,myslisz ze ten heater dal by rady i czy moglbym go na poczatku obiektywu zainstalowac? myslalem ze mam problem z obiektywem ale canon powiedzial ze to normalna roznica temperator otoczenia,co myslisz?
Does the Samsung power bank you use in the video shut down automatically after a set period of time or when load current drops below a particular threshold? I have tried two different power banks (not Samsung) and both turn off automatically when the Coowoo is set to either Medium or Low heat. In doing research on the typical power banks in the market, most have an automatic power off function.
I recommend giving consideration to a TalentCell portable power source. They have several sizes and output combinations. They come equipped with a simple rocker-style power switch and will not turn off power automatically. I chose the model YB1208300-USB as it has both a standard USB type-A jack (5v) and a DC5521 5mm jack (12v). Power can be sourced from both jacks simultaneously. This will allow me to power the Coowoo dew heater and other astrophotography gear (guide scope, guide computer, etc) on a portable rig.
Be careful testing indoors: modern lenses do use high performance lubricants designed to not outgas any vapors that could deposit a film on the optics inside your lens. But still, 70C just doesn't sound like a very smart idea for an extended period of time. I have a modern lens with internal haze that spent a lot of time in the hot tropical sun attached to a camera worn around my neck.
the other issue is mobility of lubricants at high temperature. you don't want grease liquifying and winding up somewhere it doesn't belong, like the aperture blades etc.
Be careful using the temperature changer because last night it shut off on me and ruined all my images. From now on I will be plugging it directly into power and not into the warm medium hot thermostat. Clear skies
In camera related products I have never seen such a good product review. Clear, concise, no waffle, no repeated statements- brilliant !
This is the best review of any product I've ever seen! You even did graphics, tests, and explained everything. Amazing!
I’m so glad I found you on here man. You’re the Alton Brown of astrophotography. If you don’t know who he is, he’s a chef that brings science and math into his explanations which immediately clarifies why we do things the way we do when cooking. You’re employing a very similar technique and it’s quite helpful. So thank you.
Kamil, the stuff you do is very informative and useful. Presentation simple and easy to follow also. No fluff also good!!
Thanks Mark, I appreciate the comment!
Thanks for getting to the point rather quickly. I get so tired of people wasting my time with the first minute and a half of the video talking about that they will be talking about the subject, plugs, ads, or their "cool" B-roll with Lo-Fi music.
Subscribed. Much love from Houston Texas! Very helpful video
Thanks! Yeah I try to keep the fluff at bare minimum 😀
Been using this one for about a year now, works like a charm every time. The only annoying think is trying not to defocus the lens when you put it on.
Yep! On zoom lenses that have an extendable barrel that’s not a problem but on something like an EF 70-200 it might be - good tip!
I love your videos, so clear and explanatory with a brilliant use of visuals to aid this. I'm so pleased to see I have a lot of the equiptment you are using and by chance I have just purchased this exact same lens heater. Thanks to you I don't need to do any pre testing. You just saved me some valuble time. I shall invest this time into more of your RUclips videos. Keep up the excellent work!
Thank you. I really appreciate such a comment!!
Outstanding, high amount of terrific technical content, efficiently presented and with professional advice. Thank you.
You know something strange has been happening to me. I'm a new astrophotographer and every time i search for a RUclips video, you already have a video made on the subject.
Love your work, keep it up!
Thanks Dave! I’m eager to start astrophotograph-ing again - for the past few months the clounds make it impossible - but it should get better soon and I have some cool stuff planned so stay tuned!
@@kamilkp I feel your pain on the clouds. Winter months in Southern Ontario Canada is 95% clouds.
I’ve bought the same lens heater about 6-8 month ago, and it works like a charm. I’ve always use the high heat due too that there is often a lot of dew and moist in the air at night in denmark🤔. Defently a value for the buck heater👌
Hej Kenneth kunne jeg evt. bruge sådan en til at lægge ind i en lille kameraboks og varme fronten nok op til at være dugfri. Der sidder et 67 mm. filter som gerne skal være dugfri gennem hele vinteren. Den skal altså være tændt konstant i de næste måneder.
MS-DroneService hvis jeg har forstået dig korrekt, så skal du nok op i en voldsom stor powerbank. Jeg bruger omkring 10-15% strøm til ca 2,5-3 timers brug på en 20.000mAh powerbank på max varme.
Kenneth Andersen jeg har mulighed 220v og så en lille lader der må kunne trække den.
MS-DroneService så burde der ikke være noget problem😎. Den fungere som Kamal beskriver det
Kenneth Andersen tak for det Kenneth. Jeg må ha bestilt sådan en. Godnat
The defogging test at 4:27 was done indoors so any room temperature would manipulate the timelapse. It would have been helpful to see a defogging test outdoors in real use where the heating element has to compete directly against the outside temperature.
I have had success using a small pc fan blowing across the lens on an angle so as not to be detected by the view angle of the lens. I live near a beach and have high humidity, It has worked well for me so far. Will defiantly buy one of these to try it out. Thanks for the informative video.😊
Thank you for the wonderfully informative video!
Thanks for explaining all of this. I went out and bought a power bank and heater immediately. It always wondered about the relationship between power output/power consumption and amperage, now I know. Thanks.
You’re welcome, that’s what I’m here for!
Excellent review 👍 no unnecassary waffle, just the facts and also some interesting maths too 😊. Well done sir 👏👍.
I have one of these for my astro photography and reviewed this on my channel recently all be it very loosely. a good video yet again Kamil. I wouldn't mind having some clear skies here in the UK, not had any good skies for 2 weeks now and the weather is still not looking great.
Thanks! Yeah same here down in Poland. All rain and clouds but actually the weekend is supposed to be pretty nice - I have a moon alignment planned for Sunday - fingers crossed 🤞
@@kamilkp it is actually clearing a little out there right now here in the UK but clouds do keep pestering me lol. so ill keep an eye on it tonight, I am using a 70-200mm f2.8 lens on a eos R on ioptron star tracker with the coowoo heater on the high setting and using the eos r clip in light pollution filter for the north American nebula, I am testing to see if i can cut through the light pollution of the full moon, I will be very surprised if the filter is that good but as I said just a test, I am doing a number of shots at 60 seconds at f/2.8 I may well stop down to reduce star stretching ill see how it goes. ISO is 800
Your videos are great, Kamil --- thanks for putting these together
Great review
I have used ski hand warmers and a rubber band. But this looks like the way to go.
This is how would my father explain to me how that works. Charts, time on X , results on Y etc :) he was in maths and physics, and funny too. I think your study background and taste for humor are going to improve your videos.
Tks for the vid. Like to seek your advise abt using heat gel against this.
Great job!
I have 2 of the same warmers and they work really well for me. They work best if you get them on right away, and don't wait for condensation to start forming.
Yeah exactly!
Nice video Kamil. Question: what about atmospheric turbulence caused by the heated front lens in a cold and humid environment? As far as I understand you haven't tried it yet.
Correct. But lens heaters in general is a pretty standard approach to the fogging problem. From what I see on people’s rigs (even very fancy ones with expensive refractors) all of them have some kind of heating strip strapped around the front of the tube. So I think that’s not a problem.
Just to confirm there is no issue using the heat band on the end of the lens I am actually doing just that right now as it seems a little clearer out there right now.
Thanks!
It just generates enough heat to keep the dew point of the lens barrel and front element out of the condensation zone.
nice calculation for the powerbank, did you think about the temparature where it operates,... when using a dew heater it's probably cold outside, when it's cold battery lifetimes go down as well,... I suggest that you put the powerbank in a nice jacketor bag where it's out of wind and cold, most of the times it saves battery lifetime.
I'm looking for one right now , but also for a good powerbank ( it's 2021 and i don't have one yet ;-) )
now it's time to wait for a clear nightsky so I can try everyting out,..
True that! But the truth of the matter is that when in cold, part of the energy stored in batteries just becomes inaccessible - it’s not like they drain faster. So if it starts dying you can warm it up after the fact to make the remaining juice accessible again. It doesn’t need to be kept warm from the beginning!
@@kamilkp I always keep my spare batteries on my body under my jacket. The one that are in use, I try to keep them up to normal temperatures
I had already been using two of the CooWoo dew straps but I got the ones which didnt have any controller on them. Now that I realize a controller is good to have, I decided to order the Kiwi dew heater straps from China directly as they cost less than 1/2 of the Coowoo. I also needed MUCH shorter than the 18" one you are reviewing, and the Kiwi is only 10-12" which is great for my guide scope and my Z61 refractor. I really wish they sold just the controller cable by itself so I could just add that to my two existing Coowoo straps.
2:58 I will have to correct you there. Very thin and soft material is usually not so great with heating elements inside. They can burn through the fabric way more easily and damage the lens. Plenty of pictures on amazon on exactly this device that provide proof of this. Also, there are no modes. It is just cosmetic. A french guy showed how he took the sticker off, there's only the one mode, the others are fake.
Thanks for the work! Cheers
Great review
what it needs is a P.I.D controller to measure and regulate the temp but that would probably double its price.
Yeah, that’s the kind of stuff I was doing in college! I could probably make an addon for it on Raspberry Pi that would act as a PID controller. Well PI would be enough, D is only needed for fast-response regulators
@@kamilkp Yes easily with a Pi but is all that effort worth it to bring that product to market to get knocked off by the Chinese in week 2 😂
😅
Brilliant 🙂 Thanks
thanks for the suggestions
..
I'm having a tough time with the heat/humidity here in Florida with my Canon 10-22. I'm also thinking about purchasing the Samyang 14mm 2.8. Would a lens warmer help my situation? How about a lens hood? Are these warmers ok to use with wides? Good video review. Thanks.
Yeah they are fine with wide lenses. A hood won’t help you much here
@@kamilkp Wow, that was a fast reply. So this would help with humidity? Thanks for getting back with me.
It will keep your front lens element above dew point. Make sure to put the heating strap as close to the end of the lens as possible
Would it work if im going from a warm environment to a colder environment during winter? Got one for my upcoming trip in hopes that i would not ruin my lens 😅
hmm thinking about buying this
I've got 2 of the coowoo usb heater scraps but they don't have control panel like yours as cord goes into heater strap then usb other end but still not tested them out yet. I needed something very light weight and compact so I can use on my Canon 700d and evostar 72ed ds pro refractor. It's annoying when lens fogged up or ice forms when it's really cold. I have power bank so I can keep lenses warm. I've noticed smartphone camera lenses don't foggy up when I'm doing astrophotography. I'm only looking for lightweight gear for my astrophotography gear and I now need laptop that I can take with me. Any suggestions on laptop? I recently bought Hauwei p20 pro smartphone and yep I tested it by doing astrophotography and I must say it's camera is better in low light than the Hauwei p20. Star trails on p20pro look great. Star tracker telescope dslr I'm going to have a fantastic time this winter. Glad you shared this video and thanks!
I use the same. Cheap and do the job + usb + temp control = win.
super Kamil , wiesz co mi sie pojawia kondensacja pomiedzy body a obiektywem na tym pierwszym szkle w obiektywie,myslisz ze ten heater dal by rady i czy moglbym go na poczatku obiektywu zainstalowac? myslalem ze mam problem z obiektywem ale canon powiedzial ze to normalna roznica temperator otoczenia,co myslisz?
Ciekawe. Nie spotkałem się z tym. Ale powinno zadziałać jak dasz tam grzałkę
@@kamilkp dzieki pozdro,👍
Does the Samsung power bank you use in the video shut down automatically after a set period of time or when load current drops below a particular threshold? I have tried two different power banks (not Samsung) and both turn off automatically when the Coowoo is set to either Medium or Low heat. In doing research on the typical power banks in the market, most have an automatic power off function.
I recommend giving consideration to a TalentCell portable power source. They have several sizes and output combinations. They come equipped with a simple rocker-style power switch and will not turn off power automatically. I chose the model YB1208300-USB as it has both a standard USB type-A jack (5v) and a DC5521 5mm jack (12v). Power can be sourced from both jacks simultaneously. This will allow me to power the Coowoo dew heater and other astrophotography gear (guide scope, guide computer, etc) on a portable rig.
Świetna robota.
Be careful testing indoors: modern lenses do use high performance lubricants designed to not outgas any vapors that could deposit a film on the optics inside your lens. But still, 70C just doesn't sound like a very smart idea for an extended period of time. I have a modern lens with internal haze that spent a lot of time in the hot tropical sun attached to a camera worn around my neck.
the other issue is mobility of lubricants at high temperature. you don't want grease liquifying and winding up somewhere it doesn't belong, like the aperture blades etc.
Thanks for the heads up! Yeah I only ran it on the max temp for a moment and I don’t ever plan on using it like this for extended period of time
Thermodynamics!!! LoL! Gotta buy this soon!
how warm is it ? mine is not heating up so much ?
I showed it in the video. 50-70 degrees C
@@kamilkp mine is kapput no heat at all via wall socket ,PC,and powerbank
Maybe a „cold joint” soldering issue. Try to take it apart. If it’s already broken then you can’t make matters worse 🤷♂️ (at your own risk ofc)
@@kamilkp Thanks bought from amazon returning it great vids by the way
Thanks! And sorry you got a faulty copy of the heater - happens 😕
Be careful using the temperature changer because last night it shut off on me and ruined all my images. From now on I will be plugging it directly into power and not into the warm medium hot thermostat. Clear skies
9:18 A Chinese knockoff of what exactly? Is there an original lens heater out there no-one talks about?