It's Almost Mosquito Season... Are You Ready?

[ressalg]

I thought about posting this is the SYS - Animal/Wildlife section but I think this might be a better place.

One of the worst things for optics can be bug repellants. They can eat away at not only coatings on lenses but the various rubber parts on them, too. However, there are other alternatives.

This article appeared in an astronomy magazine a while back but I figure it could apply to those photographers who do a lot of shooting outdoors.

http://www.skynewsmagazine.com/PDFs/...s/mosquito.pdf

And here's a link to the best product's website:

ThermaCELL Mosquito Repellent

I've used mine on several occasions and they work really well. I've even had people set up their telescopes near me just get the benefits of the ThermaCell.

[junglebear]

But I don't think you're supposed to put bug repellant on your camera...are you?

[ressalg]

No, but you put bug repellant on your hands... and what do you touch your camera and lenses with. Unless you're some sort of monkey/photographer that uses his feet. Ewww!

[junglebear]

Originally Posted by ressalg

No, but you put bug repellant on your hands... and what do you touch your camera and lenses with. Unless you're some sort of monkey/photographer that uses his feet. Ewww!

Haha fair enough, I'm fortunate enough to live in a part of the world where bug repellant is rarely needed

[Quo Fan]

I sweat like a faucet, so bug repellent doesn't work on me because I sweat it off. Instead, I take garlic in pill form, and have been for the past 2 years. Garlic is a natural mosquito repellent, and because I take it in pill form, I don't reek of garlic.

A side benefit is that it also helps keep my cholesterol down.

[Bluenoser]

Hmmm, Feb 10th and it's Almost Mosquito season? What part of Canada do you live in, the west coast?

I use bug spray all the time, but I always wash my hands immediately after application.

[ressalg]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

Hmmm, Feb 10th and it's Almost Mosquito season? What part of Canada do you live in, the west coast?

I use bug spray all the time, but I always wash my hands immediately after application.

Close... one prov. over. It just sort of came up in another conversation and I thought I'd post the idea here, too. There have been times (admittedly in the middle of summer) when I've been out and the mosquitos were horrid. Then I turned the ThermaCell on and about 15 mins. later you could actually see it working... maybe not quite as well as they claim. But you could still see a "wall" of skeeters all around me but very few actually ventured past that "wall".

[douglas]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

Hmmm, Feb 10th and it's Almost Mosquito season? What part of Canada do you live in, the west coast?

I use bug spray all the time, but I always wash my hands immediately after application.

Agree, round here the mossies are wearing parkas!