Last Updated: November 12, 2025
Shortly after moving to Costa Rica in 2013, we read an article about how mold and fungus can start growing inside the lens or body of a camera, especially in high humidity environments like Costa Rica. The result was a frenzy of Internet searches and, similar to when you look up some weird skin rash, the results were horrifying. To sum it up, mold and fungus can ruin your equipment if you’re not careful. Worst of all, upon closer examination, we realized our zoom lens already had wisps of mold growing under the front glass. Luckily, with the help of some miniature screwdrivers and lens cleaner, we addressed the problem before it got worse. In this post, we’ll tell you how to keep your camera mold-free in the tropics.
Short Visits
If you’re just traveling to Costa Rica for a week or two, a few silica packets (like the ones you find in a shoebox) in your camera bag and an air-conditioned hotel room will probably suffice.
Just be sure to have a dry bag for your camera, especially if you’ll be visiting during rainy season (May-November). This will protect it if you’re out on the trail and it suddenly starts raining. We also like to keep handy a simple plastic grocery bag to wrap around it so that we can still take some pictures in the rain.
Longer Stays
For longer stays, a dry box is the way to go. There are many commercially available dry boxes specifically designed for cameras and other electronics, but you can also easily make one yourself. We got most of the materials for ours from the local Maxi-Pali (Walmart-owned store chain).
Making a Camera Dry Box
Here’s what you’ll need to make a camera dry box:
- Plastic container with a good sealing lid. It helps to put some weather stripping or something around the edge if it is loose.
- Something to absorb humidity. Silica packets work and can be re-dried at low temps in the oven, but we couldn’t find any in Costa Rica. Instead we used a system of Calcium Chloride (similar to Damp Rid), which is more readily available here. Update: We have tried both methods and prefer Calcium Chloride. The Silica packets worked great but were saturated within a month or so. We also found drying them to be a major hassle as opposed to just adding a little more Calcium Chloride powder to the Damp Rid container every few months.
- Humidity gauge. Again, we couldn’t find one here so we bought this one on Amazon and had a friend bring it down for us.
- Rubber place mat to keep your equipment from sliding around in the box.
Conclusion
Our dry box setup has been a lifesaver. We keep the humidity level around 40-50%, adding more Calcium Chloride or Silica packets when needed, and store our camera away whenever we aren’t using it. Since our initial fungus discovery, we haven’t had any problems since. Hopefully this post will help keep your camera and lenses safe too.
If you have any other techniques that you use to keep your equipment fungus-free, please let us know below.
Looking for more information on living or traveling in Costa Rica? Check out these posts:
Packing for Costa Rica: This list of essentials will make sure you have everything you need for your visit.
What It’s Like to Live in Costa Rica in Rainy Season: The truth about wet season and what you can expect for weather and inconveniences.
Planning a Long-term Visit to Costa Rica: Learn about visa options, best spots to live, and lots more practical info about living here long-term.
Living in Costa Rica: View all our articles about life in Costa Rica covering residency, buying a house, building a house, having a baby, and lots more.
