Dew heater for camera lens

Hi,
Since tonight was a clear night decided to try a bit of wide field astrophotography with my camera using a lens rather a scope for a change.So after setting up the mount,polar aligning etc started to shoot and.....got absolutely nothing!So after spending another half an hour changing all the settings noticed that the lens is completely dew'ed up!!!As i was shooting without UV filter to get that extra detail didn't wanted to clean the lens with a cloth and all frustrated brought all the equipment back
So my question would be whats the best way avoid that?Did anyone had same issues?Are there any dew straps or something designed for lenses?I know there are dew straps for eyepieces but would they damage the optics in the lens as i presume they are a bit more fragile...
I wouldn't like to clean the lens every 10 or 15 min in the dark to avoid the possibility of scratching it...
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Nerro - not my area of expertise but take alook at this for starters:

www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat...4818580/Main/4815849

Seems its not taboo anyhow. But as one of the posters noted,perhapsa long lens hood is a good idea to start off with. With a dewheater you'll need to lug around some kind of power supply.

HTH
Dave

dmcdona wrote: Nerro - not my area of expertise but take alook at this for starters:

www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat...4818580/Main/4815849

Seems its not taboo anyhow. But as one of the posters noted,perhapsa long lens hood is a good idea to start off with. With a dewheater you'll need to lug around some kind of power supply.

HTH
Dave

Thanks Dave that helps a lot.i was using a hood to eliminate any possible light comming from my neighbours garden lamp.but it didn't helped at all...
Well I am dragging my mount anyway so the battery shouldn't be a problem,wanted to find out if the strap wouldn't damage the lens and from that thread it appears that it's ok.
Thanks again.

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't use a dewstrap designed for a similar sized refractor on a camera lens. I certainly used them in the past.

yea exactly, see below for the dewnot heaters, apparently they have a good reputation
www.dew-not.com/dew-not-desc-01.htm

Thanks again to everyone.ordered astro zap one from first light optics.It seems that they are the same as dew not but for some reason a bit cheaper.
After some digging on the Internet I found some topics even how to make one yourself.but since I don't really trust my DIY capabilities decided to get one rather then damage the lens as there is some reports with homemade heaters.
Now the long wait for arrival and probably even longer for clear skies...