Cold Weather Cameras

Okay, wemt for a nice nature walk yesterday, my electronic SLR ran into
a nasty problem, the batteries froze up....

Makes me wonder about digital cameras though, if an electronic SLR with
reasonable battery requirements will freeze up, what about digital
cameras, any that are resistant to cold, say -10C/15F for a 10k hike?

W

"The Wogster" wrote

Okay, wemt for a nice nature walk yesterday, my electronic SLR ran into
a nasty problem, the batteries froze up....

Makes me wonder about digital cameras though, if an electronic SLR with
reasonable battery requirements will freeze up, what about digital
cameras, any that are resistant to cold, say -10C/15F for a 10k hike?

Oh schadenfreude.

I had a Leica M3 lubed for cold weather use. Worked like a champ.
So did my old selenium cell exposure meter.

Now I use a Nikon F2 w/ plain prism and a Sekonic 398. The F2's
self timer is ferschlecht when it is cold and the Sekonic gets
sluggish.

Nikon sells a cold-weather battery adapter for cameras with modest
electrical requirements, such as the FM2 and F3; a cable screws
in where the batteries went and connects to a set of batteries
kept in the photographer's inside pocket.

Other cameras may have remote power connectors on them, if this is
the case then the solution above, batteries kept close to the body,
will work.

Otherwise keep the camera inside your goose-down parka. A plastic
bag will keep ice from forming on the camera when you take it
under cover.

Sad experience has confirmed that motor drive cameras are a bad
idea in dry cold weather as the fast film advance generates
static streaks all over the film.

Both film and CCD imagers work better the colder it gets.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.

The Wogster wrote:

Okay, wemt for a nice nature walk yesterday, my electronic SLR ran into
a nasty problem, the batteries froze up....

Makes me wonder about digital cameras though, if an electronic SLR with
reasonable battery requirements will freeze up, what about digital
cameras, any that are resistant to cold, say -10C/15F for a 10k hike?

I was out shooting for about 1.5hrs in -20C w/ my Canon A70, and it was
fine, and I was using nimh's. My Minolta X700 was fine too, my wife's
Minolta STsi (electronic autofocus) was also fine... she froze before
the camera did. My SRT101 was fine, but the 35mm lense I had on it was
starting to get quite stiff, but my other lenses were okay.

Last week I hiked with my 10D in 10°F (and less) for 6 hrs, and had no
problem with the battery in the camera. I was also carrying 2 extra
batteries in an inside pocket, "just in case". I have also used this same
camera in -20 to -30°F temperatures without any problems. You do need to
carry extra batteries in a warm spot, because the one in the camera is not
going to last as long as it does in warmer temperature, but if you warm it
up, it will work again.


--
Judit Fabian
University of Vermont
(802)656-9722

"The Wogster" wrote in message
.. .

Okay, wemt for a nice nature walk yesterday, my electronic SLR ran into
a nasty problem, the batteries froze up....

Makes me wonder about digital cameras though, if an electronic SLR with
reasonable battery requirements will freeze up, what about digital
cameras, any that are resistant to cold, say -10C/15F for a 10k hike?

W

The Wogster wrote:


snipMakes me wonder about digital cameras though, if an electronic
SLR with reasonable battery requirements will freeze up, what about
digital cameras, any that are resistant to cold, say -10C/15F for a
10k hike?

W

You have to keep your camera warm, or at the very least keep the
batteries warm. One person who replied suggested to put your camera in
a pocket inside of your coat - this may or may not work. In my
experience taking a camera out of the warm/moist environment of your
jacket into cold weather is a sure fire way to fog the lenses. I have
heard second-hand accounts of people damaging their cameras due to
condensation build-up from warming/cooling a camera during the winter.
This once may have happened to me, but it was also snowing heavily, so
it may have just been that melting. Luckily my camera worked perfectly
once I gave it a few days to dry out.

I prefer to keep the battery in my pocket, and the camera outside in the
cold. That way you maintain your battery's power without risking
frosting of the lens. Over new years this year I had my camera (Canon
G3) out in extremely cold weather on an overnight snow shoeing trip
(daytime high: -35C + wind-chill, nigh time lows: near -40C - for those
of you in the US that's about -32F daytime and -40F nightime). Camera
worked perfectly with me keeping nothing but the battery in my pocket,
although the zoom was a little slow and the LCD "ghosted" quite a bit.
As one other poster mentioned CCD's work better in the cold - this was
definitely noticeable in some of the images where the random "sky" noise
I usually expect was much lower then usual. This was especially true of
some night time sky shots I took - absolutely incredible!

Just my $0.02

Bryan

In article ,
David Fields wrote:
I spent an hour shooting with a Canon 10D in 17 degree F weather. Took the
kids sledding hehe. Worked great.
David
www.delawarestudio.com
www.fitpix.com



Ditto.

I bought a 300D recently and on one of the cold day's we've had
recently I put the camera outside, in the shade. It was 16F. Two
hours later I went outside and shot a bunch of pictures, in bursts of
3. The camera worked fine.

I'd carry two batteries and keep one inside the jacket and swap them
if the camera thought the battery was low.

At some point the LCD display starts fading, I'm told. Myne was OK at
16F.

Lithium batteries keep working well below zero. They can be had in
AA size.


"The Wogster" wrote in message
. ..

Okay, wemt for a nice nature walk yesterday, my electronic SLR ran into
a nasty problem, the batteries froze up....

Makes me wonder about digital cameras though, if an electronic SLR with
reasonable battery requirements will freeze up, what about digital
cameras, any that are resistant to cold, say -10C/15F for a 10k hike?

W





--
Al Dykes
-----------

On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 12:18:45 -0500, The Wogster
wrote:


Okay, wemt for a nice nature walk yesterday, my electronic SLR ran into
a nasty problem, the batteries froze up....


To be honest, I doubt the "batteries froze." More likely the moisture
in the camera and the lubrication in the camera froze.

That I have seen happen.

-xiray- wrote:
On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 12:18:45 -0500, The Wogster
wrote:


Okay, wemt for a nice nature walk yesterday, my electronic SLR ran into
a nasty problem, the batteries froze up....



To be honest, I doubt the "batteries froze." More likely the moisture
in the camera and the lubrication in the camera froze.

That I have seen happen.



I'm getting a backup body, one that's even older then the one I have,
but is mechanical, then I am sending my old one to a repair shop to get
a CLA this should help for next winter....

W

On 12/2/04 10:52 pm, "The Wogster" wrote:


I'm getting a backup body, one that's even older then the one I have,
but is mechanical, then I am sending my old one to a repair shop to get
a CLA this should help for next winter....

You could ask if they could substitute their usual lubricant with one
designed for very low temperatures, if you really want to keep shooting.

Ben

My mentor was in the Hut at the top of Mt whitney one Nov when it was -5 inside
the hut, while outside ws a full blown blizzard. He was able to record pics
with his Nikon f4. He was more afraid of the film breaking or the emulsion not
working because of the film being froze. However everything worked just fine.
Mike Babcock
Mike's Photo