Cameras in the cold - advice requested.

[Fiddler]

I'd be grateful for a bit of advice about using cameras out doors in winter, please. It's minus 5 degrees centigrade/32f, here at the moment, and I'm wondering about the best way to manage the camera. Took my e-p1 out today, in a neoprene case in my goretex messenger bag, which has a couple of sachets of silica gel in it. Did some shooting. Went home and left the cam in the messenger bag for an hour to get to ambient temperature before taking it out. Am I missing anything? Doing too much? Doing too little? I'm not really used to shooting in winter, so I'm not so sure.

Thanks, and all the best,

Colin

 

[goldenlight]

Hi Colin,

What you are doing seems right. It's particularly sensible to leave the camera in its bag for a while when you get home, to avoid condensation problems. Other than that, be aware that battery performance can be dramatically reduced in cold weather. Take several spares with you if possible and keep them in a pocket close to your body to keep them warm until needed.

 

[Vivalo]

Sounds good to me. I'm not an expert in any way, but I handle my E-P1 the same way I did with my E-520. I try to keep the camera in my zipper sealed camerabag as much as I can and before I come indoors I take the memory card out and put the camera in the bag. Then I leave it to settle indoors for a couple of hours. It really is essential after outings here in Lapland where we have hit already under -30 degrees temperatures this winter.

 

[peripatew]

On winter canoe trips, my brother takes his D90 in a Pelican type hard and waterproof case. We had -5F snow, freezing rain, high condensation in the tents, etc... And it did just fine. I had my D3000 in a similar case with no trouble either.

 

[photoSmart42]

m4/3 cameras are small enough that in the cold you can fit them inside your coat pocket when fitted with a compact lens. That way you can always keep them warm, and only take them out for a few seconds at a time to take photos, then put then back in your pocket. That should help avoid the temperature equalization issue when you get back home.

 

[Fiddler]

Many thanks for the advice - much appreciated. We've got about six inches of snow on the ground here in Edinburgh, and I can now shoot without worry!

All the best,

Colin

 

[paulb]

Comment on the pocket thing, if it's very cold (I live in Duluth Minnesota USA...a cold climate) keeping camera in an inside pocket to keep warm can be tough since your body heat has moisture with it and can fog lens and expose camera to more moisture than is likely good for it. If you're not moving much and temperature not actually much below freezing I suspect works well. But if it's much below freezing I suggest the keep extra battery in an inside pocket technique not whole camera for aforementioned reason. I doubt it gets that cold in great britain if not in the mountains? Hope to help.
I do the sealed ziplock bag technique when I transition from out to in to prevent excess moisture condensation upon coming into house in cold winter months.

 

[Fiddler]

It gets pretty cold in Scotland, and I'm a fan of snow camping in the mountains, so it gets cold enough!

All the best,


Colin

 

[Narnian]

Luckily with digital cameras we can check immediately if we are getting the shots. One of my best opportunities went down the tubes because of the cold 37 years ago.

I was working as a lab tech in the National Zoo hospital in Washington, DC during college. One of the vets decided we should build a snowman for the pandas so we did with fruit and vegetables for the eyes, buttons, etc.

After we built the 7' tall snowman we let loose the pandas of war.

Unfortunately because of the bitter cold on all of the shots I took the shutter malfunctioned and only half of the frame was exposed. The part that was exposed the shutter was off and it was overexposed.