Yup, these advice should set you straight. During my trip in Iceland I too had to watch for condensation so drove my car with no heater despite driving the latest model
Its not that cold if you are wearing the right stuff, its only freezing when you face wind, blowing snow and rain (can forget an umbrella in Scandinavia).
I used to live in Korea so if I may add :
- Its not that cold
But really, wear something warm, beanies, gloves(!), socks, better for you to be comfortable taking pictures than inside treating a cold.
- Bring good hiking shoes to avoid slippery floors, no sneakers (I'm assuming you're going off road).
- If you're climbing mountains then don't carry too much, I use an excellent camera bag (Godwin Advance) which I use to hold my water bottle, towel and camera. I only used one lens (18-55) throughout but if I had more then I think I would only take at most one more lens, carrying light is key.
- My bag was also excellent for maintaining the temperature of the camera while moving between places. Some people use sealed plastic bags to do this, I actually brought one but never used it because the camera bag was enough. Just don't expose the camera to warm places (and vice versa) straight after coming from a cold one.
- I'm not sure if you need the 55-200 as there are no insects or flowers to look at during the winter around the mountain areas, but if you're also taking a tripod then I guess you must be serious about this!
- Use the tripod to beat off the drunken ajosshi, j/k
- You can hire mobile phones from the airport for the duration of your holiday, phone calls are not expensive but may come in useful contacting other people and friends if you have any.
- My battery is unusually durable and long lasting as I already had my camera for 2 years before, however I would advice you to keep at least 2 batteries. Cold weather does affect battery life as it did to me during my night shots in Iceland as I used the LCD more and took longer shots more as well (30 second exposure).
- Bring your filters etc if you're shooting in the day with the sun out, I never had any but wish I did. Day light is plentiful unlike in Europe where it can be just 4 hours sometimes.
- Take a million photos, even if they aren't all artistic, just have fun!
I loved every country I've been through and Korea was no exception.