How to protect camera from the cold?


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TRiShnDaisy

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Sep 19, 2003
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0 degree and below. Thanks.
 

TRiShnDaisy said:
0 degree and below. Thanks.

Leave it in Singapore :bsmilie:

Jokes aside, if you want to use the camera in such condition, there are 2 main things to watch out for : sudden temperature change & making sure the camera doesn't get too cold.
 

frisky said:
...there are 2 main things to watch out for : sudden temperature change & making sure the camera doesn't get too cold.

Uh huh....how? :dunno:
What should I do if there is a sudden change in temperature?
How do I prevent the camera from getting too cold?
 

one way is to tuck your camera inside your clothes (jacket, sweater, etc) to keep it warm, then only take it out when you wanna shoot. also, like what frisky said, watch out for sudden temperature change - lens fogging is v common.

another thing to watch out for is battery power life - batteries drain very fast in sub-zero temps.
 

basically just watch out for condensation.. not advisable to use your cold cam after moving from subzero -> room temp.. might short the circuitry, if you're unlucky..
 

Depends on how long you will be there.

If for a short trip, just follow what the others suggested.

From wat I know, warm to cold (i.e. from the warmth of your jacket to the open) will not cause condensation or fogging.

It is from cold to warm that will give you fogging problem. One method to overcome this is put the bag into a ziploc bag. This is to let the condenstion be form on the cheap ziploc than on your expensive equipment.

If you are staying there for a while, the more extreme way will be to re-tune your camera at 0 deg. Then again, you need to re-tune it back when your are back here.
 

Thank you all. So if the camera really condenses or fogs, how do I clear it?
I've also heard of the camera getting frozen. Does it happen?
 

wow, frozen sounds pretty hardcore.. as in moisture condensed then hardened? dis is getting funny.. anyone experienced this before?

to get rid of condensation... wait............. till the cam body adjusts to room temp then on lo.. dont need to bother if just a little bit of fog, wipe with lens tissue..

no offence, but this is basically common sense..

Posted by sk_online - 31 Minutes Ago at 07:08 AM
basically just watch out for condensation.. not advisable to use your cold cam after moving from subzero -> room temp.. might short the circuitry, if you're unlucky..
 

Hey SK, thanks.
Hmm...if the condensation is on the surface, yup, I can just swipe it. Was just wondering what happens if it's on the inside. Ever experienced 'clouding' on the face of your watches? :dunno:
Ok, if I'm sounding ridiculous, just ignore me ;p
 

Hi there Trish....

Just be careful if you are going from a cold place to a warm(humid) place.....

If you are going to a cold country....most likely the hotel room will be warm. SO the fogging will normally take place when you enter the building etc.- if it hapens to be humid...you cant tell
So what you could do is to have a nice medium sized ziploc bad in your camera bad with some silica gel packed in a small handkerchief....in it.

When you are getting out of the cold (normally winter = dry).....i.e entering the room/hotel....put the camera into this ziploc bag and put it into the camera bag....and leave the camera in the camera bag.....maybe about an hour or two after dinner (assuming you came back at 5pm) then you can take it out without any problem (carefully look at the exterior of the bag to see if there is any fogging.....usually by then the temperature would stabilise by then....then the camera will be okay for tweeking or cleaning or pics download etc....

My Personal experience.....in Malaysia. Was at Cherating......stayed in aircon room... got up for sunrise shot....took out my SLR....and poof the lens fogged up - DUE TO COLD ROOM storage.....and using in Humid place......

The Main idea is not let the camera have a sudden jump in surrounding temperature.....


Hope this helps...

regards,
Sulhan
 

you wont know if there's moisture inside the body, best bet is to leave your cam off for a while if u think there should be..

I've experienced condensation on my cam before.. but never to the point of water dripping off.. which is pretty unrealistic.. all cameras should be able to tolerate condensation from aircon room -> outdoors temp transition..

just practice extra care by warming your cam in your pocket when not shooting in sub-zero conditions.. ziploc solution mentioned by binbetto works too, just seal your cam up before going back into a warm room.

condensation occur in watches becoz water has already seeped in, you dont submerge your cam in water do u? anyways, if you do see condensation inside your lcd, it's prolly due to rain or snow.. run to the nearest service centre.. :bsmilie:
 

One thing I have tried when moving the camera from cold to warm accidentally, is to move back to the cold. The condensation will disappear quickly. Of course after that you'll have use some other methods to move it in slowly.

Personally I'll just just avoid the warm place........ The fun is in the cold anyway........... :bsmilie: :eek: :bigeyes:
 

I dunno if this helps ....

http://www.naturephotographers.net/bs1101-1.html

about the camera being frozen part, sometimes, the lubricants in the camera and lenses will freeze, and that will render the camera inoperable ... but i doubt that will be a problem unless ur going to shoot the alaskan winters or something ...

I'm not too sure about this, but i read a posting somewhere that you can actually bring the camera in to your service center and replace the lubricants which have a lower freezing point or something ...
 

Thank you, Darrel, for sharing the article. Very informative indeed.

Thank you all.
 

I fully agree with the article on Nautre Photographer. The point is to keep your camera away from temperature extremes.

I experienced a -25 Deg C winter some years back while doing my training in Pittsburg. I only had my cheap Minolta Weathermatic Camera with me. I kept the camera hanging outside my coat. It worked without problem. I had icicles growing on my nose! :bigeyes:
 

Make sure you change you batteries to Lithiums for sub-zero operating conditions. They have a much lower temperature operating range (down to -40 degrees Celsius) compared to the normal Alkaline or rechargeable batteries (these don't last long and are basically useless once you get below freezing temperatures). I have been using these Lithiums (Energizer e2 AA Lithium) on my SLR system to as low as -25 degrees Celsius up in Norway and offshore ever since learning the hard way about low temperature operability of standard batteries.
 

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