Cold Weather Photography

[OnAFly]

I'm headed up to a friend's cabin this weekend north of Two Harbors. The forecast is for very cold temps. I would like to get out a take a few pics with my new camera.

Is there anything I should know about caring for my equipment in the cold temps?

[Jim Almquist]

Nothing to worry about until its time to bring it indoors and then its a good idea to put it in a plastic bag so any condensation forms on the outside of the plastic and not on your camera. When I was out shooting last week I had frost on my camera were my cheek was resting. Make sure your batteries are fully charged cause the cold will shorten there life.

[OnAFly]

Yeah, the bag is a good idea. Condensation was what I was most worried about. I don't want water building up on things it shouldn't be building up on.

I should probably invest in another battery too, if I plan on being out long in the cold.

[Steve Foss]

As well as the bag trick (I don't use a plastic bag but keep the camera in my camera bag until it's warmed up), I make sure to keep extra batteries in an inside pocket in case I get involved in a once-in-a-lifetime situation out there and need more camera batteries. Warm batteries last longer. Also, when the batteries in the camera start to wear down, you can put them in an inside pocket and put the warm ones in the camera. The old batteries will regain some charge after they've warmed.

I also pull my memory cards from the cameras before coming back in the house so I don't have to wait until all the camera gear warms up to pull the cards, download them and start processing images.

If you do allow the camera to come into the house cold and everything fogs up, the lenses aren't any real problem, because the glass will clear both inside and out after it warms fully. However, the sensor will fog, too, and the fogging/drying process of the sensor can embed any dust particles that are on it. Once embedded, they are stubborn little buggers to clean off.

All this applies to cold cameras coming inside warm vehicles, too.

If you're going to be doing a lot of in-and-out with the camera gear (this happens a lot when you're road hunting for subjects), the best way I've found to avoid the fogging issue is to keep the car cold until you are sure you're done for the day.

[Dbl]

The other thing to remember is to pull the memory card out before you go in a warm space and just put that in your pocket. You don't want moisture to build up and cause any issues with your card or camera.

I don't use a plastic bag for putting my camera in coming out from the cold. I just use the camera case itself and keep it zipped up. It gives you a nice gradual warm up and in over 30 years of shooting in the cold have never once had a problem. The key is to let the camera warm up gradually, not shock it with heat.

I also use chemical hand warmers taped (with gaffers tape) to the bottom or body of the camera. You do need to keep them covered with a glove for instance or cover with the tape to retain heat but I've shot for hours in very cold temps and barely needed to warm up the body. The lens of course is a different story, still need to warm that up gradually.

Spare batteries are kept in an inside pocket to keep them warm. I will rotate batteries every 30 mins or so in extreme cold. Warm them up and shoot away. I've never heard that using a partially charged battery in the cold will shorten its life, but it obviously will shorten the operating time of the battery. Batteries use a chemical reaction to produce the energy required to operate, when you lower the temp you slow the chemical reaction thus reducing the current available for use. If you warm the battery again you get them to act normally again.

In fact for long term storage I keep my rechargeable batteries in a tupperware container and in the freezer when not in use. You can double the storage time of your batteries with out much problem.

[Dbl]

Looks like Steve and I posted at the same time. Looks like the exact same advice comes with the same experiences! LOL

[Steve Foss]

Hah!

[Todd Caswell]

Same thing in reverse for hot muggy days in the summer, learned the hard way last summer took the camera from a cold AC house outside and everything fogged up, took forever to clear

[Hwood]

Good point Todd, one does not think in them terms to much.