Quote:
Originally Posted by Rae
It is really cold here; 0 with a wind chill of -12. My question is are there any precautions for shooting in cold weather. I have not due to the fear of harming my camera or lens. Am I being over-protective? Are there procedures for moving the camera from warm to cold and vice-versa?
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There are two main things to consider when you're shooting outside in really cold temperatures. The first, is decreased battery life. The second, is condensation when you move between two temperature extremes.
When you're outside shooting in really cold weather, a good option is to keep your camera wrapped in a scarf, or put it between layers in your jacket. The reason I say layers is because if you put it right next to your body, you know how moist things get in a warm jacket, and that would create more condensation which could freeze on the camera. It also serves the dual purpose of keeping your battery warm, which keeps it going. It's very possible that the camera will become sluggish, but that's ok. Electronics can do some strange stuff in the cold. It should be ok when the camera warms up again.
Now, the part that it sounds like you're really worried about is moving the camera between extreme temperatures. The best way to do this is to acclimatize your camera by letting it slowly reach the temperature rather than just doing it suddenly. A bit hard to do that if you're just heading outside, but keeping it in your jacket or otherwise wrapped up helps there. When you're taking your camera back inside though is where there's a high risk of condensation. The best tips I've found for this came from the d50 group on Flickr. Their suggestion is to put the camera in a large ziplock bag with a few of those packets of silica (you know, the things you get in your shoes, etc) and don't use the camera until it's fully warmed up. The ziplock collects the condensation instead of the camera, the silica absorbs any extra moisture in the bag, and not using the camera ensures that you don't get water into the electronics and fry it
This info came from a whole bunch of threads on Flickr:
Cold Weather, Snow, and a D50
Condensation and Night Shooting
My 350D in the cold weather all day long?
Now that you've got the info, have fun shooting!
