Enviromental conditions

[rickp1]

Ive come across some information that is leading me to believe that environmental conditions can affect image quality. For example high temperatures can increase image noise. Is this true and if so can someone elaborate on more conditions and how they affect images.

Thanks
R.

[OsmosisStudios]

High temperatures increase the temperature of the sensor: Sensors heat up. When they do, the noise that is already present (ALWAYS present) gets exaggerated. This is why you get noise with a long exposure: the sensor heats up over the time of the exposure.

Cold has the opposite effect: it reduces noise.

You can also have issues with atmospheric conditions. Haze, humidity, heat waves, etc.

[rickp1]

When you say long exposures, are we talking about speeds of more than 2 seconds or so?

R.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by rickp1

When you say long exposures, are we talking about speeds of more than 2 seconds or so?

R.

Generally more than 10s.

[dcclark]

Another example: if you're shooting at a long focal length on a humid day, then air currents in the atmosphere will tend to distort the image slightly. Imagine looking at a distant mountain on a hot day -- the air "waves" a bit due to thermals. This has nothing to do with your camera, and everything to do with physics (which means, it's hard to avoid!).