Shooting in cold conditions

[Hookup]

So i was out for a long walk in the woods this weekend... everything was dripping with nice, new fluffy snow... simply beautiful.

No camera = no photos.

I am worried about wrecking my gear going from inside to outside in extreme cold/warm conditions.

Are there any best practices, or things never to do when dealing with out-door conditions?

PS: I have a Canon 20D.

 

[pyroboy1der]

The biggest thing you have to worry about with any camera is moisture. For the most part as long as you keep your camera dry there shouldn't be too much to worry about. Depending on how much moisture is in the air inside your house you might have some small issues with condensation on the camera but if you ever get concerned about that you can just take the lens off and let it dry out for a few hours before putting it back together and storing it away again.

As for best practices when shooting outside there isn't much that you can't do outside that you can do inside. Again, keep it clean and dry as much as you can (I shot with my Nikon D80 in light rain quite often and never experienced any issues) If you are shooting in adverse weather conditions (windy rainy dusty etc) I prefer to NOT change the lens on my camera. It keeps all the nasty stuff away from the mirror and sensor and there is where you are going to experience most of your issues.

All in all you can do pretty much whatever you want just make sure you get everything cleaned up before you put it away or you can run into issues.

 

[Recty]

What I do with my camera and lenses (I worry more about the lenses than the camera) when I'm outside in the cold is put everything away into my backpack (which is also cold from being outside) and then set that in my garage which is about 60 degrees and let it slowly warm up over a couple hours. Never have I had any kind of condensation problem or fogging of any lenses, and I live in Alaska where we deal with cold weather 8 months of the year

 

[Hookup]

Was hoping you Alaska boys would chime in as well... Doesn't get much colder

So im on a quest for a small camo patterned camera bag, likely a shoulder sling style, that I can carry with me. I'll pack my 70-200 f4 and my 10-22 and see what I can capture... Then do a slow warmup ..

I assume I can take the cf card out and into the house straight away without issue?

 

[MitchellB]

To go from the cold to your home place the camera in a sealed plastic bag.

 

[IPT]

Plastic bag is a nice effective way to make the transistion from cold back to warm. Usually I do it like Recty does but I bring the backpack in the house. Often I'll even open the zipper but just leave the bag sort of closed. That way I can yank the CF card. Usually the lens cap is on so there is another small area of cold air trapped to make a smooth transiton and avoid condensation.

The things I worry about is keeping the temp constant. So, if I am shooting Aurora and happen to have the car nearby to sit and wait in I keep it cold in the car. Going from cold to warm can fog the lens. Step back into the cold with a fogged lens and it freezes - then your hosed (don't ask me how I know this ). If it is way below 0F often I will take the camera off the tripod and keep it tucked in my jacket. Depending on the situation if there are big gaps between shooting I'll keep the battery out of the camera in an inside pocket to keep it warm. I always have two batteries shooting in the cold. Sometimes at -20 you can just hear things move a little more sluggish but the only real issue I worry about is battery life. I have had the LCD semi freeze and be real sluggish on occasion but no long term damage. That's why if it is pretty cold (below -10) I will usually tuck it in my jacket. When i was in Churchill shooting the Polar Bears we were out for pretty long periods and I never had an issue.

Oh, lastly, and an important one, watch out where you exhale. Easy to accidently fog the view finder and that makes composition a PITA! happy shooting!

As for snow, all I do is brush it off the camera. It's not going to do anything. Even light rain really is not an issue. Just wipe it off afterwards.

 

[Hookup]

Thank you all for the advise! Photos to follow for sure.

 

[IPT]

Here's one taken a few weeks ago and now used for the office X Mas card. Low single digits this particualar evening. The worst part about it was the fingers going numb! I invariably take off the heavy gloves and deal with the camera with only a liner on. It always ends up hurting like hell when the feeling comes back!