Cold-weather shooting

[Manfred M]

George Why in the world would you put the warmers in your camera bag, as they would warm your stuff a little as you state. Now take that stuff a littler warmer into the cold air and watch the frost form on it. Not a good thing, My gear is left out in my car all winter long never coming into the house, the batteries are always changed out, and charged. To a person who often shoots in up to -35 C that has to be one of the top most worst suggestions ever.

Allan

Allan - as the ambient air is what causes the condensation issues, warming outside air that is already very low humidity is not going to cause any issues. Going outside from a warm, humid environment or taking our cold camera gear inside into a relatively humid environment, yes, those are problematic.

Yes, the ability of the air to hold humidity will increase as the air warms in the camera bag, but the relative humidity will actually drop as the absolute amount of water in the air does not change. It is for much the same reason that we humidify our houses in the winter; the cold air from the outside is warmed up, but holds so little moisture that it is super dry.

[george013]

George Why in the world would you put the warmers in your camera bag, as they would warm your stuff a little as you state. Now take that stuff a littler warmer into the cold air and watch the frost form on it. Not a good thing, My gear is left out in my car all winter long never coming into the house, the batteries are always changed out, and charged. To a person who often shoots in up to -35 C that has to be one of the top most worst suggestions ever.

Allan

It's just a thought. It's a small heath source, not powerful but it's one. Use your fantasy. Use them when you're going home to shorten the time you can take the camera inside without condensation.
You'll get frost on the camera only when the camera is colder as the air.
Why would somebody leave his stuff in the car all winter??? I hope for you the insurance company doesn't read this, if you're insured.

George

[NorthernFocus]

In reply to your first question re.battery life, I've been out in those sort of temps all day and shooting several hundred frames without having to change either EL-15 or EL-18 batteries. I know the D7100 uses the 15 and I assume your new 750 does as well. But it is a good idea to have a spare carried in an inside pocket where it will stay reasonably warm.

My only other advice it to carry those little chemical packs for warming toes and fingers

George Why in the world would you put the warmers in your camera bag, as they would warm your stuff a little as you state. Now take that stuff a littler warmer into the cold air and watch the frost form on it. Not a good thing, My gear is left out in my car all winter long never coming into the house, the batteries are always changed out, and charged. To a person who often shoots in up to -35 C that has to be one of the top most worst suggestions ever.

Allan

As others have already pointed out you've got the thermodynamics backward. Taking a warm camera into the cold isn't the problem. Bringing the cold gear into a warm, humid house is when you get the dangerous condensation. If one is in the habit of assembling equipment near a boiling kettle I suppose it is theoretically possible to get internal condensation when subsequently taken into the cold.

But leaving the gear outside all winter is a bit extreme. Assuming one has a typical camera bag it is as simple as bringing the bag inside and leaving it overnight to warm up to room temperature before opening it. The gear inside the bag will warm slowly and stay dry in the process. If you can't wait that long to process the photos simply take the cards out of the camera while still outdoors and put them in a pocket then put the camera back in the bag.

[purplehaze]

In the end, I shot bare-handed and never had to change a battery. Two of the three days were spent on a heated Tundra Buggy, on which we could shoot from lowered windows or the viewing platform on the back. I would spend as much time on the viewing platform as my fingers could stand and then would pop back inside the buggy to warm up. I wore the Cotton Carrier both those days and it served me very well. I carried the D750 with the 70-200 mm on my chest and the 7100 with either the 18-35 or the 300 mm with teleconverter on the side. The only time I did any extended shooting outside was on the day we went dog sledding and I only used the D750 with 70-200 mm, which I put in my camera bag, which itself went into a green garbage bag the one time I went into the shack to warm up.

[Manfred M]

Okay Janis - time to post some of the shots you got!

[LePetomane]

I dunno about that... I've seen -58 C... dead calm... no wind chill... and seen it go below -40 for six weeks on end... mind you... Winterpeg gets the wind and snow we didn't get up north.... How about we agree on equally harsh but for different reasons?

And I thought Minnesota was cold!!

[NorthernFocus]

Yes let's see Nanuk and company

Interestingly though we live in Alaska I rarely shoot in extreme cold. My hands really suffer when I do as I have poor circulation in extremities. I'm planning a trip to Ontario this January to shoot some owls. Recently it's been near zero C here so I've been testing various methods of hand protection in preparation. Adequate insulation and maintaining enough dexterity to operate the camera are diametrically opposed. And exposing my bare fingers for more than a minute or two renders them pretty much useless. No magic answers so far...

[Manfred M]

I'm planning a trip to Ontario this January to shoot some owls.

What part of the province are you heading to?

[CP140]

(In response to Lepetomane)

(Sorry... stupid fingers)

Yes it certainly can be... the middle of our shared continent is not for the faint of heart during winter...I spent a few winters out on the East Coast of Canada... the humidity and wind chill made it every bit as miserable as a very low thermometer reading. The coldest I've ever been was standing out on parade in Nova Scotia... sleet blowing into my face on Remembrance Day... with a close second at Winnipeg... out on the ramp being given a "This is a CC-130" walk around tour in January...

[tbob]

Yes let's see Nanuk and company

Interestingly though we live in Alaska I rarely shoot in extreme cold. My hands really suffer when I do as I have poor circulation in extremities. I'm planning a trip to Ontario this January to shoot some owls. Recently it's been near zero C here so I've been testing various methods of hand protection in preparation. Adequate insulation and maintaining enough dexterity to operate the camera are diametrically opposed. And exposing my bare fingers for more than a minute or two renders them pretty much useless. No magic answers so far...

I have no idea if this will work but may be worth a try. If you have a foul weather cover for the camera and lens, can you put a heating pad inside with the camera /lens and your hands?

[NorthernFocus]

What part of the province are you heading to?

Will fly into Montreal and then head out to farmlands 100km or so west of there.

I have no idea if this will work but may be worth a try. If you have a foul weather cover for the camera and lens, can you put a heating pad inside with the camera /lens and your hands?

Trevor, not sure what you mean by "heating pad"?

The best option I've come up with to-date is to use a pair of what I call "flip top" mittens with a chemical heat pack in the end. While waiting for things to happen the fingers are inside the mitten with the heat pack. When I need to shoot I flip the top back to handle the camera controls. Those little chemical packs don't generate much heat but by putting them in the end of the mitten they are in direct contact with the fingers. But the only mittens like that I've been able to find are not very thick nor are they wind proof. So limited success with that method. One thing that hadn't occurred to me until your post is to use the camera/lens rain cover for added wind protection. That certainly can't hurt and I'm already well accustomed to shooting with the cover in place. I'll noodle on the notion of somehow holding a chemical pack on the camera grip.

The other option I've been testing by comparison is a heavy pair of mittens over thin gloves. When I need to shoot I shed the mitten and hand is still protected somewhat by the glove. The downside of this method is that once fingers get cold inside the gloves it is difficult to warm them back up even with a chemical hand warmer inside the mitten.

The optimum solution is a window of moderate temperatures while I'm there

[tbob]

Trevor, not sure what you mean by "heating pad"?

Dan; I meant a chemical hand warmer; and you got the gist of it in the rest of your post.

[Manfred M]

Will fly into Montreal and then head out to farmlands 100km or so west of there.

That would likely put you quite close to where I live. I assume you will be using some local bird photography experts to guide you to the best places to shoot?

Just as an aside, when shooting in very cold conditions I will sometimes wear very thin neoprene dive gloves if an can get away with them or sometimes I wear my open finger cycling gloves; both inside of warmer mittens or gloves. This offers some protection to most of the hand and lets me manipulate the camera controls with "bare skin".

[NorthernFocus]

That would likely put you quite close to where I live. I assume you will be using some local bird photography experts to guide you to the best places to shoot?...

Yes the guy refers to it as guided wildlife photography rather than a workshop. That's reflected in the relative cost as well. That's why I booked it. I just need someone who knows where the birds are found. Shooting snowies is one of my bucket list items. Ironically they're easier to get at by flying all the way down there than here in AK.

What you describe is similar to what I've done in the past. The mittens I referred to are essentially fingerless gloves with a mitten top sewn on one side so you can pull it back to expose your fingers. It still makes for darned awkward BIF shooting.

I'm staying at a B/B 11km east of Casselman.

[Manfred M]

Yes the guy refers to it as guided wildlife photography rather than a workshop. That's reflected in the relative cost as well. That's why I booked it. I just need someone who knows where the birds are found. Shooting snowies is one of my bucket list items. Ironically they're easier to get at by flying all the way down there than here in AK.

What you describe is similar to what I've done in the past. The mittens I referred to are essentially fingerless gloves with a mitten top sewn on one side so you can pull it back to expose your fingers. It still makes for darned awkward BIF shooting.

I'm staying at a B/B 11km east of Casselman.

Yes, Snow Owls do head down this far south during the winter; this is something that seems to have started happening more frequently over the past few years. I suspect that they are somewhat territorial and stick around in the same general area after their migration down south. I used to see one occasionally when I was biking home from work in the spring. One had decided to overwinter at the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa in the spring of 2014. Then one day it was gone and I assume it headed back north. I threw my little Panasonic camera in my saddlebag was got a few mediocre shots of it. One of my friends is an avid birder, so he was a tad jealous that I saw one before he did.





That whole area you will be visiting is moose country. I don't know what their winter habits are, but you might run into some larger wildlife too. Casselman is only about 30 miles / 50km from downtown Ottawa, so you are definitely going to be in my neck of the woods.