Keeping the camera warm on cold days
 

I will be filming about 4 full days in the 40-50 degree temperature range in the next month hopefully. How can I keep my camera warm while doing so? I have a rain jacket that came free with it, but it barely fits the camera let alone any kind of warming pad or anything. Any ideas? Also what is the temp range the camera will function properly and not damage in?

Here you can find some info: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=81799

Hi Nathan,

I live in Canada and we deal with Celsius when measuring temperature as opposed to farenheit. 45 degrees farenheit is roughly 7 degrees celsius. At those temperatures I would feel safe knowing that my camera will operate very smoothly without any complications at all. Once you drop below zero by a few degrees you may want to put a jacket on the camera but I do know that a close friend of mine who owns the A1 and helped me decide to purchase the same camera used it last winter on days that were WELL below zero. Like -20 degrees celsius or -4 farenheit without a hitch.

The only thing that would worry me with the A1 at very cold temperatures would be the lcd display. It would probably slow down quite a bit.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy your shoot.


Jay

yea the lcd worries me because its alot of handheld, running, and all action stuff, so putting the camera to the eye isn`t going to work, and I have no other means of monitoring. If the lcd slows what reprecussions are there? Filming won`t be affected right?

Filming will not be affected.

At those temperatures you will probably see zero lag anyways. It is certainly something I would not worry about when out shooting in those temperatures.

The a1 is built tough.

Jay

How do you think it would fair at -20c - -40c. We will be filming some sled races and last year I was using an XL 1S at -37c without a problem but will the A1 perform equally well?

Cold and dry is far more desirable than hot and humid. It’s the acclimation period during either extreme condition where you should exercise caution.

Eric is right.

Generally speaking, most cameras...prosumer and professional are equipped to handle extremes. The most important thing to remember is letting your gear climatize as you go from outdoors to indoors and vice-versa. If you go back and forth without letting the camera adjust than you may get condensation when you leave the cold and enter the warm, and if you rush back outside that condensation may freeze.


Vince,

Nice to see another northerner on this site. I was there last year with the CBC in March. How long have you been up there?

So what is the proper way to acclimatize that works the best? I used to have condensation issues in the old days with my old sony trv 80 or something, and it was a nightmare.

Have your camera bag outside with you. Put the camera in the bag before you go inside and let them warm up together.

This does take a little bit of time but it is safe.

slowly expose the camera to the extreme temp changes 45-60 minutes prior to shooting. keep a few ounces of a desiccant in your camera bag next to the camera to absorb any condensation

these can help when going from cold to hot

http://www.amazon.com/Grabber-Mycoal.../dp/B000LG22V8

Well when the mercury drops and were out I will let you all know how the A1 performs in -30 and colder. I certainly agree with all the comments and would also suggest a hand warmer thing taped to the battery, this really helped with my 1S when outside for 3-4 hours. Usually by that time my truck is half frooze so the bag w/cam inside do warm up very slowly lol.

Jay,
Way too long...I've been in YK for over 36 years, other than school in the south. My roots are getting dug in pretty deep. I was in IQ NU a couple of summers ago for a 6 week stink...mid june and still ski-dooing to work !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xcBVvP9Z4E

Have a look at what I have been filming..fun stuff I tell ya.

Another benefit of very cold temperatures - the CCD noise is reduced. e.g., the dark current is reduced by a factor of 100 when going from room temperature to -25degC. So even temperatures around freezing will offer benefit. Same is true for all semiconductor components.

Highly sensitive thermal imaging cameras and other photonic devices (e.g., diode arrays) use Stirling engines to get the sensor temperature down to 80K (that's -193C or -315F). What's really amazing is that the cooling engines only use about 1 Watt....

(Interesting Wikipedia article on the Reverend Stirling's 1816 patent: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine )

So what is this about a ziplock bag?