XH A1 Tempature Frustration
 

Has anyone on here used there XH in sub freezing tempatures my camera starts to become inoperable at temps in the range of 25. F. where my GL2 will work as cold as i have i have ever filmed so near -7.F. Why is this. Its frustrating when i have both with me and my GL2 is working fine and i have my XH all wrapped in hand warmers and my Porta Brace bag and i cant reach any buttons of see the LCD well. I am wondering if i got a bad XH or something.

You might consider reading the manual before you post.

XH-A1 Operating Temperature 32-104°F (0°-40°C)

In defense of Craig, the manual for the GL2 says the same thing as the XH A1 ((Operating temperature: 32-104F (0-40C)), but continues to work below this tempurature.

-19˚F
Me hanging out a car window at 30mph.
No covers, no heat pads, no gloves. XH got the shot. Mother nature, bring it.

The camera did malfunction once however, and I lost 10 seconds of footage when a train was going by behind my actors. Spent 3 hours in a cold car that night waiting for another train. Same kind of thing happened to my GL2 last year though, in warmer temps, so I don't think it's that camera at fault here. LCDs get a bit blurry though...

Tape becomes brittle in cold conditions, which can lead to increased dropouts, shedding, or in worst cases, physical tearing. Take a tip from the old film cameras, create a heated blimp/camera jacket. You can include a portable heat packet near the tape door for some added leeway in sub-freezing temperatures. Allow the camera to acclimate (before the shoot and after).

Yes i know it says only down to a 32 . F. I am not sure if its the processor or tape it cant be the tape because i use the same tape for each camera. I am just wondering if someone else out that there has filmed in cold temps for an extended period of time.

I regularly shoot in sub-freezing temps in the winter up here, down to about +10F, and have not had any mechanical issues. I've been out in about +15F for several hours with nothing covering the camera except a PortaBrace rain cover and had no problems or dropouts. 25F shouldn't be a problem if you treat your camera right. The main rule is don't heat cycle it any more than you have to. When it's warm, keep it warm. When it's cold, keep it cold.

You might want to search the this board for posts on the subject. Someone recently reported a problem similar to yours in severe cold and although I don't remember a solution, except to keep it warm, you might find some data points of value.

I don't know why mine works and yours doesn't in the bitter cold. We're both leaning on the lower end of the envelope for its operating range. Is there something wrong with yours? Canon would say no since since you're outside it's environmental range.

Craig, ignore the "RTFM" crowd. Documented and actual real-world performances are very different. Had my HV20 in a cold park for three hours last winter shooting a sunset and then the full moon while I was fighting frostbite, and it never missed a beat.

On the other hand. I shot only 30 seconds of a bus going under an overpass in just-around-freezing temperatures last week with my XH-A1, and the recording skipped one second at the crucial moment. Now there's snow on the ground and I have to pray that it melts just long enough so I can re-shoot (or wait four months!). But this time I'm putting heat pads in the case and not taking out the camera until the last minute.

Here is my solution ha.