Tips in taking care of your camera equipments in Cold Weather

Below is some advise that Ray Tavener from Nikon Australia has developed over the years from the many questions that he has recieved.

It will not answer all questions but offers a great start. As each condition will be different please always ask about local conditions with people in the areas that they intend to visit.

the below tips were taken from

http://nikonasia-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6960/sessi...

In countries with cold climate, one thing you can do for your camera is to try to keep it warm. Putting it under your jacket will reduce the chances of condensation occurring.

If condensation does happen, remove the battery and memory card from their respective compartments and keep the compartments opened until the condensation clears. During this time, do not bring your camera outdoors as it may cause any still-remaining condensed water to freeze.

When moving from a cold environment to a warmer location, a basic way to avoid condensation is to gradually allow your camera to undergo temperature changes slowly by sealing it inside a bag containing air with the same temperature as the previous cold environment which the camera has been acclimatised to, leaving it in there for up to a few hours.

This way, any condensation would form on the bag instead of the camera, while the temperature of the air and camera gradually equalises to that of the new environment.

It is also advisable to keep your spare battery under wraps as well such as in your pockets or jacket compartments with warm lining. Most batteries drain very quickly in cold conditions.

You may also wish to consult with your tour group organiser and get their opinion on the local climate conditions of the place that you are visiting. They may have years of experience in this area and could give some useful advice.

The above are general tips for shooting in cold weather conditions. Nikon cameras are used in extreme conditions all the time and will work properly if well taken care of. Nikon shall not be liable for any damages that may occur due to mishandling of equipment. Speak to your local technical office or service centre if you have further enquiries.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Doug on January 27, 2011 at 6:26pm

Higher end pro bodies and lenses being largely metal in their construction are more prone to problems when they are taken from cold conditions to warm humidity laden environments - it can take 20 minutes or more for a pro body to acclimatise to a humid greenhouse when it has previously acclimatised to a cold outdoor environment

Problems include fogged viewfinders and fogged front lens elements

If you need to go into a greenhouse or similar warm humid environment in winter it would make a lot of sense to prevent the warmth of your home/car from being lost by carrying your camera and lens in an insulated bag

It may be worth having some hot packs inside this bag so that the camera remains warm when walking around outside, but be careful that there is no way for these to damage the camera or heat up the battery* etc

*At your own risk - consider removing your battery when warming your camera and keeping it in a pocket where it will benefit from body warmth, but imagine how easy it is to drop something the size of a battery when wearing thick gloves and trying to insert it into your camera

(In really cold conditions a battery can be kept very warm by storing it in the armpit area**)

**Be careful not to store batteries with exposed contacts in close proximity to any kind of metal objects (car keys etc) to avoid pocket fires

If you are visiting a humid part of the world consider storing your camera gear somewhere that is not air conditioned to avoid condensation problems when you step out of your room or vehicle

Of course there is likely to be some risk of theft so perhaps an insulated bag with hot packs wrapped in cloth inside your insulated bag for half an hour before you go out if you think there is any likelihood of an issue***

***At your own risk - experiment with a fake camera and thermometer before putting any kind of heat in close contact with your camera and in particular the battery due to the risk of fire and explosion

Regarding batteries - it would be worth having a dummy battery in the camera being connected to the real battery inside your jacket were you expecting to work effectively in Antarctic conditions (bulky batteries that already work like this, something more pocket sized might need to be home made and again there are risks involved)

Before digital there were several film cameras on the market that required no battery and could still work across a range of shutter speeds

It was not possible to have the lubricant throughout a Leica camera replaced with something of lower viscosity too since standard lubricant would get much thicker in the cold conditions causing issues with moving parts