Shooting in the cold

[Hywel]

Hi All,

  I just got back from a New Year break above the arctic circle. As this was a holiday, I deliberately didn't even take a camera. However, the lighting conditions were so unusual and beautiful that I am strongly thinking of going back with camera in hand.

  My question is- what sort of temperatures do the H-series cameras function down to? Specifically, I have an H3DII-31 and the temperature on the coldest day was -35 degrees C (-31 Fahrenheit). People were trying to shoot with compacts and they froze up after two or three shots, with all sorts of problems with the lens cover slide mechanisms sticking, batteries giving out (which seemed to be pretty universal) and all manner of other problems. The only person with an SLR had a relatively low-end Canon, and she said the shutter mechanism froze up on that.

  I'm guessing that the two common factors here are the performance of the battery, and the lubricants in the camera mechanisms solidifying. The battery issue is easier to deal with, as I'd certainly hope that keeping several batteries on the go inside one's clothing and just swapping it onto the camera to take a few shots would be workable. The issue of the lubricants would worry me more.

  Does anyone have any experience of shooting with H-series cameras in temperatures that low? Or indeed with any sort of camera in temperatures that low? We have Canon 5D, 40D, 5DMk2's around and I have a film Mamiya 7 around here somewhere as well- anyone have any idea if any of this kit would work in these extreme conditions?

  I vaguely recall that people working in the Antartic used to favour all-mechanical film Nikons and Leicas but I've no idea what the current state of the art is. I'd hate to spend thousands of pounds booking a shooting trip and find the cameras totally failing. I'd take several systems as backup anyway and swap between them, but if anyone has any advice I'd be very interested to hear it.

  Hywel.

[ashandger]

I have used the H1, HC 80 and HC 210 lenses at -35C in Canadian Rockies without any problems....apart from short battery life which is to be expected. I also had my Nikon F5 and a bunch of Nikon lenses with me and they ALL worked fine. The electronic cable release was more like a rigid rod however so had to be handled with care.
The biggest problem was the Manfrotto  tripod head as the grease in it just 'froze' making it very difficult to move!!
I have no experience with digital cameras at low temperatures...sorry!
I understand, however, that sensors are only rated from 0C to about +40C so you may have a warranty issue if something goes wrong....may be worth checking this?
This is a major issue for me as well so I hope someone from Hasselblad provides some feedback.
Hope this helps!
Best Regards,
Ash

[Hywel]

I notice that the "official" lower limit for operating temperature on the H3DII is 0 degrees C, but this is very conservative.

It is encouraging to hear that people have good experiences with film H-series cameras in the cold, at least that gives one some reassurance that the lenses, aperture, shutter and focussing mechanisms might work OK in the conditions. I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has used a digital H-series camera in colder conditions. I guess purchasing an H1 or H2 and a film back might be a backup option, although if I really have to go back to film I'd probably just use the Mamiya 7 II that I have lying around as that is mostly mechanical.

I know mine works fine at least for a couple of hours at -5 degrees C - recent rare snowfall at home saw me wandering around the local park happily snapping away for a while with no problems at all (see attached pic). But there's a big difference between -35 and -5 

  Cheers, Hywel.

[Hywel]

Hi Derek,

  Thank you for the helpful info. If I do this trip I most certainly would take backup, probably several backups... a spare camera body wouldn't have helped if the shutters started to stick in H series lenses when it got cold, for example. My most likely kit configuration would be H3DII-31 plus a couple of prime lenses, plus Canon 5D and a couple of zooms, plus Mamiya 7 II or H-series-plus-film back as a film backup solution if the digital cams just drew too much power from the batteries to be usable. But if anyone had any really bad experiences with certain systems it would of course be well worth knowing about in advance!

  Cheers, Hywel

[David Grover]

Hi Derek,

Is that Owen Sound?

Was there last Summer!

D

[David Grover]

Hi Derek,

Is that Owen Sound?

Was there last Summer!

D

PS.  Could tell you the temperature from the 3F file.  ;-)

[Alex Maxim]

Haven't tried Hasselblad in cold yet, but I shot with Nikon D2Xs at -25C and had no problem aside from my breath turning into ice on the back of the camera

[Eivind Røhne]

Hi,

I've shot a few times in cold weather with an H1D (H1 + 132C back) 22MP H cam (in other words, stone age equipment...). One was a christmas shoot for a hotel during dusk, and it was around -20 C. The shoot took about half an hour. The second time was a christmas editorial for a magazine, where we shot outside in temperatures close to -25 C for about an hour and a half. Both times the H1D itself performed well in the cold. No mechanical problems or performance issues with camera or lenses, except for reduced battery life of course. But several of the files from both shoots had VERY visible noise. Some of the files from the 1.5 hour shoot had so much noise in areas that they where pretty much useless (particulary visible in skin tones, dark blue dusk-sky and other smooth areas). All shot on 50 ISO with times from 1 second down to 30. The strange thing was that if I shot for instance five identical exposed shots in sequence, four could be useless and one just fine. Seemed random which shots where ruined. I've also shot lots of outside winter shoots in temperatures down to -25 with digital Nikons and never had any problems with equipment or files.

[aikbo]

This winter I took the H3Dll-31 out. It was only about -5C. And several times the camera made a long exposure of 60 sec. I think the back warmed up during these 60 secs because afterwards I could take several shots. So I would be very reluctant to take the camera into really freezing conditions. Does anyone know if special isolating covers for the back are available?

Kind regards

Aikbo

[Alex Maxim]

A couple of days ago I shot with H3DII-39 + 50-110 for an hour in -15C. No problems except for my hands that got frozen by the end, even though I was wearing gloves

[Alex Maxim]

Alex, me too! I can't believe they have not fixed the hand problem yet! Unbelievable!!!

Well, at least we have something to complain about