Tips for photography in cold climates

Alun

To celebrate an upcoming "milestone" birthday in January (I won't say which one!) the missus and I are planning a trip to Lappland. It's not at all definite yet, but it will probably involve at least 5 days in a small group with us being in charge of our own dogsled and a team of 5 huskies, travelling from hut to hut.

Now, naturally, I want to record this once-in-a-lifetime experience photographically, but what with very limited access to electricity and temperatures as low as -35 celsius this obviously presents some challenges.

I have a D70s plus a couple of lenses, flash, etc. etc and an Olympus 5MP P&S camera at my disposal, and I must say that despite really wanting to take the D70s, I'm leaning more towards taking the Olympus, a) because it's weatherproof to a certain degree and b) it's small enough to stuff somewhere (relatively!) warm to stop the battery getting too cold and stop working.

So does anyone here have tips for, or any practical experience of using a digital camera (either dSLR or P&S) at those kinds of extreme temperatures? I'm thinking especially in terms of the effect of extreme cold on battery life and/or the mechanism of the camera, and also any tips on photographic techniques in snowscapes.

Shiny

Hi Alun,

I spent 4 months in Finland before the Summer (this year)
and I was shooting with a P&S, a film Minolta 404si
and a Canon 20D.
Also one of my friends up there was shooting with a
D70.

My coldest shooting temperature was about -35 when
I was staying up north in Muonio.

I was doing a Digital Media course in Oulu so I know
nearly everything that can break in the cold from my
experiences and thos that the other class memebers had.

I was in Lapland twice and its really really nice.
Especially at the time of year you are going.

PS
Ask all the questions you want.
I have loads!! of tips.

elven

I'm sure I've read a few magazine articles about that kind of stuff, but unfortunately it didn't make it into my longer term memory. But I did a quick google and found one page that's got some tips, it might help: http://www.naturescapes.net/122003/ej1203.htm

Something to get you started, anyway. Might also be worth searching the forums on photo.net, they usually have some good info in there.

Alun

elven wrote:

I'm sure I've read a few magazine articles about that kind of stuff, but unfortunately it didn't make it into my longer term memory. But I did a quick google and found one page that's got some tips, it might help: http://www.naturescapes.net/122003/ej1203.htm

Something to get you started, anyway. Might also be worth searching the forums on photo.net, they usually have some good info in there.

Thanks, elven, that link you gave had a few good tips, and a few pointers to things I hadn't really thought about like condensation. Seems like I might be in the market for a good few spare batteries between now and January too

Alun

Shiny wrote:

Hi Alun,

I spent 4 months in Finland before the Summer (this year) and I was shooting with a P&S, a film Minolta 404si and a Canon 20D. Also one of my friends up there was shooting with a D70.

My coldest shooting temperature was about -35 when I was staying up north in Muonio.

I was doing a Digital Media course in Oulu so I know nearly everything that can break in the cold from my experiences and thos that the other class memebers had.

I was in Lapland twice and its really really nice. Especially at the time of year you are going.

PS
Ask all the questions you want. I have loads!! of tips.

Thanks Shiny, the place I'm looking at is in Sweden based in a place called Umnäs in an area called the Vindelfjällens naturreservat, a nature reserve.

I'm interested in any tips you can give me, especially with regard to optimising battery life and avoiding any kind of damage to my camera caused by the cold.

One thing that the link that elven gave pointed out was that condensation, especially in lenses, is a potential problem especially if it then freezes, so acclimatizing your equipment slowly to the extreme cold is important. Did you have any experience with this?

Also one supposed advantage of these temperatures is that sensor noise is greatly reduced, so that's good news.

Shiny

hehe that artice is very true.

I broke my tripod when shooting at
-35.
The plastic hinges froze and when
i went to move the tripod , 2 of
the 3 snapped.

If you take a P&S from inside the warmth
of your jacket, into -15 or colder the LCD
can crack from the extreme change in temp.

A wide Lens is a must because chances are
you will see Northern Lights one of the nights
you are there.
(but in Jan it is nearly 24 hour darkness anyway:))

Buying suitable gloves is also very important.
The best pair to have are ones like these:


They are the best as they allow you to use your
fingers to control the camera when you need to
and then recover your fingers when finished.
Trust me, you put your bare hands into a windy
-20 and you will know about it!

if you were to keep the nikon inside your jacket,
then the lens will fog up.

Everyone advises you to keep your batteries in
your pockets and they are right.
But the problem is that you will be wearing
thermal clothing.(or you should be)

This clothing works by drawing the moisture
away from your skin. Then your ski trousers
and jacket pockets will become really sweaty.
So your phone and batteries are best kept in
a little pouch. anything will do. I used a ear
phones pouch for my batteries. and you can
get little pouches for your phone too.

Shiny

Hehe sweeden is worse for low temperatures.

The first trip (which i didn't go on :mad:) went to
Northern Sweeden and the experienced -45!!!!

That was where the guy cracked his LCD from
the cold.

When I was carrying my camera(s) I always gave
priority to the Canon 20D (of course:)).

The battery of most SLR's is usually in the
hand grip of the camera.
What i did was hold onto the camera at all
times. one hand on the grip and the other
hand beneath the grip.
(ie the place where you insert the battery).

Also what i did was extend the camera strap
to the longest possible.
I then put it over my shoulder.
Then i put on my jacket over that.
With this setup, the camera was just long
enough for the lens to poke out the bottom
of my jacket.

Hence the body of the camera was warm
yet the lens was the correct temperature.
I only did this for walking long distances
and used the P&S until i saw something cool.

Alun

Shiny, thanks for those tips ... plenty to think about especially wrt the P&S camera. Would it be safe to keep it outside in a standard LowePro pouch case? Where would you keep a dSLR then? In a normal case outside, and acclimatised to the outside temperature? I have a LowePro Slingshot 200 case, and also a separate SLR belt case.

BTW I've tried finding those kind of gloves before but without luck. The closest I got was someone who tried to get some from the Mountain Co-Op (a huge outdoor store) in Canada, but they only have them in during the winter season and he was there in the summer.

JMcL

Definitely keep your batteries warm, the best thing to do is keep them close to your body so that your body temperature will keep them nice and warm. Even moderately cold temperatures will have a drastic effect on the life of batteries. Stock up on a few spares as well.

Also, from what I've read be very wary of drastic temperature changes, and the threat of condensation. Some people recommend not actually bringing the camera and lenses inside, rather leave your gear bag in the porch or something, where there isn't a drastic temperature difference, if not overnight, then at least for an hour or two before bringing it inside.

Shiny

Get the golves when you get there.
I bought about 6 pairs of gloves
when I was over there for various
reasons like ice hockey, cold,
cheap, etc...

But the last and final pair i bought were
the ones i showed you.
I just got them in a souvenir shop in
an adventure center for €15.

The main things are that they are
mittens and that they have the fold
back thing.

Mittens are much better as all your
fingers are together and they are
sooooo much warmer.

Taking a camera from a camera case
into the cold is definately much better
than taking it from your jacket pocket.

When I was shooting I always had the
camera in my hand. I cut up a sock and
put the elastic part onto my lens(s).
Anyone that saw it actually thought it
was an accessory for the camera.

When the SLR wasn't in my hand it was
just in my minolta case. one of those
cases big enough to hold a SLR and 2
lens's and a cleaning kit.

I only had 2 batteries with me for the
Canon but I brought the charger with
me everywhere and charged the batteries
whether I thought they needed it or not.

The "LowePro" case looks fine.
Its much better than anything I had
over there with me.

elven

As far as the techincal issues when shooting snow and ice, I was randomly wandering around on the internet (as you do) and found an article I thought you might like: http://shutterbug.com/refreshercourse/travel_tips/1204lesson/

Alun

elven wrote:

As far as the techincal issues when shooting snow and ice, I was randomly wandering around on the internet (as you do) and found an article I thought you might like: http://shutterbug.com/refreshercourse/travel_tips/1204lesson/

Thanks elven. I've done a bit of photography in snow when skiing in the past, so the thing about overexposing by 1 or 2 stops is well known. I have polarizing filters too, but I'm not sure whether they'll be any use to me at those latitudes in January, since it'll be dark(ish) most of the day I think.

The company we're currently thinking of going with have a website with a gallery of photos taken at different times of the year. You can see pictures for January here. Not too much in the way of blue skies in evidence there. Looks like it'll be quite a challenge to take decent photos even if I can manage to stop my camera from freezing up and/or exploding

elven

That looks pretty fantastic.

Off to sweden myself the week after next, hoping there's no snow, though Much further down the country. Only thing I have to worry about is getting an extra memory card!

Shiny

I agree.

Those pictures look brilliant!

If you get your wide lens for Christmas then you
will be sorted for northern lights. (if they show):rolleyes:

Here are 2 sites I used to check Auroral activity:

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/
http://cc.oulu.fi/~thu/Aurora/forecast.html

Very handy to know in advance.

Alun

elven wrote:

That looks pretty fantastic.

Off to sweden myself the week after next, hoping there's no snow, though Much further down the country. Only thing I have to worry about is getting an extra memory card!

There shouldn't be any snow in, say, Stockholm or anywhere south of there this time of the year. We went there towards the end of August a couple of years ago and it was still quite pleasant. I can give you some sightseeing tips for Stockholm if you're interested?

elven

We're going to fly in to Gothenburg, then find our way to our friend's place in Granna, not far from Jonkoping, on Lake Vattern (please excuse the absence of the little dots above the letters). I'm so excited, last year when we were there I only had a 3 megapixel p&s and didn't take my 35mm slr....but this time, oooh, I'm dslr now, and I'm a happy bunny.

I'm hoping to get out and find me some forests with birch trees, and nice old ruined castles and stuff. Roll on next Monday!

Alun

Sounds good ... I'm jealous! I've spent quite a bit of time in both Stockholm and Uppsala, but have never spent much time further south than that. I learnt to speak Swedish from a teacher who came from Stockholm, but in Göteborg it's almost as if they speak a different language.

Anyway, I'm off touring round Scotland (your part of the world if I'm not mistaken?) tomorrow for two weeks ... Arran, Mull of Kintyre, Islay, Mull, Skye etc., so plenty of photo opportunities there too hopefully, as long as it doesn't rain too much