OM-D awful in winter

While I have a G3 rather than an OMD, I spend lots of time in cold and challenging conditions, often with my camera(s). I own homes in the cold belt of northern New Hampshire and in northern Canada(the very northern tip of Newfoundland, where I'm sitting right now) and I love snowshoeing, xcskiing, mountaineering, and winter camping and occasionally snowmobiling. I do not keep my camera and lenses inside my coat. That is cumbersome and if out for more than an hour or two, futile. In addition to very cold temps, I am often out in howling winds.

I have found two very effective techniques: 1. Handwarmers inside warm gloves or warm mittens. In all except the most extreme conditions, this keeps your hands warm inside your gloves or mittens. Then you can use the camera barehanded for two or so minutes and when you put them back in your gloves or mittens, they warm right up because the handwarmers are generating heat. Handwarmers are available in bulk from Amazon for less than a dollar each. They can be a great tool and a lifesaver for the winter photog. 2. Use very thin but windproof liner gloves inside of warm mittens or gloves. These are thin enough to operate fiddly controls while the windproofing keeps the elements away from your skin for two or three minutes. This kind of glove is also good for days when it is windy and cold but you are working up a sweat anyways from climbing or xcskiing or snowshoeing.

Also, having been at this stuff for more than 30 years, including many winter camping trips and ascents of the Presidential Range in the White Mtns: Once your gear is cold, do not bring it into a warm place. The condensation can get inside lenses, can get inside even weathersealed cameras, and can cause long-term corrosion and short-circuit problems. The moisture can also lead to mildew growing on the coatings of lenses. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know what they are talking about, is very lucky, or doesn't pay close attention to their equipment. There are a couple of ways to deal with this: 1. Keep camera and gear in the camera bag you were using for an hour or more. 2. Put the camera and lenses in plastic sandwich/storage bags prior to heading into the warmth 3. Remove the memory card while still outside, so that you can download, but then follow 1 and 2 above.