OM-D awful in winter

OM-D, Panasonic 12-35, ISO 200 45 seconds at f 4.5

Out in the forest before dawn. With gloves there is of course no chance to use the power switch (extremely akward even under the best of circumstances) or the buttons. And even with freezing finger tips the handling of the OM-D was so difficult that I regretted having sold my 5D2.

But then, the quality of the shots obtained made up for the trouble

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Fritz
http://www.pbase.com/fwscharpf/galleries

It takes three pairs of gloves.  Electronic inner ones for heating, solid pair for the left hand (dexterity not required), light pair for the right.  The light glove works well enough that I can get most of the settings done with my right hand but I have to power the underlying electric glove on max, so I bring a spare set of batteries for that hand when I go into the mountains.  Takes about 3 hours per charge.

Yes, the 5D2 doesn't have this winter problem... but I wouldn't dare venture where I do with a full DSLR rig.

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-CW

I have used cameras outdoors in real winter (-25c). When it is this cold you really need gloves that are so thick no camera is going to be a joy to use. And you must turn off the camera after each shot because battery life is seriously affected by the cold so you cannot wait for an auto-shutdown.

The upside is that in low temperatures the sensor and other electronics produce much lower noise. You do need good image stabilization when you are shivering from the cold, but then you can get excellent shots to make up for the discomfort.

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Slowly learning to use the Olympus OM-D E-M5.
Public pictures at http://debra.zenfolio.com/.

I'll admit the Em-5 can be tricky with gloves, but I don't know what a better alternative would be, for me anyway. I've found that it's just another learning curve, and the positives of a small, weather-sealed setup outweigh the intital awkwardness on that learning curve. It's easier to point out the negatives, especially when coming from a different camera system that you are more familiar with, and one that is bigger. But even after plenty of fumbling on sowy mountain hikes for me, I can't think of a better option at the moment for what I do.

Beautiful shot BTW!

I find mine easier to use with gloves on that my full size dSLRs!

--
James
http://photos.jamestux.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamestux/
http://blog.jamestux.com

taken at -46C two weeks ago with E-P2:



Didn't regret selling Canon staff! Having m43 now I was able to keep my camera (with 14-150) under my coat during this polar walk.

I agree the E-M5 isn't the easiest of cameras to use in the cold. Without wanting to turn this into a E-M5 vs GH3 thread (I own both), I will say that in using the GH3 in the snow the controls are a good bit easier to use with gloved or cold hands.

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http://sgoldswoblog.wordpress.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgoldswo/

I bought thin, tight fitting insulated Marmot gloves that can be easily pulled on and off. If I'm careful I can work the arrow buttons to change the position of the focus rectangles but sometimes I press the wrong button and have to rip a glove off to fix my mistake. That's why I want an upgrade to the E-M5 that is larger but weighs no more without sacrificing build quality, so there's more real-estate for buttons.

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Frank Paris

I'm surprised that the camera electronics work at this temperature.  Did you keep the camera warm under your jacket?

Dan

Seems I have glovy hands by nature. I would not even need winter to see the handling differences. The E-M5 keeps reminding me every time I have to use more than the shutter or front dial.

Did any one notice: -40 F = -40 C ?

Vjim 

Yes! It was the only chance for it to operate. I think it was about -5C under my upper jacket

Coldest I saw was -34c. We waited until it was around -25c before actually going out for a hike in the snow. In these temperatures all the talk about gloves with which you can still operate a camera us mute. None of these gloves would do. The worst we endured was that when entering the forest you had to sign in (and sign out when exiting) and in order to hold the pencil you really had to take off your gloves. Again, no type of glove with which you would write your name would have been warm enough.

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Slowly learning to use the Olympus OM-D E-M5.
Public pictures at http://debra.zenfolio.com/.

Did anyone ever try those gloves with cut off fingers? Never used them myself, but if Fishermen can work with these, so should camera users!?

Disagree. I've been happy with the camera this winter. Just keep my hands in my pockets till firing time.

What do you guys do when you bring the camera back indoors?  I heard you must put everything in a ziploc bag to let it come back up to room temps.

I haven't used my camera in the cold yet for fear of damaging it.

Using the kit 12-50.

With the em5 both should be fully weather-sealed. Fingers crossed of course.

Nice finely detailed image.  Not much can be done about the size, some times bigger is easier.

Andrew

Real winter requires virtually every part of your body to be covered (except for your eyes as you do want to see where you are going). Also, the people who think they can just keep their hands in their coat pockets until needed to shoot are not talking about real winter where taking pictures is a challenge. At -25c we only kept our hands comfortable by using these special herb bags that radiate heat for up to 8 hours. Put those inside the warmest gloves or mittens you can find and you will then discover that taking pictures is a real challenge, when taking your hand out of the glove is not really an option you want to try.

--
Slowly learning to use the Olympus OM-D E-M5.
Public pictures at http://debra.zenfolio.com/.

The problem with fingerless mitts, or any gloves, is that they don't keep your fingers nearly as warm as regular mittens.

I prefer to wear plain mittens and assume I'm going to need to remove them to shoot, pick my nose, whatever.  Mittens are far warmer than gloves under any circumstances, and your fingers actually can warm up in them after having been exposed.  I usually use a mitten shell with a raw wool mitten inside, although sometimes a lightweight wool or silk mitten inside an oversize wool mitten inside a shell is great, as you can leave the silk liner on. Sometimes the thumb is an issue because it's isolated from the rest, but if it gets cold you can retract it and put it in your fist to warm up.

By far the warmest mittens I've ever used (plowing snow on a tractor, not taking pictures) are my father's old WWII flight mittens -- sheepskin on the inside, leather side out.  They are heads and tails above every modern mitten / glove I've used.  Warm at -50F.  Used for extended flights at some altitude (20,000'?) in the unheated belly-gun of a B-24 for aerial recon.  Jacket, boots and hat to match.