Cold weather performance?

[DJohncox]

I am in the process of purchasing a 40D this fall and have one question. How do the DSLR's in general and Canon models in particular perform in cold weather . I iintend to use this camera on snow mobile trips to Ontario in February. What does 10 below zero do to a camera like this.

 

[Steven Noyes]

I have done some freezer tests and it seems to work fine. However, condensation and batteries loosing their charge are the real issues you will face.

Steven

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Summer 2007:
http://www.pbase.com/snoyes/images_summer_2007

2006 White Sands and Bisti Workshop
http://www.pbase.com/snoyes/white_sands_and_bisti

 

[Rob Paul]

As mentioned, you just need to be careful to avoid condensation by allowing the camera and lenses to acclimatize before removing them from sealed bags when moving from cold to warm or vice versa.
Otherwise they perform fine.

Wouldn't a P&S camera be a more suitable option for use on a snowmobile? There are some excellent models on the market now. They are more compact and easier to handle and also less of a concern regarding damage.

 

[DJohncox]

I use a canon 630 p&s now. The shutter lag is a killer. Snow pictures are worth the risk of camera damage, there just isn't anything quite like it.

 

[Dave Canon]

The spec sheet from Canon will give you the operating temperatures, but I would expect them to work ok outside these ranges (I had my 30D at 10 degrees over!) without too many problems.

Couple of useful tips though

• for cold, keep your spare batteris in an inside pocket to keep them warm.
• Keep the camera in its bag for a while for acclimatisation when going from hot to cold or vice versa.

I recently made a schoolboy error of putting a cold can of coke in my camera bag in a hot humid climate while taking shots (where else would you put it!), then changed lenses to find the camera end instantly and completely fogged up - doh!

 

[Thesun]

I have used D30, 10D, 300D and 30D under the toughest conditions. At -30 Celsius batteries wear out faster and LCD's allmost impossible to use, but except that I have never had problems caused by cold.

Several of these images were shot way below zero:

http://www.solberghifi.no/Portfolio%20bilder/natur-vinter/content/index.html

Kind Regards
Tage

 

[DJohncox]

great shots, especially the cabin at dark. It sounds like with proper care it will hold up to the abuse. As I said and as your pix prove, snow and winter shots are worth the effort. I am not a pro, photographer anyway, I am a television editor and do appreciate good equipment and lenses. You just have to buy the right gear.

 

[rrcphoto]

only issue I had is with the 100-400 getting so darn cold that you couldn't hold it in -40 weather...camera worked fine, but batteries didn't last too long - the camera actually outlasted me

 

[subdoodle]

They noted body and lens freezeups or lockups on a few Canons. No Nikon issues were experienced though there were fewer Nikons on the trip. Thought provoking. It could be battery or lubricant or lens motor location, etc. related.

 

[rrcphoto]

They noted body and lens freezeups or lockups on a few Canons. No
Nikon issues were experienced though there were fewer Nikons on the
trip.

are you ever going to stop trolling, especially with information that means absolutely nothing to the subject?

for starters that had nothing to do with winter conditions which are extremely dry, and that trip, the issues occurred on a boat, where there was alot more humdity (it was raining) and also cold. and there were only 5 nikon bodies on that entire trip, the rest where canon's .. which statistically makes your entire point and the total amount of times you mention it, irrelavent from a statistical point of view.