atigun
Leading Member
Living in interior Alaska during a long cold spell, like the one we have had now for two weeks with temperatures lingering around -40°C can be a lot of fun. One can for instance throw boiling water into the air and see it immediately become ice fog. Or one can blow soap bubbles and see them last for days after they hit the ground. Or one can do the best one can to deep freeze cameras and see if they still work…
I have used my different cameras at very low temperatures on many occasions before and have not had any other problem other than the need to feed them warm batteries. As my profession deals with how living animals overwinter and cope with low temperatures it was natural that I started to wonder if the cameras really had equilibrated to the ambient temperature when I used them in the cold. Often they stay in a bag or holster which might be well insulated, and they only get out of there during a short period of use. To get some idea what happens, I performed a quick test one night. I taped a 36G thermocouple (a very small temperature sensor) to my D200, placed it in my Thinktank Digital Holster 20 out in the cold at -41.7°C initial ambient temperature (thick horizontal line in graph below) and checked the D200 temperature with a digital readout now an then:
As suspected cooling is quite slow; it took 2h to reach to two thirds of the final temperature. Extrapolating (I needed to sleep…) 4h total will probably only result in a temperature of -34°C which means that on most trips under these conditions the camera would never be equilibrated to ambient temperature. (4 hours at -41°C is a long time for humans even with good clothing). Digital cameras may also be helped by heat produced in the electronic components when turned on to keep them above ambient temperature. Initial warming rate at room temperature of a cold camera in the bag (purple) was about the same as the initial cooling rate.
What if the camera has to stay outside for a long time, as during a winter camping trip (for instance if the camera is left out in a sled or if left out in a deep frozen car overnight as some do to avoid condensation)?
I set out for a simple test:
Leave my different cameras outside at about -40°C for 9-10 hours. Trip the shutter and see if the camera takes a proper image. If necessary, insert warm, fresh batteries and try again.
Here is a temperature record from data loggers at the test site, starting Dec. 29. The bar shows the period of testing. The dark blue is outside temperature, and the light blue is temperature next to where I hid the cameras, a site which was somewhat buffered. Recording with the data logger started somewhat late and the first half of the recording is estimated from a recording station in a couple of miles away.
The test was not aimed primarily at testing cold tolerance of batteries, since they can be easily swapped out. As I did not want to deal with developing film, “analog” cameras were checked by removing the lens and see if the shutter and mirror worked as it should. For lenses I checked if AF worked and if the lens could be manually focused and zoomed if applicable. All checks were performed outside to avoid potential problems with condensation (also after brief periods of re-warming inside). Cameras were kept in holster type bags during the cooling period, and in holsters or Ziploc bags during re-warming inside (no condensation occurred unless breathing directly on the camera though).
Contestants (all Nikon cameras, sorted by age):
F2A, originally an F2, bought new in 1974. It has stayed with me on countless of winter camping trips back in Norway.
F4 with small grip containing 4 lithium AA’s, bought in 1991. I have previously tested the F4 with film at -52°C (-60F) but only for a shorter period. Subhankar Banerjee in his book Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of life and land (ISBN 0-89886-438-0, p. 172/ highly recommended) and also during the book signing stated that the only 35mm cameras that worked for him in the cold was FM2 and F4s, newer cameras like F5 and D1 series that also were available at the time were only used during summer. He lived in a tent for months in midwinter to take the photographs for his book. (This is in the North-East corner of Alaska).
D200 without grip, bought May 2006. It has worked many times previously at -40°C in Alaska during shorter exposures than the current test.
D40x, bought June 2008. My little “point and shoot” camera when used with my 28mm AIS which is chipped, allowing metering. But it isn’t a D200…
In addition the following lenses were tested briefly for function (not image quality):
AF 20mm
AF 60mm
28mm AIS
105mm AIS.
18-55mm G non-VR (only tested on D40x)
AF300 f/4 tested at about -33°C after main test period above.
To be continued..
--
Atigun valley, a place north in Alaska
I have used my different cameras at very low temperatures on many occasions before and have not had any other problem other than the need to feed them warm batteries. As my profession deals with how living animals overwinter and cope with low temperatures it was natural that I started to wonder if the cameras really had equilibrated to the ambient temperature when I used them in the cold. Often they stay in a bag or holster which might be well insulated, and they only get out of there during a short period of use. To get some idea what happens, I performed a quick test one night. I taped a 36G thermocouple (a very small temperature sensor) to my D200, placed it in my Thinktank Digital Holster 20 out in the cold at -41.7°C initial ambient temperature (thick horizontal line in graph below) and checked the D200 temperature with a digital readout now an then:
As suspected cooling is quite slow; it took 2h to reach to two thirds of the final temperature. Extrapolating (I needed to sleep…) 4h total will probably only result in a temperature of -34°C which means that on most trips under these conditions the camera would never be equilibrated to ambient temperature. (4 hours at -41°C is a long time for humans even with good clothing). Digital cameras may also be helped by heat produced in the electronic components when turned on to keep them above ambient temperature. Initial warming rate at room temperature of a cold camera in the bag (purple) was about the same as the initial cooling rate.
What if the camera has to stay outside for a long time, as during a winter camping trip (for instance if the camera is left out in a sled or if left out in a deep frozen car overnight as some do to avoid condensation)?
I set out for a simple test:
Leave my different cameras outside at about -40°C for 9-10 hours. Trip the shutter and see if the camera takes a proper image. If necessary, insert warm, fresh batteries and try again.
Here is a temperature record from data loggers at the test site, starting Dec. 29. The bar shows the period of testing. The dark blue is outside temperature, and the light blue is temperature next to where I hid the cameras, a site which was somewhat buffered. Recording with the data logger started somewhat late and the first half of the recording is estimated from a recording station in a couple of miles away.
The test was not aimed primarily at testing cold tolerance of batteries, since they can be easily swapped out. As I did not want to deal with developing film, “analog” cameras were checked by removing the lens and see if the shutter and mirror worked as it should. For lenses I checked if AF worked and if the lens could be manually focused and zoomed if applicable. All checks were performed outside to avoid potential problems with condensation (also after brief periods of re-warming inside). Cameras were kept in holster type bags during the cooling period, and in holsters or Ziploc bags during re-warming inside (no condensation occurred unless breathing directly on the camera though).
Contestants (all Nikon cameras, sorted by age):
F2A, originally an F2, bought new in 1974. It has stayed with me on countless of winter camping trips back in Norway.
F4 with small grip containing 4 lithium AA’s, bought in 1991. I have previously tested the F4 with film at -52°C (-60F) but only for a shorter period. Subhankar Banerjee in his book Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of life and land (ISBN 0-89886-438-0, p. 172/ highly recommended) and also during the book signing stated that the only 35mm cameras that worked for him in the cold was FM2 and F4s, newer cameras like F5 and D1 series that also were available at the time were only used during summer. He lived in a tent for months in midwinter to take the photographs for his book. (This is in the North-East corner of Alaska).
D200 without grip, bought May 2006. It has worked many times previously at -40°C in Alaska during shorter exposures than the current test.
D40x, bought June 2008. My little “point and shoot” camera when used with my 28mm AIS which is chipped, allowing metering. But it isn’t a D200…
In addition the following lenses were tested briefly for function (not image quality):
AF 20mm
AF 60mm
28mm AIS
105mm AIS.
18-55mm G non-VR (only tested on D40x)
AF300 f/4 tested at about -33°C after main test period above.
To be continued..
--
Atigun valley, a place north in Alaska
