stupid questions? ...hopefully not

[jim monroe]

As a newcomer to photography I have the following set of questions which I don't think have been asked since I've been on the forum, which is about 8 or so weeks now.
99% of my shots with 10D are outdoors and of wildlife, birds, insects, etc. With winter coming on here in PA it looks like opportunties will become limited. So I had the following idea which I think is reasonable but not sure. Could be completely nuts.
I have a bird feeder about 6 ft. from house at edge of a deck. I am thinking I could set up camera outdoors on deck aimed at birdfeeder. Then with me indoors with remote switch when interesting bird it at feeder take a shot.
I have many questions related to this, some are
1.) If camera is outdoors for say one hour at say 32 degrees Fahrenheit will camera operate properly? Or in general at how low a temperature will camera operate properly?
2.) I suppose I turn camera on, go indorrs, but then don't shot for 10 or 15 minutes when a bird shows up. Meanwhile camera goes into, don't know exact term, what I'll call sleep mode. Generally from summer experience know that then even without remote takes significant time when shooting wildlife to get camera back to active mode.
Will this be worse or better in my proposed scenario?
3.) Do I need Timer Remote TC-80N3 or will RS-80N3 do? I do need to turn camera on correct? remote does not do that for me or does it?
4.) Perhaps stupidest question of all. Suppose I shoot through window with camera inside. How much will this likely lower quality of pictures?

Thanks, in advance, for any help that the experienced members of the forum can give me on this and any suggestions and/or warnings about other issues besides the above will be greatly appreciated.
I have learned a lot from this forum already but have a long ways to go.

[iwatkins]

No stupid questions here. :)

Option 4 is by far your best option IMHO.

A camera sitting outside while I'm indoors would scare me. I.e.. anyone could take it before you had the chance to react, an animal may knock your tripod over, you fall alseep and it rains etc. etc :)

I quite often shoot through glass to get some sky shots because of the way the window in my office opens.

To help with this, I try to shoot straight through the glass rather than at an angle. I also try to shoot with the front of the lens as close to the glass as possible. I have a rubber lens hood that I fit to my zoom. When pressed against the window glass it forms an OK seal to help reduce the chance of reflections

Of course, clean the glass inside and out, and on the outside maybe use a layer of Rain-X to help rain water bead off.

With a long lens you will be very unlucky to see any effect of shooting through glass. I can shoot very wide (17mm equiv.) and still not have any reflections.

Cheers

Ian

[RichardtheSane]

Firstly, and this is my opinion, I never let the value of my equipment stop me from getting the shot. If it was me, then the camera would be outside all the way, however I would take certain precautions. In fact, here is the precautions I am taking in my current quest to achieve what it seems you are looking to do....
1. (only if there is a chance someone would leg it with your camera...) If you have the strap on the camera then simply gat a chain and lock it to something. Alternativly a metal loop through the strap fastening on the camera the chained to something. It doesn't have to be bomb proof, just enough to foil a thief for long enough. That is a serious consideration because of where I live at the moment.
2. If you have a good sturdy tripod witha wide leg area then it will not be knocked over. You'll be hard pushed to knock a quality tripod over. Pop a brick on the ground outside each leg if you are worried.
3. Weather. Chances are you'll have one eye on the camera most of the time. I've devised a cunning plan of casual weather protection. You will need a lens hood for this, as you make a lens sized hole in a bin liner and then tape the liner to the lens hood so the bin liner totally covers the camera equipment. Also recommend a few elastic bands round the bin liner as it may scare the birds if the day is windy.
4. Focus. Either set CF4 so the AE/AF lock buttons are reversed or use manual focus. With a remote it workslike the shutter button, except if you are indoors you have no way of knowing you've focused. Pre-focus first.
5. You'll only really need the standard remote, but if you can afford the timer one get it. You'll also need the 10m extension as the remote comes with a very short lead.
6. Good luck. These are not yet tested methods but hopefully should be shortly. If you have any sucess let us know :D