Shooting in the cold

I know I know, the camera is ok to shoot in the cold but what precuations do you guys take. I know you should not come right in from the cold and turn the camera on, any other suggestions ?

How big of a temperature change are you talking about? I have no problem going from indoors (65) to outdoors (45) and vice versa. If you're worried, the best thing to do is to keep your camera in your bag, take it outside, let it slowly cool, then use it. Vice versa for taking it back in.

It can get to -10 over here, I don't find myself shooting in that weather but I will be out in my garage with a space heater from time to time shooting.

I've taken my 20d out in the middle of winter...-5 - +20 F and haven't had much trouble..my tricks:
1. Use a ziplock freezer bag when changing from indoors to outdoors and vice versa to prevent condensation on the lens/sensor/electronic​s. Yes I have gotten condensation on my sensor and when it dried it was a pain to clean as it is a dried water spot and not a semi loose piece of dust.

2. Wear camera around neck and tuck it in jacket when not shooting.

3. Keep batteries (spare) in my jacket inside pocket to keep warm becaues they loose charge sitting in the cold for extended periods of time.

Could you explain your ziplock bag trick?

I took a 20d and 17-40 to the Grand Tetons in March. Temperatures were around 6 degrees Fahrenheit. I carried the camera and lens in a small bag around my neck and at night put it at the base of my thermal pad in the tent.

The only problem I noticed is when I exhaled my breath would fog up the view finder and then freeze. It made it difficult to see. I just exhaled away from the camera when taking photos. If my hands started to sweat they would freeze to the side of the camera as well. Also, the rear LCD display took a little longer to turn on and kinda 'faded' on... not designed to work in conditions that cold I guess. I noticed no permanent effects of using the camera in the cold weather.

The two sterlingtek batteries in the grip lasted for a 6 day trip without the need for replacement.

Here are some photos from the trip.

Can you safely shoot around -20c?

I have an Xtreme III too which is supose to be rated for cold tempertures apparently anyway.

I'm pretty sure it's safe to shoot in that temperature as long as the camera and lens setup is cooled slowly. National geographic photographers have captured photos of polar bears in Alaska and such near the north pole and penguins in the south. If they could do it, so can you.

The biggest thing is bringing your gear inside from the cold. You want to prevent condensation from forming on and in your equipment. I just keep my camera bag closed untill my gear has warmed up for a couple of hours. The bag is padded. (read insulated)
If you are in a hurry you can put your gear in zip lock bags and the condensation forms on the outside of the bag. Your stuff will warm up in 15-30 minutes and you can remove it from the bag(s).

Tapeman got my ziplock trick...It's not really mine..I've searched google about it in the past and a lot of articles about cold weather digital comes up with similar ideas.

One other thing I do which is useful for me is: Pull the CF out while I'm in the cold so when I'm "warming" my gear I can already start downloading images.

Also I use the same idea for summer time at the beach...inside A/C and ziplock to outdoors humidity.

Steve