subzero temperature

gjl711 wrote in post #2247920
The inside of the camera will not condense as bad as folks think. It needs moist air on a cold surface and though the surfaces are cold inside the camera, the air exchange is almost non-existent unless you start using the zoom or switching lenses. But, I use the bag trick all the time. Commercial Ziplocks work great and they are dirt cheap.

It may not be much of a problem, but I stuck my head and shoulders inside the timing hut at a ski race one time and ended up with condensation on the lenses inside my camera. That froze immediately and puts the lens out of action until I had a chance to take inside and dry it out.

I've taken my camera skiing many times with no problems and just make sure my backpack is zipped tight before going inside, also the bag isn't opened for a few hours once inside.
I may adjust this approach to also remove the battery as a further protection. One thing to remember is that indoor humidity is often 30% or less in the winter anyway, I would be more concerned about taking my camera from air conditioning into a humid sw Ontario August day (80%+ humidity)

Like I said, I believe the problem is less than made out, but a ziplock is pennies and easy to store in a camera bag. When I go out in the cold, I put the lenses and camera in one before returning indoors. BTW, this works great at the zoo as well when going between the various houses.

gjl711 wrote in post #2248374
Like I said, I believe the problem is less than made out, but a ziplock is pennies and easy to store in a camera bag. When I go out in the cold, I put the lenses and camera in one before returning indoors. BTW, this works great at the zoo as well when going between the various houses.

I agree - it is situational.

Like a previous poster said, in the dead of winter, indoor humidity is often very low - but that is different structure by structure too. So, you need to be careful. The damage may not be apparent immediately and it may be cumulative - you need to have the presence of moisture AND ionic contamination for a failure to occur (or for the corrosion/shorting process to start).

J.

For those of us that wear glasses it is pretty easy to tell when it will happen to our camera, if your glasses fog up chances are that condensation will form on the lenses and metal parts of the camera. Plastic seems much less affected than glass and metal.

Gerhard

SaharaWizard wrote in post #2241820
Manual for most digital cameras say operating tem is 0 to 50. Living in Canda where most of the time you are bellow zero I wonder, how do you work when it is bellow zero?

Last january I used both Olympus E-1 and E-300 in -25-30*C for several hours daily! Worked 100% without problems. Looking forward to try 5D in the same conditions!

Silica / Dissicant packages are excellent to use in you camera bags and even the zip lock bag. It draws the moisture away from the camera, hence why they put them in shoe boxes and electronic boxes. Suprised no one has mentioned them in this post.
Cheap and effective way to keep moisture out of your gear.

PAS Photography wrote in post #2299549
Silica / Dissicant packages are excellent to use in you camera bags and even the zip lock bag. It draws the moisture away from the camera, hence why they put them in shoe boxes and electronic boxes. Suprised no one has mentioned them in this post.
Cheap and effective way to keep moisture out of your gear.

That's because they really don't work in nonsealed applications and then you need much larger quantities than what is packed in your sealed camera boxes. Most of that equipment is manufactured in humidity controlled environments and packaged with a known and limited amount of humidity inside. The dessicant is only to control condensation in shipping.

Most shoes and other such things are shrink wrapped in pallet form when shipped too.

I used 3"x5"x1/4" dessicant packs in aloksaks (waterproof to 200' is claimed) when I was sailing in the caribbean last winter for 10 days. These dessicant packs were many times larger (>10x) than what would be required for those sizes while shipping. I had the type that has a color indicator showing if they are saturated or not. The only time the bags were not sealed was when the camera/gear was going in or coming out of the bag.

These packs showed to be completely saturated in less than 5 days. They also can be rejuvenated by putting in a microwave or oven. They were so saturated I could not get them back to their initial state (or at least, the indicator) after 5 drying cycles as recommended by the manufacturer.

If there is ANY air exchange at all, they will quickly become saturated becasue the water vapor will try to come to equilibrium on both sides quickly. Therefore, they are a waste of money of placed in a non sealed (as in non airtight) camera bag. If they are placed in a sealed bag, but that bag is opened often, they are also a waste of money because they will become saturated quickly as well but slower than in free air.

The problem is that most of the packs are not the moisture indicating type. So they look the same for dry ones or saturated ones. Get the indicating type and you'll be pretty surprise at how quickly they get consumed.

Silica gel is highly overrrated and often missapplied in the context discussed here. If anyone has any information to the contrary, I'd love to hear it.

J.

Same tip as similar post: Don't put your tongue on it!

I don't worry about it check out this shot I drove with my camera on my back to take it and put my camrea back on my back and drove home. no wories.

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