How does the 5DII fare in the cold / snow?

I've yet to have a battery issue with my MarkII...the cold doesn't seem to affect it like my previous bodies save the 1ds.

I was just recently at Lake Tahoe and I even changed lens out in the snow(sunny day). My cam is just fine.

It's not the cold temps that's the issue .. it's the cold / warm / cold / warm cycles with moisture, and then trying to keep condensation off the kit.
Battery life does suffer, so carrying spares in your inner pockets will solve that.

Perfect_10 wrote in post #9720426
It's not the cold temps that's the issue .. it's the cold / warm / cold / warm cycles with moisture, and then trying to keep condensation off the kit.
Battery life does suffer, so carrying spares in your inner pockets will solve that.

Has anyone here ever had a Mark II battery die on them in the cold?

Ok. I'll just keep batteries in my pockets.

- What about using the battery grip? I have it and would like to hear other's feedbacks on such weather situations.

Aside it will double the battery life, does it represent any potential issue regarding moisture, condensation, etc?

- How do you change lenses (if you do) in such weather conditions?
Do you do it outdoors / on the field, or go indoors to exchange the lens?
Any special suggestions, tips or feedback regard this?

- Do anyone use any special camera protection for this kind of situations?

Thanks a lot. Great thread.

This thread is really interesting and informative for those ones who didn't worked in such weather conditions yet.

I would appreciate very much answers and suggestions to my questions posted above.

Thanks a lot!

I've changed between the 15-85 and the 55-250 at -30. Doesn't seem to affect anything. however - cold and numb fingers can cause quite a few problems.

I've never brought anything along to "protect" the cam from the cold, other than a baggie to stick it in before I bring it back inside. also keep those little dessicant bags you get with stuff and toss one in there with it when it goes back into the warm. don't know if it helps, but I've got some handy so why not.

anothernewb wrote in post #9728362
I've changed between the 15-85 and the 55-250 at -30. Doesn't seem to affect anything.

eh?

I was replying to Pablov's question about changing the lenses. -sorry if it seemed off topic
changing between those 2 lenses outside in the cold didn't affect anything as in I didn't notice that it was any more difficult to do in the cold, nor did it appear that the cold affected the fit of the components. I took no more special precautions than the usual I take when changing lenses - aside from the fact that my fingers got very cold during the process.

Pablov wrote in post #9721358
- What about using the battery grip? I have it and would like to hear other's feedbacks on such weather situations.

Aside it will double the battery life, does it represent any potential issue regarding moisture, condensation, etc?

- How do you change lenses (if you do) in such weather conditions?
Do you do it outdoors / on the field, or go indoors to exchange the lens?
Any special suggestions, tips or feedback regard this?

- Do anyone use any special camera protection for this kind of situations?

Thanks a lot. Great thread.

1. Have read in an article the 5DII with grip is worse then without grip (in weather sealing), so if stuff gets nasty outside, I wouldnt grip it.

2. I change lenses the same everywhere I go. point camera down and set lens in bag (while still on camera), arrange next lens (take cap off, point it towards cam, right by current lens). Rotate the lens till it will just come off, grab new lens, move camera out of old lens and simultaneaously move new lens into cam, rotate until clicks.

The body is exposed for less then 2 seconds, often only 1 second if done right. ive changed it in snow, wind, dusty areas, etc. Only have had to clean sensor 2 in my whole cameras life.

3. DO NOT remove the lens if you go from cold to hot, or if you see moisture on teh cam anywhere. Wait for it to equalize and for moisture to be gone.

power_play21 wrote in post #9734112
1. Have read in an article the 5DII with grip is worse then without grip (in weather sealing), so if stuff gets nasty outside, I wouldnt grip it.

2. I change lenses the same everywhere I go. point camera down and set lens in bag (while still on camera), arrange next lens (take cap off, point it towards cam, right by current lens). Rotate the lens till it will just come off, grab new lens, move camera out of old lens and simultaneaously move new lens into cam, rotate until clicks.

The body is exposed for less then 2 seconds, often only 1 second if done right. ive changed it in snow, wind, dusty areas, etc. Only have had to clean sensor 2 in my whole cameras life.

3. DO NOT remove the lens if you go from cold to hot, or if you see moisture on teh cam anywhere. Wait for it to equalize and for moisture to be gone.

- Thanks a lot! Great tips.

Your technique of changing lenses seems really good, I will adopt it indeed

- I'm preparing some kind of home made protection for the 5D2, it will cover the body (including the grip, so I suppose it wouldn't be a problem as you pointed out? ) and the lens up to the filter.

The purpose is to protect it from dust, sand, soft rain or snow.
It won't be very "cute", but it doesn't matter to me.

The material is translucent/transparen​t, simply made of somewhat thick plastic/nylon.

I might make 2 versions, one that allows me to get my hands inside and handle the camera directly over the grip, and another on which I handle the camera from "outside" the cover.

It will have some kind of "windows" for the eyepiece and rear LCD.

Any special recommendation or suggestions about it?

- If anybody has another suggestion for shooting in hard weather conditions, it would be great to know and much appreciated.
Especially since I never went to such environment for shooting.

Thanks a lot in advance.

The 5DII did great in the cold. Got a decent amount of snow on it too and it never missed a beat. I only took about 600 pics and it performed flawlessly. It lived in a Lowepro Toploader 70AW and I never even kept a battery in my pocket to keep warm. After everything was said and done the battery in the camera had only gone down by one mark on the LCD. The IS on the lens and everything performed great.
When snow got on it I just wiped it away with a bandanna. Temperatures ranged from 2 to 25 for the 3 days.
-K

AudibleSilence wrote in post #9720504
Has anyone here ever had a Mark II battery die on them in the cold?

yes, but it was because i used it up

dwarfcow wrote in post #9767938
yes, but it was because i used it up

That's what I figured.