Hi Treckie,

Terrific shot!

My best,

Mike

That's a beautiful shot Treckie,and I admire the dedication that it took to get it...but living in the deep south,one glance at that,had me dashing off to the kitchen for a hot cup of coffee ;>)

@Aetas That is a shot of the ice caves on Lake Superior by the Apostle Islands. Its about a 3 mile hike on the lake in February. Very Beautiful with the sandstone and snow and ice.
Thanks for asking.

I've used my D700 in temperatures down to -25 (F) without a problem, though the time frame covered less than an hour.

treckie, where was that photo taken. Thats amazing.

While in Antarctica, US Navy, I kept mine under my coat. Take it out shoot, then back under the coat again. This was 1961-1964 when it was film cameras.
In able to use the camera continuously in that weather, it had st be "winterized", all lubrication removed, prior to deployment. I didn't want to do that with my Leica IIIG so I used the "under-out-shoot-under" routine. It worked quite well.

I regularly shoot in cold weather (0* to -30*f) spending hours at a time in the miserable cold with no adverse affects to the camera. As many have stated, keep your batteries warm and bag your camera when you bring it into the warmth again.

I was out shooting in -18 for a couple of hours and my Leica M9 quickly died, but my trusty D700 kept going and I even finished the job^^ Long bulbs or liveview in the cold are real killers on the battery performance, but with a grip its not a big deal. Nikon bodies can and always have been able to take a real beating. Nikons never cease to amaze me from the F3, F4, F5, F100, and the newer Pro D line of digitals for all climate shooting.

Looks great Mike!

Vidrazor - Here is my calculation (no real science behind it but it works for me) for cold weather shooting (D300): 1 battery normal temp = 700-1100 w/few flash fill. 1 battery very cold temp = 200 - 500 w/few flash fill. I carry 3 batteries and even with shooting full on flash I have never drained more than one battery in a 4 hour period shooting 500+ shots.

Man, up against a pile a snow and no upright nipples? Damn.

Sorry, couldn't help myself...

repeat post sorry..

Hi Spraynpray,

"I wouldn't put too much credance on a 'sealed' body Mike, there is no such thing short of a waterproof case. It will only be splash resistant in reality. They all leak air along with its attendant humidity and cooling down or warming up makes them 'breathe' in and out. (8^O)
"

You're right, of course, but I would hope that a sealed body would offer _more_ protection. ;-)

"Just Monday I took my D40 with the 35mm 1.8 out in the snow, it was right after the big blizzard in NYC. Near freezing temperatures, the camera performed like a champ. Just to be safe though, I took it out with the 35mm 1.8, it's got better sealing than the 18-135. It must have been around freezing if not below on that day. To be fair though, I went out around midday. Strangely enough, there was no condensation when I moved from indoors to outdoors, and vice versa, which I thought was odd."

If it's cold enough, long enough, the condensation has turned to frost and the air is dry. The air to worry about is what the cold surfaces will find on the inside.

I train software for the US Army's Cold Region Training Center at Fort Greely, where it gets _really_ cold.

We shoot for a variety of customers during the Winter, and normally the batteries inside a pocket is the key. Moisture and condensation are problematic, especially if you going inside/outside.

We get our first snow in the Fall as early as, well, it sometimes snows every month of the year. I haven't got use to it, but some do.

My best,

Mike

jonnyapple said:
Bingo. The batteries are the issue. The electronics will actually have less noise in the cold (but technically only until you freeze out charge carriers in the semiconductors and the camera stops working altogether, but that happens below the temperatures you could survive). If you just keep two sets of batteries like spraynpray suggested, then each time the one in your camera goes "dead" (not really—just gets cold), you can swap out for warm batteries in your pocket.

Also, different batteries based on different chemical reactions will have different behaviors in the cold.

It's chemistry, if you're interested in the details. The chemical reaction in the battery that releases the electrical energy has what's called an activation barrier, which means that it needs some energy input to start the reaction but once it gets going it gives off more energy than it initially took in. It gets that energy investment from heat that it absorbs from the environment, so in a cold environment the reaction rate is a lot lower and the battery looks like it's dead. Once it warms up, the reaction rate goes up again and the battery appears to resurrect.

Most batteries now are lithium anyway, which is pretty reactive, but yeah, that's the general gist. I never thought of batteries in that sense, but it makes perfect sense.

Ah, activation barriers, I remember that from general chemistry and biochemistry... such warm memories. :D

I took my Nikon Coolpix E3700 up to Quebec City once in 2008, the 400th anniversary of it's founding in February. I don't remember specifics, but the average low for that time is -16 C, or 3 F. The average temp is -11 C, or 12 F, and I still got about 200 or so shots per battery, and since I carried 2, I was pretty much good for the day if I didn't use flash too often. And since we were out almost all day, I went out at night too, we went to the Winter Carnival for the fireworks at night, so it got pretty darn cold. Interestingly enough, all I needed was a thin pair of gloves, so it didn't really get all too incredibly cold, but it was certainly more cold than I have ever experienced.

Just Monday I took my D40 with the 35mm 1.8 out in the snow, it was right after the big blizzard in NYC. Near freezing temperatures, the camera performed like a champ. Just to be safe though, I took it out with the 35mm 1.8, it's got better sealing than the 18-135. It must have been around freezing if not below on that day. To be fair though, I went out around midday. Strangely enough, there was no condensation when I moved from indoors to outdoors, and vice versa, which I thought was odd.

I wouldn't put too much credance on a 'sealed' body Mike, there is no such thing short of a waterproof case. It will only be splash resistant in reality. They all leak air along with its attendant humidity and cooling down or warming up makes them 'breathe' in and out. (8^O)

Hi,

Please forgive the previous terse post, my youngest granddaughter is visiting and we just managed to get her to sleep. :-)

As other poster have said spare batteries in bags inside the coats, warm and ready, I also bag cameras with Ziplock™ plastic bags and rubber bands and cut holes where I need them. At that temp, there isn't much moisture that will get into the camera. (A sealed camera body is one of the reasons I want to upgrade to D7K.)

Previously, I've removed lubricants for really cold weather shooting (sub -50), but that was before the development of newer lubricants. The US Army Cold Weather Region Test Center doesn't do that anymore. They regularly shoot at that temp.

Moving gear from one temp to another requires some warm up/cool downtime. One doesn't want to 'shock' the glass. ;-)

My best,

Mike

Gareth said:
I may be wrong, but it could be the battery that doesn't like the cold. I have heard it said that you need to keep your batteries at 0 or above if you want them to keep discharging power.

Bingo. The batteries are the issue. The electronics will actually have less noise in the cold (but technically only until you freeze out charge carriers in the semiconductors and the camera stops working altogether, but that happens below the temperatures you could survive). If you just keep two sets of batteries like spraynpray suggested, then each time the one in your camera goes "dead" (not really—just gets cold), you can swap out for warm batteries in your pocket.

Also, different batteries based on different chemical reactions will have different behaviors in the cold.

It's chemistry, if you're interested in the details. The chemical reaction in the battery that releases the electrical energy has what's called an activation barrier, which means that it needs some energy input to start the reaction but once it gets going it gives off more energy than it initially took in. It gets that energy investment from heat that it absorbs from the environment, so in a cold environment the reaction rate is a lot lower and the battery looks like it's dead. Once it warms up, the reaction rate goes up again and the battery appears to resurrect.

My previous Nikon (D40x) withstood shooting in temperatures going down to -25ºC. (I might have written about it earlier PB PM).
On one occasion it spent the night in the boot of my car at -20.´and there weren't any problems.

The only problems that I encountered (apart from changing batteries quite often) was that the LCD became very sluggish and on too many occasions I managed to breathe into the viewfinder and freeze it. Lenses may easily frozen though if you are not careful when cooling them down, especially with such temperatures.

The one thing that needed warming up was myself, but a flask will help with that unless you need to drive :)

The indicated temperature ranges in the manual are those at which the producer guarantees flawless operation. If for some reason there is moisture in your camera it will freeze at some point.

Some people keep their cameras inside the coat but I would not advice that if you have tendency to sweat even a bit, et most probably you winter attire won't breathe much and it will be quite humid there.

Oh and welcome to the forum

I have a d80 and a few years back shot for a couple hours (on multiple batt) somewhere around 15ºf The camera did really well, it never shut down. My hands on the other hand were useless for awhile after the shoot.

vidrazor said:
Thanks for your replies. So how do you plug in power from an external battery pack into these cameras? I don't see a power jack like my Fuji cameras have so you can plug in an AC adapter. Is this a hack? Would you need to walk around with your battery compartment door dangling?

There are AC adapters for most/all Nikon DSLR bodies. On non pro bodies there is a small rubber tab on the side of the camera above the battery door that gives access.

I recently shot for like 30 minutes or so with my d7000 at around -25 degrees (and freezing wind). Apart from really frozen fingers nothing happened. :-) the camera works as usual, so does the battery.

Thanks for your replies. So how do you plug in power from an external battery pack into these cameras? I don't see a power jack like my Fuji cameras have so you can plug in an AC adapter. Is this a hack? Would you need to walk around with your battery compartment door dangling?

I've shot with several DSLRs in sub zero temperatures (D80 and D300 as low as -12ºC) and never had any problems. I remember someone saying they shot with their D40 in -25ºC, and the camera only stopped because the battery got too cold.

Oh, and to avoid killer condensation it is essential to carry a large clean re-sealable bag to put your camera in before you bring it back inside a warm place. Don't forget to remove your memory card first!

Keep your batteries INSIDE your outer clothing as they are the main problem. Even a 'flat' battery will come back if it is that cold outside when it shuts off.