Using my Canon Digital Rebel XTI in cold weather?

Question

I just bought my camera this summer and want to take some outside pictures, when it snows this winter. Where could I look for some guidelines? The temps. I would be taking pictures in would be about 20 - 30 degrees Farenheit. When I take my camera back and forth from the car or house where It's warm, what sould I put my camera in to prevent the lens fogging up, which I've heard can happen and ruin the camera. Any advice or links to useful websites would be awesome. Thanks!!

Answer 1

Cold weather offers a few challenges for digital cameras but thankfully only a few.

First of all the comments above mine are correct, the major effect of cold weather is on the battery. Batteries of all types become less efficient and effective as the temperature goes down. They will drain faster in extreme cold and they won’t deliver the same voltage.

The workaround for this can be to buy a grip that holds two batteries. That does give you twice the power potential but if you are operating at 50% efficiency that simply means you’ll get what one battery usually delivers. While I have a grip for my Nikon D200, I make it a point of keeping only one battery in the camera and the others inside my parka where they can stay warm until needed. On a particularly long shoot in very cold temperatures I’ll carry three of four charged batteries in my parka. On shorter ones sometimes one cold battery is all that’s needed. Just go out and take pictures and you’ll find out quickly enough how much life you have.

The next issue is the auto focus and any image stabilizer you may have in your lens. These are electromechanical devices and they too don’t operate as efficiently and they ought to. However they will operate fine in most situations. I’ve gone to minus twenty-five with no problems. What you need to be worried about mostly is that they will drain more power when very cold so your already weaker battery is going to be drained faster. That’s why it’s handy to have a few charged warm batteries with you. The camera electronics also works better when warmer but since the chips generate their own heat anyway in use, that’s not an issue.

The final issue, and the most crucial, is going from a cold environment to a warm one or the reverse. That can be a killer. It’s not only the condensation on the outside of the camera, that’s easy to fix since you can wipe it off, it’s the condensation inside that can cause problems. In a lens it can cause the aperture to corrode and the motors for the auto focus and the image stabilizer to eventually jam. Within the camera body you’re running the risk of shorting out a crucial circuit which could be very expensive to fix.

What I do is simple. I place the camera (without the battery) and each lens I intend to use as well as my flash, into individual good quality zip lock bags and evacuate as much air from them as possible before sealing them. Then a couple of hours before a shoot I’ll put these bags in the trunk of the car so that everything can cool down. During the shoot there’s no problem. I put a battery into the camera, drop the lenses and camera into pockets of my parka and get on with taking pictures. If this exercise entails driving to different places, you should store the camera et al in the trunk between stops so the equipment maintains its temperature.

Now, when you’re done for the day, place each of the components back into zip lock bags and again evacuate as much air as possible before you seal them. This time though, don’t put everything in the trunk, put it all in the car instead preferably on the floor at the front where the heater can warm it up. This way by the time you get home it’s already reasonably warm and you won’t have to wait hours before unpacking.

One other thing, keep the memory cards in an inside pocket. If you’re using compact flash it’s not as much as a concern as other type since they’re sealed but they should be kept warm when not in use. Before you put the camera back into its bag remove the card and place it in your pocket to warm up too and that way you can start your edits even before the camera finally warms up all the way.

I hope this helps a bit. Good Luck!

Answer 2

From my personal experience (and you should take it as that), I believed Canon and Nikon are both very good companies. They both produce very good cameras, although some better than the other in different aspects. With Canon, the point & shoots are very popular (this is where they excel). For their DSLR's, it's most common to see them with very serious sports photographers with enormous lens. You are in neither one of those categories, so you should go with Nikon. Nikon has incredible lens, and incredible bodies. I have been using Nikon for many years now and have had nothing but an awesome time with them. If you really want the get the best camera for your experience level, I suggest the Nikon D40. Skip the D40x, skip the D60. For the cost/efficiency, the Nikon D40 blows the other cameras away. The only reason the D60 is more expensive is because of the larger screen and the couple extra mega pixels (which don't even matter unless you are printing out very large pictures). Nikon D40, forget the other cameras.

Answer 3

if you have a lens cap on this shouldn't be a problem...i'd suggest an extra battery though or investing in the camera grip that allows you to store two batteries...batteries drain faster in cold weather so it's always good to have a spare and keep it on you in a pocket so it's warmed by your body.

Answer 4

You know, I bet this is covered in your Owner's Manual. Probably under "Cold weather operation" or some similar heading.

Having a lens cap on will not keep the lens from fogging up.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Put it in a ziploc bag before bringing it in, or leave it in the camera bag until it warms up to room temperature.

Answer 7

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