About the only thing I can think of to enhance the operation of a
totally electronic camera in the winter would be to book a southern
vacation!
To some of us up here, -7F would be considered a nice Spring day.
I've personally shot at temperatures well below -40F with my F2's and
before that Pentax SPF's and never had any problems by taking a few
precautions. When it gets really cold, I keep the motor on single
shot, and the weaker batteries will drive the motor slow enough that
i've never had the static problems. I always keep a good supply of
batteries on hand as well.
One other very important thing to consider is condensation. I
used to have problems with condensation on the camera body and lens
between shots, but simply solved this by keeping the trucks heater
OFF in between shots. I usually am moving around enough not to really
notice the cold until the drive home, and then the heater is on well
done as I won't be doing any more shooting anyway. As for film, you
want to avoid getting any condensation here as well. Let the film
acclimatize to the ambient temperature before opening the cannister,
or the camera back. Keep a roll or two handy in an OUTSIDE pocket,
and when changing or rewinding, do it s l o w l y ! Extreme cold
makes the film very brittle, and prone to breakage if handled
roughly. Never go inside your car or a building and open a cold
camera for reloading! I've only ever broken one roll in all my years
of winter shooting, and found my winter parka made a good impromptu
changing bag (did get a little chilly for me though!)
Take only pictures, leave only footprints (snowshoe tracks?)
from the Great White North
somewhere east of Toronto
Gary R Zuters
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