300D in cold climate cty

[neves_atk]

Hi all,

Will be travelling to overseas on holidays and this is the first time i am gng to a cold climate country after picking up photography.
Wondering if the climate will do any harm to my camera (300D), or is there ani thiny i shld do there and/or after coming back from the trip to "protect" the cam??

 

[Ah Pao]

As with all electronic devices, battery life in cold (how cold is your "cold" anyway?) temperatures suffer considerably. Best if you could have a spare set of batteries kept warm near your body and use alternatively when the camera/flash shows signs of low battery.

Another thing is condensation when you bring the camera from outside cold to inside warm. Keep your camera in the drybox at the end of the day if possible, with silica gel to dry up the moisture in the drybox. Keep at 45-55% RH.

PS: I believe the above should apply to any SLR in cold weather, not just DSLRs.

 

[ydanz]

I suggest warming up batteries before use, holding/squeezing them in your palms before use would be preferable.

Need to get a small drybox myself before I leave for Seoul next week too ...

 

[Avatar]

Moving your thread to the Canon subforum for more model specific replies.

 

[Jeff]

Hi all,

Will be travelling to overseas on holidays and this is the first time i am gng to a cold climate country after picking up photography.
Wondering if the climate will do any harm to my camera (300D), or is there ani thiny i shld do there and/or after coming back from the trip to "protect" the cam??

The cam functions properly at -7deg C but batt takes a big penalty.

 

[mpenza]

hmm... guess I would have to bring my charger along then for a trip at the end of the year. Initially, wanted to bring only 1 battery plus 2 backup.

 

[Jeff]

hmm... guess I would have to bring my charger along then for a trip at the end of the year. Initially, wanted to bring only 1 battery plus 2 backup.

I found that the original Canon Batt drains very fast compared to the higher capacity third party ones at below zero. To conserve power, I just switched on and off as needed.

One more thing, the batt indicator on the cam is not accurate in cold climate. I once experienced a Ni-MHydride sudden shut down effect using the original batt even when the batt indicator shows full bar. No such problem with third party. So beware.

 

[Simon]

Bring more BP511 batteries.

I was at Beijing Great Wall few days back, the temperature that day was -10 degree, and the battery lasted only 1/3 of the usual time.

 

[rovich]

couple of suggestions. If you shoot - do not hide your cam under the coat between the shootings, cause the condensation will appear just as it would if you bring the cam home, may cause power failure etc. Also normally digicams tend to have lower noise on the cold weather (however noise is not the case with 300d in general).

Battery wise - can remove it from the camera between the shootings and keep it in your pocket to keep it warm - will extend its life significantly. Well, same could apply for the lens not to freeze its AF, however thats too troublesome and preparation fo shooting will take ages And try to avoid continuous shooting digital when below 10C

All these tips checked in practice - I am Russian;-)

 

[mervin420]

hmmm ok. how about for a normal SLR ? consumer SLR like the EOS300.

izzit able to withstand the winter conditions ? snow etc ?

i believe up in the mountains its like freezing, sub-zero temperatures.
tats where i'm heading this december.

suggestions ??? :sweat:

 

[rovich]

hmmm ok. how about for a normal SLR ? consumer SLR like the EOS300.

izzit able to withstand the winter conditions ? snow etc ?

i believe up in the mountains its like freezing, sub-zero temperatures.
tats where i'm heading this december.

suggestions ??? :sweat:

get a full manual system to be totally sure

 

[Ah Pao]

Manual systems still rule in extreme conditions...

Anyway, there's a slight (yes, really slight) possibility that the film might become brittle and hence more easily prone to tearing--but I doubt so with today's film and will probably occur in extremely cold weather.

 

[yamcake]

going to a winter country too...with 300D... got 2 batt, one original one third party, enough? charge everyday of course