Keeping R*a cameras warm in near-zero temperatures

[edlang]

Hi,

I decided to burn a couple of rolls of film before work this morning. I'm in Canberra, where we're in the last phase of winter and as expected, the temperature was hovering around 0°C at around 5:30am-7:30am today. I managed to get most of the way through my second roll when my camera locked up. Bringing it in to my office and letting it slowly reach room temperature allowed me to advance the winder and depress the shutter button.

Is there a trick to keep automatic film cameras warm? I was using a half case and had my camera in a Lowepro bag most of the time. Could I get away with using one of those squishy heat generating packs normally used to keep your hands warm when skiiing / hiking?

 

[sepiareverb]

That doesn't seem that it should be cold enough to have any effect on operation. Were your batteries old? I routinely work well below 0°C here from November till April and usually get through most of that with one change of batteries whatever cameras I pull out.

 

[edlang]

Hmm, it's the original battery that camera with my R4a, I might replace it today to see if that has any effect.

 

[back alley]

the batteries that come with bessa cameras don't seem to last very long.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Keep it in your shirt, under your sweater, under your jacket.

 

[Soeren]

Keep it in your shirt, under your sweater, under your jacket.

If you mean the camera I wouldn't do that. You'll get problems with the humid condensing (and freezing in subzero conditions) all around and inside the camera. Fresh batteries is the only cure.
Kind regards
Søren

 

[myoptic3]

I think that the easiest thing for you to do is to move to New Mexico where I am. It was 94 degrees here today.