Egads: The cold!

[kiss-o-matic]

I've relocated from the calming prairies of Tokyo, to the sunny shores of Chicago. I went for a quick walk today at lunch to finish up a roll. I think at the time it was 3F. (Yikes). After about 15 minutes, my CLE stopped working (shutter wouldn't go, and the LEDs wren't lighting u)p. I thought it might have been the batteries, but it started working again after it warmed up. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[leicapixie]

Winter separates the good from the bad..
Older cameras not serviced tend to jam..
My Pentax never works properly in icy weather.
My Collapsible Summicron locks in focus..
Batteries simply die!
My old Nikon-F just goes and goes..
better than me, today in Toronto at -14C.
The light was stunning..

 

[Mark C]

Beautiful light in W.Va. today too. I didn't do much with it, but enjoyed soaking it in.

Kiss-o-matic, yes, batteries; they recover as they warm back up. Start with fresh if possible. Plus everything leicapixie said. Ditto the F. I started taking long photo walks right before Thanksgiving and the cold really stresses the cameras. I do have one Spotmatic that has been flawless so far (24F today) but my others have the mirror hang. Pentax MX has been fine too. My old Minolta SRT looks to have a bit uneven exposure at about the same temps, not too bad, but focal plane shutters often start a little slow in the cold.

The other biggest issue I have is sluggish diaphragms. I think the old screw mount Pentaxes forced the aperture down and relied on the spring for opening. That is better for cold; on most cameras the spring close the auto diaphragm, and often not quickly enough in the cold.

A well serviced Leica solves a lot of this, but I've managed well enough with my other gear so far.

Now. Anybody got a suggestion for fairly warm gloves that are still supple enough for photography?

 

[bonatto]

A friendly family conversation earlier today:

A - 'Oh wow, the snow looks so soft'
G - 'I can assure you, there is nothing soft about the cold winters of the north'

 

[Pioneer]

It is very harsh on anything mechanical.

My Spottie still works.
My Kiev 4a still works.
My Monochrom is working just fine. I carried two extra batteries, just in case. Didn't need either of them.

All were tested last week during our quick dip below zero F and back up. 🙂

BTW - I have two Pentax K1000s that don't even know what the temp is. They just keep firing merrily away. I have one that has reliably taken photos at 34 below 0 F in Duluth, Minnesota. I was walking to work because my car wouldn't start! Of course, to be fair, the camera was parked inside all night...the car wasn't. 🙂

 

[hamradio]

It was -17ºF here this morning, but this winter still seems mild in comparison to last...as long as it doesn't dip to -30ºF, I'm fairly happy. It's too cold to go outside and reasonably take pictures anyway, so this is when I regrease lenses, CLA shutters, etc.

 

[Pioneer]

It was -17ºF here this morning, but this winter still seems mild in comparison to last...as long as it doesn't dip to -30ºF, I'm fairly happy. It's too cold to go outside and reasonably take pictures anyway, so this is when I regrease lenses, CLA shutters, etc.

Glad to hear that things haven't changed much.

At one time I was young and stupid.

I'm not so young anymore. 🙂

 

[kiss-o-matic]

Thanks for the tips -- will keep that in mind.
I might take out one of the other cameras and see how they do!

 

[ruby.monkey]

At least the CLE's small enough to shove down yer shorts. Any rugby player will tell you that it's the best place to keep things warm and safe. 😉

 

[Pioneer]

At least the CLE's small enough to shove down yer shorts. Any rugby player will tell you that it's the best place to keep things warm and safe. 😉

Anybody who actually listens to a rugby player's advice deserves what they get. 😀

 

[Mark C]

I've relocated from the calming prairies of Tokyo, to the sunny shores of Chicago. I went for a quick walk today at lunch to finish up a roll. I think at the time it was 3F. (Yikes). After about 15 minutes, my CLE stopped working (shutter wouldn't go, and the LEDs wren't lighting u)p. I thought it might have been the batteries, but it started working again after it warmed up. Anyone have any experience with this?

I had another thought on batteries, but didn't get around to posting yesterday. I had started buying the inexpensive batteries proliferating at Amazon and eBay; I think this started with a recommendation/link from an online photo guru (or jester, depending on who you ask), but can't swear to that now. Even initially I wasn't convinced the cheap LR44's were lasting well, but over time I've satisfied myself that they are a poor bargain. I also had a bunch 2032's, or similar, that are used in car fobs and musical instrument tuners. These were branded with a well respected electronics manufacturers name, but performed very poorly compared to Eveready, etc.

I've been using Energizer 357 batteries and getting much more satisfactory performance. These are a silver battery instead of alkaline; that seems much better in general though I don't know specifically about cold weather performance. They are cheap as 10 packs from Amazon.

There are a lot of factors here, including age of the battery, but I'm not interested in being a test bed for products, so am sticking with the batteries that have been most reliable for me.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Hei, you are getting closer! 🙂

I like Chuck Jines, his 2014 year videos have some episodes where he talks about winter street photography in Chicago.

One of them:
http://youtu.be/5eSLNNquScI

He isn't technical guy at all, but passionate street photographer.

 

[back alley]

I had another thought on batteries, but didn't get around to posting yesterday. I had started buying the inexpensive batteries proliferating at Amazon and eBay; I think this started with a recommendation/link from an online photo guru (or jester, depending on who you ask), but can't swear to that now. Even initially I wasn't convinced the cheap LR44's were lasting well, but over time I've satisfied myself that they are a poor bargain. I also had a bunch 2032's, or similar, that are used in car fobs and musical instrument tuners. These were branded with a well respected electronics manufacturers name, but performed very poorly compared to Eveready, etc.

I've been using Energizer 357 batteries and getting much more satisfactory performance. These are a silver battery instead of alkaline; that seems much better in general though I don't know specifically about cold weather performance. They are cheap as 10 packs from Amazon.

There are a lot of factors here, including age of the battery, but I'm not interested in being a test bed for products, so am sticking with the batteries that have been most reliable for me.

sr 44s are better in winter...silver oxcide...

 

[FrankS]

Sr44 = 357

Both silver oxide, and same size, I think

Button battery nomenclature is messed up, with diff companies calling their identical batteries different names.

 

[back alley]

Sr44 = 357

Both silver oxide, and same size, I think

Button battery nomenclature is messed up, with diff companies calling their identical batteries different names.

i wasn't very clear...i was agreeing...

 

[rfaspen]

Another recommendation for Silver Oxide batteries in cold environments. At least that's what my experience recommends.

My Barnack Leicas don't seem to care what the temp is either. I remember one day in Montana, I was leaving work and accidentally dropped my car key in the parking lot. It shattered. I took a picture of it with my IIIa (I was regularly bringing my IIIa to work with me). It was somewhere between -40 and -50F that evening. And yes, I had a spare car key at home, but getting there was another adventure....

 

[ottluuk]

Right now it's about -10C plus minor windchill around here and we get some periods near -30C each winter. Anything below -15C is pretty much guaranteed to be excellent shooting weather with nice light, lots of glittering frost and little to no wind.

I've never had a serious camera malfunction due to cold. Batteries die but that's why you keep another set or two ready in a warm pocket and rotate as needed. Mechanical cameras should be kept on the dry side in terms of lube – DO NOT get a let's-flood-everything-with-oil CLA. Don't bring an ice-cold camera straight into a warm room where it would become dripping wet with condensation. Put it into a cold camera bag outside and let the whole package warm up slowly.

A good pair of gloves can make a lot of difference. For extremely cold days, I have a thick pair of rifleman's mittens. These have an unpadded extra 'finger' where you can stick your index finger without removing the mitten – to manipulate triggers and shutter buttons as needed.

 

[Mark C]

I may get a chance to try out my battery advice tomorrow. Nothing like the temps other people have mentioned, but after a couple hours at 12F even my most reliable Pentax screwmount got fussy. I'm sure a really good tech could make these reliable in the cold, but it is easier and cheaper for me to just take something else next time.

My only battery dependent full size film camera is a Nikon F3 and I might give that one a go tomorrow, but they'll be an F in the bag just in case. A spare body is handy in this weather, and I actually did move my film to my backup body today.

At temperatures much lower, the cameras are not going to be the problem. And I still need a better glove solution.

 

[pagpow]

Some experienced photographers suggest the best remedy for cold cameras etc is to move to warmer climates. After years of living in Chicago, Wyoming, North Dakota, I found that to be true.