New vs Old

[john neal]

We had a snowfall here last night, only 4" but quite unusual for where I live near the sea, and the early sunshine this morning tempted me out with the 2 cameras that currently had film in them:-

1931 Leica 1C with 1935 Zeiss Sonnar f2 (own conversion to LTM)

Leica R8 with 35 - 70mm Leica zoom, late production so 1988 - 1990?

Guess which one died first (only 5 minutes) in the -5C air temperature? 🙄

I guess I would have had the same result with my III or IIIc, and the MP that I took out later kept on going all afternoon 😀

 

[benmacphoto]

I love using my IIIc in the cold. Never has a hiccup.
While in New York City the other day the light meter in my M6 stopped working from the cold.

 

[hans voralberg]

Wow where on the coast that get down to -5? Why the R8 died though?

 

[john neal]

Hans,

I live just outside West Kirby (Wirral), and it is very rare that we get much below 0C. There was one spell in the late 80's or early 90's (I forget which) where the sea actually froze for about the first 6 feet from the shore - really bizarre!

I think the 2x CR2 batteries in the R8 just got too cold, they are just under the surface of the plastic grip, and I had it hanging around my neck so it wasn't getting any warmth from my hand. The curse of modern "everything powered by battery" cameras (including digital) is that they are just a nice paperweight if the batteries go down.