Shooting in snow - what to look out for, how to handle gear?

[mugget]

Hi All,

Just thought I'd ask for a bit of advice and some tips on shooting in snow. I'll be heading to Japan very soon for a bit of snowboarding and my M8 + 50mm Summilux is coming along. I previously owned a Canon 1DMkII and 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L and used it out in the snow a bit. My only 'rules' were to leave it in the bag for at least 40-60 minutes once I'd gone outside for the temperature to equalize and avoid fogging in the lens. And the same when I went back inside into the heated hotel room - I left all the gear in the bag and the bag closed up for maybe an hour or two so the temperature could slowly equalise again.

I just wondered if the same type of common sense precautions are all that's required for the rangefinder gear? Or are there any other special considerations that I should be aware of?

I had a LowePro backpack last time with the 1D, this time I've only got a little padded Crumpler Haven that I'll use in a regular backpack. I''m wondering if I should put it inside a plastic bag as well, in case the outside temperature reaches the inside too quick? I'll be carrying a LokSak in case I need weather protection anyway.

I'm also expecting the battery life to suffer a bit in the cold temperature, not sure what I can do about that though... I suppose in a pinch I could take the battery out and keep it against my body in an inner pocket?

Thanks for any info! 🙂

 

[neelin]

I use my cameras outdoors all year round, and if you "supposed" to use the bag trick, I'm guilty of abuse (I come from construction, and tools are tools to use, not coddle). I don't rely on my M8 much below -15C for extended periods outdoors. The weakest link I've found is the SD card spec. I have best quality consumer cards but their specs. and actual performance don't deal with very low temps that well. There are industrial grade cards that are spec'd to -40C but are not available in many places, and I've never seen one in a camera store. It always looks like my M8 wants to still write in very cold weather but it needs the card warmed up to complete the write of a single file, when it decides to stop working. Actual battery life, with a single spare in cold weather has never been an issue for me. At -25/30 and below I go film and wind slow to reduce film sprocket hole shearing that happens usually starting around -35C & lower.
Robert

 

[21-135 Apo All Good]

Remember that you have significantly less air space between the lens elements with the tiny Leica lens, so all of that waiting you describe with the long zoom isn't quite required. Still, some caution is obviously called for since the cold does take it's toll.

Bring a lens cloth with you in a zip-lock plastic bag to wipe the filter protecting the lens. I would have at least one spare battery in my pocket and another charging in my hotel room while I'm away from the hotel.

Have fun!

Dave

 

[Teuthida]

Don't forget +2.

And why isnt your knee down? You're way too upright on that thing.

 

[Richard G]

My trip to the snow ths year saw my M2 and 50 Summicron take one shot on the piste. The rest of the time I had my tiny C-Lux 2 zipped in my upper arm sleeve pocket. I was worried partly about any damage to my M2 and lens in a fall on a black run, and more importantly, any damage to me from such a brick between me and packed snow in such a fall. I got some nice shots from the P & S set to the Snow Scene. And I never fell once.

 

[Frank Petronio]

Going out into the cold with a warm camera isn't much of a problem and I think small Leicas do better living inside the coat and coming out for shooting, then going back inside. (But if I were XC skiing or throwing off a lot of heat/sweat I wouldn't do this).

I just keep bunches of plastic grocery bags stashed in pockets, the car, etc. and wrap things in them. My winter coat has huge pockets and I can stash a Rollei or 35mm into it, so that works too.

I switch to neck straps from wrist straps so I can hang things off myself for loading, plus gloves make me clumsier. Even my 4x5 Tech has a Domke Gripper now, not that I want to carry it like that but for making adjustments or loading it keeps it off the snow.

 

[maddoc]

After 7 winters in Sapporo, I can state that all my Leicas used there could stand the weather conditions - for example blizzards at night - much better than I. The only thing I was really worried about was to slip and break the camera. I had snow build up a couple of centimeters on my M4-P / Noctilux within a couple of minutes and didn't much worry about it, just make sure to wipe the larger part of snow from the camera when entering a warm room and to use some paper towels to remove the water.

 

[MCTuomey]

My persistent winter shooting problem is runny nose drips into/onto gear. Especially when changing film, lenses, batteries. Echh.

 

[Moriturii]

My worry would be, at what temperature might a sensor start cracking?

 

[MCTuomey]

My worry would be, at what temperature might a sensor start cracking?

At about the same temp film cracks 😉

 

[mugget]

Cheers for all the info. I didn't even think about the smaller lens being less affected than a large zoom, makes sense.

I'll be snowboarding every day at the snow, so I won't have the camera with me all the time (I won't be keeping it in my jacket too much because usually I do sweat a bit, but I'll see how it goes. Bit of a pain to have to take it out of the bag each time) - I'll probably just take it out with me on some nice clear days. Temperature shouldn't be much below -10 Celsius, more likely -3 C or something like that. What really made me nervous last time was actually snowboarding while carrying the 1D (just to move to a different location). It was only my first time ever at the snow then, so I ought to do alot better this time! (Even though it will still only be my third time at the snow and snowboarding!)

That's interesting about the memory cards not liking the cold - I'll be using a SanDisk Extreme III SD card, I used the same spec Compact Flash card last time so I think it'll be fine. Conditions aren't really that extreme.

Don't forget +2.

And why isnt your knee down? You're way too upright on that thing.

That was earlier last year, the photographer never gets photos when my knee is closer to the ground. 😛 Anyway that's way after the apex on a hairpin, I'm looking down the straight there. Not that I do routinely get my knee down, but I'm not worried because I moved up to the fast group (one down from the absolute 'fastest' group) and keep pace with most of them while I'm using Power Pure's and everyone else is using full sports tires or slicks. Getting a knee down is a result of good riding technique, I'd rather work on that instead of just trying to get a knee down for the heck of it.

 

[mugget]

Just a brief update on this, the snow trip was a success - the M8 went fine and no issues with fogging etc. But then I didn't go running outside with the camera, always had it in my backpack for a little bit before first use.

One thing that was a problem was a shutter error that kept appearing. I think this was because I was using gloves and bumping the power switch, although I cannot be certain. I would be shooting and then all of a sudden no shutter actuation and the screen showed a "shutter fault" message. I nearly had a heart attack thinking that the shutter had died (there were only less than 1,000 actuations on the camera before I bought it.) But I turned it off, then on - and the shutter just seemed to reset itself. Then I was just really careful not to bump the power switch. I don't know if the cold could have caused this? But it's been fine since and has not repeated the shutter fault.

 

[pvdhaar]

Bolt, tie or glue every accessory to the camera. I've lost a viewfinder that loosened itself from the accessory shoe while skiiing. Even though I exactly knew where, it immediately sank into the snow and I couldn't find it no matter how hard I looked..