Travel Technology - Q? Photography in cold weather

Not sure if there's a more appropriate forum for this, but i'm off to Churchill Manitoba in November to look for Polar Bears.

Anyway, it's going to be cold, but I want to try and get some decent photos of the trip.

At my disposal, i've got a Nikon F301 (lenses up to 210mm), an Olympus OM40(lenses up to 300mm) and a little point & shoot with a 28-70mm lens.

My thoughts are to take one of the SLR's plus the pocket camera, but am thinking that perhaps I should invest in a digital one too.

Any thoughts about what might perform better in the cold weather?

I'll also have my laptop with me, so no problem in downloading pictures from the camera...

Cheers

Tony

There are really only 2 major issues here, one is condensation due to temperatur changes, and the other is that most batteries stop working well under certain temperatures. There are batteries made specifically for low temperatures, or you could get an external battery pack and wear it under your jacket.

Kodak has a nice article that should answer most of your questions:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/c9/c9.jhtml

Depending on how cold it is, some things to keep in mind.

1) Batteries die quickly in the cold. If the camera supports external power, consider getting a battery holder and the appropriate connector at Radio Shcak (probably both for under $5) and put the batteries under your coat to keep them warm.

2) Plastic gets brittle when it's cold, and the grease in the SLR len's also get cold

3) you may need a polarizing filter (or circular polarizing depending on your screen) to get rid of the glare, it may make a huge difference.

4) If you will be wearing gloves, try the cameras with gloves. If mittens, then mittens. If it's going to be that cold, yoy want to make sure you can work the camera with what you will be wearing, that the buttons aren't too small or anything like that.

Thanks - it shouldn't be that cold - probably minus 20C, but we'll be in a heated truck (or on the deck out the back) but I might look at getting the extrenal power for the F301 (that should be straight forward).

I can always pull my outer glove off and just wear the silk liner when taking the photo as for getting to the shutter button.

Will read that Kodak article too - thanks again

Please do not underestimate a point stated by Scotty above... condensation - this can kill your most expensive lense if it turn serious. Beware.

Any thoughts about what might perform better in the cold weather?


There is an excellent digital photography website (http://www.dpreview.com/) where I suggest you ask your question. They have forums like FT which are dedicated to different brands of digital cameras and related digital topics such as printing and using various software editing programs. I would decide which brand of camera interested you the most and post your cold weather question on that board. If you don't have a brand that you are leaning to, then post your question on their "Open Talk" board.

Heated truck means you will have condensation. It can kill your lens as mentioned above (to the point mold can start growing inside), but it can also make your picture taking impossible because you will spend hours waiting for the lens to unfog, and if it's minus 20 that won't happen, it will turn to frost. Consider leaving the camera outside of the heated cab.

Minus 20 is cold for something meant to work normally at plus 25.