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Posted by nobody special on 01/12/07 04:40
Much more important than just keeping it warm is keeping it dry. Moving
it under your coat may introduce moisture from your body's
transpiration, and that moisture is the biggest enemy in the cold:
leads to stuck tapes and clogged heads, and fogged lenses and dew
warnings. To go out and shoot in the cold requires the camera first get
acclimated gradually, so moisture does not condense internally.
You don't want to keep moving it from warm room or vehicle into cold
outdoors and back again, then you WILL be in trouble. Keep the
batteries inside the coat under your armpits to keep them warm. If you
can afford a weather or raincoat for the camera before departing, get
it and use the hand-warming disposable packs on it if avilable, but
again, consistency is the key. Don't shuttle or re-wind tapes in the
camera. Just record until it's out of tape, then pop a new one in, very
fast, and hit record again.
Sealing the camera in a plastic bag with dry, outside air before you
come in *may* help a little once you are done for the night and are
going to your bedroom. Leave the tape hatch and other access panels
open all night to aid air-drying. Hairdryers on just the non-heat
setting will help dispel frost and dew quickly at this point, the heat
settings usually overly complicate matters.
Finally, I think if it's a new camera the lubricants in the transport
will manage okay, but once cold-soaked, the platic components will be
more brittle, don't force them under those conditions or they'll tend
to break off. Circuit boards inside may shrink unevenly in the cold and
any bad solder joints may pop under the stress, so baby the camera, no
hard jolts.
Sai Jen, good luck, maybe you can stick around for New Years there in
Feb. I hear it's WILD.
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