How do you cope with the cold?

I've got an idea for a winter project, but I am pretty sure that my 30D will not handle it. I found that my camera will completely quit functioning at very cold temps (-20 and below) after an alarmingly short amount of time. This isn't cold sapping the battery, this is electronic shutdown. The quick release on my tripod handles it even worse, if I'm going after some northern lights, I have to attach the camera before I leave the house or car.

I'm looking at doing multi-day trips on snowmachines or with dog teams, so there will be little or no oppourtunity to warm the gear back up.

Questions are these... What do you use in the extreme cold? Do fully manual 35mm work? Do film EOS cameras work? Any tripod recommendations? I was thinking about upgrading to a better tripod, but it seems like carbon fiber might shatter at that cold. What about tripod heads? Any other words of wisdom?

Thanks,

Skip

Good questions. I've used my old 20D in temps down to -50 or so, but not for long periods of time. I too was shooting northern lights. I just carried plenty of spare batteries in my pockets with a hand warmer or two. As far as tripods go, I use a Gitzo carbon fiber. I've used it also in the same brilliantly cold conditions with no problems. It's always worked very well, and I'm not as gently as I should be. As far as I know, the cold shouldn't affect carbon fiber equipment. It's pretty resilient material, and usually only shatters under a sharp blow against a very hard object. I have used an original Kirk BH-1 ball head - a few years old now, and have never had any issues with this under cold conditions (or any conditions for that matter). It just works really well. I would probably only buy another Kirk head, an Acratech, or a Really Right Stuff head. Hope this helps.

There was a long series of suggestions for keeping gear warm on the general forum less than a year ago; you might find it in the archives.

The consensus was handwarmers and insulation; I use heavy tube socks on my lens holding handwarmers in place, and velcro strips to hold them to the body of my camera. I also keep the camera inside my parka and with me in my sleeping bag.

Electronics shouldn't "shut down;" more likely you are experiencing differential metal contraction (different kinds of metal contract at different rates at the same temperature. That might be pulling contacts away from each other.

I had a lot of trouble with film breaking at low temps, but never a tripod. The extremely dry air at extremely cold temperatures can also generate static sparks on rewinding, which creates enough light to booger film, especially shows on a dark background.

Batteries are always my biggest problem. Cold hammers their useful life.

Jim,

Thanks, found that old thread and that was exactly what I was looking for.

There was also an old thread discussing a tripod problem similar to what I had. Seems like I just need to lube it up a bit.

Hadn't thought about using handwarmers. Guess I'll be buying a even bigger box of them this year.

I've shot for hours at -50F with my MKII and shot for a good long time at -40F with my 40D and similarly with my 20D. There may be some particular issue with your camera because most XXD cameras will operate with no problem (given a good battery) at -20F.

I use a mechanical camera (Nikkormat ftn, Nikon F, Spotmatic, RB67, Kowa Six)... Also my goal in the warm months!