Camera for extreme cold

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ssray

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A teacher a my son`s school is going to the antartic.
Any idea what sort of camera is going to hadle that sort of cold?

I have mentioned extra battries and keeping them almost beside your skin

Anything else or any reccomendations

Ta

Ray
 
Isn't the Pentax K-5 range designed for −10ºC temps?
Then again, would a compact P&S or bridge superzoom be more what he/she's looking for on cost and hassle-free use from carrying extra lenses.
Fujifilm X-S1, perhaps?

Not sure how the Canikons in each sector stack up with the cold, not to mention handling with gloves on, if going off Auto mode.
 
It's not quite Anarctica, but North Dakota is cold, with sub-zero (Fahrenheit) temps common in the winter. I've successfully shot for several hours at a time with both a Nikon D80 and D300 in temps down to -20 F but I kept the camera inside my parka when searching for a shot or moving from one spot to another. Another option is to throw one or two of those iron oxide hand warmers in your camera bag to keep temps reasonable for camera and lenses. My biggest fear was that lubricants would stiffen to the point that shutter times would be off...either that or the plastic parts might become brittle in the cold. Once I came inside, my fear turned to unwanted condensation on the cold equipment, so I would let everything warm up to room temps over several hours in a closed camera bag.

I see no reason that any camera (point-and-shoot, bridge, DSLR) from a reputable manufacturer won't do the trick if common sense is used.
 
hunter20ga said:
I see no reason that any camera (point-and-shoot, bridge, DSLR) from a reputable manufacturer won't do the trick if common sense is used.
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Not disagreeing with you but I wonder how the lens in/out/zoom mechanisms on a compact or bridge camera will cope with the extreme cold.
 
I would guess that a weathersealed camera may be a good choice, but for lenses I'd go with primes so that there's less moving parts and I reckon they are slightly more rugged.

But guessing aside, why not look at what cameras others have used:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=antarctica&m=text
 
I went to view polar bears in Arctic conditions last month. Both my Canon EOS 7D and 5D Mark III (with battery grips) coped extremely well, a bigger issue was keeping my right hand warm enough to function (tell them to take some chemical hand warmers).
 
ssray said:
A teacher a my son`s school is going to the antartic.
Any idea what sort of camera is going to hadle that sort of cold?

I have mentioned extra battries and keeping them almost beside your skin

Anything else or any reccomendations

Ta

Ray
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What everyone seems to have missed is what budget are we working with.

No point recommending a DSLR when the budget wont buy a body and lenses. What type of photo's does he wants to capture, landscapes, wildlife.

So OP needs to provide us with more information.
 
Bristolian said:
Not disagreeing with you but I wonder how the lens in/out/zoom mechanisms on a compact or bridge camera will cope with the extreme cold.
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You're probably right. I was being overly optimistic, I suppose. :lol: But...the small cameras would be easy to keep inside a parka, next to your body except when shooting, so maybe they'd be OK. Or, as I suggested, a handwarmer in an outer pocket in one's parka could keep the small camera warm enough to function.
 
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daugirdas said:
Canon 1 series will certainly survive. The mk3+ have great battery that seems to tolerate cold weather well, when everybody else around are seeing theirs dying almost instantly.
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It should, but it's not a certainty - see the link above to the LL report on a trip in 2009, where a 1DMkIII failed, reporting error 99.
 
It was always advised to have cameras specially prepared for artic conditions. All oil, greece and liquid lubricants were removed. Solder Lead/tin turns brittle and connections fail.
 
Nikon cameras are rated pretty conservatively but were used as standard kit on most antarctic expeditions.

"Back in the film days" they used to winterise them by replacing the lubricants with special low temperature lubes. I believe that's no longer necessary due to fewer moving parts.

Have a chat with the guys in Kingston - they know a lot about extreme cold use.

BTW, no camera manufacturer will guarantee their kit at many degrees below zero. Generally it will work but that's not what they will sign off on.

Oh and chemical handwarmers gaffer taped to the battery compartments can do wonders.
 
I took my 400d and several lenses to Finland in January. They were out in -30 temps all day, either in hand or in an uninsulated bag (insulation's not going to do you much good anyway as there would be no heat generation...) and I had no problems whatsoever. One in our party had a panasonic bridge camera whose LCD screen started going a bit "funny" however. The 400D screen worked perfectly though, no slowness or ghosting. The bridge camera (and the 400D) have always been fine in more reasonable temperatures like -10.

What you should be much more worried about than the actual temperature (and remember windchill is measured on a naked human body... It doesn't affect machinery...) is fluctuation in temperature, such as taking it in and out of your parka or warmed bag constantly... That is likely to cause far more damage than just staying cold!!!

Just keep a spare battery or two in an inside pocket (or if it needs to warm up fast in an armpit) and swap them out when the battery in the camera goes cold, other than that any DSLR will be fine. I doubt weather sealing is going to make any difference, unless you're in a real blizzard, in which case you're probably not going to be wanting the camera out anyway as you can't see anything...:)
 
hunter20ga said:
You're probably right. I was being overly optimistic, I suppose. :lol: But...the small cameras would be easy to keep inside a parka, next to your body except when shooting, so maybe they'd be OK. Or, as I suggested, a handwarmer in an outer pocket in one's parka could keep the small camera warm enough to function.
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Until it dies because the bits inside have expanded and contracted so many times bits start to fail, or the condensation buildup inside the camera shorts something.

There is a reason it's always recommended to keep your camera in the bag for several hours when you go back inside after being somewhere cold. :) Cold is unlikely to kill anything, constant cycling and condensation is far more likely.

EDIT: Actually another question. This teacher in question, is he going on an expedition or a cruise? If the latter he will only be out a few hours at a time and any old camera will probably do (they are unlikely to allow any excursions in bad weather anyway. An expedition he needs to think more seriously about his kit, especially if he's going to be out for hours/days and spending times in tents etc.
 
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It might be a good idea to take a few extra sachets of silica gel, this will help with the cold/warm environments within the bag.
 
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