Camera gear and temperature change

jammy_c

jammy_c

Messages
991
Name
James
Edit My Images
Yes
I have brought my camera and lenses with me for the ride to and from work the last couple of days, and it has been around -1 when I leave.
I was thinking today if it is possible for this temperature to cause problems with the equipment as the temperature changes (i.e. condensation interally, etc).

I Know it's hardly "extreme" but are there any considerations of leaving my gear in my freezing cold car during the evening (whilst at work) and bringing it into a warm house at night? not a problem at the moment as such, but i'm thinking about when the temps start to plummet in a few weeks and it's -10°c again! :eek: it's quite possible that it could see 30-odd degrees of temp change within a short period of time.
 
Last edited:
Keep it in a closed bag so that the temperature change is slowed down.
 
If your camera is out in the cold and gets brought into the warm it can cause condensation problems especially with the lens

Best bet is to put it in a plastic bag and seal it up whilst still out ine the cold

Bring it in and leave it in a cool room for a fair while before fetching it out of the bag again
 
I just leave my kit in the bag and bring that into progressively warmer rooms. Then take out after a couple of hours. Seems to work. Mind you I don't leave kit in the car so it just gets whatever temps I'm subjected to when outside.
 
Last edited:
i do the same as others have said, Keep it in the bag and let it gradually warm up,

also you know the little packs of silica gel you get in shoes and other stuff. I've picked up a few of them and stick them in the camera bag, excellent at picking up excess moisture in the bag!
 
Rusty1 said:
also you know the little packs of silica gel you get in shoes and other stuff. I've picked up a few of them and stick them in the camera bag, excellent at picking up excess moisture in the bag!
Click to expand...

No they're not and you are wasting your time. Silica gel is only effective in an airtight sealed environment, which a camera bag isn't. The small bags found in product packaging will be saturated in a short time and ineffective.
 
MisterE said:
No they're not and you are wasting your time. Silica gel is only effective in an airtight sealed environment, which a camera bag isn't. The small bags found in product packaging will be saturated in a short time and ineffective.
Click to expand...

He's right - they're just sucking moisture from the atmosphere unless the bag is hermetically sealed, like a Peli-Case.

In the UK it's not so much of a drama - keep the cameras in a closed camera bag when moving from one environment to another and allow a couploe of hours for the kit to change if you can.
Less of a problem going from warm to cold than it is from cold to warm/humid.
 
I had to leave my old hybrid in the boot of a car for a couple of days a few winters ago and when i got it out the lens was full of condensation and completely unusable, after leaving it a few days in the warm it was fine again and as far as i know still working perfect to this day.
Certainly not something i`d want to do again and cant imagine it would of done the electronics much good if i`d of tried using it though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top