Shooting medium format in the winter

[eli griggs]

I have used my Hasselblads, 503 CX and 903 SWC, in cold weather without any problems. I just watch to see if there is any condensation appearing when I take it inside or outside and I wait for the condensation to clear.

Winding quickly in cold dry weather can cause static discharge across the film. It looks like lightening on a negative or slide. I have had this happen to me. As @BrianShaw states wind film slowly in cold weather.

Sounds like a good time to switch off the Motor Winder's and Drives especially.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Sounds like a good time to switch off the Motor Winder's and Drives especially.

If I had either, I would in cold weather. Great point.

 

[bags27]

I live in New England and shoot my Mamiya 7 and HB 500 c/m in every type of weather, with color and B&W, and have never given a thought to it. I've never had a problem that I could tell.

 

[Eff64]

Wow you pulled some lame advice here! I feel for you.

Reddesert had it right, cold metal going into warmer air will create condensation.

After you have finished outside, put the gear into a camera bag and leave it for an hour or two* so it comes up to room temp while “insulated” to prevent condensation.

*More if it got really cold. Use your judgment.

 

[GregY]

Sounds like a good time to switch off the Motor Winder's and Drives especially.

Not a really good idea back in the days of shooting ski work with an F3

 

[polka]

As condensation happens from warm air on cold surfaces, when I go skiing, I keep my folders (a 6x9 Kiev or a 645 Rodenstock) always inside my ski garnment at body temperature and take it out only for a few seconds when I take a picture. So, the camera is all the time warmer than the fresh air outside, and for the few seconds to take a picture does not consensate humidity !

 

[guangong]

Never a problem with Hassy shooting in subzero weather. Although I have never experienced static, I advance film slowly in cold weather. (Not because of potential damage to wind mechanism.) For shooting in stormy weather, whether snow, ice, or rain, I use an ugly but functional Kiev 35mm camera, more expendable than a pricier Leica or my other cameras.
Going into house, just warm up gradually in a cloth. Even when entering a warm humid place from relatively colder air, lenses will often fog up. After short while condensation evaporates.

 

[Philippe-Georges]

That the most of you never got any issues shooting with their Hasselblad in the cold doesn't surprise me at all.
But as I worked on commission for an agency, I couldn't take any risk at all!
Imaging my gear letting me stand in the cold (literally), the client would have never accepted that lack of professionalism. So having my Hasselblad prepared for extreme cold was what I had to do...

PS: I forgot to mention that the atmosphere inside a deep freezing compound is quite different than in the open nature, for instance there is no wind and no clouds from which eventually moister can fall out. In there it feels like the air is sticking needles in your respiration...

 

[Pioneer]

I certainly don't know everything about cold weather but my Rolleiflex never even seems to notice. I walk in and out at will with that camera and I have used it in temperatures down to 40 below zero Fahrenheit.

The only issue I've ever noticed with my Pentax 645Nii is shortened battery life in cold weather.

I have had cameras with older lubricants show problems at very cold temperatures. As an example the shutter on my Pentax SV refuses to work when it gets to 25 below zero Fahrenheit or colder, but above that seems to present no problem. Still does as a matter of fact. I suppose I should get it cleaned but it seems to work fine other than that so I haven't bothered.

I guess it is possible for moisture to freeze inside the camera if you come from a very moist, warm interior out into a very cold outdoors but I have never personally seen that happen and I have lived and used cameras in some very, very cold country. In my experience, unless moisture is introduced to the interior of the house somehow, everything from indoors to outdoors is pretty dry in very cold weather. I used to keep a pan of water sitting on the wood stove to introduce a little moisture indoors.

As for film, no problem.

Of course, I have never tried to shoot film in Antarctica. :d

EDIT - I should say that recently serviced cameras with modern lubricants have a much better chance of surviving the transition between warm to cold and back again. But in all cases you should do what you can to reduce the amount of moisture your camera is exposed to. Dry, not humid, conditions are always better. Humidity will always result in some degree of corrosion which will slowly affect the small parts, springs and screws inside your camera, particularly mechanical cameras. If you are moving your camera from a warm, humid house to cold, dry outdoor conditions it will not hurt at all to do everything you can to keep it dry.

 

[ant!]

The only issue I've ever noticed with my Pentax 645Nii is shortened battery life in cold weather.

I have the remote battery pack for the 645/645n, so the battery can stay under the coat and a cable goes to the camera. The battery insert of the pack looks like from the original 645, but the cable fits as well the 645n (and I guess 645nii). Actually, I have two of those, in case somebody needs one...

 

[RalphLambrecht]

For most of my adult life I've lived in Texas and California, but this winter I am staying at a place with average temperatures fluctuating between 20-35F. I have never used my Hasselblad in such conditions. Can I load a roll of Provia at room temperature and just walk outside and start shooting? Are there any gotchas?

Yes! I did it in Michigan, Minnesota and Austria without issues. Taking cold into warm is a problem but not arm into cold.

 

[Pioneer]

I have the remote battery pack for the 645/645n, so the battery can stay under the coat and a cable goes to the camera. The battery insert of the pack looks like from the original 645, but the cable fits as well the 645n (and I guess 645nii). Actually, I have two of those, in case somebody needs one...

Thanks. I never considered that. Maybe I'll have look around for one of those battery packs.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Never a problem with Hassy shooting in subzero weather. Although I have never experienced static, I advance film slowly in cold weather. (Not because of potential damage to wind mechanism.) For shooting in stormy weather, whether snow, ice, or rain, I use an ugly but functional Kiev 35mm camera, more expendable than a pricier Leica or my other cameras.
Going into house, just warm up gradually in a cloth. Even when entering a warm humid place from relatively colder air, lenses will often fog up. After short while condensation evaporates.

When I use to scuba dive, the inside of my face mask would fog up as I dived down in deeper, colder water. The way we'd all handle it was to spit inside the mask before putting it on while still on the boat, rub the spit around on the inside glass until it squeaked, and then rinsed in off. That prevented the mask from fogging. I don't recommend this process for your lenses.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I certainly don't know everything about cold weather but my Rolleiflex never even seems to notice. I walk in and out at will with that camera and I have used it in temperatures down to 40 below zero Fahrenheit.

The only issue I've ever noticed with my Pentax 645Nii is shortened battery life in cold weather.

I have had cameras with older lubricants show problems at very cold temperatures. As an example the shutter on my Pentax SV refuses to work when it gets to 25 below zero Fahrenheit or colder, but above that seems to present no problem. Still does as a matter of fact. I suppose I should get it cleaned but it seems to work fine other than that so I haven't bothered.

I guess it is possible for moisture to freeze inside the camera if you come from a very moist, warm interior out into a very cold outdoors but I have never personally seen that happen and I have lived and used cameras in some very, very cold country. In my experience, unless moisture is introduced to the interior of the house somehow, everything from indoors to outdoors is pretty dry in very cold weather. I used to keep a pan of water sitting on the wood stove to introduce a little moisture indoors.

As for film, no problem.

Of course, I have never tried to shoot film in Antarctica. :d

EDIT - I should say that recently serviced cameras with modern lubricants have a much better chance of surviving the transition between warm to cold and back again. But in all cases you should do what you can to reduce the amount of moisture your camera is exposed to. Dry, not humid, conditions are always better. Humidity will always result in some degree of corrosion which will slowly affect the small parts, springs and screws inside your camera, particularly mechanical cameras. If you are moving your camera from a warm, humid house to cold, dry outdoor conditions it will not hurt at all to do everything you can to keep it dry.

It;s true that inside home air has less water vapor in it during the winter. But be careful when you go into restaurants which are pretty heated and the cooking and people breathing put a lot of moisture in the air.

 

[Hassasin]

Never heard, until now, nor seen first hand condensation issues in winter time. I think one needs to try real hard to get that, and by that I mean try what it takes to develop condensation. Temperatures you mention are rather "high" for cold winter (of course depending on one's perspective). Below - 10 C I've only had problems with cold fingers and batteries slowing down quick, little else.

 

[Hassasin]

If fast winding of film in cold weather were a problem, Pentax 645 would have been useless. Except it's been used extensively without film showing any side effects.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Well, I've had condensation issues many times even in midsummer in California! - Simple. Camp at high altitude the night before, then drive downhill fast the next morning, see something interesting, pull out the camera, and it fogs up. It might be relatively low humidity at both extremes, but it doesn't take all that much if the thermal shift is significant.

You guys and your stereotypes of California! - a ski resort was open in Calif last year clear until the second week of August,
and behind that in the distance are much taller peaks.

 

[warden]

Camp at high altitude the night before, then drive downhill fast the next morning, see something interesting, pull out the camera, and it fogs up. It might be relatively low humidity at both extremes, but it doesn't take all that much if the thermal shift is significant.

Slow down, Mr. Andretti.

 

[DREW WILEY]

It happened this summer below Sonora Pass. Got up really early and headed downhill for early morning light at low altitude. No use - all the lenses instantly fogged, and I didn't want to wait another 20 min for them to clear up. Had to beat the PM commute traffic here in the Bay.

That route has recently be repaved, but there are still only a few straight sections on it. One year I was backpacking with a fellow who worked in the Service Dept of a Porche dealership. On the way downhill we passed a trio of father and two sons parked along the road, each with his own sportscar. One son had a Viper and another a Ferrari. But the father had a carbon fiber $800,000 Porsche that my pal claimed was only one of three in the entire nation. He said it had a unique sound almost like an Indy car, and wanted me to hear it. So when they started catching up to us, I slowed way down just to frustrate them on the winding narrow road as long as possible. Then that straight stretch showed up, and VROOOOM, vroom, vroom, all these went past at over a 100mph in probably just third gear. That's where it got interesting ....

There was an intersection right there too, with a Highway Patrolman at it. He just sat there staring with his mouth open; and then he seemingly thought to himself, This is the only opportunity in my life to bag something like that. So past me he went, and many miles further downhill after another long winding stretch clogged with logging trucks, he finally caught up with all three of them.

 

[MattKing]

For a similar perspective on this issue, we have a thread on it in the 35mm sub-forum: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/cold-weather-tips.203532/#post-2750611

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

It happened this summer below Sonora Pass. Got up really early and headed downhill for early morning light at low altitude. No use - all the lenses instantly fogged, and I didn't want to wait another 20 min for them to clear up. Had to beat the PM commute traffic here in the Bay.

That route has recently be repaved, but there are still only a few straight sections on it. One year I was backpacking with a fellow who worked in the Service Dept of a Porche dealership. On the way downhill we passed a trio of father and two sons parked along the road, each with his own sportscar. One son had a Viper and another a Ferrari. But the father had a carbon fiber $800,000 Porsche that my pal claimed was only one of three in the entire nation. He said it had a unique sound almost like an Indy car, and wanted me to hear it. So when they started catching up to us, I slowed way down just to frustrate them on the winding narrow road as long as possible. Then that straight stretch showed up, and VROOOOM, vroom, vroom, all these went past at over a 100mph in probably just third gear. That's where it got interesting ....

There was an intersection right there too, with a Highway Patrolman at it. He just sat there staring with his mouth open; and then he seemingly thought to himself, This is the only opportunity in my life to bag something like that. So past me he went, and many miles further downhill after another long winding stretch clogged with logging trucks, he finally caught up with all three of them.

Did the glass on their windshields fog up?

 

[DREW WILEY]

Oh, that was an afternoon thing. People who drive low-clearance sports cars certainly don't camp up high, or anywhere really. They're reliant on paved surfaces. Motorcycle clubs also like to use that pass, and they sure have to bundle up warm. The road typically closes by Nov. The east side lower down is basically a cold air sink in Winter, and often gets down around zero F. The Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center is there. It's a nice alternative to Tioga Pass above Yosemite, and equally scenic.

 

[kykr]

I’ve shot in much colder temps than that and never gave any time for the camera and lenses to cool down before I got started. However, I do leave the bag closed and zipped up for several hours after coming back inside. Even overnight if possible. Forget something you need in the bag? Just go back outside and open it, then close it up and go back inside.

I've used a Nikon F5 outside in the cold and it has a ridiculously fast motor drive, at least for my purposes. Never a problem with static, but that may be luck.

 

[John Wiegerink]

I remember reading that some National Geographic photographers would take their motor driven Nikon's to Marty Forsher in Manhattan to have them winterized for trips to the Arctic and Antarctic. The main thing was to clean the heavier grease and oils and re-lube with lighter, thinner oil. Seemed to work for them. The only camera I had problems with was my Pentax 6X7. The little 544 batteries just didn't like to operate in the cold. I never bought the corded battery warmer, but did carry an extra battery in its holder in my breast pocket of my shirt, which was under my warm and comfy down jacket. Made for fast swap out and not as fiddly as trying to take the battery out of the holder and putting the warm one in.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I have a remote battery cable for my P67. But I found out it was easier just to have a spare battery in a warm pocket. Once the cold one in the camera warms back up, it's generally good again. Shirakawa wrote how he would go out with about four batteries per day in his pocket in the Himalayas, and that they were operative again once warmed up even there. He did that entire tremendous project mainly with P67 gear.

But one thing I did learn from serious high altitude mountaineers is to keep the camera gear simple and totally mechanical. The preferred model was some kind of Nikon FM, ideally an FM2n (they never "winterized" them). But for maximum portability I equipped my nephew on his extreme Artic, Karakoram, and Andes expeditions with a basic little Pentax MX - no winterization needed in that case either.