How to Protect Your Photography Equipment Against Harsh Winter Conditions
Harsh winter conditions can pose real problems to photographers.
Drained batteries and fogged lenses are just two of the common equipment problems you will have to contend with when you take photos during winter.
Cold weather photography indeed involves a lot more hassles than hot weather photography.
Fortunately, there are several easy solutions to the common problems that cold weather causes to your equipment.
In fact, some of these solutions are so simple that they are often overlooked.
Batteries tend to lose their charge a lot more quickly in very cold weather, which is why it is always a good idea to carry spare batteries when shooting during winter.
Be careful to keep the spare batteries somewhere that is warm enough to protect it from the cold, but not too warm because condensation may occur when it is placed into the cold equipment.
Your coat pocket would be a good place to keep batteries when they are not in use.
It is advisable to use lithium batteries as they can hold their charge longer than other types of batteries.
Condensation ranks among the biggest problems that photographers need to deal with during winter.
It is simply defined as water forming on any surface that is significantly warmer or colder than the surrounding air.
This means that if you kept your camera in a very warm place and then bring it out into the cold to shoot some pictures, condensation may occur.
Just as your reading glasses fog up when temperatures change rapidly, camera lenses also have a tendency to fog up in cold weather.
Even camera interiors can be affected by condensation.
The next bit of information may come as a surprise, but another usual source of condensation is none other than the photographer himself.
While you may already have noticed that fogging occurs when you breathe on your camera, what you may not realize is that your eye also emits heat that can cause condensation on the viewfinder.
The good thing is that viewfinder fogging is usually just an inconvenience that you have to tolerate, and does not really affect the rest of your equipment.
Taking into consideration the causes mentioned above, the best way to avoid condensation is to allow your equipment to gradually adjust to the colder or warmer temperature.
This can be done simply by sealing your camera inside a bag, so that when it is brought into warmer or colder air, any condensation will only form on the bag rather than the equipment.
You may then take the camera out of the bag when it has sufficiently adjusted to the surrounding temperature.
Remember that while you may keep spare batteries in your coat pocket, you should never do this to your camera or lens because this will most probably result in condensation.
Drained batteries and fogged lenses are just two of the common equipment problems you will have to contend with when you take photos during winter.
Cold weather photography indeed involves a lot more hassles than hot weather photography.
Fortunately, there are several easy solutions to the common problems that cold weather causes to your equipment.
In fact, some of these solutions are so simple that they are often overlooked.
Batteries tend to lose their charge a lot more quickly in very cold weather, which is why it is always a good idea to carry spare batteries when shooting during winter.
Be careful to keep the spare batteries somewhere that is warm enough to protect it from the cold, but not too warm because condensation may occur when it is placed into the cold equipment.
Your coat pocket would be a good place to keep batteries when they are not in use.
It is advisable to use lithium batteries as they can hold their charge longer than other types of batteries.
Condensation ranks among the biggest problems that photographers need to deal with during winter.
It is simply defined as water forming on any surface that is significantly warmer or colder than the surrounding air.
This means that if you kept your camera in a very warm place and then bring it out into the cold to shoot some pictures, condensation may occur.
Just as your reading glasses fog up when temperatures change rapidly, camera lenses also have a tendency to fog up in cold weather.
Even camera interiors can be affected by condensation.
The next bit of information may come as a surprise, but another usual source of condensation is none other than the photographer himself.
While you may already have noticed that fogging occurs when you breathe on your camera, what you may not realize is that your eye also emits heat that can cause condensation on the viewfinder.
The good thing is that viewfinder fogging is usually just an inconvenience that you have to tolerate, and does not really affect the rest of your equipment.
Taking into consideration the causes mentioned above, the best way to avoid condensation is to allow your equipment to gradually adjust to the colder or warmer temperature.
This can be done simply by sealing your camera inside a bag, so that when it is brought into warmer or colder air, any condensation will only form on the bag rather than the equipment.
You may then take the camera out of the bag when it has sufficiently adjusted to the surrounding temperature.
Remember that while you may keep spare batteries in your coat pocket, you should never do this to your camera or lens because this will most probably result in condensation.
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