Extreme Cold Question

[Weldon Brewster]

How cold can it be for a digital back to still operate?  I'm from Los Angeles on assignment in Minnesota it seems pretty cold.  It's minus 24 C or minus 11F outside right now.  Is there anything I should be aware of?  I'm  planning on hopping out of the truck and to start shooting as fast as possible :-)

Thanks,
Weldon

[jecxz]

How cold can it be for a digital back to still operate?  I'm from Los Angeles on assignment in Minnesota it seems pretty cold.  It's minus 24 C or minus 11F outside right now.  Is there anything I should be aware of?  I'm  planning on hopping out of the truck and to start shooting as fast as possible :-)

Thanks,
Weldon

In these conditions I do the same. Batteries don't last long, carry a lot and expect to change them often. I have not had camera issues in extreme cold, just low battery life. Good luck.

[thsinar]

Weldon,

you should have no problem at all, except for the batteries and as said by Derek already. Try to keep them warm.

Best regards,
Thierry

[Alexandre Buisse]

And also be very careful with condensation. Don't breathe too close to the camera and when you go in and out of heated buildings, allow time for the camera to adjust temperature. It's often better to leave the gear (that doesn't include batteries, of course) in unheated places if you know that you won't be inside for very long, as the worst that you could do would be to go in with cold gear, have a lot of condensation form on the glass and then go back out before it dissipated and have it freeze instantly.

[yaya]

How cold can it be for a digital back to still operate?  I'm from Los Angeles on assignment in Minnesota it seems pretty cold.  It's minus 24 C or minus 11F outside right now.  Is there anything I should be aware of?  I'm  planning on hopping out of the truck and to start shooting as fast as possible :-)

Thanks,
Weldon

Maybe not relevant right now but some backs can use an external 12V power source such as quantum battery and that source can be kept warm under a coat or covered with chemical hand warmers.

Might be useful next time...

Yair

[clawery]

Phase One has tested their backs in severe temperatures.  Here is a link showing a P30+ at -79 degrees celsius.

http://www.phaseone.com/Content/p1digitalb...treme/Cold.aspx

I have had to shoot in a freezer before and I would highly recommend watching any cables that you expose to the cold.
They get very brittle and can snap.

Chris Lawery
Sales Manager
chris@captureintegration.com
Capture Integration, Phase One Dealer of the Year

877-217-9870 | National  Atlanta / Miami
404-234-5195 | Cell  
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[NBP]

I would highly recommend watching any cables that you expose to the cold.
They get very brittle and can snap.

This.

I was 3000m up a mountain for an ad shoot a couple of weeks ago,  -9ºC.
I didn't even entertain batteries. Just took a small geny up there & shot tethered.
If you've got the luxury of being close to your truck, I'd plug in if you can.

[Weldon Brewster]

Thanks to all for your replies.  We finished relatively quickly.  Everything went ok although I did get a high temperature warning on the digital back.  It's an older Imacon maybe it got confused:-)

The images do look slightly different almost like there was some type of reciprocity failure. Exposures were off by about 2/3 of a stop and everything was way too blue shot on the standard daylight setting.  Easily fixed though.  Do digital backs have reciprocity failure?  That is to say, does the CCD respond to light differently at different temperatures?

Peace,
Weldon

[david o]

And also be very careful with condensation. Don't breathe too close to the camera and when you go in and out of heated buildings, allow time for the camera to adjust temperature. It's often better to leave the gear (that doesn't include batteries, of course) in unheated places if you know that you won't be inside for very long, as the worst that you could do would be to go in with cold gear, have a lot of condensation form on the glass and then go back out before it dissipated and have it freeze instantly.

to prevent such problem when shooting in cold weather and having to go back in I put before going back in the cold gear in ziplock. When inside wait until the camera comes back to room temp and let her free.

[wolfnowl]

I don't have anything to add about digital from what's already been mentioned, but the question brought back memories of working with film in really cold conditions - static sparks because everything was so dry, and somewhere around -40 or so film becomes really brittle.  Look at it funny and it just shatters right there in the camera.  Chalk up one more for digital...

Mike.