Frost, condensation on lens

[AndyF]

Condensation can build up on equipment and lenses during the night when there's some humidity in the air, so telescope owners have dew heaters around their mirrors to keep them very slightly warm preventing condensation.

From people's experience though, does this happen on camera lenses at -10, -20 below freezing?  I expect it would if the camera was left on a tripod for a long exposure at night?  Perhaps winter air is too dry for this to be a problem.

Planning ahead to see if this is something I need to deal with on a possible trip.
Thanks
Andy

[Colorado David]

I shoot both still and video under a wide variety of adverse conditions fairly frequently.  In my experience, you are under the greatest chance of condensation problems when your equipment gets cold and then the ambient temperature warms.  It doesn't take much warming to cause condensation.  It is an even greater problem if the relative humidity rises at the same time the temperature does.  Still cameras are more prone to fogging, but video cameras will simply stop working if they record on a tape transport of some type.  The humidity will condense on the recorder scanner, causing the tape to adhere to the drum.  The device will detect the condensation and shut down.  I've had humidity problems when the air temps were cool and conditions were misty.  I would put a camera under my rain gear where my body heat would jump-start the condensation process.  I was sitting by a coastal stream on Prince of Wales Island (the perfect place for condensation) with my relatively cold camera under my rain gear to keep it out of the drizzle and pulled it out when a black bear sow with cubs comes out of the bush.  I had a nice soft glow from the condensation.  Going from warm conditions to cooler doesn't cause a problem.  This can be a challenge if you're camping and your equipment cools over the night and warms in the morning.  I don't think you'll have as much trouble with ambient temps signifcantly below freezing and with dry air.

[AndyF]

Hi David
A search of the rest of this forum and a shallow search in google didn't turn up other discussions on the frost built-up I as thinking of, so perhaps it doesn't happen in winter.  

We had a presentation from a night light-painting photographer (see www.tatianaphoto.com - great work) and she offered one unexpected but perfectly logical tip: use a snorkel!  Breathe in through one's nose, but exhale through the snorkel so the humidity is blown away from the camera.

Andy

[kbolin]

The bigger issue is bringing in the gear from the dry cold into the warm indoors.  I always put my gear into my backpack and let it all warm up to room temperature slowly.

[DarkPenguin]

Hi David
A search of the rest of this forum and a shallow search in google didn't turn up other discussions on the frost built-up I as thinking of, so perhaps it doesn't happen in winter.  

We had a presentation from a night light-painting photographer (see www.tatianaphoto.com - great work) and she offered one unexpected but perfectly logical tip: use a snorkel!  Breathe in through one's nose, but exhale through the snorkel so the humidity is blown away from the camera.

Andy

The key thing I've found is to just not exhale into the back of the camera.

[wolfnowl]

I can see this might be a problem if you left the camera set up outside overnight - frost, like dew, doesn't care what it clings to.  In my experience, though, it isn't a problem when using the camera - even if you breathe on the lens and it frosts over, usually this will evaporate away just as it does in summer (still a good idea to avoid it).  As has been said already, the bigger issue is bringing the camera inside where its warm.  Many people use Ziplocks or plastic bags to wrap around their equipment before bringing it in.  A bigger problem with film was it getting brittle, but you need about -40 or below for that to be a real problem.

Mike.

[Anders P]

The bigger issue is bringing in the gear from the dry cold into the warm indoors.  I always put my gear into my backpack and let it all warm up to room temperature slowly.

I agree, the biggest issue is bringing the gear indoors. I mainly photograph architecture here in Helsinki, Finland. Temperatures often fall to -10C and up to -20C degrees. I haven't had any problems with condensation but what tends to happen is that my lenses get slightly jammed in low temperatures. Anyways, my experience is that the photographer freezes before the gear  

//Anders

[BernardLanguillier]

Anyways, my experience is that the photographer freezes before the gear  

That happened to me yesterday again when I was shooting this...



I always try to keep cold gear in the bag for an hour or some when coming back in from the cold.

Cheers,
Bernard

[evonzz]

I always try to keep cold gear in the bag for an hour or some when coming back in from the cold.

Cheers,
Bernard

i was shooting in harbin last year at around -15 to -30C. shooting film, i unloaded my backs outside before heading in.  at the end of the day, all lenses and bodies were bagged in snaplock bags and returned to camera bag where they slept in hotel room.  next morning went out and once outside removed gear from plastic and continued shooting.  by the morning camera had 'equalised' with ambient temp in hotel room so could have removed from bags if needed.

biggest problem was camera battery running low due to cold, so take spares.  i was shooting on RZ67.

As someone said above, hands freeze before the gear.

Oh - and do not use a metal tripod - go for carbon fibre at best.

[DarkPenguin]

Oh - and do not use a metal tripod - go for carbon fibre at best.

And watch out for the ball head.  I have a nice CF tripod with padded legs.  Touch that ballhead with a bare hand and it will pull the heat out of your body in a nanosecond.

[BernardLanguillier]

And watch out for the ball head.  I have a nice CF tripod with padded legs.  Touch that ballhead with a bare hand and it will pull the heat out of your body in a nanosecond.

The ball head is indeed often the weak link, not just in terms of cold transmission to the body, but also in terms of it freezing solid if snow or ice gathers in the plate support.

That happened to be last weekend again because of snow falling from tree branches. I almost missed some images because of that.

Gitzo tripo legs also sometimes freeze solid when shooting in cold snow/ice country, specifically the lower section connection part. Having some form of heating device can come handy, but the tripod will most likely refreeze immeditately if the melted water is not wiped very carefully (which is almost impossible since there is often water on the inside sections of the legs also).

In the end, the motto is often "use what still isn't frozen to the best of its abilities".

Cheers,
Bernard