Equipment left in the cold. What to do?

Chriscooke

Chriscooke

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I managed to leave all my camera gear in the boot of my car for a week :( what's the best way to warm it up without causing damage?
 
take it indoors. it will be fine , cameras are tough as old boots.
 
Is it in a bag?

If so just bring it indoors while still in the bag (don't open it at all) and put it in a cooler part of the house away from any heat source. Give in a few hours and then move it into a warmer area.

If it isn't in a bag, then get a bag into the boot of your car so it will cool down then do the above. You don't have to use a camera bag, although if you use plastic make sure no air can get inside it (ziploc are prefect for this)
 
mart77 said:
take it indoors. it will be fine , cameras are tough as old boots.
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If you follow this advice, fine, just don't remove the lens straight away.
 
Put it in the oven - gas mark 5 - 2 hours.. (No!)

Just leave it in the bag - indoors for a few hours - and it'll slowly come up to temperature.. That'll avoid any condensation when you take it out of the bag...

But cameras work at a huge range of temperatures.. It doesn't feel the cold like we do...
 
I've got it indoors already, I'm leaving it all in the bag so it will warm up more slowly. It's now misty when I look through the view finder though, that can't be a good thing as it'll mean it's damp inside surely.
 
Keep it in its bag and bring it indoors, leave it to warm up during the evening and you'll be fine, so long as you don't immediately take the lens off you won't damage anything with condensation.
 
The best advice i read from a member on here was as above but he took the card and battery out first in the cold then put it back in the cold bag and brought it inside
You then have no need to open the bag till net time you use it
A couple of hours in the padded camera bag to come up to room temperature will not be long enough imo
I leave mine at least over night or even a week sometimes when I next need to use it
 
Chriscooke said:
I've got it indoors already, I'm leaving it all in the bag so it will warm up more slowly. It's now misty when I look through the view finder though, that can't be a good thing as it'll mean it's damp inside surely.
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Ah, that will be because it was exposed to the warm air while still cold.

You will probably find the mist is on the outside of the eyepiece and maybe the lens front element - unless you removed the lens of course.
 
A week seems like overkill unless you've been outside shooting in the extreme cold?
 
theatomic said:
A week seems like overkill unless you've been outside shooting in the extreme cold?
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lol
I meant over night but sometimes when I have no need to use the camera it will just stay in the bag till next time I use it which could be a week
 
Haven't used it in the cold at all. I was at a car meet last sunday which turned out to be a flop so left it in the boot while we went to the pub for some food and forgot it was there. Had a hectic week at work so didn't realise my error until I went to use it earlier :(
 
I wouldn't worry too much. I've just come back from the Canadian Arctic and my 7D and 5D Mark III were utterly reliable even when covered in ice from my breath freezing on them. My Fuji X100 was temperamental, but I suspect I was using it way outside its design limits.
 
Hmm, left in the bag in the dark and warm for a week? Sounds like begging for fungus growth to me.

Cameras are not half as precious as you think, take the thing inside as normal and leave it out of the bag in the light - lens cap off ideally.
 
Chriscooke said:
I've got it indoors already, I'm leaving it all in the bag so it will warm up more slowly. It's now misty when I look through the view finder though, that can't be a good thing as it'll mean it's damp inside surely.
Click to expand...

how can you look through the viewfinder if its in the bag ?
 
put some silica gel satchets in your bag put the camera bag in a room for a few hours, the 1100d has not got the weather protection that a lot of outher dslrs have dont take the lens off it just yet,take it off tommorow or the day after and put the lens and some silica satchets in your bag thats should pull any dampness on the lens
 
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