Northern lights

ap0thecary

ap0thecary

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Hi all,

I have seen a few threads on here pertaining to the northern lights, and I am going in a couple of weeks to Iceland. I was wondering, what are the chances of my camera freezing up?
 
Probably slim.

I've used cameras down to -23C with no problems. Batteries should be kept as warm as possible to prolong their use.
The main problem is bringing the camera equipment back up to room temp. This is when you will get condensation.
Water and electronic equipment do not go together well.
 
ap0thecary said:
Hi all,

I have seen a few threads on here pertaining to the northern lights, and I am going in a couple of weeks to Iceland. I was wondering, what are the chances of my camera freezing up?
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When you say freezing up what exactly do you mean? Literally icing over? I've shot down to about -20c with no issue, a friend of mine was up in Alaska chasing the AB just before Christmas and was having no issues shooting at I think about -30c...what camera are you using...

I've had my 5D3 covered in frost on more than one occasion :lol: still worked perfectly it was however only taking photos of out of focus frost by that time of course :lol:
 
MWHCVT said:
When you say freezing up what exactly do you mean? Literally icing over? I've shot down to about -20c with no issue, a friend of mine was up in Alaska chasing the AB just before Christmas and was having no issues shooting at I think about -30c...what camera are you using...

I've had my 5D3 covered in frost on more than one occasion :LOL: still worked perfectly it was however only taking photos of out of focus frost by that time of course :LOL:
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The original post states 'freezing up'. I would assume that means stopping working :)
 
kendo1 said:
The original post states 'freezing up'. I would assume that means stopping working :)
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I've learn't it's best not to assume especially where there is some doubt :thumbs:
 
I did mean stop working altogether. The main thing is some of you have photographed a lot colder than I will be. Anyone have any experience in Iceland?
 
ap0thecary said:
I did mean stop working altogether. The main thing is some of you have photographed a lot colder than I will be. Anyone have any experience in Iceland?
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In that case really the question would be, what camera you using...most consumer grades appear to be only tested down to 0c I think the 5D3 is tested/certified down to -15c

That said the main effect the cold will have is on batteries as already stated, I'd say keep batteries on your person until your ready to use them...

I've used my cameras both 450D (Consumer) and 5D3 (Professional) down to at least -15 and the 5D3 down even lower, it's not stopped it yet, it not even had a massive effect on battery because of the nature of what I do both my bodies are gripped so will always have two fully charged OEM batteries and even on the coldest nights I've shot 350+ x 30 second exposures and had more than 50% battery still so in theory you should get that out of a single battery that is fully charged
 
kendo1 said:
Probably slim.

I've used cameras down to -23C with no problems. Batteries should be kept as warm as possible to prolong their use.
The main problem is bringing the camera equipment back up to room temp. This is when you will get condensation.
Water and electronic equipment do not go together well.
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They underlined bit is the most important bit, even if it stops working because it's to cold it will not be permanently harmed but condensation could kill it.
 
Big Andy said:
They underlined bit is the most important bit, even if it stops working because it's to cold it will not be permanently harmed but condensation could kill it.
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Personally I wrap my cameras in a towel or sheet when I put it in the car this will absorb the condensation in my experience at least
 
That will certainly help matters but you can and will get condensation on the inside as well.

Best to leave the camera turned of for the first hour back in the warm if it's been really cold like it could be in Iceland.
 
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I got a canon 400d with kits lens, tameron zoom 70-200 and sigma 10-20. I suppose a tripod is a must.
 
ap0thecary said:
I got a canon 400d with kits lens, tameron zoom 70-200 and sigma 10-20. I suppose a tripod is a must.
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Yeah you'll need a tripod :thumbs: as you'll be using most likely the 10-20 and ISO400 so your looking at exposures of several seconds even wide open with lens :thumbs: well most lens shooting at night you'll be looking at several se ones anyway :lol:
 
ap0thecary said:
I got a very cheap tripod. Hope it suffices.
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So long as you can wedge it down a bit, add some weight to it etc most tripods will surfice if the have to, there's no getting around the fact that cheap tripods are not as steady as there more costly cousins but you can still make them work
 
MWHCVT said:
Personally I wrap my cameras in a towel or sheet when I put it in the car this will absorb the condensation in my experience at least
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That's what I have always done. Always take a small towel with you! The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a lot to answer for.
Wrapping your camera and lenses in a towel slows the warming up time and seems to deter condensation. Maybe it's an old wife's tale, but it has worked for me for the last 40 years.

And as above, take a tripod and a spare battery.
 
The lower your tripod is, the steadier it should be.
Don't be scared to get down on the ground and use rocks to steady your camera, off tripod. Makes for interesting shots too.
 
Thanks for the input guys. Simple advice like this is gold. I appreciate it.

What are ideal setting for some good snaps? Long exposure and low ISO?
 
ap0thecary said:
Thanks for the input guys. Simple advice like this is gold. I appreciate it.

What are ideal setting for some good snaps? Long exposure and low ISO?
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I always have to prefix this with never having actually shot the AB personally for now at least

But if you want to maintain the shapes of the AB you want to keep the exposure shorter, no more really than 15-20 seconds, so you want wide aperture and a higher ISO, if your after the glow of AB but not as much the shape, then keep the ISO at the lowest and go for a nice longer exposure, I'd also in this case set my lens to its sharpest aperture

Matt
 
One other thing that it might be worth checking is your CF cards.
I did Lapland quite a few years ago now, so things may have moved on.

But when I was looking at this, sandisk extreme cards were the only ones that stated that they worked
below -25oC.

The other makes may well have caught up, but might be worth checking just in case.
 
A sealed body shouldnt have any issues at all. A non sealed body may incur issues when being used in extreme cold and when the body warms up. The 2 biggest issues are the batteries going flat amd the lenses as many lenses aren't sealed
 
ap0thecary said:
^How do you mean sealed?
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Weather sealing offers varying degrees of weather sealing..it's the same with lens some have no weather seals others have some etc hope this helps
 
Is weather sealing something that is only on certain camera bodies and lens?
 
Absolutely 0% chance of anything like that happening to your camera.

I was there a couple weeks ago and can say that your worse adversary in Iceland is the wind. Don't leave your camera standing on a tripod unless it is well weighted down. I nearly lost mine a few times!

[EDIT] Just read through the posts previous to mine and some of the replies are ridiculous. Anyone would think you're visiting the North Pole itself! Many parts of Iceland, especially the tourist-y Western and Southern areas, exhibit temperatures similar to a cold UK winter. The wind chill certainly adds to the harshness of the cold, but it is nothing that you should be worrying about. Don't listen to these scaremongers! :rolleyes:
 
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If you have a shutter release cable be aware that this can freeze up when out for long periods at night shooting aurora. This has happened to me both in Iceland and in Norway. Remote release (battery operated) is a better option.
 
ap0thecary said:
Anything that you would do different if you went again? (Both with the camera and generally).
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I'd have hired a bigger car so that we could have gone further afield. Some of the roads are impassable, but some are manageable if you have a great big 4x4. I'd have also stayed for long. We went for 4 days, but there's so much to do in Iceland that we wanted to stay for weeks! Also, make sure you set off nice and early every morning to get to where you're going. The sun doesn't really fully come up until like 11.30am but begins to set at 4.00pm with it being completely dark by 5.00pm
 
We are there only for 5 days.

I know this is not the forum to ask, but I will try and sneak the question in; what clothing did you wear? Was it extreme ski gear or stuff that we would wear here in the UK winters?
 
It depends on the weather when you are there. More likely just take plenty of layers and thermals, especially for standing around at night shooting aurora.
I found that sheepskin insoles in my walking boots were invaluable for keeping feet warm when standing around. And two pairs of gloves, thin pair for working the camera and thicker pair on top when needing to thaw out fingers.
Its the wind chill that really gets to you.
 
Yay!
 
just waiting for camera to defrost...
 
Don't sell yourself short, I'm not going to lie there is room for improvement in these files but the basics are there and they're not all that far off, I'm not on my proper computer at the minute but I'll stick it on in a little bit and see if was I can offer guidance wise
 
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