Well, it's that time of year again, the leaves are rocketing
downward right along with the mercury. Before too long the snow
is flying and we begin our hibernation from the elements.
But wait! Just because we're cold and miserable doesn't mean
the cameras or opportunities are as well! It's time to start
examining our winter duds and planning accordingly.
Footwear. Keeping the feet warm and dry is 1/3 the battle. If
your feet aren't comfortable, you ain't gonna shoot long. The
biggest problem with boots (hiking or winterwear) is the lack of
cushioning and thermal isolation from the frozen ground. A thin
cork layer or a "Dr Shoels" (non-gel) is a good solution for
breaking the thermal bond between your feet and the ground.
Also, make sure you wear socks that wick the moisture away from
your feet. Cotton socks aren't a good solution. I use wicking
liner socks and wool outer socks which keep my feet warm and
dry.
Hats. I'm not generally a hat person as my hair is still rather
adequate and maintainable. But in the wintertime, I need to
muss the doo and wear some form of lid. As long as it isn't too
cold I'll get away with a wool field hat. It's wide brimmed to
keep the sun out of the eyes and any precipitation off your head
and neck. Otherwise a stocking cap is a good choice as it keeps
the ears warm. A winter parka with an attached hood is
excellent as it helps isolate you from the wind, but isn't good
enough without some other kind of head protection. A baseball
cap under the parka is somewhat ok, but serves more as an
eye-shade thing than anything else.
Gloves. Two layers is good. A thin glove that doesn't make
your hands sweat is very important. It's vital that this thin
glove be as wind-proof as possible. I recently found some thin
leathery shooting gloves that will keep my hands warm as-is down
to about 35 degrees. This glove is thin enough and plyable
enough to change film in a camera without taking them off. An
outer glove, like a ski glove should be a size larger than
normal so you can slip your thin-gloved hands inside. When the
weather is really cold, there is no substitute for large
mittens. These mittens can be very simple leather jobbies, but
size and wind/water proofing is most important. Just make sure
the gauntlet portion is long. I have an old, well-worn pair
that work so very well since the inner fluffies are all worn
away so the gloves slide in and out much easier.
Feet, head and hands. Is there anything else that's important
to the wintertime photographer? Yes. The camera equipment.
Tripods. Aluminum is an extremely efficient material for
wicking away heat from your body. Insulating the upper leg
sections of your aluminum tripod is very helpful. An easy way of
insulating them is to go to the nearest Home Depot (Menards,
Lowes, etc) and buying a couple sections of pipe insulation and
a roll of camo or black ducttape. Your better tripods, like the
Bogens, will allow you to dissemble the legs to be able to slip
the pipe insulation over the legs. If not, you'll need to cut
the insulation lengthwise (there is a crease for this purpose)
and popping them on that way. Once the insulation is on, put
the protective tape on over the entire ouside surface of the
insulation. This will protect it from abuse, keep it attached to
the tripod and improve the appearance. Hint: If you use camo
tape, you'll probably have troubles carrying the thing anywhere
near an airport.
Carrying the camera under the parka. This is a real problem. We
think we need to keep the camera warm. Why? Batteries? Shutter?
Precipitation? It is best to let the camera get COLD and keep
it cold than wearing it under the parka. The air under your
parka is very moist and warm. Going from this warm/moist
environment to sub-freezing temperatures repeatably will cause
you more problems than just letting it stay cold. A
warm/cold/warm/cold camera will suck the moisture right inside
itself. If it's snowing, a cold camera will just let the
snowflakes fall/blow off. If the camera is warm the snow will
stick to the camera and lens. You will experience fewer
problems with the camera if you just keep it outside your
clothes unless you are shooting an OM-2S which really isn't a
good winter camera anyway.
Really, really cold, but dry mornings present another problem.
When the temperatures are 10-30 degrees below zero the lubricant
in the lenses will start to solidify. Lenses like the 200/4 and
300/4.5 can end up being unusable as you just can't focus them
after 20 minutes. Keeping the equipment inside the camera bag as
much as possible helps, but you can make it even better by
placing a couple of chemical hand-warmers inside the bag too. I
will place one of these under my OM bodies (keeping the
batteries toasty) as well as in the compartments of my
troublesome lenses and other battery packs. These warmers don't
get very hot at all and the compartment space itself rarely gets
warmer than 50 degrees (F) when it's really cold out. The
warmers last for a couple of hours and truely make a difference.
If the weather is dry and my camera is around my neck I may
attach (with large rubber bands) a warmer to the base of my
camera with it just contacting the lens.
Digital Camera oddities: LCD displays do NOT work correctly in
really cold weather. Not only do they get sluggish, but they'll
go black or do a streaky, splotchy thing that scares the living
daylights out of you. Don't worry, you didn't trash your
camera. It's best to leave the camera on with sleep-mode turned
off. Let the electronics keep the LCD limbered up as much as
possible. Maybe this is another application for the
hand-warmers. When run continously, the rechargable battery
will keep itself warm enough to not really see too much of a
battery-life degredation.
Lastly, for this post, when bringing the cameras back inside
from the cold keep them in the bag for an hour before opening it
up. Cold cameras and lenses in a moist environment is a mess.
Oh, don't blow on your lens or viewfinder and never stick your
tongue on your tripod.
AG
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