[LargeFormat] Shooting LF in below freezing conditions

[Dave Hornford]

Gavin,

Although Uncle Dick enjoyed his formative years in a land that has winter,
all the time spent in a tin darkroom extension on the sunny side (north) of
has induced heat stress.

I shoot my Sinar A outdoors in all year on the Canadian prairies and in the
Rockies. There are a wide range of cold issues. Based on my extensive 2
seasons of experience I humbly offer the following notes.

1. Frost.
Don't breath while focusing. If the image seems to be slowly going out of
focus you are building a layer of frost on the ground glass or the loupe. It
is very annoying when the frost is on the inside of the ground glass (I
blame those corner cut-outs). Don't even think about what you are doing to
camera/tripod alignment when scraping frost off the ground glass (see snow
below)

2. Shutter reliability.
I have a lovely Compur shutter that has been CLAed. However, below -15 C it
reacts unpredictably below about 1/100th. A 50th can be anywhere from a 50th
to 2 or 3 seconds. At -30 C it sometimes just won't fire. Now my Copal works
to every temperature I have tried.

I always fire the shutter a few times before removing the darkside to
confirm the shutter will behave predictably.

Don't try to carry the lens/shutter in your coat. Moving it from a warm
moist environment to a cold one will put frost on the lens. Scraping frost
off your lens in the field undermines the careful cleaning done the night
before.

3. Snow.
We have lovely dry powder snow most of the time. Sticks to everything
(prefers the lens in the field). It is wise to assume you have been in the
rain as the snow melts back home.

4. Freezing fingers.
Flip-top gloves are a lovely invention. Cover you fingers when you are
vainly trying to warm them, lets you pretend you aren't wearing gloves when
you need to adjust something. In reality, they spread wool lint with a
passion and the Velcro that hold the mitten flip will give way if there is a
chance you can hook it only some part of the camera. Close correlation
between depth of snow and how hard it was to focus and the odds of catching
your camera with your mitts.

I have a pair of Alpaca wool fingerless gloves (purchased in Chile on a
photography hike in Patagonia) and a pair of over-mittens for when I'm not
working with the camera. The over-mittens are stowed inside my coat to keep
them warm for when my hands are cold.

5. Snow
Makes setting up a tripod a challenge. A SLR focused friend has a picture of
me crouched in a 2 foot deep snow pit focusing, it doesn't show but the
tripod legs are fully extended into the snow. I had tramped the snow down
with my snowshoes to provide a firm base, them stabbed my tripod into the
snow. The legs kept going & going & going. Pushing the legs down is not as
easy as it looks ( think about a downward push against angled legs). At this
point you have 'best available stability'. It is wise not to touch the
camera after focusing. Best not to think about what is happening as you seat
the film holder.

I have added three Frisbees to my camera kit that I use as tripod snowshoes.
Haven't decided whether they work facing up or down.

6. Speed
LF is not very quick. In the cold you slow down because things are more
awkward and there are extra steps - coming in & out of the focusing hood to
breath. This leads back to cold. You are not very active when fussing with a
LF camera. Yet moving the gear (I take mine snow shoeing) is work. Dress
appropriately. I wear layers.

7. Snow
Covers holes in the ground. You will step into them. They will be near the
back of your camera.

8. Bulky clothes
Clothes get in the way. Make sure you can adjust/assemble your
camera/tripod/etc. with gloves/mittens on. My Sinar basically disassembles
for travel. In the winter I'll set it up at home and travel with it
assembled rather than assemble at site.

9. Tripods
Wooden tripods, metal tripods, carbon fibre tripods - they are all very
effective at transferring heat from your hands to the world. Plumbing shops
sell foam pipe insulators. Cover your tripod legs with them or agree that
sum requested is a reasonable fee for a Manfrotto carry sling. After buying
the Manfrotto sling you will realise it is just as cold setting it up. Then
buy the insulators.

Also, the tightening mechanism gets stiffer & looser in the cold. Depends on
the tripod, or for my Manfrotto 191 the leg segment. Tighten or loosen as
necessary.

10. Snow
Guaranteed to immediately obscure anything dropped or placed on the ground.
Idiot strings on your gloves (or over mittens), light meter, loupe, etc are
a great idea. Take care not to tangle yourself in dangling lines casually
looped around your neck, it wouldn't help if you strangled yourself with
your light meter that snagged on your tripod the one time it didn't fall
over in the snow.

Enjoy. The only weather I don't deliberately go out in is heavy rain.

regards Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: largeformat-admin@f32.net [mailto:largeformat-admin@f32.net]On
Behalf Of Gavin Hubbard
Sent: April 22, 2003 11:16 PM
To: largeformat@f32.net
Subject: [LargeFormat] Shooting LF in below freezing conditions


Hi Lads

I'm planning on doing some alpine photography this winter and I was
wondering if there were any particular gotchas when shooting LF for
sustained periods below freezing? (I'd estimate -20C as the lowest it will
get)

I'll be shooting on a Horseman 450B monorail.

Regards,

Gavin


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