[LargeFormat] Shooting LF in below freezing conditions

[Jim Hemenway]

Dave:

Great!  I wish I had this before venturing out with the 11x14 to capture
the Twisted Tree in January.

-- 
Jim - http://www.hemenway.com



Dave Hornford wrote:
> 
> 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