[LargeFormat] Shooting LF in below freezing conditions

[Dale Dickerson]

Dave,

You left out look over head for ice. It might fall where you are 
standing. Falling ice does things to your head. The camera will be hurt 
even more.

Dale

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
>
>
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