Cold weather shooting

[Kyle Kelley]

I'm shooting a music video this coming weekend (on my brand spanking new Dragon) and it's looking like it'll be somewhere in the range of 25-35 degrees F. Any tips for gear maintenance? I'm planning to have a vehicle parked nearby for my equipment. The car won't be running so there won't be huge temperature shifts, and should keep everything as dry as possible. Speaking of which, any recommendations for a good rain cover would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Jarek Zabczynski]

My biggest problems with cold are metal things coming loose. Metal shrinks in the cold. My first follow focus, RedRock, literally fell apart in the cold. Knobs, gears just falling off the thing. Rail components will need to be continuously checked. Also, if you are using big metal lenses, especially older ones, they will get very stiff, which is why a quality follow focus is probably your most important thing. Camera itself should be fine, it generates heat and once warmed up it should hold temperature throughout the day if kept running.

 

[Kyle Kelley]

Good to know. I'm using Zeiss CP.2s so hopefully that won't be a problem. I've got an Axis-1 Remote follow focus that is pretty sturdy, but I'll make sure to keep an eye on everything. Thanks!

 

[Chris McKechnie]

Stick lenses and or anything else that you can't access the inner elements in zip-lock plastic baggies. That way if you do encounter major temp shifts, you'll prevent fogging/haze as the condensation will occur on the bag as opposed to your gear. Always good to do it anyways even if you're not in the extreme cold.

 

[Kyle Kelley]

Is that necessary if my gear is in pelican cases?

 

[Neil Dearman]

watch out if you have carbine fiber legs (I own a pair on my Oconnor) and its cold enough the legs will literally shatter!!!

 

[Kyle Kelley]

Yikes, good to know! Did they shatter with normal use?

 

[David Kuhn]

Takes a bit longer for the camera to get up to temperature.

I generally store my stuff in Pelican cases because they're air tight... if your hardware gets cold you should be able to just let it get back up to temperature prior to opening the case and be fine (though that would all go faster if you bagged the lenses... pelican cases take a long time to acclimate).

That's the first I've ever heard of carbon fiber breaking in the cold... I'd almost say that has to be a manufacturing issue. Carbon fiber is used for structural members on commercial aircraft (subject to colder temps than anyone shooting outside Antarctica is ever likely to see), I certainly hope it's not fundamentally unsafe for cold use.

 

[Ted Parkes]

I wouldn't consider 25- 35oF to be extreme cold so you should be good with the tips already shared. Battery life will be diminished as well. Going from warm to cold at the beginning of the day shouldn't create any issues but going from the cold to the warm at the end of day is when you need to take precautions. I have shot with my Epic Dragon in extreme cold -26 oC was the high… it worked great.. lenses were in a pelican, in zip locks with pocket warmers and lots of those little silicon packets. After each shoot day the gear was left in the cases unopened over night and all the prep was done in the morning before the next day of shooting.

Have fun .. "There is no such thing as bad weather. Just bad clothes"

 

[Jordan Buck]

There is no rain cover better than a polly bag in my opinion.
Stick gaffer where you need to cut holes for FF etc. Gaffer down first then cut into the gaffer that way the bag wont split up.

Good luck!

 

[DC Chavez]

I was shooting at the Continental Divide in -10 weather, all day, outside once before. Camera was fine, but I had to gaff a hand warmer to the back of the LCD, as it was so cold the LCD started to stutter a bit. Once I did that, everything was fine. Bring it back up to temperature slowly when you are done shooting and swap batteries as soon as possible to prevent temperature swings. Also, keep batteries somewhere somewhat insulated and they will last a lot longer.

 

[Jon Carr]

The worst thing about cold is how easy stuff like SDI cables can break, and I also had a problem with that new thin "gimbal" LCD cable, where it was so cold it would make the camera do image zoom every 5 seconds, till we warmed up the cable. Kind of felt like the old redone EVF in the winter days. The temps your shooting at is fine, I wouldn't really worry about it, and there is plenty of good insight in this thread.

 

[Kyle Kelley]

Thanks for the tips, everyone!

 

[Kevin Garrison]

Honestly, you should be fine. Just came back from shooting a feature in Wisconsin on two Scarlets. We were shooting 3-4 hour night exteriors in -10F. We did have a Tokina 11-16 aperture freeze up, but I think that's mostly an issue with electronic lenses with inaccessible aperture controls.

Just give your lenses time to acclimate between temperatures. I would put the lenses in a pelican outside about 30 minutes before we had to shoot, if possible - and then I'd put them back inside about 30 minutes before we had to shoot inside.

Also - make sure you black shade when switching temperatures. =) It'll be helpful.

 

[Michael Dalton]

I think I have properly battle tested the Carbon Dragon under some extreme conditions. Pictured here on it's very first shoot at the Summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro! Use you frozen finger to scrape the ice off both lens and LCD. highly recommended! It irked fine. I let it run for a minute to two to warm up, and all good.

 

[Kyle Kelley]

Wow.