Archive 2023 · Condensation in Cold Weather?

snegron7
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Condensation in Cold Weather?

I'm going on trip where the weather is in the mid to upper 20's Fahrenheit (roughly -6 Celsius), and a very high probability of snow. The indoor temperature will be considerably warmer. Will I have condensation issues with my camera/lenses?

I currently live in a very hot climate area, and going from indoor AC to outdoor hot weather (especially in the mornings) will produce condensation. I'd like to know if the reverse is true, as I have very little experience in cold weather climates.

Mar 16, 2023 at 04:58 PM

Melancholia
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Condensation in Cold Weather?

There will be condensation if you expose the cold camera to the indoor air. Therefore, before you go inside, take out the memory card and battery, and leave the camera and lenses in the camera bag. Bring the bag inside, but don't open it. I would feel safe unzipping the camera bag after an hour, to encourage some air movement, but still leave door closed.

You can use the memory card as usual to review your images. Charge the battery if you need.

Mar 16, 2023 at 06:14 PM

snegron7
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Condensation in Cold Weather?

Melancholia wrote:
There will be condensation if you expose the cold camera to the indoor air. Therefore, before you go inside, take out the memory card and battery, and leave the camera and lenses in the camera bag. Bring the bag inside, but don't open it. I would feel safe unzipping the camera bag after an hour, to encourage some air movement, but still leave door closed.

You can use the memory card as usual to review your images. Charge the battery if you need.

Thank you!!

Mar 16, 2023 at 07:04 PM

EGrav
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Condensation in Cold Weather?

Mar 17, 2023 at 08:12 AM

jeffbuzz
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Condensation in Cold Weather?

Also consider that bigger, heavier lenses require more time to acclimate. This works in both directions. Warm gear in cold air can cause heat shimmer distortions in front of the lens too. When it is really cold (sub zero F) I leave lenses outside overnight to chill. Leave them outside when done if you're going to be shooting more the same day or the next.

Mar 18, 2023 at 11:23 AM

GroovyGeek
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Condensation in Cold Weather?

Good advice above, except that the 20s is warm enough where you don't have to be hyper careful about it.

One other thing to keep in mind - once you get condensation on your inner elements it is difficult to get rid of it without active heating of the lens, there is no air circulation in there to help. If you have dust inside the lens the condensation may enlarge the dust spots by aggregating the dust particles - about the same thing happens when your mostly clean but slightly dusty car sees a very light sprinkling of rain. Finally, I have seen people be paranoid and keep camera and lenses in ziplock bags overnight (which is definitely not necessary even in much colder temps) but bring the camera out in the car for chimping. Which is the worst case scenario - very warm temperatures, likely very humid recirculated air.

Mar 20, 2023 at 09:51 AM

wordfool
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Condensation in Cold Weather?

Yes, avoid rapid cold to warm transitions, especially if there's humidity in the air. Just leave the camera in the bag for 3-4 hours for the temperatures to get a closer to equalizing.

However, the air inside a heated house in winter here in the NE can be so bone dry that there'd be nothing to condense on a cold camera body anyway. Like you, I'm usually more worried about taking a camera from a heavily air conditioned interior to a hot, humid exterior in summer.

Mar 20, 2023 at 09:37 PM

chez
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Condensation in Cold Weather?

wordfool wrote:
Yes, avoid rapid cold to warm transitions, especially if there's humidity in the air. Just leave the camera in the bag for 3-4 hours for the temperatures to get a closer to equalizing.

However, the air inside a heated house in winter here in the NE can be so bone dry that there'd be nothing to condense on a cold camera body anyway. Like you, I'm usually more worried about taking a camera from a heavily air conditioned interior to a hot, humid exterior in summer.

I wear glasses and do 2 hour walks everyday in the winter in cold weather and never do they fog up coming indoors…humidity in the winter is extremely dry.

Now coming out of an air conditioned car in New Orleans into the hot humid air in July is a totally different story.

Personally I don’t do anything special with my gear when I bring it in from the cold.

Mar 20, 2023 at 10:03 PM

Imagemaster
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Condensation in Cold Weather?

The amount of condensation you will get when going from cold outside to warm inside depends on the humidity difference between the two.

Try going from below zero outside temperature into a warm and humid Butterfly World building and see how quickly your gear fogs over with heavy condensation.

Mar 20, 2023 at 10:36 PM

LCPete
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Condensation in Cold Weather?

As suggested already after a day’s shooting in the cold before I get back into the car I change the memory card and battery and leave the camera/lens in the bag until the next day
It’s more complicated if it’s raining I always take the gear out of the bag when I get home to dry out but it’s not so cold normally when it’s raining

Mar 21, 2023 at 03:55 AM


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