ALL: Panasonic Camcorders appear to work in sub-zero temperatures??

[LanceOregon]

Sir Ranulph Fiennes chose Panasonic to take with him on his latest adventures, despite visiting some of the coldest spots on earth.

Here is a link to some info about his latest adventure:

http://seeingisbelieving.org/about-us/latest-updates/getting-ready-the-coldest-journey



And here is a photo of him with his Panasonic:

 

[Barry_Green]

Nice.

We already knew they worked in the cold; the team that covers the Iditarod dogsled race used all P2 cameras, I was on the team that covered them back in, I think, 2007 or 2008...

 

[Zim]

I wonder if in extreme cold if it is better to use the viewfinder than the LCD?

 

[Ed Kishel]

Does p2 have any advantage over sdhc in cold weather? (other than p2 being more physically robust)

 

[Barry_Green]

I wonder if in extreme cold if it is better to use the viewfinder than the LCD?

In "extreme" cold (-10 Fahrenheit) yes, the LCD gets slow and ghostly, as the liquid in the liquid crystal gets colder and I guess thickens up or whatever. The VF worked better longer in the cold, presumably because it is closer to the hot core of the camera. The LCD, when flipped out, has a ton of surface area on both sides that heat dissipates from.

We rubber-banded heat pack handwarmers to the back of the LCD and that worked well.

 

[Barry_Green]

Does p2 have any advantage over sdhc in cold weather? (other than p2 being more physically robust)

I don't know. I know P2 has been used extensively at temps as low as -67. I dont know how extensively SDHC has been tested in comparable conditions.

 

[LanceOregon]

I know that Sandisk guarantees their SDHC cards to operate down to -13 F ( -25 C )

I believe that is an industry standard for SDHC, as my PNY brand SDHC cards are also rated to go as low as that exact same temperature.