Shooting In The Artic

S

Sprague Theobald

New member
Hi,
(This is my first time posting here so please bare with me if I've broken any protocol! I did a search on this but came up empty. I've posted this question on another sire but so far no responses.)
My subject line sort of asks my question. This fall I'll be shooting in the Arctic. While I've been shooting commercially for several years now, it's all been in "normal" light and situations with good contrast. I'm hoping that any of the pros here who have experience shooting in Arctic-type conditions could share some thoughts here or maybe point me to articles or publications which might help better approach the unique lighting conditions I'll be dealing with and how best to prepare for them; rely on the internal meter of my camera? Hand meter? Stop up? Stop down? How best to balance exposure for the harsh white snow and the blue sea. etc.
Many thanks in advance,
ST
 
This is only a partial answer but I'm sure more will follow. I've shot in the Arctic, but only film.

What's interesting is that the HVX might be a great camera for the job, because the problems I saw the video crew having were clipping and loss of detail in the whites, and worse (what actually shut them down) were horrendous problems with the tape transports in extreme cold. You don't have to use a tape drive, and someone must have a scene file they they've been using for snowboarding or such that could help with exposure.

With film neg we typically stopped up if there were dark areas we wanted to get some detail out of, but HD is more like reversal where there is less latitude and it's better to err on the underexposed side.

Another thing you need to be prepared for is severely reduced battery life due to cold. Carry lots of extras and keep them inside your jacket so they are warm.

Also watch out for condensation on and inside your camera. You can go directly out into the cold and start shooting, but you can't bring the camera back in once it's chilled. Seal it inside a plastic bag and wait for it to come to room temp before opening it up. The condensation forms all over the bag instead of the camera.
Edmund Scientific sells some huge silica gel packs that you can re-dry in an oven on a heater and toss in there for good measure during re-entry.

FYI, in extreme cases cameras have had to have ALL of the oil removed and replaced with graphite in order to work in severe low temps, so don't be surprised if the zoom or focus is sluggish. Lubricants have gotten better over the years, though. Maybe you could make a heated barney out of a portabrace cover and some hand-warmers ;^)

I have some great mittens from Norway that have slots in the palms so you can pop your fingers out to work the camera, then pop them back in for warmth. There may be more available these days.

Oh, and our early experience with carbon fiber supports at -50 deg. f was not good.
 
I've shot in the Arctic (look up the Iditarod story). HVX was ideal. Didn't even use a camera glove on it (had one, but it made everything too clunky and the camera worked fine without it). All you have to do, really, is keep your batteries warm (and have lots of 'em). And, take tons of hand warmers, and rubber-band a hand warmer to the back of your LCD. On an HVX, about the only thing that was affected by the cold was the flip-out LCD. The internal camera heat kept the lens working fine.
 
Glen, incredible amount of great information. It's obvious that you have spent time in that horrible environment. I especially liked the info on humidity, it's good for anyone who moves in and out of a humid environment whether the tapes are in the camera or not. I watch a program on Everest on Discovery (I think) and have been curious how they can shoot . . . let alone survive.
Thanks
Gary
 
Thanks Gary.

Barry's actual HVX experience is really helpful. I had a feeling it was a good camera for that environment. (I've got all of his DVDs now. Didn't know a master pedestal from a scene file when I bought my HVX - thank-you Barry!).

Some days you can shoot without any special precautions, and others you are the last guy outside trying to get a bag over the camera with frozen fingers. It seemed that the binder on video tape would fail, leaving a neat pile of oxide dust in the bottom of the housing before the heads would wind up a nice salad. Film cameras still worked, but sometimes when it was super-low humidity there were little static electricity "lightning" exposures. Never determined if it happened in the camera or the lab in Finland.
 
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