Snow/cold weather

TMY

TMY

Well-known member
I'm heading back home to Anchorage for about a week in December and I'm going to be doing some shooting (timelapse, scenery, b-roll stuff).

How well does the DVX handle cold temperatures for extended periods of time? Do I have to worry about anything freezing?

I was browsing the B&H catalog/novel and saw they had a warm cover (like a rain slick but for cold) Do I need this or will a rain slick suffice?

Any tips for bringing the best image out of a snow filled scene?
 
I remember reading an article,(not sure if it was on these boards), about a guy who was filming with the DVX up in the arctic in temperatures around -27 -37.

He stated that he was amazed at the fact that the camera functioned for so long with no trouble whatsoever. Can't recall whether or not he had a warmer on it but I do remember him mentioning that the only issue he encountered was that he was outside filming for about 3-4 hours then jumped into a warm vehicle and the lense fogged up and accumilated a thin layer of frost.

He said that he had to remain in the car for a little longer than anticipated in order to warm the cam up. After that, the cam was back in action.

Hope this helps.

Steve
 
I was going to ask the same question. I'm looking at the insulated case as well. According to the dvx manual it will operate down to 32F.
Does anyone have any experience with colder temps?
 
Take some chemical handwarmers with you and rig them to cover the battery........keep the spares inside your jacket to keep them warm........I have hunted and videoed in sub zero temps and never had a problem except shortened battery life. The LCD screen gets "slow" in really cold temps, but the camera still records fine.
 
I got it down to about -10degrees Celcius. It was perfectly fine all the way without any extra's. I'm always only worried about two things:
- fluid head which freezes up till the point on which it takes an hour to tilt the head a few degrees.
- basicly what Steve said... taking the camera from the cold into warm area (for instance your car or your house) As long as the cam is cooler then the air around it it wil take all water out of the air and condensates till everything is wet. A killer is to take it in the cold after that...then the moisture freezes up the whole thing. So taking it from outside in should be done entirely insulated. If your cam became just as cold as your suroundings it will take hours to get it to normal temperature while avoiding moisture danger. Also I only open up the tape deck if the danger of condensation is over. If it's open I will let that dry for a few hours too just to be sure (mostly while I'm sleeping at night) If you feel the need to capture the footage directly after recording...take another camera or tape deck.

Tips for filming snowyscenes are hard to give. It really depends on the conditions. The harders condition is if it is really really reaaaly sunny, and your at great heights. You'll have so much and different UV than normal. Sometimes your eyes (even though I wear the best sunglasses or goggles) are so ajusted to the bright reflections....you don't see **** true even the viewfinder. LCD even with hood no mather how big is useless. And that while...

A good exposure is most critical in snow. one stop to low and snow will look like ****....one stop to high and all whites get blown out (at least with the latitude of a dvx). always watch your whites. So....bad weather kinda sucks but makes it easier to see what your doing also.
 
had a 200 out in the mid 10's (f) today for about 8 hours and the only problem i had was a sluggish lcd viewfinder. i also noticed that a sluggish viewfinder = decreased ability to determine focus if your subject is moving.
 
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