cameras in the cold

[Rob A]

hey guys, ino its not half as cold as some of you lot have to experiance, but here where i am it has lately been about -2 and i was worrying about my camera equipment. especially my canon EOS 300D. i cnt find my intruction booklet and lately outside, when using my EOS there has been a little * symbol to the left of my shutter speed. so... is it ok in this temperature? thanks

 

[Digital Matt]

The * is exposure lock. It has nothing to do with the temperature. The worst that will happen is that you'll probably get less battery life in the cold. Remeber that the 300D is not weather proofed. Keep that in mind, and be careful when you bring the camera inside, because moisture will condense on the cold camera when it hits the warm air. Put it in a plastic bag and seal it up while it warms up naturally. The same for your lenses.

 

[Rob A]

ok, whats exposure lock?? sorry for my ignorance :shock:

 

[Big Mike]

Exposure lock is used when you want to recompose a shot. For example, you would zoom in, or walk up to a person in your shot...take a meter reading off of their face...lock in that exposure...then stand back and recompose the shot. The exposure will be suited for the face and not the rest of the scene...which is usually a good thing.

-2 won't hurt your camera...but as Matt said. Cold will kill the batteries faster and you have to watch out for condensation by covering up the camera/lens before you bring it inside from the cold.

Now go read your manual from front to back...then do it again.

 

[Rob A]

lol, will read it now. ill have to find it first tho! thank guys!! :thumbsup:

 

[Digital Matt]

I'll bet you can download a pdf version of the manual at Canon's website.

 

[Unimaxium]

I don't know about canon's website, but you might be able to find one in some other places online. I know amazon has product manuals for certain items (my Canon ELAN 7N is one example that I know they have... the link is somewhere hidden on the product page as I always have trouble finding it again). I'd assume there's one for the digital rebel / 300D.

EDIT: actually, a quick google search found me this:
http://static.tigerdirect.com/pdf/Canon_DigitaRebel_Manual.pdf

 

[Rob]

If it really is extreme weather, you'll be back to fully manual. I've found that the only cameras which work in Russia or Bermuda are my Nikon fully-manual SLRs. The shutter leaves jam on everything else and digital displays stop working. If it's "computer" controlled, that'll stop working in extremes as well. A cheap really fully manual camera like a Nikkormat or Pentax Spotmatic is a great backup for situations like cold weddings when all your modern fancy stuff packs up!!

Rob