Heat affects on the DSLR

[rgregory1965]

I live in AZ, I take my D7000 and lenes everyplace I go....there kept in a Tamrac 5788 Evolution 8 pack....In the summer it can get close to 150 degrees inside a closed car......would the gear be damaged left in the car.....

I can bring it inside which I plan to do....im just curious if the heat will affect anything.

Thanks

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Mine D7000 survived at mega-heat levels when i took a big bike off-raoding in your desert last July on a cross country trip. matter of fact it was so hot at times during that week I was surprised all the plastic parts didn't melt.

It was so hot when i took this snapshot pic I set it on the tripod:

 

[rgregory1965]

good to know, thanks

 

[2WheelPhoto]

good to know, thanks

Welcome, hey FYI also I found a polarizor filter most useful when i was out there too

 

[SCraig]

Welcome, hey FYI also I found a polarizor filter most useful when i was out there too

So did I ...

 

[jamesbjenkins]

As a rule, electronics of any type are not a fan of excessive heat. Circuits and circuit boards really don't appreciate long term exposure to high heat. If you can do something to avoid leaving your gear in the oven for hours at a time, it's definitely a good idea.

 

[STM]

In AZ I would be willing to bet it gets a lot hotter in a car than 150. I live in NW FL and it can get higher than that here, not to mention blinding himidity! High heat is the enemy of all electronics, camera or otherwise. It also does not do the silicon metering cells any good either. Additionally, at that temperatures, the cements that hold rubber gripping surfaces to the outside of most cameras begin to lose their adhesiveness and the rubber can start peeling off. I am not sure what it does to batteries but I am sure it does not do them any good either.

All potential damage to the camera aside. I personally would never leave it in the car, if not for the heat, then purely for security reasons.

 

[STM]

Mine D7000 survived at mega-heat levels when i took a big bike off-raoding in your desert last July on a cross country trip. matter of fact it was so hot at times during that week I was surprised all the plastic parts didn't melt.

It was so hot when i took this snapshot pic I set it on the tripod:

I am sure the heat where you were was not in excess of 160 degrees, which is an easily achievable temperature inside a car. The hottest I have ever been in my life was 140 and that was in Baghdad in August!

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Mine D7000 survived at mega-heat levels when i took a big bike off-raoding in your desert last July on a cross country trip. matter of fact it was so hot at times during that week I was surprised all the plastic parts didn't melt.

It was so hot when i took this snapshot pic I set it on the tripod:

I am sure the heat where you were was not in excess of 160 degrees, which is an easily achievable temperature inside a car. The hottest I have ever been in my life was 140 and that was in Baghdad in August!

The camera was in the case (luggage) mounted to the sides of the bike over the exhaust. It was frying in that desert heat the whole week i was there. And two weeks later when I went to Key West for Key lime pie. The bike cases were so hot couldn't put your finger on the paint for too long.

State Farm insures my gear had it been damaged, thats why I buy insurance. But the Nikon passed the fire pit test. I was in Saudi, I know it gets hot over there! =)

 

[KmH]

Whenever possible, avoid heat-soaking your camera gear.

A lot of what image noise is, is thermal noise.

A DLSR heat-soaked in a 170° car will lose some amount of ISO performance to thermal noise from having a hot image sensor.

The image sensor is an analog device, not a digital device. Electrical power applied to the image sensor gets converted into heat by the inherent resistance of the multi-millions of transistors that are an image sensor.
Each pixel is a group of up to 6 transistors. So a 16 MP CMOS image sensor has almost 100,000,000 transistors on it, not counting the transistors in the signal amplifiers and A/D converter that also reside on the image sensor chip.

Other considerations are how the heat negatively impacts shutter and battery life. The shutter is mechanical and some lubricants are used in it's operation. Heat makes the lubricates more viscous, and they don't lubricate as effectively.

So, while there are no short term effects beyond a slight decrease in ISO performance, the heat does involve long term consequences.

 

[Garbz]

While heat will likely not damage stored electronics too much the glue holding the rubber grips on doesn't fare too well in excessive heat.

 

[ArcaneExposure]

I try to put my gear in a decent foam ice chest, or even one of those silver bags with a foam lining inside. also helps deter thieves...

 

[sm4him]

Gets pretty blazing hot in my neck of the woods too.

If I must keep my camera gear in the car for a prolonged period of time, I put it in the trunk, as far back in the trunk as I can, so that it's in the coolest spot of the car, and I cover it with stuff, even though it's already in my LowePro bag. IF I planned ahead, I also usually have a large insulated bag I can put it in, but I've found that just covering it with other stuff works about as well.

I prefer the trunk for security reasons as well as heat protection, but if you MUST leave it in the car (for instance, if you have a truck or some other vehicle without a trunk), get one of those windshield heat reflectors; or even two, one for the front and one for the back. I've read that they can reduce the interior temp in the car by 40+ degrees.