Question

[jazzodin]

Now that the cold weather is upon us up here in Canada does anyone have any advise on how to try and stop condensation from forming on my camera when I come into a warm building from being outside shooting in the cold.
I once went to a butterfly conservatory in the middle of the winter and my camera was very cold by the time I got there. The conservatory is so humid my lens fogged up immediately. I had to wait for almost 45 minutes before the condensation on my lens disappeared. There was so much condensation I was afraid to use the camera in fear I would damage the electronics inside.

Any suggestions?

 

[Plato]

Try this. I can't promise how well it will work in an extreme situation like you had described. I use it for less severe conditions.

 

[Pugs]

When you're going to a shoot that will be in an indoor, heated location, go out, start your car and let it warm up. Make sure that you go directly from the house to the heated car with the camera, and directly from the heated car back indoors at the location with the camera spending as little time as possible out in the cold.

When shooting outdoors in the cold, before I bring the camera into the heated car, I stuff the entire camera bag into a plastic garbage bag that I seal up tight. I bring it indoors and then leave it for a few hours for everything to get up to room temperature without condensation forming.

NEVER change lenses on a cold camera if you're in a warm/humid environment. That's just inviting moisture to condense inside the camera body.

Basically, in the winter, I'm either shooting outdoors and then letting the camera warm up, or I'm shooting indoors trying to insure that the camera never gets cold. It's a difficult balancing act sometimes.

 

[Big Mike]

I must have answered this question 5 or 6 times in the last few weeks. Well, I usually have to tell people that there will be condensation...at least you already knew that.

You have to seal up the gear until it can warm up. The easiest way is probably a large zip-lock bag...or maybe a tied up garbage bag over you whole camera bag. At the very least, keep it zipped up in the camera bag until it can warm up.