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GH2 in extreme cold weather
  • TraumManufakturTraumManufaktur

    Does anyone have experiences with the GH2 in extreme cold conditions?

    From the handbook: "0 °C to 40 °C (32 °F to 104 °F)"

    I have a shoot Saturday and temperatures are said to reach -20 °C. Batteries of course will only last a 1/3 of rated time, and condensation may become an issue. Any tips on how to deal with this, like getting the camera to temperature gradually?

    http://vimeo.com/groups/gh2/forumthread:249248 has this:

    "D D 2 months ago I happily used mine last winter when it was worse than -10C, but I doubt the internals ever got down that far. I'd imagine the Panasonic specs relate to continuous core temperature and also have a small margin of tolerance. In the cold, it's often the battery that's first to fail to perform adequately rather than the electronics of the camera, or whatever. Keep your battery warm in a pocket and pop into the camera just for the shot. I've had cameras operate well below their published minimum in this way.

    Besides keeping your batteries in a warm pocket, a couple of other good tips for taking pics in the extreme cold ... 1) For at least a couple of hours (the longer the better!) before going out into sub-zero temperatures, put the camera into one of those plastic zipper food bags with a couple of freshly recycled Silica Gel sachets. This removes the internal moisture and reduces the chance of condensation inside the camera/lens. 2) Take the bag and Silica Gel sachets with you. Before popping the camera back inside your jacket to keep it warm between shots, first take out the battery and keep warm in your pocket and put the camera back in the plastic bag. The humidity under your nice warm ski-jacket is really high! 3) Before returning into the warm indoors, remove the battery and memory card and put the camera back into the bag and leave in the bag until it has warmed up. This prevents condensation forming on the outside of the camera. The memory card has very little mass and not too subject to condensation . . . and you probably want to download pics/video without waiting for the camer to warm up - and, likewise get the battery on to recharge."

  • 12 Replies sorted by
  • svartsvart

    Cold won't hurt the electronics. You could let the camera stay cold but keep the battery warm. I did this in ~0C weather and it worked without a hitch, except that the lenses were harder to focus.

  • radorado

    I used mine in -25C/-13F and GH2 worked just fine. Olympus 12mm AFS didn't work after 30 minutes of shooting, maybe it was user error. Manual focus was quite hard in extreme cold. I'm not sure how's the kit lens (14-140) will work in extreme cold weather. I'll try on next weekend...

  • MaxMax

    Use mine at -32, no problem) but with manual lens

  • MaxMax

    Less noise at high ISO, at cold temp

  • Mr_MooreMr_Moore

    Condensation is the only major concern here. Lower temperatures are generally preferable to electronic components (less heat mean less random movement of crystalline grids, which means lower impedance, which means more efficiency).

    However, condensation may inadvertently create shorts between the exposed metal leads, PCB traces, and so on. Impurities that are naturally present in the air will be deposited onto the bare metal when along with the water during condensation. This may set off corrosion.

    Long story short, keep your electronic gadgets dry and let them warm up gradually for several hours after brining them inside from a cold environment before powering them on.

  • Monkeydude5Monkeydude5

    I used mine in the Antarctic just this December gone. Temperatures got as low as -35c (wind chill) and it worked fine. Even batteries didn't exhaust quickly. Only real problem is the LCD did became "slow" and there was a lot of streaking on screen, but recorded files were fine.

  • sugarbellysugarbelly

    I read to place lenses in a ziplock when coming-in from the cold, as a means of preventing condensation within. No personal experience, but Mr_Moore and Monkeydude may confirm?

    Headed back to Actaha, KZ soon and glad you asked, Traum.

  • RRRRRRRR

    The gh2 works fine in the cold, except the screen becomes really sluggish - just like Monkeydude5 says. Can be hard for focusing, even. I didn´t notice much of a difference for battery performance either. Not to worry too much about condensation unless you come from somewhere really humid into very cold conditions..

  • TraumManufakturTraumManufaktur

    @sugarbelly I ended up not having any problems with the gear in cold weather, -22 C. I did the ziplock thing as a precaution, having the camera and lens on the porch for 45 minutes to adjust. Silicon bags that often come with electronic gear can be added to the ziplock to capture condensation.

    Here's the video from the shoot. The back end is from a Canon D5 MKII.

  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp

    Nice looking video! I was only mildly worried for your safety walking backwards (?) at 4.28!

  • TraumManufakturTraumManufaktur

    @Mark_the_Harp Thanks for your concern :) That's my colleague with his 5D MkII.

  • sam_rides_a_mtbsam_rides_a_mtb

    I've used both my GH1 and GH2 for several months at a time on a ship in Antarctica. Spent a lot of time in small inflatable boats - sometimes over 12 hours straight with my GH1 and GH2. Just had it in a heavy duty ziplock bag with a silica gel pouch. Used gaffers tape to tape the bag around the lens hoods.

    On one of my trips down south, my Lumix 100-300mm got stuck at f22 and had to be replaced. Other than that no major problems. A fellow photographer did have some issues with the mirror getting permanently stuck on the 7D and 5D.

    These have all been taken with GH2 or GH1: image image image image image image this is on our way back from the Southern Ocean, where it is obviously warmer - though you can see my GH2 in my ziplock back with the ziplock upzipped: image

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