D FA 28-105 WR in the extreme cold?

gdneil · 01-20-2020, 03:16 PM

Hello all...

Wondering if anyone has experience with this lens in "extreme" cold? I prefer M primes, but have been using AF zooms in the cold here (Yukon) at -25c or so. Viewfinder gets too icy for good MF experience.

Have used my old FA 28-105mm F4-5.6 on the K-1 with decent results. Also playing around with F35-105. Realising they could be damaged by this level of cold, but... not as pricey as the DFA 28-105.

Anyway - what's the coldest anyone has tried with the DFA?

-n

**boriscleto** · 01-20-2020, 03:39 PM

Originally posted by gdneil

Hello all...

Wondering if anyone has experience with this lens in "extreme" cold? I prefer M primes, but have been using AF zooms in the cold here (Yukon) at -25c or so. Viewfinder gets too icy for good MF experience.

Have used my old FA 28-105mm F4-5.6 on the K-1 with decent results. Also playing around with F35-105. Realising they could be damaged by this level of cold, but... not as pricey as the DFA 28-105.

Anyway - what's the coldest anyone has tried with the DFA?

-n

Even the AW lenses are only rated to -10C.

**BigMackCam** · 01-20-2020, 05:21 PM

Originally posted by gdneil

Hello all...

Wondering if anyone has experience with this lens in "extreme" cold? I prefer M primes, but have been using AF zooms in the cold here (Yukon) at -25c or so. Viewfinder gets too icy for good MF experience.

Have used my old FA 28-105mm F4-5.6 on the K-1 with decent results. Also playing around with F35-105. Realising they could be damaged by this level of cold, but... not as pricey as the DFA 28-105.

Anyway - what's the coldest anyone has tried with the DFA?

I'm not sure if he owns this specific lens, but member @MJKoski has plenty of experience working in these sorts of temperatures, as I recall. He may be able to advise...

SSGGeezer · 01-20-2020, 06:07 PM

I have used the PLM and DA*50-135 in sub -15-20C temps with no issues on my old K-50 and KP. . I think the major issues are usually just about reduced battery life since Li-Ion batteries are not happy as temps drop

**SteveinSLC** · 01-20-2020, 09:30 PM - **1 Like**

I had mine out in temps around 0F with no issues.

Seb · 01-21-2020, 01:15 AM

Hi gdneil,

I had some issues with the AF on my 28-105 during a trip to Iceland last October. It became very unreliable when temperatures was below zero and it came back to life as soon as it was warm again. I switched to MF in this situations, because it was impossible to get AF confirmation from the camera. It seemed like the motor wasn't powerful enough to move the parts. Maybe my copy of the 28-105 has to tight tolerances that it has issues when contracting. I bought a 24-70 2.8 last month and hope that is more reliable in this situations.

This doesn't seem to be a general issue of this lens because I didn't find anything on the internet when I had this problems. I hope this helps.

sundown · 01-21-2020, 08:39 AM

I've shot with it around -10 C, my problem was the K-1 started metering wrongly for some reason after some time it started underexposing. I thought something was broken initially, must have been haze somewhere.

**RGlasel** · 01-21-2020, 08:54 AM

Originally posted by gdneil

what's the coldest anyone has tried with the DFA?

The D FA 28-105 seems to share some components with the older DA 18-135. After letting the camera and lens cool to ambient temperature for 45 minutes, I used it at -37C. The only problem you will have is keeping battery voltage up so the camera doesn't shut down. The AF motor, mirror mechanism and shutter don't seem to be affected.

Seb · 01-22-2020, 02:02 AM

Originally posted by sundown

I've shot with it around -10 C, my problem was the K-1 started metering wrongly for some reason after some time it started underexposing. I thought something was broken initially, must have been haze somewhere.

Haze could be the reason for the problems I had, too. Otherwise it would have happened right after the warm(ish) lens came into a cold environment, right? In my case it worked good for a while until it stopped moving the af motor long enough to get af confirmation.

MJKoski · 01-22-2020, 08:15 AM - **2 Likes**

RGlasel already replied with -37C experience and it is more extreme what I have tried with DFA-lens. DFA 15-30 WR worked nicely @ -29C as long as photographer and batteries worked (hours). AF became a "bit stiff" (as with all lenses) but I used MF all the time. No experience with 28-105 WR.

In general all lenses I have tried have worked down to -35C fine when doing things manually. Canon, Nikon, Sony A/FE, Zeiss and Pentax. But...be aware of focus-by-wire lenses as they use AF-motor to focus even when focusing manually!!! For example Sony 16-35/4 FE became very slow to focus below -30C but it did focus after a short delay.

Modern Samyang lenses can be troublemakers. I have experienced aperture jam with 10/2.8 and 35/1.4 PK-lenses lenses due to spring loaded aperture lever action failing / getting stuck in moderately cold temperatures. This has not happened with my older Samyang lenses before when I used Nikon gear. Someone is saving costs clearly these days...

gdneil · 01-22-2020, 05:31 PM

Originally posted by MJKoski

RGlasel already replied with -37C experience and it is more extreme what I have tried with DFA-lens. DFA 15-30 WR worked nicely @ -29C as long as photographer and batteries worked (hours). AF became a "bit stiff" (as with all lenses) but I used MF all the time. No experience with 28-105 WR.

In general all lenses I have tried have worked down to -35C fine when doing things manually. Canon, Nikon, Sony A/FE, Zeiss and Pentax. But...be aware of focus-by-wire lenses as they use AF-motor to focus even when focusing manually!!! For example Sony 16-35/4 FE became very slow to focus below -30C but it did focus after a short delay.

Modern Samyang lenses can be troublemakers. I have experienced aperture jam with 10/2.8 and 35/1.4 PK-lenses lenses due to spring loaded aperture lever action failing / getting stuck in moderately cold temperatures. This has not happened with my older Samyang lenses before when I used Nikon gear. Someone is saving costs clearly these days...

Thanks everyone for the info... Might try MF lenses again - just had trouble keeping ice off the viewfinder and such. Was trying to figure out if I could rationalise purchase of a 28-105
- primarily for cold usage, but holding off I think. But then now it's up to -18, so no longer in "extreme" territory. Ha...

bobell69 · 01-22-2020, 05:43 PM - **2 Likes**

Last February I was in Whitehorse, Yukon to photograph the Yukon Quest Dog Sled Race. The race started at -35 degrees celsius. As official photographers we were required to be at the start line 30 minutes prior to the start. I was shooting with two cameras, K3 Mark II and a K1 Mark II. My K3 was sporting the DFA 24-70 lens and my K1 was sporting a Sigma 70-200 OS lens. Both cameras and lenses were white from the cold. Both camera and lenses worked flawlessly, although the batteries were a bit of a challenge. Good thing I had lots of extras. At the cold temperatures the lenses worked well, but the zoom rings were stiff to adjust. All I can say is that I was truly impressed with how the equipment handled the extreme weather. A collection of images taken at Yukon Quest can be found at Collection: Yukon Quest

**jbinpg** · 01-22-2020, 06:55 PM

Thanks for the link, Bob. I worked at Faro in the mid-70s at the Cyprus-Anvil lead/zinc mine. Your Flickr pix brought me right back there.

reeftool · 01-23-2020, 08:31 AM

I have a lot of DA screw drive lenses and I have used them often in below 0F temperatures. My Sigma HSM lenses with the motors get very slow and don't always focus in extreme cold. I can't comment on the lenses you mention because I don't have them but I did have an F35-70 that was fine in the cold. Again, screw drive. My Sigma screw drive lenses work well in the cold also. I have them outside for hours when I'm shooting motorcycle ice racing.

gdneil · 01-27-2020, 04:43 PM

Originally posted by jbinpg

Thanks for the link, Bob. I worked at Faro in the mid-70s at the Cyprus-Anvil lead/zinc mine. Your Flickr pix brought me right back there.

Funny that Faro references keep appearing... Actually that's where I am... A bit more empty than in the 1970s.

---------- Post added 01-27-20 at 07:45 PM ----------

Originally posted by reeftool

I have a lot of DA screw drive lenses and I have used them often in below 0F temperatures. My Sigma HSM lenses with the motors get very slow and don't always focus in extreme cold. I can't comment on the lenses you mention because I don't have them but I did have an F35-70 that was fine in the cold. Again, screw drive. My Sigma screw drive lenses work well in the cold also. I have them outside for hours when I'm shooting motorcycle ice racing.

Great then, I'll stick with MF or screw drive - and avoid the lenses with motors. Thanks.

01-20-2020, 03:16 PM	#1
gdneil Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Yukon Posts: 516	D FA 28-105 WR in the extreme cold? Hello all... Wondering if anyone has experience with this lens in "extreme" cold? I prefer M primes, but have been using AF zooms in the cold here (Yukon) at -25c or so. Viewfinder gets too icy for good MF experience. Have used my old FA 28-105mm F4-5.6 on the K-1 with decent results. Also playing around with F35-105. Realising they could be damaged by this level of cold, but... not as pricey as the DFA 28-105. Anyway - what's the coldest anyone has tried with the DFA? -n

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01-20-2020, 03:39 PM	#2
boriscleto Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: North Syracuse, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,477	Originally posted by gdneil Hello all... Wondering if anyone has experience with this lens in "extreme" cold? I prefer M primes, but have been using AF zooms in the cold here (Yukon) at -25c or so. Viewfinder gets too icy for good MF experience. Have used my old FA 28-105mm F4-5.6 on the K-1 with decent results. Also playing around with F35-105. Realising they could be damaged by this level of cold, but... not as pricey as the DFA 28-105. Anyway - what's the coldest anyone has tried with the DFA? -n Even the AW lenses are only rated to -10C.

01-20-2020, 05:21 PM	#3
BigMackCam Digitiser of Film Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: North East of England Posts: 20,695	Originally posted by gdneil Hello all... Wondering if anyone has experience with this lens in "extreme" cold? I prefer M primes, but have been using AF zooms in the cold here (Yukon) at -25c or so. Viewfinder gets too icy for good MF experience. Have used my old FA 28-105mm F4-5.6 on the K-1 with decent results. Also playing around with F35-105. Realising they could be damaged by this level of cold, but... not as pricey as the DFA 28-105. Anyway - what's the coldest anyone has tried with the DFA? I'm not sure if he owns this specific lens, but member @MJKoski has plenty of experience working in these sorts of temperatures, as I recall. He may be able to advise...

01-20-2020, 06:07 PM	#4
SSGGeezer Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Indiana, U.S. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 4,845	I have used the PLM and DA*50-135 in sub -15-20C temps with no issues on my old K-50 and KP. . I think the major issues are usually just about reduced battery life since Li-Ion batteries are not happy as temps drop

01-20-2020, 09:30 PM - 1 Like	#5
SteveinSLC Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2017 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 568	I had mine out in temps around 0F with no issues.

01-21-2020, 01:15 AM	#6
Seb Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Wuppertal, Germany Posts: 35	Hi gdneil, I had some issues with the AF on my 28-105 during a trip to Iceland last October. It became very unreliable when temperatures was below zero and it came back to life as soon as it was warm again. I switched to MF in this situations, because it was impossible to get AF confirmation from the camera. It seemed like the motor wasn't powerful enough to move the parts. Maybe my copy of the 28-105 has to tight tolerances that it has issues when contracting. I bought a 24-70 2.8 last month and hope that is more reliable in this situations. This doesn't seem to be a general issue of this lens because I didn't find anything on the internet when I had this problems. I hope this helps.

01-21-2020, 08:39 AM	#7
sundown Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 588	I've shot with it around -10 C, my problem was the K-1 started metering wrongly for some reason after some time it started underexposing. I thought something was broken initially, must have been haze somewhere.

01-21-2020, 08:54 AM	#8
RGlasel Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Saskatoon Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,229	Originally posted by gdneil what's the coldest anyone has tried with the DFA? The D FA 28-105 seems to share some components with the older DA 18-135. After letting the camera and lens cool to ambient temperature for 45 minutes, I used it at -37C. The only problem you will have is keeping battery voltage up so the camera doesn't shut down. The AF motor, mirror mechanism and shutter don't seem to be affected.

01-22-2020, 02:02 AM	#9
Seb Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Wuppertal, Germany Posts: 35	Originally posted by sundown I've shot with it around -10 C, my problem was the K-1 started metering wrongly for some reason after some time it started underexposing. I thought something was broken initially, must have been haze somewhere. Haze could be the reason for the problems I had, too. Otherwise it would have happened right after the warm(ish) lens came into a cold environment, right? In my case it worked good for a while until it stopped moving the af motor long enough to get af confirmation.

01-22-2020, 08:15 AM - 2 Likes	#10
MJKoski Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 1,784	RGlasel already replied with -37C experience and it is more extreme what I have tried with DFA-lens. DFA 15-30 WR worked nicely @ -29C as long as photographer and batteries worked (hours). AF became a "bit stiff" (as with all lenses) but I used MF all the time. No experience with 28-105 WR. In general all lenses I have tried have worked down to -35C fine when doing things manually. Canon, Nikon, Sony A/FE, Zeiss and Pentax. But...be aware of focus-by-wire lenses as they use AF-motor to focus even when focusing manually!!! For example Sony 16-35/4 FE became very slow to focus below -30C but it did focus after a short delay. Modern Samyang lenses can be troublemakers. I have experienced aperture jam with 10/2.8 and 35/1.4 PK-lenses lenses due to spring loaded aperture lever action failing / getting stuck in moderately cold temperatures. This has not happened with my older Samyang lenses before when I used Nikon gear. Someone is saving costs clearly these days...

01-22-2020, 05:31 PM	#11
gdneil Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Yukon Posts: 516 Original Poster	Originally posted by MJKoski RGlasel already replied with -37C experience and it is more extreme what I have tried with DFA-lens. DFA 15-30 WR worked nicely @ -29C as long as photographer and batteries worked (hours). AF became a "bit stiff" (as with all lenses) but I used MF all the time. No experience with 28-105 WR. In general all lenses I have tried have worked down to -35C fine when doing things manually. Canon, Nikon, Sony A/FE, Zeiss and Pentax. But...be aware of focus-by-wire lenses as they use AF-motor to focus even when focusing manually!!! For example Sony 16-35/4 FE became very slow to focus below -30C but it did focus after a short delay. Modern Samyang lenses can be troublemakers. I have experienced aperture jam with 10/2.8 and 35/1.4 PK-lenses lenses due to spring loaded aperture lever action failing / getting stuck in moderately cold temperatures. This has not happened with my older Samyang lenses before when I used Nikon gear. Someone is saving costs clearly these days... Thanks everyone for the info... Might try MF lenses again - just had trouble keeping ice off the viewfinder and such. Was trying to figure out if I could rationalise purchase of a 28-105 - primarily for cold usage, but holding off I think. But then now it's up to -18, so no longer in "extreme" territory. Ha...

01-22-2020, 05:43 PM - 2 Likes	#12
bobell69 Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Courtenay BC Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 498	Last February I was in Whitehorse, Yukon to photograph the Yukon Quest Dog Sled Race. The race started at -35 degrees celsius. As official photographers we were required to be at the start line 30 minutes prior to the start. I was shooting with two cameras, K3 Mark II and a K1 Mark II. My K3 was sporting the DFA 24-70 lens and my K1 was sporting a Sigma 70-200 OS lens. Both cameras and lenses were white from the cold. Both camera and lenses worked flawlessly, although the batteries were a bit of a challenge. Good thing I had lots of extras. At the cold temperatures the lenses worked well, but the zoom rings were stiff to adjust. All I can say is that I was truly impressed with how the equipment handled the extreme weather. A collection of images taken at Yukon Quest can be found at Collection: Yukon Quest

01-22-2020, 06:55 PM	#13
jbinpg Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Prince George, BC Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,546	Thanks for the link, Bob. I worked at Faro in the mid-70s at the Cyprus-Anvil lead/zinc mine. Your Flickr pix brought me right back there.

01-23-2020, 08:31 AM	#14
reeftool Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Upstate New York Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 9,555	I have a lot of DA screw drive lenses and I have used them often in below 0F temperatures. My Sigma HSM lenses with the motors get very slow and don't always focus in extreme cold. I can't comment on the lenses you mention because I don't have them but I did have an F35-70 that was fine in the cold. Again, screw drive. My Sigma screw drive lenses work well in the cold also. I have them outside for hours when I'm shooting motorcycle ice racing.

01-27-2020, 04:43 PM	#15
gdneil Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Yukon Posts: 516 Original Poster	Originally posted by jbinpg Thanks for the link, Bob. I worked at Faro in the mid-70s at the Cyprus-Anvil lead/zinc mine. Your Flickr pix brought me right back there. Funny that Faro references keep appearing... Actually that's where I am... A bit more empty than in the 1970s. ---------- Post added 01-27-20 at 07:45 PM ---------- Originally posted by reeftool I have a lot of DA screw drive lenses and I have used them often in below 0F temperatures. My Sigma HSM lenses with the motors get very slow and don't always focus in extreme cold. I can't comment on the lenses you mention because I don't have them but I did have an F35-70 that was fine in the cold. Again, screw drive. My Sigma screw drive lenses work well in the cold also. I have them outside for hours when I'm shooting motorcycle ice racing. Great then, I'll stick with MF or screw drive - and avoid the lenses with motors. Thanks.