[JoelA]

Brain Trust,

I am contemplating a winter photography trip to what is usually very snowy Hokkaido.

The kit would be the K-1 II, SMC-M 20 f/4.0, SMC-M 50 f/1.7 and ideally two zooms. One would be the 'stack of primes' SMC-A 35 to 105 f/3.5, and the other the SMC - A 70 - 210 f/4.0.

But...since I live in Florida, shooting in heavy snow is not my usual thing! In fact, what's snow? :lol

The whole point of this trip would be photography in the snow, and I'm wondering if I'm setting my self up for trouble trying to use those two zooms in snow.

Does anyone have a point of view on using those two legacy zooms in snowy conditions? Am I setting my self up for a disaster? I keep wondering how they'd work covered in snow...

While I don't want to have to needlessly buy new equipment (ok I ***could*** go shopping in Tokyo!!!)

If there is a good way to do this, or a good work around I'd really-really-really appreciate any advise.

As always, many thanks for the wisdom!

Best,

Joel

[Kevin B123]

The thing with the white stuff, is that it becomes wet stuff when warmed up and none of your lenses are WR or AW.

I would obtain a D FA28-105WR and use that exclusively if I were you. Take the others for more benign conditions if they present themselves.

Also, in snow you will need to over expose by 1 stop generally to make the image look right.

[C_Jones]

If you are in very bright conditions, you might want to consider bringing a 3 stop ND filter for whichever lens you use most or a 6 stop ND filter if it is very, very, bright. It fits on the end of your lens like other circular filters, or else there are others that are not screw on, but the screw on type may be valuable if only using it on one lens. Maybe when you get in Tokyo, one of the Pentax shops could advise you on what type of ND filter you would use for the snowy scenes in Japan. I use Hoya circular ND filters on my lenses, and they work very well. A portable travel tripod may also come in handy if you are doing landscape. I would recommend the Sirui travel tripods. Like I said though, if you can do a little bit of shopping in Japan, they may be able to provide advice on a Hoya ND filter, and a Sirui tripod if you are interested.

Have a great trip.

[Lowell Goudge]

Before the advent of WR lenses people shot in snow all the time. The tricks are, to protect your gear from getting covered in snow, keep it in a shoulder bag as much as possible, you can also loosely wrap the lens with a plastic bag. Keep enough slack between the ends, which are taped to the lens, to let you manipulate the zoom. And focus rings. I even did this with my sigma 70-200/2.8 EX

The other thing that helps is to let your gear cool down, so that any snow hitting it does not melt.

When finished shooting, but before you are back inside wipe your gear odd with a dry towel .

When you get back inside, be careful to keep your gear in the bag until it warms up, otherwise you might have more issue with the resulting condensate than you do with snow. Once the gear has warmed up in the bag, take it out and let it dry thoroughly,

That’s how it was done with film cameras, I don’t see why it would be different today

Also note, WR is extra insurance, you should always protect your gear, WR covers when the protection fails,

[luftfluss]

I've shot with legacy glass in rain, sleet, and snow for years. Never had a problem. I usually use a towel or piece of plastic to cover the lens while shooting if I'm out in precip for a significant amount of time.

As Lowell noted, people shot in inclement weather for decades prior to the advent of WR gear. I guess the most sensitive spot to watch is where the lens attaches to the body, as that would be the least protected area where electronics are not protected.

[tduell]

If you are in very bright conditions, you might want to consider bringing a 3 stop ND filter for whichever lens you use most or a 6 stop ND filter if it very, very, bright.
Have a great trip.

I'm curios about this advice.
In bright conditions, as described, the camera is going to reduce the exposure, and the image will usually end up looking darker than what you see, so I wonder what the purpose of an ND filter is.

Cheers,
Terry

[Spock]

I'm curios about this advice.
In bright conditions, as described, the camera is going to reduce the exposure, and the image will usually end up looking darker than what you see, so I wonder what the purpose of an ND filter is.

Cheers,
Terry

Using an old film camera with a 1/1000 max shutter speed, it's possible that the bright conditions might warrant an ND filter (just as with any sunny day photography). But with a DSLR camera I can't see any reason why an ND filter would be needed.
Matrix/multi zone metering will usually deal with snow conditions pretty well but might still underexpose in some situations (but this is a totally different issue not related to the use or otherwise of ND filters).

[Spock]

As to using legacy zooms in the snow. I just used an A28-80 3.5-4.5 zoom on a Z1P in the (Australian) snow with no problems.
In the past I used legacy zooms in Hokkaido snow both on film and DSLR cameras, again with no problems. Of course I refrained from throwing my camera into a snowdrift and kept it in a water resistant camera case when skiing.

[StiffLegged]

Assuming you’re shooting digital and not film, the above advice about protecting the gear all holds good. I’d also suggest you use the histogram to review images when you’re there - images in snow will have a big peak on the right side if exposed correctly, but beware of over exposing the highlights when they’ll clip to solid pure white. You’ll only need an ND if there’s water to blur or bokeh to emphasise.

What nobody has mentioned so far is you need to protect your feet too: warm and waterproof footwear is essential with trousers or gaiters which keep the snow out of your footwear. Snow melts and runs into your socks which those Florida feet won’t like. Good socks are also needed.

Enjoy Hokkaido, I’d love to go there too! (with both these zooms…)

[mlag]

On the positive side, imho you can always take pictures with any lens in a snow landscape in clear sky circumstances. That’s actually quiet dry, especially if temperatures are below freezing point . Melting snow is worse/wetter.
On the other hand,
keep your equipment warm in bag or coat if it is very cold (< -10⁰C),
you might need to acclimatise lenses when going inside (get briefly foggy),
and for the rest, you just need to avoid tumbling with your gear into the snow, as it can be slippery.

Keep also an eye on your light meter, a white background can fool the automatic metering, sometimes centered metering or spot metering of subject can help.

And photography in heavy snow, I mean when lots of snow actually fall, isn’t very usefull, the reduced visibility doesn’t yield nice pictures.
That’s probably the moment you want to stay inside having a warm drink....unless you want a picture showing how bad the weather is.

[C_Jones]

I'm curios about this advice.
In bright conditions, as described, the camera is going to reduce the exposure, and the image will usually end up looking darker than what you see, so I wonder what the purpose of an ND filter is.

Cheers,
Terry

In case of prevalent glare, the ND filter will calm the glare down to allow for more recognition of the subject matter in some cases. Also, if you are doing longer exposures, for instance on a tripod, the ND filter will help allowing you to use longer exposure time without over exposing the subject.

For most common shooting you may not need the ND filters, but if you want the options that I mentioned, they may come in handy.

[JoelA]

Wow!

Many thanks to all of you for the thoughts and ideas.

This certainly is one of those trips where I could easily just use the "travel camera" -- but it seems like it would be a huge missed opportunity to leave the good equipment at home.

Again, many thanks for the thoughtful responses.

Best,

Joel

[C_Jones]

Have a nice trip.