[csa]

How is your K-1 working in the cold? Yesterday the IBIS unit failed completely after being exposed to ~ -28C for 4 hours or so. PS would not start exposure, sensor shift did not respond to controls and shake reduction did nothing. It started to work again today after warming up in the bag overnight. It did this with full battery as well.

I would like to know if your unit works properly.

I would suggest something like this, with hand warmers inside the cover; rather than using a camera below the recommended temps, for such extended times.

Camera Covers – AT Frosted Lens

[stevebrot]

With a film camera, depending on the size of your lens, it might be convenient to keep it inside your coat until you actually want to take a picture. You could do the same with a DSLR, though its likely to be more bulky.

Yes, this is tempting, but can lead to condensation problems regardless of medium. Shooting in the cold is a pain.


Steve

[stevebrot]

The K1 has a IBIS defrost mode: press the LV button situated top left side of the viewfinder and wait for 5 minutes or more, assuming you've got fully charged battery or a grip, the sensor should be able to warm the surrounding parts and IBIS an PS should work again. When I take photos by -40C , that's what I do: I press LV (defrost mode) before shooting.

Undocumented feature?

What you describe should also work on other bodies too, though at the cost of battery power.


Steve

[Gimbal]

I was able to continue shooting without those functions. That did not stop me but ruined a sensor shift panorama for one scene.

So the sensor was still lifted and positioned in the center?

[bobbotron]

Undocumented feature?

What you describe should also work on other bodies too, though at the cost of battery power.


Steve

Woah, I've never heard about that before. Do you hold down the LV button for 5 minutes?

[JensE]

Film simply breaks inside the camera under those conditions and most shutters/film transports will jam unless the body has been winterized.

Depends on the Film Base. I remember a talk given by a former co-worker of my wife who has evidently changed film on top of the K2 (8611 m) - even though he had no memory of it and did not know how he did without freezing fingers. He used a stock Leica R6, don't remember the film. Maybe he simply was lucky with both films and fingers

[JinDesu]

Woah, I've never heard about that before. Do you hold down the LV button for 5 minutes?

No, he may be making a joke, but it's just going into live view which runs the sensor continuously. Similarly if you go record a video for too long in normal or warm temps, you'll get the sensor overheat symbol. This is just taking that into a cold temp situation.

[MJKoski]

Sensor was positioned in the middle and did not move when shaken.

Live view did not help to warm things up. I use only LCD display to compose anyway and SR is always disabled. After finding out sensor shift jammed I tried PS and SR just to see what would happen.

Sony A7R2 IBIS did not fail in such conditions last winter even if everything else was kind of frozen. I have tried to use all kinds of gizmos and whatnot during recent years with many brand devices in super cold. Thing is, they just get in the way and do not really help much. Only things which work good are 1-series CaNikons with their huge batteries.

Chemical heat packs do work if the space where they are placed is insulated somehow - like a glove. Oversized diving case could work here.

[Tas]

Digital and film no good, how about plates?

Frank Hurley - Biographical notes

Frank Hurley - Wikipedia

Frank Hurley: The Man Who Made History (2004) clip 1 on ASO - Australia's audio and visual heritage online

Some really good examples of Frank's images in this article on Shackleton's Endurance expedition: Shackleton - Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance expedition, preparation

Tas

[SuperSyx]

I did leave my K-30 outsite at -28 C one night until the battery died. Did a great job for stacking and star trails with around 400 pictures. Stabilization was off since I was on a tripod. The next morning I brought it inside in a plastic bag, let it warm up and installed a fresh battery, worked fine. It is not because that they do not certify the camera under -10C that it will break or have problems. Most industrial cold temperature equipment is rated at -40C and still works in the great north, like mining equipment.

[rrstuff]

I used to use old four-thirds cameras in very cold conditions (night winter in boston, ma), and never had any trouble. At the time I didn't even know that one should worry about freezing temperatures. This was with their entry level camera (E-300). The only other camera manufacturer that could be better than pentax in this regard is olympus, it would be worth checking out if K-1 is not working out for you. With the pixel shift and the speed of E-M1 II you could probably get a lot of good work done.

[lesmore49]

Back in the '60's I had my Pentax S1a body freeze up after an hour or two in -27 F below. It warmed up enough after an hour or so in a hotel room, to start functioning again. At the time, I was working in the province of Saskatchewan, for a publishing company and I needed to get photos..

I've lived in Western Canada (prairies) all my long life, where we get real hard winters.

Four hours out at -28 or colder....you're pushing electronic...or mechanical equipment at these temps.it. Nothing functions too well at these temps, including us.

If I'm out at these temps, I usually try to shoot from the comfort of a vehicle and at these temps...if you're in isolated territory, it's wise to keep the vehicle engine running.

The voice of experience has spoken.

[stevebrot]

Chemical heat packs do work if the space where they are placed is insulated somehow - like a glove. Oversized diving case could work here.

You mean something like the covers suggested by @csa above?

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/190-pentax-k-1/337377-ibis-failure-28c-te...qm#post3872787


Steve

[wissink]

I stop photography at -40C if wind picks up. Not fun anymore after that.

How do you keep yourself functional and having fun up until -40C? I'm curious out of personal interest. How do you wear big mitts and still manage camera controls? How do you not stick to metal parts? How do you stay clear headed when your fingers feel like they've fallen off? I've been known to do pushups when waiting for longer exposures... But that wasn't much below 0 without the wind.

Today I was shooting for three hours in -21 degrees C. No SR problems but twice the camera got stuck with the mirror up for a second before continuing. It felt a little sluggish but the exposures looked correct. Shot over 500 images, fashion shoot, so I think I gave it a challange.

Also used my Pentax 6x7 and it sounded really sluggish so I am not sure the shutter speed was correct... We will see when I develop the film