Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/04/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dan: Lots of people use their cameras in the -25 degree weather. I photographed some snowboard racing and some ski racing and one of the days it was about - -20 celcius. I was using an R6 with motor and remote battery pack. Even with the battery in under my jacket, the framing rate of the motor was a bit slower than usual. By mid day when the tempreature had warmed up, the motor fired noticeably quicker. I was also using my 400 APO 2.8 which remained silky smooth in these cold conditions. A sign of good build quality and proper lubricants. I think the cold weather ability of cameras has more to do with their mechanicals than the batteries, particularily cameras that are totally dependant on batteries such as a G2. In these cold conditions, the mechanisms get very stiff unless proper cold weather lubricants are used. For example, the Leica focusing helicals are just as smooth when it is cold. Some other brand lenses get very stiff in the cold. If you combine this extra drag on the motors with decreased battery capacity in the cold, you end up with cameras that do not function unless specifically designed for thes temperatures. I guess to get more to the point, if Leica designs the newer cameras for the -25 celcius operating temperatue, it will work there. This of course is dependant on your batteries lasting, which will probably require a cold weather external battery option that you can put under your coat. I had my R8 with me for the ski shots and although I did not used it much because of the lack of motor, it worked perfectly and the slow framing rate of the winder was no slower than it is in warm conditions. http://home.istar.ca/~robsteve/photography/snowboard_racing.htm Regards, Robert At 06:51 PM 4/19/99 +0000, D Khong <dkhong@pacific.net.sg> wrote: >I am not sure if Leica produced a battery operated electronic shuttered >M-camera, it will be able to withstand such extreme temperatures. Minus 25 >deg Celcius is very very cold indeed for batteries to perform optimally. I >am sure most leica users are unlikely to have to brave such extreme cold >conditions. > >Personally I would welcome a new electronic shuttered M6 but I would not >trade in my old mechanical M6 for it. > >Dan K. > > > > > >