Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/06/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]No digital camera will work at extreme temperatures. Nikon says the upper operating limit of the D3 is 40 C. I've photographed in northern South Australia in summer, where it routinely gets to the kinds of temperatures that a journalist would experience in Iraq. I have certainly seen both D100 and D300s fail due to heat and these are both rated to the same temperature as the D3. What generally happens is that it's say, 45 C and of course the cameras are black. If you go out in the sun, which is hard to avoid seeing as it's blindingly bright and there is no shade, the camera heats to 55, 60, 65, or whatever degress quite quickly (too hot to comfortably touch). First the LCDs fail and go black. Then the shutter release becomes unreliable. Then the camera stops working. At a high enough temperature the lubricants seep out of where they are meant to be and pool in other bits of the camera where they are not meant to be. After that the camera sounds funny because it's running 'dry'. In these conditions, two things are essential - temperature tolerance - which is better with film cameras, but if it's hot enough the emulsion will melt off the film base and proper sealing which no M camera save, ahem, the KE-7A, has. I don't know if the KE-7A has a sealed lens mount or if the 50/2 Elcan lens made for it is properly sealed. Many cameras will need specific lubricants to work in these conditions and all will fail without proper care. In these kinds of conditions I'd _expect_ an M8 to fail almost immediately. I'd probably only give a professional DSLR a little longer. The most reliable option is a properly sealed film camera. A film M would probably clog with dust unless the operator took reasonable care to seal the camera (Ewa Marine Bags are good). Most manufacturers are even kind enough to tell us that you shouldn't expect the camera to work, so why would you expect it to? Marty Gallery: http://gallery.leica-users.org/main.php?g2_itemId=7617 -- See Exclusive Videos: 10th Annual Young Hollywood Awards http://www.hollywoodlife.net/younghollywoodawards2008/