D300 in low temps??

rsparts

I'm going out tonight to a huge New Years celebration in town. It will be outdoors and temperatures tonight are expected to reach 20 degrees F. I will have my Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 with me and attached to the camera for the duration of the night.

Should I be worried about the temp. being that cold? I know Nikon specifies the operating temperature to be 0-32 C. but I've heard the D300 can withstand colder temperatures.

What should I do to reintroduce my camera to indoor temperatures when it's time to come inside? Or is there any need?

thanks for the help. I leave in 2 hours to go downtown.

Art Scott

If worried about the cold tonight or any night...
Get a couple of hot hands hand warmers to keep batteries warm....I have had to tape them to the battery compartment and cover them with cloth to keep the warmth in.....or in the bottom of your camera bag with a light dish towell to separate the hand warmer from the camera.....it should keep all warm enough to keep working.....

Also if you're wearing a loose enuff coat just keep th camera inside your coat until needed....if camera has inside pockets put hand warmer in the pocket for addition heat.......usually this will not cause any sweaing of the lens or anythig else.

jrnylst

good until -17
I've never had a problem with my D300 until last weekend shooting in sustained -17. I have three batteries. The one in the camera should have been three-quarters charged on the second day of deep freeze, but after just one shot, the camera began malfunctioning. I replaced the battery with one that had been in my camera bag, which meant it also was cold, and it also caused the camera to malfunction. I put the third cold battery in under the assumption I might be done shooting for the day, but it did work, although the camera did not show the battery as fully charged. That night when I charged the batteries, one did show as fully charged, and the other two needed to be charged the full two hours apiece.

The camera has consistently worked just fine at 20 degrees and at 14,000 feet as well. I've done a few full days at 0 and one full day at -6. Christmas was the first time cold got to it.

I keep the spare batteries in my inside coat pocket now to keep them warm. The hand-warmers suggested above are a good fix, too. I just haven't had to dip into them yet, although I guess I came close on Christmas. That might have been the next thing I tried if the third battery had acted up.

rsparts

I don't have hand warmer packs but that's a good idea. I have the battery grip with the extra battery so the only 2 batteries I have are in the camera. I can't put the camera in my jacket since I'll be sporting the 70-200 2.8 (12" long with lens hood)

I don't plan to be out there for longer than a couple of hours so everything should be ok. thanks for the help guys