Storing the camera

mercphoto

Gotta question. My camera is often in the car (in a Pelican case, so its safe from banging around). But what about the heat? During the day I cannot bring it into work, but I often need to bring it in the car for something after work. How much does the heat hurt these bodies and lenses?

pathfinder

mercphoto wrote:

Gotta question. My camera is often in the car (in a Pelican case, so its safe from banging around). But what about the heat? During the day I cannot bring it into work, but I often need to bring it in the car for something after work. How much does the heat hurt these bodies and lenses?

I have heard some pros say they do not worry about the heat in a parked car in the sunlight, but I certainly do. The silicon chips are probably fine - I worry more about the grease and adhesive elements in the lenses and the associated expanding and contracting with temperature changes in the lens elements.


On the Canonusa.com website they list the operating temperature for the 10D as 32 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Not very wide compared to ambient. The 20D is listed the same for operating temperatures.
FOr the Pro level 1DMkll, Canon lists the operating temperature as 32-113 Farhenheit. I think these temperatures are very conservative - I KNOW the pros shoot with Canon cameras in the winter out of doors in Canada where is frequently is near 0 Farhenheit. And I am sure Canon cameras accompanied journalists into Iraq where the daytime temps can reach 125F.

Interestingly for the EOS 3 35mm film SLR, Canon does not mention an operating temperature at all. I do not know if this is good or bad. It could be interpreted that the digital cameras are more delicate in regard to temperature changes.

One think is for sure, if you take ANY good camera out in really cold weather for any length of time, place it in an intact plastic bag before bringing it back indoors to prevent condensation inside the camera or lens. Only remove the plastic bag after several hours when the camera has reached room temperature.


If it was my camera - and I HAD to leave it in a closed car all day long, I would put it into a large styrofoam-type cooler with a firmly closed gallon jug of cool water inside the cooer with it. This will not be so cool to cause condensation concerns with the camera or the lens and still will provide a significant mass with a high specific heat to help retard a rising temperature inside the cooler. A cooler also is not the theft magnet a nice aluminum camera case is either.

PerezDesignGroup

Please be careful. LCD screens cannot handle higher temps very well at all. Some might even crack or be rendered inoperable. I personally wouldn't take the risk. Especially with an expensive piece of equipment such as yours.

Plus there's always the theft and the "damn...that's a great shot but my camera is in the car" factor.