Altitude and Temperature: Effect on cameras?

GaryBakker

My daughter is going to be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in late January. It's not Everest, but it'll be a challenge nonetheless. She'll be at about 20,000 feet with temperatures around 0 - 10 degrees F at the summit.

While she has numerous camera options to choose from in our family, she'll probably end up taking our Canon S5 IS. That'll give her the most flexibility for the least weight.

Other than battery life, is there anything else that she needs to be cognizant of regarding the camera or the digital sensor?

tsk1979

The luminous landscape guys went to antartica, you might want to read through their experiences.
As for battery life, expect it to be half or slightly less than that at 0F.
If you can arrange a weather sealed camera like the 10D(Pentax) it will help

DougNorCal

A buddy from work climbed it this summer with his girlfriend (she became his fiancee at the top). He did it with a Canon 30D and didn't report any big issues other than being very careful about keeping the sensor clean (mostly a problem during their post climb safari) and thermal shocks -- taking the camera from a warm/humid environment (tent) into a cold dry environment (outside) and vice versa.

I saw the mountain as a kid, but didn't climb it. If I can get rid of my current back pain I'd love to do this one!

Sound like total fun. Enjoy!

GaryBakker

Thanks for the advice on what to be careful about. I didn't think about thermal shocks. Without a sealed camera, there is likely to be internal condensation when going from inside a tent to high-altitude mountain air. Not sure what this would do to the electronics, but it can't be good.

Would sealing the camera inside a plastic bag help (when inside the tent)?

DougNorCal

Green Fleurdelis wrote:

Would sealing the camera inside a plastic bag help (when inside the tent)?

Yes. This is usually what people do -- using a big zip lock bag.

henryp

This reminds me of a story from the fabled days of film. Life magazine wanted to cover Churchill's funeral and get the pics in the next (then weekly) issue so they chartered a plane outfitted with a darkroom for the trip back to the USA. Then they called Kodak and asked, "How will the altitude and pressure differences affect film development and printing?" to which the story goes Kodak replied, "Dunno. When you land, let us know."

GaryBakker

Heh, heh. I like that story.

aerialphoto

FWIW I've shot Olympus digital cameras (E10/E20) up to 24,000ft unpressurized with no problems at all.

For the compugeeks out there I've run normal laptops up to 28,000ft with no problems with the displays or harddrives too

ivar

aerialphoto wrote:

For the compugeeks out there I've run normal laptops up to 28,000ft with no problems with the displays or harddrives too

Assuming you didn't climb one of the 4 highest mountain tops in the world, what are you doing in an unpressurized aircraft at 28k?

Rhuarc

ivar wrote:

Assuming you didn't climb one of the 4 highest mountain tops in the world, what are you doing in an unpressurized aircraft at 28k?

I was pondering the same thing! My only guess is that you were using a hypobaric chamber?

aerialphoto

ivar wrote:

Assuming you didn't climb one of the 4 highest mountain tops in the world, what are you doing in an unpressurized aircraft at 28k?

Taking pictures. Every so often we'd get a project like that. 28k was in central Florida somewhere, 24k was Parris Island SC.

Rhuarc

aerialphoto wrote:

Taking pictures. Every so often we'd get a project like that. 28k was in central Florida somewhere, 24k was Parris Island SC.

The main cabin was unpressurized? Safe to assume then that you had oxygen?

aerialphoto

Rhuarc wrote:

The main cabin was unpressurized? Safe to assume then that you had oxygen?

Main... and only cabin - the camera is bolted to the floor over a 21" hole. Yup - we use certified O2 masks. Those altitudes were rare, we'd do 18k-20k a little more often. Now we limit things to 15k and below, most everything turns out to be 8-10k or below anyway.

ivar

aerialphoto wrote:

Main... and only cabin - the camera is bolted to the floor over a 21" hole. Yup - we use certified O2 masks. Those altitudes were rare, we'd do 18k-20k a little more often. Now we limit things to 15k and below, most everything turns out to be 8-10k or below anyway.

What kind of plane is that? you'd fly IFR? Or you have VFR permission for Class A?

sorry for the hijack, fellas

aerialphoto

ivar wrote:

What kind of plane is that? you'd fly IFR? Or you have VFR permission for Class A?

sorry for the hijack, fellas

It was in turbocharged twin cessnas. Yes, everything above 17999 is IFR and a royal pain to do in congested areas. We would file IFR to a geographic point (where the mission was centered) and coordinate with ATC for the rest. Technically/legally IFR but not navigating point to point.

xris

Coldness and ice
I've never shot digital in such a situation, but I've done some Great White North work with film -- 35mm and 6X6. A few thoughts:

The big problem was brittle film. That's the bright side.

Ice and condensation are the enemy. One little ice crystal will scratch a lens right quick. (The only thing harder is diamond.) So watch your breathing around the camera.

Keep the camera cold (avoid temp changes)...

When you do go from warm to cold make sure there's no moist air in the Ziplock Bag. Enclose a good-sized packet of silica gel (to control the moisture) and suck as much air as possible out of the bag before closing it. (It works best.f you do this several hours before going into the cold.)

Before coming back in to a warm area, put the camera back in the bag so the moisture in the wrm air won't condense on (and in) the camera.

... but keep your batteries warm.

Batteries die right quick in the cold. Best is to use several battery packs so you always have one or two inside your parka where your body keeps it warm enough to use.

Top o' the world to your daughter!!:ivarivar

pathfinder

One topic that may no longer be significant is Compact Flash Micro Drives versus solid state Compact Flash. Before solid state Compact Flash dropped in price, some of us used 4 Gb Micro-Drives built by IBM or Toshiba I think

Micro Drives, which fit in a CF slot, but are hard drive based, are limited by the manufacturers to less than 10,000 feet. Probably not an issue today though.