[APML] Frozen Cameras

[Roland Roberts <roland@astrofoto.org>]

Friday night, I drove to my dark-sky site for photography.  High on my
list was getting Orion which never happened the last two years.  After
a late start on the road, I ended up setting up in the dark, two hours
later than planned, then found that I had tightened the worm down too
tight on my CG5 mount so the motor couldn't turn the screw.  I
corrected that (in the 10°F cold and dark) and finally was ready to
shoot around midnight.

By that time, almost everything was covered with at least a thin layer
of frost, and the 60mm guide scope had at least an 1/8" of frost on
the tube.  I duct-taped hand/toe warmers to lens barrels of my two
35mm Pentaxes and various other places to keep the frost at bay.  One
of my YashicaMAT's turned out to be damaged when I found I couldn't
focus.  I don't think it was the cold that froze it, but I'm not
sure.  Fortunately, I had it repaired during the summer and it is
under warrantee, so it is now in the shop for a free repair.

Both Pentaxes *seemed* okay, but today I picked up the film and found
I had *nothing* on either roll, one LE400 and one Supra 400.  Both had
been shot at f/3.6.  My second Yashica 12 had two good frames, both of
Orion at f/3.5 with a Tiffen Fog-1.  I'm trying to figure out why I
had nothing on the Pentaxes and am suspecting my cable releases froze
and didn't really trip the shutters.  By the time I called it quits,
the temperature had dropped to about -5°F.  But I know that for at
least one of the three exposures I listened and would have sworn that
I heard the shutters trip.  Even the Yashica 12 which *did* work had
problems.  I apparently didn't get the shutter cocked for the third
frame and got nothing for it.  The frame spacing for the two shots I
did get was quite wide compared to normal daytime shots I've made.

Has anyone had similar experiences when shooting in very cold weather?
Surely there are some Canadians or other folks living further north
than I do in New York that have shot in the cold.  What, if anything,
do you do to keep your equipment warm enough to operate correctly?

I'm happy I ended up with two good frames of Orion, but losing one
camera and getting only two frames out of nine was a little
disappointing....

roland
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Roland B. Roberts, PhD                             RL Enterprises
roland@rlenter.com                            6818 Madeline Court
roland@astrofoto.org                           Brooklyn, NY 11220


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