Wintermute I've always heard to keep at least 1 extra battery in an inside jacket pocket (for your body heat to keep "warm"). May have been the battery you had in camera was too cold.

I've not been out in single digit weather, but I've been out to the beach and in wet snow. Then again, my camera (D700) is weather sealed. I don't TRY to douse it in salty water or snow, but I'm more comfortable being out in the elements than I was with my D80.

And since I've not posted a "Dakota" shot in a while...here you go. Nothing special. No great camera work. Just a dog going after a stick.



[Edited on March 26, 2009 at 10:30 AM. Reason : pic]

3/26/2009 10:27:39 AM

I have a D40. This winter I took it to Wisconsin and went outside to get some shots -- if I remember correctly it was -8F and the wind chill was -35F. Damn cold...

D40 worked fine, although my zoom lens didn't turn quite as easily as normal.

3/26/2009 10:57:12 AM

Ya-I tried the battery in the jacket trick. I'm guessing it one of two things: the weather sealing on the XXXds just isn't up to the conditions we were in or perhaps enough warmth wasn't getting to my extra battery to make a difference.

3/26/2009 11:46:52 AM

took a few pics for my friends en they found out i had an slr(d40). what u guys think??




[Edited on March 26, 2009 at 5:12 PM. Reason : sorry ab the size]

3/26/2009 5:11:21 PM

most slr camera's having a spec range of 32-110ish degree working range, but can work in much colder or warmer environments. One photographer told me that for cold weather, you let your camera go unprotected as low as the teens before you need to start taking preventative action to protect the mechanics or start to notice bad battery life.

A trick to most is to keep a spare and have it warmed in your jacket, then switch the packs out every so often, but this only helps with the battery life and doesn't reduce the risk for your camera. There are also remote batteries of where you just keep your batteries under your jacket all the time and have a power cord hooked up to the camera. Another step is to add a jacket/blanket to the camera to keep it warm, there are some more elaborate ones that have heating pads and such, but most will tell you not to get them for obvious reasons.

The most drastic preventive step is actually winterizing the camera. This means you send the camera to either a specialty camera service or to the manufacturer (I know that Canon does this, but I think they just out source it and bill you) of where they replace all of the o-rings, seals, and some of the moving mechanical parts with stronger materials and special non-freezing grease/oils. This tends to be for drastic situations like photographers going to Mt. Everest battling extreme cold, but reduces the actual life of the shutter/body, specially in warm climates. I think it's estimated between 10-25k of shutter life, like half that if you are operating it above freezing. Not sure of the cost as it differs from body to body and the amount of protection needed.

It's true that semi-pro or pro bodies that are weather sealed are better suited for colder climates, but even then, they still can't take too much more abuse in cold weather than entry level slr's. Maybe an extra 2-5 degree difference on either ends.

3/27/2009 2:29:31 AM

I super boosted saturation on this picture.

3/28/2009 8:22:22 PM

You did?

3/28/2009 10:07:38 PM

Can't tell?

3/28/2009 10:17:13 PM

the catchlight in the dino's eyes is nice

3/28/2009 10:21:35 PM

hha that's on the toy, unfortunately the dog one is real. I hate on camera flash

3/28/2009 10:23:16 PM

ha i know

[Edited on March 28, 2009 at 10:26 PM. Reason : .]

3/28/2009 10:26:29 PM

That was a claw machine toy, funny that they would pay attention to that sort of detail.

3/28/2009 10:27:28 PM

Quote :

"I hate on camera flash "

Then don't use it.

3/29/2009 9:17:51 AM

^ before we got the external flash cody and i used a lamp with the shade off....and used black paper as a funnel around it to add a sort of spotlight effect.....just playing around
it worked pretty nice, considering

[Edited on March 29, 2009 at 4:25 PM. Reason : gjh]

3/29/2009 4:25:09 PM

The natural lighting really sucked that day. It forced the shutter speed to be way too slow for a playing dog...

I've not jerry-rigged anything though, I wasn't planning on taking pictures of him he just sort of got in the way when I was taking pictures of stuff to sell on craigslist (which I don't care about the quality there).

3/29/2009 4:37:59 PM

Does anyone have an 18-55VR Nikon Lens(for a D40) up for sale?

3/29/2009 4:46:24 PM

took this while driving yo

3/29/2009 4:54:16 PM

LOL

And yeah, Kiwi, there are a shitton of ways around having to use the on-camera flash. I highly suggest you invest in a piece of white foam core. Cheap reflector, works pretty well. If you have to use the onboard flash, bounce it with a note card or diffuse it with some tissue paper or something.

"I had to use the on camera flash" shouldn't be an excuse for a shitty photo.

3/29/2009 5:55:55 PM

i'll post a random couple from our trip. these are just some boats i liked near nassau:

3/29/2009 11:10:31 PM

^^diffuse w/ translucent film cannister ftw

3/29/2009 11:22:00 PM

^oooo. pretty good idea. never thought of that one.

and you can probably just tape it around your flash.

[Edited on March 29, 2009 at 11:23 PM. Reason : j]

3/29/2009 11:22:42 PM

I usually cut a slot in it, slide it on, and put the lid on it, lol.

3/29/2009 11:24:24 PM

ok, i was going for the easy way i guess. hahah.

3/29/2009 11:25:08 PM

The flash gets hot though, have you ever put your finger up to it? Makes me worry about putting anything on it...

I need to do something though, I hate the lens shadow you get sometimes when using the damn thing.

I try to go with natural light any time I can.

3/29/2009 11:30:19 PM

even with natural light flash is good.

3/29/2009 11:31:15 PM

fill flash FTW.

3/29/2009 11:32:37 PM

I know but not on camera harsh flash unless I have a diffuser. I have several instances where fill flash is needed but dang....

3/29/2009 11:37:19 PM

Take a wild guess at who that is

3/29/2009 11:40:43 PM

I think the reason I like this one is because of the angle of the sun

But something's still missing, and I think it's what Ronny pegged in one of my snow pictures: there's no clear point to the picture.

How do I make that happen with a tree?

[Edited on March 29, 2009 at 11:54 PM. Reason : whoops]

3/29/2009 11:52:12 PM

Just a quick export of a model shoot tonight.

3/30/2009 1:23:07 AM

3/30/2009 12:20:33 PM

I seriously love your abstract pics.

3/30/2009 12:41:08 PM

yeah, that's hotness.

Jbaz that model shot is top notch (IMO).

3/30/2009 12:52:21 PM

Quote :

"^^diffuse w/ translucent film canister ftw"

this is what i currently use for my D40 and on-camera flash since i have yet to buy one and it works fine. doesnt get hot and the way my canister is cut its easy to put on and off in a hurry

3/30/2009 1:28:04 PM

^^^^creature under the sheet is creeping me out

3/30/2009 1:47:47 PM

Yeah, we had another one where he was kinda facing to the left and had a few fingers sticking out from under the sheet, but this one with his head hunched down is more ambiguous and I like that.

3/30/2009 1:50:05 PM

The one with the chair and stained glass is great!

3/30/2009 2:13:53 PM

another one from last night. I think I might go back and remove all of the wrinkles in the bed sheet in the background.

3/30/2009 2:14:38 PM

go ahead and remove her clothes too plz

3/30/2009 2:27:46 PM

pezking, great job again. love the person under the sheet, the hallway, and chair in front of the window. another quality set.

3/31/2009 9:02:12 AM

I like the hallway one best. Awesome pics though.

3/31/2009 9:05:00 AM

I shot this last week but didn't have time to go through the remote camera till now. I used the 5dmkII with a 50 1.4 and shot a little wide for being 5 stories up, but good gosh, the resolution and sharpness is crazy.

Full frame:


100% crop:

4/1/2009 5:31:32 PM

haven't creeped anyone out in a few days.

big male redbelly water snake


belly shot


southern copperhead


northern copperhead


SC slimy salamander

4/1/2009 7:57:33 PM

That last one is a winner for sure. You should submit that as a nature photo in competitions.

4/1/2009 8:39:42 PM

that last one really is awesome! great colors. good shot.

4/1/2009 8:43:21 PM

I'm finally selling my Canon 30D with grip. It just sits in my camera bag wasting space. $550

4/1/2009 10:13:30 PM

Canes game. GOAL!




Joe Biden in Faison, NC.

4/2/2009 11:47:16 AM

close

4/2/2009 12:31:54 PM

^^ i like the hockey one, but the second one really doesn't do it for me. i like the shadow, but for some reason i feel like i'm leaning when i look at it.

set em up.

[Edited on April 2, 2009 at 12:40 PM. Reason : edit]

4/2/2009 12:39:33 PM

122

4/2/2009 12:44:35 PM