Hi, here in Boston, it is often way below freezing outside. My office, however, is nice and warm (and somewhat humid). So, at lunch time, when I take my warm camera outside into the sub freezing cold, it gets lots of condensation. So, should I leave my camera in the freezer in the kitchen for about an hour before I go out, so that it is already cold before I go out? Phillip

-- Phillip Silitschanu (speedin_saab@hotmail.com), February 28, 2002

Answers

Wow, I don't recommending freezing your TTL system. Leicas are durable in cold but ice ice baby a Leica and it ain't happy you know.

My personal recommendation is not to stick it in the freezer, just the fridge only.

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), February 28, 2002.

By the way, its an M3, no meter.. Phillip

-- Phillip Silitschanu (speedin_saab@hotmail.com), February 28, 2002.

I'm sure at least one M3 has been to the North Pole, freezing it ain't gonna hurt it.

-- chris a williams (LeicaChris@worldnet.att.net), March 01, 2002.

maybe we can ask Leica...

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), March 01, 2002.

Phil,

What you say doesn't make sense to me. Condensation is normally the result of bringing a cold object into a warm and humid environment. This happens to my glasses if I get out of an air-conditioned car into the humid Indonesian climate. You should probably seal the camera in a polythene bag when you arrive back in the office, until it has reached room temperature.

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), March 01, 2002.

Ray has the right answer! As additional info, if you leave a wine bottle in a freezer for an hour, it almost freezes despite all the alchohol, so I don't think it would be a good idea to leave your camera and film in freezer for whatever reason. The film will take about 2 hours to come to shooting temp.

-- sait (akkirman@clear.net.nz), March 01, 2002.

I live in Fairbanks, AK, and use Ms all winter. Eventually they do get cold soaked and freeze up (at -40F or so), but I have frozen then thawed hundreds of times without any problem, and I have never warmed them up in a bag. Of course, our climate is drier here than Balmy Boston.

-- Charles (c.mason@uaf.edu), March 01, 2002.

The only problem with cold weather and your M camera is not the camera, its the lens. Changes from cold outside to room temperature will temporally fog the lens up. kajabbi

-- Ned Learned (ned@kajabbi.com), March 01, 2002.

Excuse me, Phillip, there is something I'm not getting really right: my elementary physics says that humid gases will condense in contact with colder surfaces; not the other way around. You warm things up in order to avoid humid gases to condense on their surfaces (think of the winshield of your car in humid winter time). That way I can understand that you could get condensation on your camera while coming back into your office, once the camera has gotten very cold in the open and the water vapor which is present in the warmer air of your office can (and will) condense on it, on the glass surfaces more noticeably, of course. But I can't get the way in which the water vapor present in the much colder air outside the building would condense on a warmer camera just coming out from the office.

You can see this a longer explanation of what Ray said some few postings back. Now regarding remedies: a moment before getting back in the building put your camera in a photo bag or whatever allows for a much slower temperature change. That should be enough. It worked for me in the Swedish winter. It should work for you too.

Regards, Phillip. Be the same as careful with your health as with your camera's.

-Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), March 01, 2002.

I totally disagree with some of the above posts! Physics?? Condensation or Fogging occurs and any large temperature boundary. Astronomers always have to leave their telescopes out to cool down to the outside temperature during winter as the telescope mirrors and lenses fog up. This can take up to 45mins in some cases. If the logic or physics of those above is true this procedure for equalizing temperatures for telescopes would not be necessary. A warm camera WILL fog up in the same manner untill its cooled down to the outside temp.

-- Joel Matherson (joel_2000@hotmail.com), March 01, 2002.

Don't confuse fog and frost. Going from cold/dry to warm/humid will cause fog condensation. Going from warm/*humid* to will cause any water vapor inside the camera to freeze. Putting the camera into the freezer will do exactly the same thing. I recommend keeping the camera in a ziplock bag with a bag of silica dessicant. Then you can take it outdoors into the cold and there will be no water inside to freeze up.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), March 01, 2002.

I can't believe that everyone is turning this into a conversation. "Freeze" a camera? I don't think so. Maybe it's common sense or maybe I am being arrogant?! Put it this way....I wouldn't freeze mine.

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), March 02, 2002.

If its snowing heavily outside, I'll put my Leica in the freezer for about twenty minutes before going out with it. This will keep the flakes from melting on the camera. A light snowfall makes no difference, but a warm camera in a heavy snow can invite problems.

-- John Layton (john.layton@valley.net), March 02, 2002.

I agree that generally speaking that M Leicas are reasonably resistant to small amounts of moisture and cold, but they are not specifically designed for cold, wet conditions. However, Leicas can be "weatherized" (which involves replacing the lubricants) and sealed so they are much more resistant to the elements. Leica USA can do this on special request. When they made cameras on request for the Army (KE-7A), they simply took a regular production black Canadian M4 and weatherized it, including improved sealing.

I don't think I would recommend "cold shock" treatment for your Leica M, just seal it in a ziplock bag as others have recommended. And certainly make sure you let the camera and lens dry out well if moisture or condensation develop. The electronics-free M3 should be less of a problem than the M6 or M6TTL.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), March 03, 2002.