“I can seeeeeeee you…!”
Too Close for Comfort
When I went to Sweden, the cold broke my tripod. When I went to Canada, the cold broke my lens. When I went to Antarctica, the cold broke my camera. I could go on…!
Extremely low temperatures can wreak havoc with your photography gear, so here are a few lessons I’ve learned in the past few years to help you cope with the cold.
Gear
My camera bag
If you book a trip to a place where you know the temperatures are going to be extremely low, it’s a good idea to pack durable, weatherproof gear with one or two spares just in case. It might even be worth booking a firmware upgrade, focus calibration or sensor cleaning at somewhere like Fixation.
When I went to Arviat in Canada to see the annual polar bear migration, I took an old 80-400mm lens whose zoom mechanism was already very stiff after accumulating lots of dust and dirt in Africa. That was asking for trouble!
After only a few hours, the zoom froze up completely, and I was forced to take all my shots at 125mm! That was a big blow, and when my battery died in my Sony a1, it meant I missed out on dozens of close-ups of two male polar bears play fighting with each other.
The lesson, of course, is to make sure you have confidence in your kit—and pack plenty of spares! Batteries lose their charge very quickly in cold weather, so it’s worthwhile packing as many as you can.
It’s also worth taking a charger that has room for two batteries. If it has a single slot, you’ll only be able to charge one battery overnight, which means you might be struggling the next day!
Cables are another example. I forgot my iPhone cable once when I moved between camps in Africa, and I only managed to get it back when one of the staff happened to be making the same journey a week later. In the meantime, my iPhone died, and I suffered from extreme separation anxiety!
Finally, it’s important to have enough memory cards. This is not specifically to do with the cold, but it helps to have plenty of high-capacity cards so that you don’t have to run back to your cabin in the middle of a polar bear encounter to make space for more pictures!
Even simple tasks become very complicated and time-consuming in the cold, so it’s worth planning ahead so that you can avoid any wasted effort.
Clothing
Canada Goose and I
On some trips, you’ll be issued with special cold weather gear, which will cut down on what you have to pack—and save you some cash! When I went on cruises to Spitsbergen and Antarctica, all the guests were issued with rubber boots and all-in-one weatherproof suits, so we didn’t have to worry about putting on the right gear.
However, before my trip to Arviat, I was warned that I wouldn’t be given anything to wear. As a result, I had to buy a pair of Canada Goose overalls plus two pairs of inner and outer gloves, three pairs of thermal socks and even a special pair of boots!
I didn’t get much change out of £2,000, so I wasn’t best pleased when British Airways managed to lose my rucksack on the flight home…!
If you do need to buy cold weather gear, I’d try to make sure you have at least the following items:
Waterproof, thermal trousers
Parka with hood
Woollen hat
Cold weather boots
Merino wool base layers
Fleece
Long johns
Inner gloves (with special finger patches for your smartphone!)
Outer gloves (with zip-off finger ends for your thumbs and forefingers)
Thermal socks
Goggles
Snood or balaclava
SpiderPro belt to carry your cameras (if you’re doing a lot of hiking or Zodiac rides)
All this costs a fair bit of money, so it’s worth asking if you can rent the main items instead. Most expedition companies give you this option, and it’s one way of saving money—especially if you’re not going to make a regular habit of taking pictures in the polar regions!
If you do decide to buy everything yourself, you might be able to use some of your old ski gear, but it’s worth doing a bit of research. If you check the climate data for your destination, you should be able to find out the likely minimum and maximum temperatures for a given time of year, and that should give you a head start when choosing each item.
In my experience, most outfitters show the recommended temperature range for their clothing on their websites, so it’s easy to find the appropriate ‘technical’ gear that’ll keep you warm even if the outside temperature falls to -25° C or below.
There are a few key choices that you might have to make. The main one is whether to get an all-in-one suit or a separate jacket and trousers. I chose an all-in-one, but I came to regret it. After spending a few ski seasons in the Alps, I wanted to avoid a gap between my trousers and my jacket in case it filled with snow, but that wasn’t actually a problem. The bigger issue was not being able to take my jacket off every time I went indoors!
Another key choice is the type of gloves. You could probably get away with a single pair, but they’d have to be pretty darn good! If you’re a photographer, you have to use your right thumb and forefinger all the time when shooting, so it’s worth getting inner and outer gloves to avoid the risk of frostbite!
If the outer gloves have removable ends for your right forefinger and thumb, it’s easy to use them to press the shutter release and change your settings, but they’ll still be protected by your inner gloves.
Routine
Whether you’re going to Africa or Antarctica, it’s a good idea to get into a routine. In Africa, there’ll probably be morning and evening game drives, so you know when you have to get your camera gear ready and when you have time to edit your images and recharge your batteries.
It’s the same in the polar regions—except batteries become far more important. In warm places such as Africa, I can take thousands of images on my Sony a1 cameras on a single charge, so I never really have to worry about changing the battery.
However, batteries lose their charge much faster in extremely low temperatures. That means you have to make sure all of them are charged and ready to go in the morning. If the electricity is on a timer, you need to know when it’s available so that you don’t get cut off in mid-charge!
You should also take plenty of spare batteries with you on a shoot, making sure that you keep them in an inside pocket. The warmth of your body will stop them from losing their charge, and you might even be able to ‘resuscitate’ dead batteries.
It’s also vital to get your preparations right first time. If you forget something, it’s a pain to go back to your cabin (either on board ship or on the tundra!). You have to wear so much clothing that everything takes much longer, and there’s always the risk of damaging your equipment.
Cameras and lenses are sensitive things, and the main danger comes from condensation. If you take your kit straight into your cabin from outdoors, you’re going from an extremely low temperature to a relatively warm one. That will probably cause condensation to form on your lens(es). That’s bad enough and may take half an hour to disappear, but what makes it even worse is that you can’t go outside again because all the condensation would freeze!
That means you have to be very thoughtful and disciplined in everything you do. It might not seem like a big deal if you forget your spare batteries or memory cards. However, that means you have to go back and get them, and what do you do with your camera gear in the meantime? Can you leave it where you are? (Answer: not if there are bears nearby!) Can you leave it outside your cabin? (Answer: yes if you’re on the tundra, but probably not for very long if you’re on board ship!) Can you take it into your cabin? (Answer: not if it’s much warmer inside!)
I had plenty of situations like that when I went to Arviat, and it was mentally exhausting. There were so many things to consider that I was constantly asking one of the guides what I should do…!
It’s the same if you’re on a cruise ship. Normally, you’ll hear an announcement on the PA system whenever there’s a wildlife sighting, but what if you’re having a drink at the bar in your ‘civvies’?
Going back to your cabin to put on your outdoor clothing and get your camera gear sorted out can easily take 10 or 15 minutes—or longer if you need to change lenses, batteries or memory cards. By the time you get back on deck, the whales might be long gone…
That happened to me several times on my last cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula. We had lots of sightings of whales, orcas and dolphins, but they were so fleeting that I missed most of them while trying to change clothes and collect my cameras!
Care
It’s important to take care of your equipment while you’re away. In Africa, the main problem is dust. If you spend hours on a game drive in Botswana, your lens will probably attract a fine layer of red dust. If you’re using a hood, it won’t be easy to see, so you have to turn your lens to face the sun or wipe it gently with a lens cloth.
In the polar regions, the main problem is not the cold but the water. Cameras don’t like water, and they really don’t like seawater! I wrote off my D850 DSLR on a Zodiac cruise in Antarctica. It was splashed by a wave from the Southern Ocean, and that was that.
At first, it simply wouldn’t switch on, and changing the battery didn’t help. I had to leave it to dry out overnight, and even then some of the controls didn’t work. I had to give up and stick to my Sony a1.
The point here is that you shouldn’t take your camera gear for granted. If you go on a boat ride, make sure it’s either in a dry bag or suitably protected from the elements. I had a waterproof cover on my D850, but even that wasn’t enough!
There’s obviously a trade-off here. If you pack all your gear away, you won’t be able to take any pictures on the water, so you need to decide how cautious you want to be. It would be a shame to miss a great sighting of a swimming polar bear because you were too busy digging your camera out of your rucksack!
If your camera does get wet and stops working, there are various steps you can take to fix it:
Take the battery out and replace it.
Take the battery out for at least a minute and replace it.
Leave the camera in a warm, dry place overnight.
Problems with the electronics are usually fixable—but not always! All you can do is keep an eye on your gear and wipe it down after any contact with water, snow or ice. If the worse comes to the worst, one of the guides or the other photographers might be able to help out or lend you a replacement.
Verdict
White Run
I spend a lot of time in Africa, but I always like going to new places. In total, I’ve set foot on all seven continents and visited 27 different countries. Inevitably, some of those places have been very cold, and I’ve had a few bad experiences with my kit!
The point of this article is just to try and help you avoid accidental damage and keep yourself and your gear warm and safe at all times. Not many people enjoy the cold, but it’s worth it if you can come back with some great pictures of polar wildlife!
If you’d like to order a framed print of one of my wildlife photographs, please visit the Prints page.
If you’d like to book a lesson or order an online photography course, please visit my Lessons and Courses pages.