trapper1 Loc: Southside Virginia

With temperatures already breaking 90 in this area and 100 plus heat a certainty starting in July, I am concerned about the effect of heat on my camera if I leave it in the car even for just a short time as when I am touring, etc.. Heat build-up in a parked, closed car in 90 degree weather or hotter is rapid and can exceed 100 degrees is just a short time. It made me wonder about the effect excessive heat has on a camera so I looked under "Search" but with no results. Does anyone have definitive information on the effects of heat on a camera and/or how to protect cameras from heat damage?

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

I've been thinking about that, maybe an insulated bag of some sort or even a cooler.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

The heat in the car won’t be an issue on its own. Just don’t leave it in direct sunlight.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Old rule - never leave your camera in places you wouldn't want to be. A closed car gets very hot. I never leave a camera for long, and have a sixpack cooler bag for just camera and lens, a larger Styrofoam cooler for the camera bag. Unless there is a compelling reason, I bring either along when I leave the car.

ejones0310 Loc: Tulsa, OK

Several years ago, I left a 35mm in the car under the seat. When I got my photos back from the lab every shot after leaving it in the car was severely overexposed, except for the shots made at full open aperture. When I saw the results I checked the lens and found the blades making up the aperture were coated with oil. Apparently the heat melted the lube at the pivot points allowing it to run down the blades. I have never left a camera in the heat since then. It always goes with me.

Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

I've been hauling cameras around in my home area of summertime high heat for quite a while. All kinds of cameras (and lenses and whatever-all), from pre-WWII Leicas to 70's or 90's film cameras to modern LDS (Latter Day Saintly digital Nikons and Fujis and such [I live in Utah, so....]) cameras, and have never had a problem. Nothing has melted or seized up or malfunctioned in any way. Nothing. Naturally, I haven't left any of them out in direct sun in a closed-up vehicle if/while I've taken any sort of lengthy non-photographic break, and times there was no other choice, I'd put gear out of direct light and/or cover the case or bag or camera over loosely with a light colored towel or a shirt or something while I'm elsewhere. Otherwise, if I'm on the prowl from one place to the next, either the A/C will be on or there'll be airflow from open windows that will keep temps moderated to an acceptible degree. The only times I've used a cooler for anything, I used the cooler to keep film in. Otherwise, simple common sense has always prevailed and kept everything in solid working order.

TBPJr Loc: South Carolina

I took a golf trip with three others, and picked them up at an airport where we started; I had almost all of my camera gear with me, as I had a photo tour to take on my own after the golf was finished and I dropped the others at the airport. Because we moved every day, I was leaving my camera bag in my Suburban pretty much all day every day, and I rarely found shade. What I did do was fill a cooler with ice from the hotel, along with my drinks and anything else I wanted cool, and put it on top of my camera bag or next to it (and made sure the sun did not shine on the bag). Despite a very hot truck when we got back in it, my camera gear always felt cool to the touch. I do that anytime I am hauling my camera gear and have to park it for any length of time. I suspect that would work for you, too.

Good luck.

Tjohn Loc: Inverness, FL formerly Arivaca, AZ

I carried a Nikon F and Hass 500 in a cooler for several years while working southern Nevada and Death Valley. I left the windows open most of the time because there were only ravens and us jack-asses around. Never a problem with heat damage.

hcmcdole

It would be much cooler in the trunk than the inside of the car as the windows act like a super heated greenhouse. When I buy plants I find that leaving them inside the car is worse than putting them in the trunk for hours. The sun-screens/shields that a lot of folks put in their windows would block a lot of UV/IR rays but also a pain to put up/take down.

I also hate the idea of leaving valuables inside a car for very long but sometimes you just have to do it for a lunch break, etc.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Number 1. Never leave your camera in a hot car.
Number 2. If you ignore number 1, put your camera in the lowest section of the car, heat rises, so put your camera in the lowest part of the car and place a towel over it so a thief will not see it.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

My gear goes on the floor behind the driver's seat the few times that I leave it in my vehicle. On the other hand, my dash cam, which is a hi-def camera with many of the same components of any other camera, in a black plastic housing, sits in my windshield year round with no problem. So do all the other electrical components, computers, etc of a modern vehicle. Many are under the hood where engine temps are brutal. Cameras are not delicate toys. Common sense is all that is needed in their care. On the floor, where it is cooler, and out of direct sunlight will do the trick. Your camera gear made the trip from overseas, mostly Asia, in sealed steel containers that have spent weeks, sometimes months, fully exposed to the heat and/or cold of the enviroment they are sitting in or traveling through. In summer they become incredibly hot. Opening the doors is like opening a hot oven. Anything that needs to be temperature controlled gets shipped in reefer containers. Cameras and electronics don't.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's a real concern. You'll see recommendations about using a cooler, etc., to protect it, but you also have to worry about theft. We've had quite a few posts about that. Although a camera has lots of electronic circuits, so does the car - computer, radio, GPS. That all survives summers in Death Valley and winters north of the Arctic Circle. Why would a camera be so much more delicate?

You camera manual will tell you what extremes of temperature are allowed. Avoid violating those recommendations. Easy peasy.

photoman43

I have friends who use 12 volt powered coolers for their cameras and lenses. Something like these:


https://www.thedrive.com/reviews/27433/best-12-volt-coolers

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Don't leave unprotected camera gear in a car. Temperature extremes and the swings between them are very hard on cameras, lenses, electronics, lubricants... Even if the camera is designed to work from 14°F to 104°F, summer heat can push car interiors into the 140°F to 160°F range relatively quickly. Nighttime temps in Northern latitudes routinely drop to near 0°F.


A styrofoam cooler can slow down the heat intrusion for an hour or two. But if you put cold packs in there, taking cold gear out into a hot environment will yield condensation immediately, so be careful with that strategy.

Mr Bill 2011 Loc: southern Indiana

When I'm travelling, I typically have 2 extra cameras plus lenses with me, but I keep them in the trunk; never had any problem with them. However, I have made the mistake of leaving my cell phone in the console in the front of the car; the heat caused the phone to shut itself down, but once it cooled down a little bit, I could turn it back on again with no problems. Perhaps the problem is not the electronics in the camera that you should be concerned with, but the battery being affected by the heat.

I had an older Canon 40D that would shut down occasionally when I used it at sporting events in the summer where I had to be in the hot afternoon sun for a long time; the camera was hot to the touch, and the heat was extremely uncomfortable to me, too. Once I got me and the camera in the shade for a while and both of us cooled off, I could turn the camera back on and operate it again with no problem.