Xmsmn Loc: Minnesota

Is there any value in using disposable hand warmers in your camera bag to slow the battery drain or to protect camera and/or lenses during cold weather? I looked through the Hog archives and didn’t see this addressed; maybe I missed it. I know that I can keep spare batteries warm inside my shirt pocket as probably the best way to save battery life. I’m trying to not duplicate my bad experience last January when it was -10F and everything died, and “I “ wasn’t out in the elements very long but my gear was.

Nicholas J DeSciose

I’ve always use the large size body warmers in my camera cases it always works. I got laughed at sometimes But I’ve never missed a shot because of the frozen camera.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

I think that it sounds like a good idea, Mark.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Try this search in Google: hand warmer site:uglyhedgehog.com

It will search page contents, not just thread titles.

Xmsmn Loc: Minnesota

Thanks for the search suggestion, brought up a lot of posts mostly on gloves and handwarmers but a few that addressed this question. Appreciate knowing the search method.
Mark

Xmsmn Loc: Minnesota

And the body warmer will probably last longer than the battery so I can warm myself with it! Thanks for sharing your experience.
Mark

Ourspolair

One of the reasons I used to love my Mamaya C330 - didn't need any batteries. And even if the RB654 battery fails, I can still use the 16 rule :)

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Camera manufactures give an operating range for their cameras, the low end usually being around freezing and the upper end around 100 F. I think these are conservative limits. On the cold end, the batteries will go first and then the grease/lubicants in the camera which you cannot do anything about. I attempted to measure the temperature of the hand warmers but couldn't figure a way to measure it. Since they get warm to your touch but not too hot, I think you can put these warmers against the batteries with no ill effect. One solution is to get extra batteries and keep them in your pocket with the hand warmers or close to your body inside your insulating clothes as you mentioned.

I have tried using the disposable hand warmers for keeping the external batteries for my time lapse shooting projects. I built a cardboard box with room for some insulation and the hand warmers and tried it. It didn't drastically lengthen the effective time of the external battery so I switched to batteries with more capacity that should work better. I'll find out this winter.

Try Googling cold weather photography or Arctic/Antarctic photography. For those photographers, -10 is warm. At their temperatures, grease freezes solid, electrical cables snap and so forth.

There was a thread here some years ago about cold weather photography and camera gear. The poster said that the photographer will freeze before the gear.

Xmsmn Loc: Minnesota

Hpucker99 - that last line is probably the best summary of all but I’ll probably still try some combination of body warmth and hand/body warmers. Thanks for your input.
Mark

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Very good question - but I have a different slant to it: Don't we have to take the condensation effect into consideration when moving a cold camera into a substantially warmer environment? Batteries I have no problems with but I wonder about the effect on the lens and possibly camera body.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

There a number of different types of hand warmers and the one I remember from 50 years ago used lighter fluid and I recall it having an odor to it that could mean that there were emissions that I would not want to subject a camera to.

But on Googling, I find that there are other newer types of hand warmers available and it looks like there would be no emissions. And of course, the lighter fluid models are still sold too. (see zippo)

see: https://www.gearhungry.com/best-hand-warmers/

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Did Ansel Adams use hand warmers?

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Welcome to Canada! OK, I don't usually operate in Artic-like temperatures but it does get COLD up here- sometimes it's -40 C and damp! I use the hand warmers in the cases to keep batteries operational and to prevent the shutters from hanging up. You need to be careful because condensation can occur when you move gear in and out of the cold.

I usually wrap the warmers in plastic bags so that stuff inside does not leak out.

Xmsmn Loc: Minnesota

Well, I haven’t exactly laid this out like a quadratic equation but I think as long as the handwarmer packs stay in an open environment (the camera case outside) that no extra humidity would be introduced to the camera or lens. I already bag the camera in a ziplock with dessicants when I come in from the cold. Good thing to think about though. Thanks for your comments.
Mark

Xmsmn Loc: Minnesota

I’d be using the disposable shake-n-bake warmers that come in hand, toe and body warmer sizes. But as a kid I used the lighter fluid warmers.
Thanks for your comments.
Mark