No tape. It's a brand new Panasonic TM 700. I could probably use a power cord however, and I was thinking of wrapping it up in something so that it could retain some of its own heat and to prevent the lcd screen from freezing. But I wanted to make sure it's with you guys that it's not going to freeze and die on me if I do this.

How about if you put the camera in one of those underwater housings or whatever you call them.

Start off warm inside and the heat generated from the camera should keep the temperature in the housing at a reasonable level and the housing would keep the wind off of the camera.

Just a thought.

I don't have an underwater housing, but I was planning on wrapping it up in an old down jacket and the winding the thing up with tape or elastics. That should keep in the heat....I think .

"Start off warm inside and the heat generated from the camera should keep the temperature in the housing at a reasonable level and the housing would keep the wind off of the camera." You run the risk of forming frost on the inside of the casing.

I live in a fairly cold environment... where I live it can get down to -40C (-40F)... not including windchill.

The cam will not be harmed in severe cold whether and in fact is probably better off being used at the same temperature as your subject is. Even if the LCD freezes up it will be fine when it warms. Try to avoid zooming too much though... the cold causes extra friction which is hard on the zooming motor. You will want to watch your battery levels if on battery. It will lose charge as the battery cools. At minus 20 its life will at LEAST be cut in 1/2. If you're running on power cord then try not to flex the cord too much or too sharply... the vinyl sheathing tends to crack instead of flex. You will also need to be careful when turning knobs and adjusting switches. They tend to become a bit brittle when cold. I can't tell you how many times I've snapped a knob or a switch off in the car in the dead of Winter because of the cold!

When you bring the cam in condensation will form... not just on the outside but the inside as well. It will be fine so long as you remove the battery and any plug-in adapter you may have plugged into it, and let it sit for at least an hour or so. DON'T try to preview video or even plug the battery back in while it is warming. The current flowing through the cam along with the condensation on the internal electronics may short it out.

I've tested electronics at -20C, everything survived just fine except for me.So long as you don't turn it off for long the self heating of the components will keep them warm enough. Generally too cold just stops electronics from working, it recovers just fine when you warm it up. Too hot is another matter.

Watch out for condensation of course, something over the camera to keep it warm wouldn't hurt.

Bob.

Well that's good news then. I don't see how the LCD's and sensors can freeze and be ok later, it sounds like something only Superman could do. But if it works after being frozen great! Long live technology.

Well "freeze" is a bit of an overstatement because they don't actually freeze in the sense we know. The liquid simply becomes stiff enough so that it can no longer react with the speed required

"Generally too cold just stops electronics from working,"

You do have to get pretty cold for that to happen though. Even in the extreme climate where I live, the on-board computers they build into cars these days (just for example) function easily without missing a beat.

It's the mechanical things that really start to fail in the cold pretty fast. At about -30c if I don't plug the car in it isn't going to start... too much friction for the starter to crank the motor with enough speed. At -35c the suspension is frozen enough so that there may as well be none at all. The hard drive I keep my music on in the car is totally useless because it can no longer spin at the proper speed.... too much friction. In fact... just as a side note... the hard drive on my SR11 shuts down at about -10 (I think it was anyway... I wasn't near a thermometer at the time). A message shot across the screen.... something about "climate too cold for the hard drive"

I don't have a movie camera but have done a few all day time lapse shoots with my still camera. Predawn to dark.
Biggest problem with cold temperatures is fogging on the outside of the lense.
Only way I have been able to deal with it is by either wiping the lense or by blowing air on it from a hair dryer set on low. This has to be done just about every time I take a shot.
Nothing as cold as -20 but some days it was close to or below freezing.

I would use a styrofoam cooler for a blimp. Just cut a hole in it for the lens. If things are really cold maybe even throw a handwarmer (found at sporting goods stores) in the box.

Now that's really thinking outside the box. Great idea, Bas!

Nah, I'm sure McGuyver's done it first.

" But if it works after being frozen great! Long live technology. "

Electronics don't contain liquid so its kind of hard for it to freeze :)
What happens is this. Transistor gain is a function of temperature. At low temps the gain of the zillions of transistors in any electronic device can become low enough for the device to simply not work, it's not frozen, just incapable of working, no harm done. At exactly what temp this becomes an issue is a bit of an unknown. Most ICs seem spec'ed to 0degC operational, that's core temp so self heating keeps you inside that. The issue we were worried about was our gear being left powered down overnight buried in snow and having to start up. Despite what the specifications said it worked just fine.
LCD displays I'm not 100% certain of, the "liquid" in the liquid crystal displays could freeze and expand enough to crack something but I've never heard of this happening even at much lower temps than -20C.

Lubricant's viscosity decreases with temperature so you can find you tripod's head really hard to use. Synthetic greases and oils can be used to get around this. Miller down here reworked the heads used for March Of The Penguins.
This could also effect things like the motors and mechanics in the camera's lens but again I've not heard of this happening.

One issue at -20C to be careful of, plastics become more rigid, we had all our extension leads become very rigid during our testing and having the insulation crack seemed a risk so watch out of mic leads and power cables.

The condensation issue isn't as bad as you'd think. At low temps air holds less water. Tropical climates are what has caused us grief with cameras. Camera / camera case filled with warm humid air put into cargo hold of planes can lead to puddles of water inside the camera or the case, not good at all. Add a little salt from sweat and even without electricity involved corrosion sets in.
Certainly taking a camera from a warm building into the outdoors is going to pose a risk, powering it up before you go out so it keeps itself a bit warm would definately help reduce this issue. Still in cold climates building are generally heated just enough to be comfortable so there's unlikely to be a huge amount of water in the air.

Bob.

Might try an air tight optical plastic with sticky 1/4" foam sealing and holding the plastic to the outside of the lens. This creates an air filled void which will keep the lens from fogging. It must be air tight.
We used cheapo plastic on the inside of the windshields on our trucks in Greenland at -40F. Defrosters do not work at all in the artic. If you open a door with the inside warm at -40F the windows instantly ice up to about 1/8" thick. (one second) The plastic stick-ons would remain totally clear. They cost the Air Force 50 cents each.
JJK

Certainly taking a camera from a warm building into the outdoors is going to pose a risk, ...

I would think brining in a cold camera *in* to a warm building would be more of a hazard. That's when humidity in the warm(er) air will condense on the cold camera surfaces.

Actually as far as keeping the lens warm, they do this - check out the amateur astronomy places - they have heaters designed for the telescopes to keep them from fogging since they are often used at night when the temperature drops and condensation is a real problem. Here are a couple of links that address that issue:
http://www.optcorp.com/category.aspx?uid=105-288
http://www.dewbuster.com/faq/4_performance.htm
There are a number of DIY versions out there too designed to run off 12 volts so you can have battery power where you set the scope up.

mikey

Interesting conversation and advice from all of you. However, I recorded for a few hours outside with my camera wrapped in my dog's winter coat and I had no issues. Battery seemed to work LONGER than it normally does. Everything went great! So great actually that I think I'll to do this more often! I thought these things were more sensitive!

hope you took it off your dog first ;p)

" That's when humidity in the warm(er) air will condense on the cold camera surfaces. "

Indeed but that's a minor problem. You see it, you can wipe it off. You can quite safely clean your camera with a damp cloth.

Consider the opposite. The camera itself is filled with warm humid air. You take it outside and that water condenses inside your camera. You don't see it, you don't know it's happened until your camera just stops working, maybe a long time later because something has corroded away.

Bob.

"Electronics don't contain liquid so its kind of hard for it to freeze :)"

He was talking of the LCD, and yes... it DOES contain a liquid.

"LCD displays utilize two sheets of polarizing material

Some capacitors also contain a liquid (electrolyte).

These liquids do indeed have a freezing temperature.... but they a FAR lower then we need be concerned with.

From the spec sheet for the LCD I am using with one of my projects under "Absolute Maximum Ratings"

ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM RATINGS
Not sure where this is relative to others, but this is the published spec for the one I have.

mikey