5 Easy Winter Camera Care Tips

The days are get­ting cool­er, crisper and short­er, cold weath­er is right around the corner. 

There are so many won­der­ful oppor­tu­ni­ties to take pho­tos in the cold win­ter months…winter sports, hol­i­days, snowy land­scapes, and amaz­ing light to work with. 

Just like the sum­mer cam­era care is impor­tant, win­ter cam­era care is impor­tant as well. Cam­eras are made for mod­er­ate temps, not extremes, and they can become dam­aged as win­ter tem­per­a­tures drop. 

That’s why I’ve put togeth­er 5 Easy Win­ter Cam­era Care Tips to help you take care of your equip­ment this winter.

Winter Camera Care Tips

Protect Your Camera

Just like you want to keep your cam­era pro­tect­ed from the heat of the sum­mer you want to make sure you keep your cam­era safe from the win­ter ele­ments as well. That’s why my num­ber one win­ter cam­era care tip is to ensure that you keep your cam­era dry. Noth­ing can cause dam­age to your cam­eras like damp­ness or condensation. 

If you are try­ing to cap­ture beau­ti­ful images and the snow is falling or blow­ing onto your cam­era, hav­ing a rain cov­er will help save your kit. Remem­ber that you don’t want to go cheap on this pur­chase. More than like­ly, you have thou­sands of dol­lars invest­ed in your equip­ment and invest­ing in pro­tec­tion will save you mon­ey in the long run. Here are some great options for you to choose from to ensure that your cam­era is pro­tect­ed from the elements.

Keep Batteries Warm

My num­ber two tip is an easy and inex­pen­sive tip, but one that many peo­ple often over­look. Tip num­ber two is to make sure that you warm your bat­ter­ies and car­ry a spare! Cold tem­per­a­tures affect your cam­era bat­ter­ies’ life and can even cut it in half. Keep­ing them warm, either with a pock­et hand warmer or inside, will help extend their life. And to ensure you are nev­er caught with a dead cam­era bat­tery, always have a spare.

Protect Your Memory Cards

Num­ber three, just like you keep your bat­tery and cam­era warm and pro­tect­ed, don’t for­get to care for your mem­o­ry cards. Many high-end mem­o­ry cards can han­dle extremes in tem­per­a­ture, but your aver­age card will need some warmth. Keep it in the inside pock­et of your cam­era bag or your jack­et, as well as in a pro­tec­tive case.

Be Aware of Condensation

My num­ber four tip for you is to watch out for con­den­sa­tion. When you go from your warm and toasty ski lodge out into the cold to snap those shots of your kid­dos, the tem­per­a­ture change will cause con­den­sa­tion on your lens. 

Tem­per­a­ture changes should be grad­ual; I’m not talk­ing 5–10 min­utes. I am talk­ing for 30–60 min­utes. If you’re like me, patience isn’t a strong suit, but I promise it will pay off. If you have an entry­way or you know you are dri­ving to your loca­tion, put your cam­era in the car or entry to begin accli­mat­ing sooner.

Protect When Going Indoors

And my num­ber five win­ter cam­era care tip is one you may not con­sid­er. Just like when you went out­side from inside, going inside from out will cause con­den­sa­tion on your cam­era. The easy fix for this is to place your cam­era in a re-seal­able bag before head­ing in. This way, the con­den­sa­tion won’t hit your cam­era, only the bag.

Don’t for­get that while tak­ing care of your cam­era dur­ing extreme tem­per­a­tures, tak­ing care of your­self is also impor­tant. Wear warm cloth­ing, includ­ing warm gloves and boots and make sure your skin is protected.

Use these win­ter cam­era care tips to help you keep your cam­era safe this sea­son and to help you pro­duce amaz­ing pho­tos and if you want to learn to under­stand your cam­era to get amaz­ing pic­tures, join The Begin­ners Pho­tog­ra­phy Essen­tials class today!