On Apr 5, 2006, at 10:44 PM, Adam Maas wrote:
Lithium really is the only choice for cold weather, and even then you'll lose 50% of the charge to the weather.
Best thing in really cold weather is to make up a battery pack on a cable that allows you to power the camera from batteries kept in a warmer environment, like your pocket under a jacket. I used to have one of those for my Nikon F3/T ... found it at a flea market for nothing, but never used it.
Mechanical SLR's have a huge advantage for cold-weather work.
Well, they have their problems too: static electricity marking the film, film going brittle from cold and breaking in the camera, etc.
The Nikon FM2n post 1991 is probably the best cold weather SLR body ever. The usual cause of mechanical body failure in ultra cold weather is lubricant seize up in the shutter and aperture mechanisms. Nikon specifically re-engineered the internals of the FM2n in 1991 with materials that required extremely little to no lubricant.
Godfrey
