Film and winter temperature swings going on location

[Drew Wiley]

otto - Winding holders into a cotton darkcloth ??? = lint risk !!! Or do you mean just using that to wrap the overall bundle, with the holders still in their own plastic bags? I wrap my bagged or poly-boxed film holders in my goosedown jacket, inside the pack (a coat not worn when I'm actually hiking, but only in camp - I have other less impeding outerwear for on the trail).

But now that the nature of the problem has been hinted at, there is snow, versus snow, versus snow. And often very cold powder snow is a lot easier to deal with than soggy Spring snow, in terms of moisture and condensation risk, whether we're talking about camera gear or tents and parkas.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

The main problem I had photographing the Grand Canyon in winter with snow was condensation on the lens. I am looking at a small dew heater to wrap around the lens in these situation powered by a 9-volt battery. I had take sever pictures before I realized the lens had a nice coating of frost on it. Super thin so I hope it acted like a soft diffuser. Won't know till I develop the film. Gonna be a while

[Fred L]

those chemical hand warmer packs are very useful for keeping dew off lenses. keep a couple of rubber bands on hand to secure the warmers to the lens etc.. I've never worried about dew points in the winter and lenses fogging up. condensation going from cold -> warm will be the thing to keep an eye on

[Steven Ruttenberg]

I like the hand warmer idea too

[John Layton]

Ha! Boy did I learn a hard lesson all those years ago. I was a junior in high school, and had an after school gig as a stringer for a local newspaper. This particular assignment was to photograph a mid-winter indoor swim meet. What could go wrong? It was not only mid winter - but a sub zero day, and a beautiful and snowy one at that, which inspired me to take a few outdoor snaps on the 15 minute walk from my high school to the sports arena where the pool was located. Need I say more?