8x10 In The Snow & The C-C-Cold!

[Andrew O'Neill]

We got a nice dumping of snow a few weeks back, so I went out the following morning with the 8x10...

[Dean Lastoria]

That was a great video! That place is just not on my mental map! Nothing exists north of the Pitt River bridge! Thanks for showing it off!

[Andrew O'Neill]

That was a great video! That place is just not on my mental map! Nothing exists north of the Pitt River bridge! Thanks for showing it off!

Thank you, Dean! Sometimes I photograph it from the Pitt River bridge, especially foggy mornings.

[Vaughn]

Wonderful!

The coldest I think I have tromped around with LF was -7 or -8C (in the hills above Spokane...dense fog and a constant temperature day/night for several days, very interesting). But that was 4x5. Larger I have used below 0C, but not by much. Always regretted not having a snorkel with me for longer times under the darkcloth without fogging/icing up the GG with my breath. It does get me good at holding my breath, though.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Wonderful!

The coldest I think I have tromped around with LF was -7 or -8C (in the hills above Spokane...dense fog and a constant temperature day/night for several days, very interesting). But that was 4x5. Larger I have used below 0C, but not by much. Always regretted not having a snorkel with me for longer times under the darkcloth without fogging/icing up the GG with my breath. It does get me good at holding my breath, though.

Strangely enough, the GG did fog up at all. On a shoot last year, at -6C, it did however... Over in Japan, it fogged up all the time, but that was during the extremely humid summer months!

[Vaughn]

Yeah, it is not the cold, its the humility.

[Alan9940]

Loved this video! Reminds me of one winter day in Vermont, while cursing around with the 8x10, I stopped to set up on a hillside looking down over some farm buildings and pastures in the distance. It was about -15C with wind gusting from 30 - 35 kph. Me and the camera were fine with all of it, but that old Acme shutter hosing my 12" Commercial Ektar REALLY slowed down. I was surprised it worked at all!

[Drew Wiley]

Most of the time in the Sierras, even at the highest altitudes, the snow has a high water content, and is more wet than dry. It's what skiers contemptuously call "Sierra cement" once it compacts, versus their more desirable powder snow conditions. And it sure can fog up a ground glass if you aren't careful. Right now, we're undergoing what's called the Pineapple Express here on the coast, right from Hawaii - probably over 6 inches of relatively warm rain just last night, and once that hits the altitude gradient of the Sierras, as it has already been doing, many feet of snow are being produced, but all of it damp, even this time of the year.

For example, the highest ski resort, Mammoth Mtn, is currently showing 16 ft of snow depth at the summit, but a forecast low temp today of 29F, barely below freezing. There are considerably higher non-skiable peaks in the vicinity, but with our warming winter temps, these face a losing battle trying to hold onto their last remaining cirque glaciers.

[John Layton]

Great video - really looks cold!

Here’s a photograph of my L-45A on the summit of Mt. Washington, NH (home of “the worst weather in the world”) in December of 2004:



Very, very cold and windy! 90/120/305 shutters all a bit sluggish, and the slow speeds on the Copal #1 of my otherwise trusty 210 Sironar-N basically froze up.

At any rate…here is a photo taken near the summit of Mt. Washington, with the arrangement as shown in the above photo (yes, the camera worked as shown - rime-ice included!). 120SA (frosty lens cap removed!), FP-4, “shaped by the wind” Duct-Tape viewing hood:

[Andrew O'Neill]

Great video - really looks cold!

Here’s a photograph of my L-45A on the summit of Mt. Washington, NH (home of “the worst weather in the world”) in December of 2004:



Very, very cold and windy! 90/120/305 shutters all a bit sluggish, and the slow speeds on the Copal #1 of my otherwise trusty 210 Sironar-N basically froze up.

At any rate…here is a photo taken near the summit of Mt. Washington, with the arrangement as shown in the above photo (yes, the camera worked as shown - rime-ice included!). 120SA (frosty lens cap removed!), FP-4, “shaped by the wind” Duct-Tape viewing hood:

Mt. Washington, on Vancouver Island??