[Leica] Re: Cold weather battery fix

[lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

I received a phone call from fellow Leica user Johannes von Trapp  
early last week, advising me that snow was falling in Vermont. He  
wanted me to enter the Senior's XC ski race at the Stowe Winter  
Carnival because so few locals had signed up. Also to bring a lot of  
money and spend it at the Trapp Family Lodge to help rescue their  
miserable early winter season. I told Johannes that I was honored by  
his invitation but I gave up ski racing when I started collecting  
Social Security.

Both my wife and I have had little opportunity to enjoy snow during  
this warmer than average Eastern winter. XC skiing is a sport that I  
picked up while spending a frigid tour of duty assigned to a cold  
weather research unit in Ft. Churchill, Canada during the Korean  
"Police Action." My Norwegian bred wife comes by it genetically. Her  
only fault is that she subscribes to the Lutheran belief that  
redemption is gained through hard physical labor. She enjoys slogging  
uphill. Since she is in much better shape, in all respects, than me,  
it is pretty easy for her. I, on the other hand, cling to the effete  
US idea that the real joy in skiing comes from the free feeling of  
whizzing down from the heights so laboriously gained.

Anyway that brings me to the photographic topic of this post. I often  
carry a P&S camera in an outside pocket of my parka. In past years  
this was a fully mechanical camera, usually a Rollei 35. This year I  
substituted a digital Canon S500 Elph, an admirable small digital  
camera that takes up to a 4 GB CF memory card. For a few days the  
outside temperature ranged between -7 F (-22 C) and -11 F (-24 C).  
The wind chill was -24 F. As everyone seems to remember but me, the  
Li-ion battery in the camera  functions very poorly below 0 F. The  
camera turned on, suggested that the fully charged battery be  
replaced, then shut itself off.

Why didn't I carry the camera in an inside pocket? Well you sweat a  
lot when skiing and the camera would fog up when I took it out. How  
about carrying just the battery in an inside pocket? That would work  
but I would have to take off my gloves to put it in the camera and my  
fingers freeze up at below zero temperatures. I tend to drop things.

The only fix I could come up with on short notice was to tape a small  
dry chemical hand warmer to the outside of the battery compartment.  
For those of you that don't live in cold climates, these are little  
packets of a dry chemical mix that heats up when exposed to air. They  
are sold in sealed envelopes and stay inert for years. When the  
envelope is opened, the reaction starts and the packet heats up to  
about 100 F and hold its heat for about 10 hours. The ones I use are  
called "Hothands-2." They measure 4 cm by 10 cm and are sold in  
envelopes of 4 at WalMart for less than $2. It kept my camera warm  
enough to function perfectly the entire next day.

Marc Small and I have had a long off list correspondence about  
winterizing cameras. We don't fully agree but we both concur that  
something needs to be done to cameras that operate in very cold  
weather. The heat pack seems like such a simple solution that I  
thought I would post it to the list. I have never seen it mentioned  
in the photographic literature. One of these packs could keep the M8  
battery up to par in very cold weather. A couple taped to the back of  
an M Leica or a LTM would keep the camera functioning without  
winterizing. It might even help film transporting without static  
discharges or base cracks.

Larry Z