When Canadian photographers talk about protecting their gear from the weather, they usually talk about cold and snow. But with temperatures peaking at 35 C in Ontario this week, it's just as worthwhile to talk about protecting camera equipment from heat.
Modern cameras are stuffed full of electronics and excessive heat is an enemy that can damage them. Heat can harm your photos too; an overheated image sensor will result in digital noise appearing in the image. This is usually only a concern for very long exposures but when digital cameras are exposed to the Summer sun, heat and digital noise becomes a concern for high-speed, high-volume sports photography and video.
Keeping your camera out of the sun is the obvious preventive measure. Here's some more tips to keep your camera cool.
Limit your use of the LCD viewscreen. A huge advantage of the SLR camera design remains that it doesn't rely on electronics for the photographer to view through the lens. The giant LCD screens of modern cameras consume a lot of battery power and generate a lot of heat. Turn off the automatic "review" feature and use the LCD only sparingly.
Reduce continuous shooting. Even entry level D-SLRs can achieve shooting rates of 3 frames per second and most D-SLR models can exceed that. The motors, gears, levers and electronics that need to operate continuously to achieve high-speed frame rates build up heat quickly. Try to release the shutter sooner and give your camera some seconds to cool between bursts.
Be careful of where your lens is pointing. While I have never seen this actually happen, it's common sense that if a lens were left pointing at the sky, the lens or camera could be damaged by continuous exposure to sunlight.
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