Pentax 67II in extreme cold

[ed_hurst]

Does anyone have any experience of using the Pentax 67II in extremely

cold conditions (below -10 Celsius)? As its operation is to some

extent electrical, I suspect that it is likely to give up sooner than

wholly mechanical alternatives. Anyone have any experience?

[joe_oliva]

I have used the P67 (not the II) at temps down to about -20C a few times. Make sure you have plenty of spare batteries with you. Keep them in an inside pocket until you need them. Also, if possible, try to prevent the camera and lenses from getting "cold soaked", that is frozen all the way to the core. There is alot of surface area in the internals, especially the glass surfaces for condensation to form if you are not careful when you bring the stuff indoors and it heats up. Fortunately, the air is pretty dry, even indoors when the outside temp is that low, but you still want to be thinking about it.

[photomark]

Hi Ed,

 

I've used the pentax 67(not II) in Yellowstone winters and Northern

Minnesota winters. I was suprised to find that not only did it work

fine all the time, I never needed to change the battery. In

Yellowstone I was camping and the camera was outside for over a week

at a time on several occasions. I brought several batteries and the

cold weather extension cord, but never used either. The temperatures

were around 0-20 F in the day and dropped to -10 to 0 degrees F at

night. (Very temperate weather by their standards) The only problem i

had was condensation on the eyepeice from my breath which froze and

was a pain in the @$$ to remove and frozen condensation on a lens from

geyser steam. The camera operated flawlessly.

[marcelo_p._lima]

Yes, I've used the Pentax 67II in very cold weather, with no problems. I was surprised to find that someone with the P67 didn't have problems in the cold, since a lithium battery (which the P67II has) is usually needed in these conditions. I experienced no problems with the II; the meter (AE prism) and all other functions worked very well, for hours, on and on.

[william_stone]

The only cold-related Pentax 67 (not II) problem I had was last year on a ship in Antarctica. It was chilly, but not bitter-cold, probably -10 to -15 C. The mirror came un-glued from its platform as I locked the mirror up prior to an exposure. Fortunately, the mirror did not break and I was able to do an emergency repair by re-cementing it in place. It's been working fine ever since. Rather inconvenient and a bit disconcerting, to say the least...Bill (william.stone@juno.com)

[joe_oliva]

I should add that most of my cold weather photography involves time exposures (2-6 minutes) at night, which really saps the batteries due to the solenoid that keeps the mirror up being energized for so long.