[rollei_list] Re: Cameras in Antarctica
- From: bigler@xxxxxxxx
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:30:13 +0200 (CEST)
> Fellow Rolleists. I have a high probability of working in Antarctica
> over the next winter. I have no experience with cameras in such cold
> conditions, so I am looking for any advice about selecting cameras for
> these conditions. I know about servicing the shutters etc.
> ("winterising"), I am really looking for input about what are issues
> with various types of cameras in the cold conditions, and any shooting
> issues I may not be aware of.
>
> I am thinking about taking something like the following:
> - The Rollei 2.8D (of course!), probably in the metal case.
> - A MF SLR so I have a long lens for wildlife shots. I own a Kowa
> outfit, plus have a Mamiya 645 (would have to buy lenses). Buying
> another camera would not be out of the question.
> - Thinking about taking my Linhof Super Technica for some 4x5 images.
>
> Any comments about the wisdom of the above.
I have a one page reference to arctic, non antarctic ;-) photography
in the 1949 French Greenland polar expedition report. Expedition
leaded by Paul Émile Victor. The photographer was named Jacques
Languepin.
LANGUEPIN J.-J., ICHAC M., MASSON J., VICTOR P.-E. Groenland,
1948-1949 / Edition : Paris, Arthaud, 1951
He used various cameras starting from 35 mm Foca cameras, Foca was a
sponsor of the expedition and is duly credited in the book, he made
some nice 35 mm Kodachrome slides with the Foca. Otherwise J.J.
Languepin certainly used a 6x6 Rolleiflex but he does not mention the
brand !! And most of the scientific images were taken with a
9x12-4"x5" field or a view camera in B&W only. So the idea of a Linhof
Technika with mechanical leaf shutters and either a rollfilm back or
cut film backs is a good one.
But the French 1949 expedition was a "summer" expedition, not a winter
one and antacrtic conditions can be much colder that arctic ones.
J.J. Languepin mentions that no adverse effect of cold can be noticed
on film sensitivity.
One of the other remarks I remember from this book is the question of
"breathe" freezing on 35 mm viewfinders. The mere action of
approaching the eye from a 35 mm eyepiece in certain conditions of
temperature and humidity generated frost on the eyepiece. So he
praises the TLR / waist level finder for this reason... but the same
breathe-freezing effect could affect the Rollei eyepiece as well.
Another French arctic reference is by Jean Malaurie who visited
Northern Greenland at the end of the forties. He used a 35 mm Alpa
Reflex and Kodachrome. He tells us a superb story : some day there was
a problem with the (focal plane) shutter in the Alpa, and one of his
Inuit friends understood the problem and fixed it. Jean Malaurie was
amazed by the skllis of somebody who had never seen a precision
mechanical camera before.
Another suggestion could be to get a Weston meter as a spare exposure
battery-less meter. Sure the use of the Euromaster in a recent British
Antarctic Expedition is advertised by Megatron (UK) Ltd. the present
maker of the Weston-Euromaster, but I think that there is solid ground
to support the idea thet a selenium meter is insensitive to extreme
cold.
Another well-know idea is that electrically-driven shutters can be
operated in extremely cold conditions provided that the camera is
power-supplied tethered to a battery holder kept warm by a nearby
human body ;-)
One of the faithful Ruggers friends, John Lehman, lives in Alaska and
probably holds the RUGers Record of Coldest-Operated Rollei TLR and
SLR, in close competition with other Northern-American, non-alaskian
RUGers... not necessary to live in Alaska to experience -40C = -40F
temperatures...
http://digistar.com/rollei/search.html
search keywords : alaska john cold
http://digistar.com/rollei/1999-12/0481.html
http://digistar.com/rollei/2001-02/0125.html
http://digistar.com/rollei/2003-12/1300.html
And very immodestly ;-) the coldest temperature where I have operated
a camera is about -20C in the Alps and the Rollei 35 performed
extremely well except for the exposure meter for which the batteries
decided to go on strike to protest against unacceptable working
conditions. But the "compur-designed" R-35 shutter worked fine. So a
Rollei 35 backed by a Weston would be a perfect reliable 35 mm tandem
as well...
And another note from memory, an article in the Hasselblad house
magazine about the danish Sirius Patrol in NE Greenland using
Hasselblads in extreme cold. With rollfilm cameras and probably even
more with the Hasselbald (and mamiya SLR) rollfilm back which bends
the film backward two times, you should wind the film extremely
smoothly otherwise you are at risk of breaking it.
--
Emmanuel BIGLER
<bigler@xxxxxxxx>
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