Can my equipment take the heat?

[gnagel]

I will be visiting southern Utah and the Four Corners region during late July and into August. Much of the trip will involve camping.

My car will be parked for extended periods at trailheads while I am hiking to locations for photography--and I will not be carrying all of my gear on these hikes. For example, my D700 backup camera won't be coming with me. I also won't be carrying the large telephoto lenses like the 300 2.8 while I'm hiking.

I'm a little concerned about how the equipment will fare in the extreme heat of the interior of my car. I purchased sunshades for all of the windows. Even so, when the outside temperature reaches 110 degrees or so, the interior of the car will be far warmer than that. Can the camera and lenses take that kind of heat?

I'm considering putting the extra gear in a cooler...maybe the added insulation will provide some protection from the heat.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Glenn

 

[SteveK]

Glenn, I've had gear in 135+ in Israel. Batteries work great ! The only problems I've ever had was when going from a cold air conditioned room into a humid environment. In Israel, I'd leave an air conditioned apartment, but go into 10-15% humidity, so it had no effect. But in the car, the cooler idea is the way to go, and it also hides valuables. People don't often break into cars to steal a cooler.

 

[RickW]

I too used a cooler in the Southwest. I bought a cheap disposaable styrofoam one at a Wallmart since I did not want to have to carry the cooler on the airplane. and a bunch of Blue Ice cubes which I refroze each evening at the hotel. Just trashed it all at the end of the trcip. If you won't have the ability to refreeze the chemical ice, you can load up at a convenience store daily with regular ice. Only problem with using real ice is that you need plastic bags to keep the melting water away from the gear.

 

[bmell]

I've never had negative effects from camera equipment left in triple digit heat in my car.

 

[RickW]

I've never had negative effects from camera equipment left in triple digit heat in my car.

Ever leave it in the trunk?

 

[bmell]

Ever leave it in the trunk?

Yes, I've left it in the trunk, never a problem. I'm not saying it can't cause a problem, I'm just saying I've never had a problem. The gear is designed to operate in extreme environments and I wouldn't be worried were I in Glen's shoes.

 

[T_Gordon]

I've had my gear in 130+ temps inside pelican cases (often times long periods in direct sunlight) on most of my deployments to the middle east with no issues at all.

 

[crazy]

I've often wondered about this, but fortunately, I have not had to leave equipment in extreme temps for an extended time. Good points.

 

[MParker]

The data that's published in the guides that come with our gear seem to support use and storage in temperature extremes. I store stuff in my car for a few days at a time and don't really worry too much. My biggest concern was (is) that a bit of the lubricant used in lenses might run onto the iris blades. So far it has not happened and I've been shooting in wildly varying climates all my adult life.