If your camera can't take the heat, get a new camera?
August 9, 2010 1:24 PM   Subscribe

My job needs a point-and-shoot camera that is more heat-resistant than the Kodak EasyShare we have been using.

For my work, we use a Kodak EasyShare to take quick point-and-shoot photos for promotional event recap purposes. Through the nature of our use, it seems the cameras are not heat-resistant enough to last through the summer. We do lots of outdoor events and the cameras get stored in a closed vehicle after the events (I know this isn't ideal, but its unavoidable). I need a camera that can stand up to the heat of summer, but I haven't had any luck finding "temperature resistance" as a review point or benchmark. Any guidance or personal experience is appreciated.

Perhaps I'm throwing the baby out with the bathwater and the best solution is a heat resistant camera case. Please guide me, MeFi.
posted by steeb2er to Technology (7 answers total)
 
What specifically about the camera is degrading due to heat?
posted by ghharr at 1:31 PM on August 9, 2010


Response by poster: I haven't had contact with the camera, but I'm told "the screen warped and is wiggly" and "the pictures look like the lens is having trouble focusing; I don't know if it's a problem with the lens or the focusing mechanism".
posted by steeb2er at 1:35 PM on August 9, 2010


Best answer: I've never been able to break or damage one of Olympus's all-weather cameras (and I've tried), ranging from back in the day when we used film. Our current point-and-shoot has resisted Mexican and Australian summer heat (think hot beaches), and has fared just fine in parked cars there, if that counts for anything.
posted by halogen at 1:42 PM on August 9, 2010


Your description sounds like excessive heat is playing havoc with the LCD screen on the cameras. Unfortunately, the high heat that can build-up in, say, a glove box can be death to an LCD. I killed the screen to my iPod just this very way.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:07 PM on August 9, 2010


Best answer: There must be some recess in the vehicle where it doesn't get too hot. If it were me, I'd store the camera way down in some nook or cranny in the trunk or whatever. My suspicion is that the camera is getting tossed onto the dash or something like that. The glove box, even, shouldn't get super hot unless you're leaving it for hours and hours in Death Valley.

If that's the case, I'd just get a cheap Igloo cooler for camera storage. Toss a bit of ice in there at the end of the event [preferably in a ziploc to contain the water], then store the cameras in their new cool home after use. For extra condensation-damage insurance, put the camera[s] in their own ziploc.

Probably even the empty cooler would suffice to slow the rate of heating. Really, that might be the easiest solution; small cooler dedicated to camera storage, and store it at the bottom of the load in the vehicle.
posted by chazlarson at 2:09 PM on August 9, 2010


Yeah, get yourself any camera, and store it under either of the front seats in an insulated bag - like one of those soft mini-cooler lunchboxes. You won't need to add ice. I've stored a digicam under the seat of my car this way for years, now in the heat of LA, and it always works fine.
posted by fake at 7:57 PM on August 9, 2010


A lot of those Kodak EasyShares, as I recall, also had plastic lenses, rather than glass. Get a camera that has a glass lens, and you'll get better results, and the lens won't warp in the heat.
posted by DaveP at 3:06 PM on August 10, 2010


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