Cold weather and old cameras
On Saturday, halfway down the hill to Hakaniemi, the little lights in the Bessa's viewfinder stopped coming on. I pressed the release halfway a few times, then once too far, which did nothing for the meter and cost me a frame. The camera had been hanging outside my coat for about an hour by then.
It has been properly cold for some days now. Not a record as far as I know, just the kind of pakkanen (frost) where the snow starts to squeak under your boots and the tram windows are white at the edges.
The meter runs on two small button cells. The shutter does not need them at all. It is mechanical at every speed, so with flat batteries the camera still works. It only stops giving advice. I finished the roll by guessing, HP5 at 1600 under a low grey sky with snow on the ground. For the frames I cared about I took a second one a stop brighter, because negative film forgives too much light more easily than too little. We will see.
At home, by the time I had my boots off and the kettle on, the lights worked again. The batteries were not dead, only cold. Mine were cheap alkaline LR44s from the supermarket. Everyone who writes about these cameras says to use silver oxide, SR44, which hold their voltage better, so I have ordered a pack.
The camera goes inside the coat now as well, on its strap, with the zip pulled up over it. I look as if I have a very square stomach. For every frame I have to unzip and zip up again, which is slow. I have also learnt not to breathe out while focusing. One breath near the eyepiece and it fogs, and in this cold the fog freezes. I now hold my breath to focus, which also helps with shake.
A fast rewind in cold, dry air is supposed to leave static marks on the negatives as well. I have never seen them on my own film and would like to keep it that way, so I turn the crank slowly, with one glove off.
The bigger worry, from what I have read, is coming back indoors. Warm air from the flat meets a cold camera and condenses on it, on the lens and on the film inside. The trick is the same as with film from the fridge, only stricter. Before I open the front door downstairs, the camera goes into a freezer bag, I press the air out and seal it, and it sits on the shelf in the hall until it reaches room temperature, so the water forms on the bag and not on the camera.
Today I went out again for an hour around Kallio before the sun went down. After December, daylight at four still surprises me. The bag was grey with mist when I put it on the shelf. That was a little over three hours ago and it has cleared, mostly. I will leave it until morning anyway.