Beware cold weather

[sponner]

I managed to acquire a 12-60 SWD lens via ebay today.

I collected it from the seller and asked him why it, and the 50-200 he was selling, had had their SWD motors replaced by Olympus.

He told me he went out in the very cold snap we had last year and it broke both swd motors, I haven't checked but he reckons they are only rated to -7 degrees (it was a lot colder than that).

It would never have crossed my mind that a really cold day was anything but a good photo opportunity.

[Tordan58]

Re: Beware cold weather

Thanks for sharing this information with us. I have used Olympus Gear in temperatures of
-15 or even colder - but that was non-SWD lenses.

And as a side note: beware of condensation risk when bringing equipment from cold back to normal indoor temperature and humidity.

[sponner]

Re: Beware cold weather

He said it was -20 degrees when he went out, I do recall some kind of record for coldness being set at Shawbury near to where he lives.

[CallaWolf]

Re: Beware cold weather

beware of condensation risk when bringing equipment from cold back to normal indoor temperature and humidity.

The same goes for moving from tropical conditions (hothouses, for example) to normal conditions.

[David M]

Re: Beware cold weather

My SWD motors are still working and -20C isn't that cold in the winter in this part of Ontario.

In my film shooting days I've shot at -40 in Saskatchewan.

[Bikie John]

Re: Beware cold weather

I wonder if that contributed to the problem with my 12-60. One of the sealing rings in the zoom mech came unseated - if the grease had stiffened up while shooting in the cold in January that might have started it working loose.

Ciao ... John

[Benedict]

Re: Beware cold weather

New technology eh!

I pulled my old Pentax SLR out the other day which I haven't used for ?????? years. Switched it on and even the battery still worked. The Sigma zoom was as sweet as a nut. In the past have used it through snowstorms,rainstorms,etc and never worried about weather sealing - you can't have better than that !

[Phill D]

Re: Beware cold weather

Ah sponner you got that lens then. Well done it looked like a good deal. I had wondered about bidding myself but I haven't recovered from getting a 50-200 yet

[sponner]

Re: Beware cold weather

Yeah it seems like a good deal, v pleased so far, just wish I could have afforded his 50-200 too

[Phill D]

Re: Beware cold weather

Yes that was an SWD version newer than the one I just got but outside my price range I'm afraid. Although even this old 50-200 is showing up problems with my camera. AF accuracy just doesn't seem to be up to the standard needed. Hadn't really been noticable with my other standard lenses. Looks like I'm going to have to send the camera off to Oly for an expensive calibration now