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M9 kit in the cold

gooomz

Member
left my M9 plus m lenses in my car for a few days by accident and temps dropped to 20 degrees outside.

is this bad for my precious m kit?
 

emr

Member
Over here people use their (non-Leica) gear in temps down to -20°F. One problem is that the battery drains more quickly if cold. And if one brings the camera to humid indoors air, it could cause some nasty condensation. One should let a cold camera warm up in a closed plastic bag or some other container. But 20°F is almost room temperature! ;)
 

Alfonso

New member
I've been using the M9 down to -25 C (here in Helsinki) and besides the battery not lasting as long as usual, no problems. Just make sure to bring it back to a warm place protecting it from moisture, since condensation will form on the all-metal cold body
Greetings!
 

Gary Clennan

New member
Not a worry at all. I used my M8 all day long at -34C on a winter hike last week. No problem except for poor battery life which is expected.
 

gooomz

Member
thanks.

if i bring in a cold kit into a warm room just leave it in my retro 5 bag or could condensation still occur?

are my lenses safe from condensation?
 

borge

New member
No problem at all. I used my MM in -27 for 3 hours. The focusing helicoid on the 50 lux asph got a bit stiffer, and a thin layer of frost would settle on the camera body if you breath on it. Just be careful when you take it inside which causes lots of temperature difference. That's when you might get in to trouble due to condensation. The best thing is to use a camera bag that gets equally as cold as the camera and put the camera in the bag before you go inside and let the bag with the camera heat up at a normal pace for a while before you open the bag.
 

gooomz

Member
thanks!

on a side note, to clean the front glass element is huffing on it and wiping it with a microfiber cloth bad for the lens coatings?
 

Double Negative

Not Available
No worries. Throw it in a Ziploc bag and bring it inside to warm up for a while (before opening Ziploc). As mentioned, the greased stuff will be a bit stiff until it warms up.
 

dude163

Active member
I just went snowshoeing with my M8 and it was -11 C so when I got back in I just left it on the counter for about 30 minutes before I did anything to it, and it was almost 100% dry and warmed up.
 

gooomz

Member
if i keep my kit in the trunk in my sedan whenever i'm driving does the vibration from driving mess up the calibration of the m9 body over time?
 

Shashin

Well-known member
if i keep my kit in the trunk in my sedan whenever i'm driving does the vibration from driving mess up the calibration of the m9 body over time?
That is a harder question with rangefinders. Most likely not, but I have had to send back a rangefinder for alignment after a long time owning it. What caused it is hard to pin down to one event or one behavior. I think you should expect that over time a rangefinder can lose alignment. In my case it was vertical alignment which is easy to spot.
 

Double Negative

Not Available
I don't think the vibrations will cause much issue, but try to avoid extreme temperatures. You don't want to cook your gear or chill batteries.

My gear usually rides with me - where it's environmentally controlled and not in a crumple zone... It's also easier to grab if you see something while you're enroute somewhere. :p
 
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