The Camera Bag

Lets take a moment and discuss my camera bag. Its a recycled Eagle Creek handbag that I modified expressly for winter tripping. I mentioned in an earlier blog that alkaline and nickel cadmium batteries have a lot of water in them which renders them pretty much useless. You can buy lithium batteries , which will perform very well in cold temperatures, and put those into all your electronics that will accept them. But what about my Canon and Sony cameras? What the hell am I gonna do? I'll tell you what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna build an insulated camera bag and heat it.     I started with two layers of foil sided bubble wrap, and I put velcro tabs on it to keep it closed and seal the heat in. I also cut out a small window on the inner layer of wrap and inserted a small thermometer which can be easily read upon opening the bag. At the bottom of the bag I added 4 additional layers of heavy foil, and I cut a small external opening in the bag and inserted a small tube.All of this was carefully duct-taped down in a typically anal fashion. (What the hell did the world do before duct tape? Seriously!) The small tube will provide make-up air for my Zippo Handwarmer, which is a flameless catalytic heat source. It needs oxygen (hence the tube providing make-up air) , and will "burn" continuously for 12 hours providing an internal source of warmth and keeping my cameras and their sensitive batteries alive. Just fuel it, light it, place it in its carrying case and tuck it home with the cameras and batteries. It will be a relatively airtight unit, except for the air supplying the handwarmer with the necessary oxygen to provide catalytic combustion. Voila! Warm batteries and extended electronic life.     In the front pouch I have a small tally book that will serve as a journal (this has an adhesive calendar from a local gin mill in it and 5 crossword puzzles clipped from the local paper). I will also carry  a watch ( as much as we would like to avoid setting an alarm winter trips like this will take about two hours to break camp every morning), two pencils(pens are useless in these temperatures), a few instructional papers, my NatGeo carabiner with razor sharp knife, and my all-important whistle. The camera bag is designed to clip quickly and easily onto the sternum strap of my pack for instant access. An external side pocket will house my anenometer, which reads temperature, dew point, and wind chill. It can give instant readings or be mounted on a tripod for longer periods to record averages over time.  You may think this is little more than a snazzy gadget, but it will ultimately dictate whether or not we break camp and move or chew up one of our valuable weather days. I have seen wind chills in excess of negative 100 F on Alaska's arctic coast and  negative 55F in Denali in late February. Wind is no joke.

Post Script: The camera bag tested at -25F in my freezer maintained an internal temperature of  +48F.
It has also spent 3 nights on my deck in below freezing temperatures with Handwarmers and the Zippo in it and maintained overnight temperatures of +75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I really need this to work in the field, though, and the true test is still to come. Promising for now.