High Altitude Video? Suggestions?

[mrkristofo]

Hey all,

The pops is heading to the Himalaya for 6 weeks or so this fall, and asked me to see what I could find out about problems shooting video at altitude/cold temps. In particular, above 20k feet. He'll be using a Canon Elura miniDV cam, so he wants to make sure that it works, or see if he needs to get something else. Once-in-a-lifetime type deal, ya know? I think the questions stem from reports of iPods and other devices not working at that sort of elevation.

So, what should he expect as far as camera performance goes up there?


Cheers

Kris

[Trackhead]

Mark Newcomb and Rattlecan Films used a Sony FX1 (tape-HDV) at 8,000 meters on Shishapangma. You might contact them. There footage was impeccable.

[Tippster]

Have him get a bunch of the little chemical heat packs and put one in the camera case an hour before he wants to use it. Also, if there's a little screw on UV Filter that will help with the video quality. A polarizer would be good too to get some really dramatic darkening of the sky.

[Summit]

problem is small air bubbles can get trapped in chips during manufacture at sea level. taking them to altitidue can cause the bubbles to expand and damage the chips. thats why pretty much no consumer electronic product is gauranteed by the manufacturer to work above 10K... obviously most things do anyway.

[Plakespear]

What Tip said. Batteries drain FAST at cold temps.

[mrkristofo]

Thanks for all the input. I definitely hear you guys about the battery deal...I always have a hotpack for my ipod/digi on me.

Nothing else altitude-specific, though?