I live in the desert southwest, Phoenix, Arizona. Our temperature and humidity are warm and dry. In the winter, our humidity percentage can be in the single digits. Recently, I had meet with a national firm of used photo equipment where I was selling some lenses. I asked the purchasers about equipment from our area. He said the dry climate was the best for storage for our lenses. That there was a very low percentage of fungus spoiling from our area and much of what he experienced, the lenses were from somewhere else.
But what about lens fogging when taking camera equipment from warm moist environments into cool and cold environments, how can I prevent my lenses from fogging?
In a short couple of months, I will be taking a flight to the Swiss alps. Particularly, the Bernier Oberland, a mountainous area of Switzerland. February is wintertime, snow, rain in the lower elevations but indeed I am about to enter a different environment than the desert where I live. I’ll go from the lower valley hotel and then up the cable car or driving up winding switchbacks and or riding the cog railway up the mountain. My camera is going to transmission from warm to cold with humidity.
What’s going to happen?
How am I going to mitigate the effects of humidity and temperature change?
Just as you are reading here, I went to AI and asked the question and basically the answers were from mountaineering photographers. When going inside from outside, place the camera in a vapor barrier bag like a big zip lock plastic bag with desiccant. Dry the camera off and keep the camera in the bag while inside and when going back outside, let the camera cool down to the outside temperature. In my case, I’ll carry my camera in a plastic bag in my backpack or on an outside pocket and let the temperature equilibrate. In addition, in a freezing environment, I will wind the film advance lever slowly as film can become brittle in sub-freezing temperatures. I’ll carry extra lithium batteries in an inner pocket on my person if there is an issue with my light meter battery. Prior to going on my trip, I’ll change the light meter battery knowing that a battery change is good for a couple of years.
I’ll be travelling light. I will use a single North Face day pack to carry all my clothes, electronics, bathroom kit and my camera with an extra lens. In this case I’m going to use a Nikon FE and a pancake 50mm and the compact 20mm f4 AI lens. I’ll carry 5 rolls of film, four color and one black and white. In the case of film, my plan is to use Kodak Ektar 100 with a warming filter as my winter trip to Switzerland will be filled with snow peaks and long shadows. The warming filter will warm the deep blues of the shadows. Although I am not planning on any mountaineering, I will do some light hiking and will bring a telescoping hiking pole made by Leki which the top gnob unscrews to expose a stud that I can screw on my camera. I rarely use a monopod and I just don’t see myself stabbing the pole into the snow to make a timed selfie.
I do have a compact tripod that I can take for time lapse images on my iPhone and if needed, I can use this for my SLR. My Nikon FE will meter low light photography so I just might use that for horizon clear night photography if the chance arises. I have a CR1/3N lithium battery in it now and will replace this with a new one right before my trip. Lithium does much better in the cold than alkaline batteries.
Although lithium battery performance in the cold is better than alkaline, the F6 and the D780 utilize lithium batteries however they both employ liquid crystal displays. I don’t feel the need to carry these cameras. The Nikon FE is fairly inexpensive yet very reliable. In addition, it has an excellent meter and I am very familiar with it having taken quite a few pictures with mine. There are others that have used their Nikon FE’s in sub-freezing temperatures with no problems. I’m travelling fast and light and my LF35AF point and shoot Nikon is fully capable but it is old and I’m afraid that the plastic may become brittle in bitter cold. It has a really nice lens however it uses two double AA batteries which can be affected by the cold.
I typically do not use a strap yet on this trip will carry a rope strap to facilitate not having to take my backpack off to take pictures. It will be much easier that to take the pack off and unzip, place the camera down and zip and don the pack. The rope strap will keep the camera out in the temps so no changes in temperature fogging will be expected. Just to be prepared, I’ll take an extra lens cap as both lenses take 52mm filters and caps and I often keep a cap in my pocket as I walk around.
Although this trip is very important for me to get good pictures, the FE will be up to the task.
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From AI…
The Nikon FE is an excellent, reliable choice for alpine mountaineering, widely loved by climbing photographers for its durability, compact size, and mechanical reliability in freezing environments.
Here is how the Nikon FE performs in high-altitude, alpine conditions, along with the critical trade-offs and practical tips you need to know.
🏔️ Why the Nikon FE Excels in the Alpine
- Cold-Weather Reliability: The Nikon FE features an electronically controlled shutter, but it includes a mechanical backup speed (M90 / 1/90th sec). If your batteries completely freeze or die in the middle of a route, your camera is not a paperweight—you can still shoot manually at 1/90th of a second.
- Compact & Lightweight Form Factor: Compared to bulky modern DSLRs or heavier vintage bodies (like the Nikon F2 or F3), the FE is relatively slim and light. When paired with a compact pancake lens, it sits comfortably against your chest or inside a top lid.
- Physical Controls: The tactile, mechanical dials for shutter speed and ISO are easy to operate, even when wearing lightweight liner gloves.
- Aperture Priority (Auto Mode): When you are hanging off an anchor or racing a storm, you don't always have time to fiddle with manual settings. The FE's reliable 'Auto' mode lets you focus entirely on composition and safety.
⚠️ Critical Alpine Challenges & How to Handle Them
| Challenge | Impact on Nikon FE | Solution / Workaround |
|---|---|---|
| Battery Death (Cold) | Freezing temps cause the dual LR44/SR44 batteries to drop voltage rapidly, killing the light meter and main shutter speeds. | Use Silver Oxide (SR44) batteries instead of Alkaline (LR44). They handle the cold significantly better. Keep a spare set in an inside pocket next to your body heat. |
| Snow Blindness (Metering) | The camera's center-weighted light meter will see bright white snow and think the scene is blinding, resulting in heavily underexposed, gray images. | Overexpose manually. Use the exposure compensation dial set to +1 or +2 EV when shooting bright, snow-covered landscapes to keep the snow looking white. |
| Condensation | Moving from a freezing exterior into a warm, humid mountain hut or tent will cause moisture to fog the lens and internal electronics. | The Ziploc Bag Trick. Before stepping inside, seal the camera in a plastic bag. Let it slowly acclimatize to the warm air inside the bag so condensation forms on the plastic, not the camera. |
| Glove Management | Standard climbing gloves make loading film or changing lenses impossible. | Stick to one versatile prime lens on the route. Only advance or reload film when at a secure stance using thin liner gloves. |
🎒 Recommended Alpine Setup
- The Lens: Skip the heavy zooms. Pair the FE with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI-S (Pancake version) or a Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 AI-S for wide landscape shots. They take up almost no space and are optically stellar.
- The Carrying System: Do not let the camera dangle on a standard neck strap; it will swing violently into rocks or ice. Use a secure chest harness or a robust camera clip (like a Peak Design Capture Clip) mounted to your backpack's shoulder strap.
- Film Choice: For high-altitude snow, choose a fine-grained, high-latitude slide or color negative film with lower ISO (like Fujifilm Velvia/Provia 100F for dramatic colors, or Kodak Ektar 100). If you prefer black and white, bring a yellow or orange filter to darken the alpine skies and make the peaks pop.
The Bernese Oberland is arguably one of the most spectacular alpine arenas in the world for classic mountaineering and photography. Its combination of towering, vertical north faces, expansive glaciers, and historic mountain railways offers a stunning backdrop for shooting film on a classic body like the Nikon FE.
🏔️ Iconic Peaks & Photographic Considerations
If you are taking your FE into this specific region, you will be framing some of the most famous topology in mountaineering history:
- The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau: This legendary triumvirate dominates the landscape. The sheer 1,800-meter Eiger North Face (Nordwand) is often cast in deep, dramatic shadow for much of the day. If you are shooting toward it, your light meter will easily be tricked by the glaring snow surrounding the peak while leaving the face completely black. Spot-meter carefully or dial in your exposure compensation based on the rock face rather than the bright sky behind it.
- The High-Altitude Glaciers: Up on the Jungfraufirn or the Aletsch Glacier, you are dealing with pure, intense UV light and massive expanses of white. At these altitudes, haze filters (UV filters) are mandatory to prevent your images from looking completely washed out and low-contrast, especially if you are shooting color slide film.
🚂 Logistics: Film Shooting via Mountain Rail
One major advantage of the Bernese Oberland is the incredible infrastructure, specifically the Jungfrau Railway (Jungfraubahn).
- The Eiger Station Advantage: You can take the historic cog railway directly up to stations carved into the mountain, such as Kleine Scheidegg or the Eigergletscher station. This allows you to step directly out into high-alpine environments without exhausting yourself carrying heavy gear on a multi-day approach.
- Managing Temperature Transitions: Riding the train means you will move rapidly from a warm, heated train car out into freezing alpine air, and vice versa. As mentioned before, the condensation risk is extreme here. Keep your Nikon FE sealed tightly inside a Ziploc bag inside your pack whenever you are transitionary boarding or exiting the trains to prevent the lens elements and the FE's electronic shutter contacts from fogging up.
🎞️ Film & Filter Strategies for the Oberland Light
- For Dramatic B&W Peaks: If you want to capture the brutal texture of the Eiger's limestone and contrast it against the sky, use a Red or Orange filter. This will darken the deep blue alpine skies to a dramatic, near-black tone, making the snow-covered ridges pop vibrantly.
- For Vibrant Winter Colors: If you choose a slide film like Fujifilm Provia 100F, be aware that high-altitude mountain shadows tend to take on a very strong blue cast. Carrying a mild skylight filter (1B) or a warming filter (like an 81A) will help neutralize those cold blues and give the alpine granite a more natural, golden hue.
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