Digicams and Laptops and India's Summer Heat?

Fullred

I'm going to be taking some pretty heavy duty hardware to India when I go there from mid-April till almost the end of May.

That's smack in the middle of summer, and I know the temperatures soar way up.

Do I have to be worried and take extra precautions for my hardware? I have a sturdy laptop backpack and good bags for the cameras. Will this be sufficient?


Fullred

gregornot

Namaste,
You don't say where you are going, but humidity could be a problem. Maybe some extra Silica gel packets. You should be able to get them at a camera shop. If you are in the area's where there is a lot of rain, gallon freezer bags could help keep the water out, I would also use a lot of Silica gel packets.

Also keep equipment out of the sun when not in use. As you know most camera's are black, great for heat retention.

But I am not a professional photographer, they could give better advice or the company that you got camera gear from, usually the tech support folks

Good luck and don't forget to post your photos to IM also

gregor

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ba9rn

As well as the above storage advice (and it's Silica gel - a different animal; aka Sodium Silicate) ... Most camcorders will happily operate at 40C. I assume that you would be using your laptop indoors, so that would be less of a problem. The laptop fan will cope with keeping the internals within limits anyway, but the fan will lower the battery life.

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Fullred

Thanks for the tips guys.

I'll be travelling all across North India. All I know is it will be hot, but no idea about the humidity. I will have to look into that and decide how to proceed.

I'm just hoping my laptop doesn't fry in the laptop backpack (which is pure black). I'll be in cars a lot while travelling. But I think it should be fine. I can always wrap up the bag in a white towel.


Fullred

haritha

everything works well in kerala weather now

smudgee

Talking Heat (not humidity)Depends on what your doing , ie how much cpu utilisation your using .../stress.

If youre cpu is pre pentium m , ie pentium 4/celeron and b4(netburst architecture) , they are notoriously hot running. Accumulated dust blocks the airways more and more over time, until even running them in the uk for a few hours they can overheat.

The new architecture particulary core 2 duo all run a lot cooler cooler.Not sure on AMD chips, but the newer the better power envelope/less voltage they use/cooler they are.

Overheating will fry a chip(cpu) ,normally they are set to automatically shutdown b4 they get that hot.

You probally know this, but i thought it might be useful info for someone.

your probally concerned about humidity more (I am ...and planning on going to Goa in a few months , with a mother of a laptop for working on), but as its damn hot there i guess , ive posted this anyway.


all the best
smudgee

Darmabum

from February through August. Between uses I kept it in a padded case, no silica, and all was well. As someone above mentioned, dust is an equal - if not larger - problem. I bought a voltage regulator there, cost me @ $50 USD. Power outtages/surges were common during monsoon (roughly June - August). But again, no problems with anything. I did unplug everything when not in use. Happy travels. Scott

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Darmabum

Also had a Sony video camera (and digital still camera) with me. As with the laptop, just wrapped 'em up every night in their cases, no problems.

camelgirl

Here's a tip for humidity that a guide in Costa Rica told me about (it was 100% humidity).

Bring some different size, good quality plastic zip top bags. Fill the smaller ones with about a cup of rice & seal it. Poke some tiny holes in it & seal. Put your equipment in the bigger bag and use the little bag with the rice with it to absorb any humidity).

Humidity could be a real problem during the monsoon season. In a dry place the plastic bags are good to keep out dust. And you are investing very little money in some rice and can do it after you get there if you need to.

I suppose you can even give the rice away to someone at the end of your trip! It doesn't get dirty.

Nattusbs

Guys

You are talking as we you are going to Mars. People in India use laptops all the time. I was there in Sept-Oct, although it wasn't blistering hot, it was still humid. I went to Delhi, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and never had a problem with my laptop.

So please do not fret too much.

Cheers

Nattusbs

vistet

When my camera went bonkers in McLeod , I had a small bag of black cloth with rice sewn up. Placed it in the sun day time , put camera + rice bag together in a plastic bag to dry up at night. Worked fairly well.

EOS

Most of the electronic equipment available in the US/Europe is now available in India and work perfectly OK in all conditions.
I own canon's digital/film bodiles along with no. of lenses and have used them extensively in temperatures ranging from 44 deg C
in my home town (Bhopal) to -3 deg C in Manali without any problems.......same goes with laptops....

For photography equipment the only thing to avoid is sudden change in temperature. Like using the equipment in AC room and then immediately taking it out in the heat...causes condensation in lenses and bodies...
This i think you'd be aware of....

don't worry...follow routine precautions and your equip. will be fine...

camelgirl

That did happen to me several times in India and my camera manual said to wait until the camera equalizes to the temperature, not to try to wipe the lens or anything. Apparently, that condensation due to temp change can cause serious problems!

About going to Mars no water there so don't worry about the rice-in-the-bag idea

Actually I was only thinking about cameras, not any other kind of equipment when I made my suggestion.