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Andrew James

Andrew is a highly experienced writer and photographer – if you have a problem, he is here to help.

Camera battery life in the extreme cold isn’t always something to worry about.

Andrew James

Sub-zero photography

Q Later this year I’m taking a trip to Antarctica. Do you think the battery life of my Sony A7 III camera will be a problem in the cold?

Jodi Handcock

A While batteries certainly aren’t as efficient in the cold, I really think you are worrying unnecessarily here. I’ve been to both polar regions on a number of occasions, and have never had any major issues with batteries. When you leave the ship to take photos, you will rarely be out for more than a few hours at a time, probably less if the temperatures have dropped to extreme cold conditions.

The Sony A7 III battery has a good capacity, and as long as you follow a few basic rules, you’ll be absolutely fine. First of all, have at least one extra battery with you, but preferably two. Those not in use when you are out in the cold should be kept in an inner pocket, so they benefit from some added warmth from your body. When you return to the ship, top up the battery immediately, because lithium-ion batteries don’t need to be fully discharged before being put on charge. If you do go out and forget to take a spare, and your battery charge is getting low, reduce the amount of energy being used. That’s hard to do with a fully electronic mirrorless camera, but you can stop looking through your images on the LCD and checking histograms.

One thing you might want to do is keep the battery you are going to use in your pocket until you are in position to start shooting. That way, you are keeping its temperature up, rather than having it sitting cold inside a camera in a bag. In extreme conditions this may extend its charge by a few minutes. As you can see from my shot of a gentoo penguin taken during a snowstorm in Antarctica, I’ve experienced the low temperatures you are worrying about, but as yet, have never needed more than two fully charged batteries during a single shoot.