Light colored camera bags for hot weather?

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 Post subject: Light colored camera bags for hot weather?
Unread postPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 11:38 pm 
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One thing that exasperates me is that a lot camera bag makers insist on making most - if not all - of their camera bags in black (Think Tank, are you listening??) When it is ungodly hot during the summer, I avoid black camera bags like the plague.

Domke's sand colored bags are great for hot weather as are the tan Billingham bags.

When the temperature hits 80F, I switch to my summer camera bags. I do not have a light colored camera backpack, so I am currently using my 25 liter size Pac Safe day pack that is dove gray.

Does anyone else go to light colored camera bags when the summer temperatures climb into the 80s? Pro level cameras and lenses are very costly, so I do everything I can to avoid heat damage.

When I worked for a Nikon dealer, I would always have people bring in heat damaged lenses during the summer. This type of damage is most often caused by leaving a camera or camera bag locked in a car (passenger compartment or trunk - the trunk gets hot, too) during the summer. It takes very little time for a car's interior temperature to soar to 160F or higher when it is in the 80s or hotter during the summer.

If you see a lens that has oily looking aperture blades, it has most likely been heat damaged. Heat damage can also cause the cement that binds the lens element surfaces to delaminate or become cloudy or foggy looking (if you are buying a used lens and see any of these symptoms, don't buy that lens; it will have to be repaired and there is no guarantee that it can be repaired).

"Baking" your camera and lenses is almost as destructive to them as dropping them in a lake. Not something you want to do to one of your most prized (and most costly) possessions...

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 Post subject: Re: Light colored camera bags for hot weather?
Unread postPosted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 10:21 pm 
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I guess no one else has concerns about black camera bags and cameras overheating during hot weather... :(

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 Post subject: Re: Light colored camera bags for hot weather?
Unread postPosted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 11:54 pm 
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Actually, light-colored bags make a lot of sense. While cameras might be able to take the heat a bit better, yeah - lenses certainly won't. Grease will quickly turn into a liquid and shift and outgas, fogging the elements.

I certainly have my fair share of black bags, but also have some green and grey ones. I don't think I'd ever buy a white one, but beige would be great.

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 Post subject: Re: Light colored camera bags for hot weather?
Unread postPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 7:02 pm 
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I talked to the Leica tech guy in NJ about the heat issue. The guy said that Leica cameras and lenses were heat rated to +140 Fahrenheit/+60 Celsius. I have not done any tests to try to quantify how much of a temperature increase over ambient the inside of a black camera bag will produce, but it would be interesting to learn that information.

The real danger to cameras and lenses in terms of heat is leavig them in an auto in direct sun when it's hot out. I will leave mine in the car up to 80 F for short periods of time but I start to get nervous beyond that.

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 Post subject: Re: Light colored camera bags for hot weather?
Unread postPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 9:06 pm 
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Parked cars are mobile ovens... Though it would have to be 95ºF out and parked for 1+ hours to hit 140ºF.

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 Post subject: Re: Light colored camera bags for hot weather?
Unread postPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 9:29 pm 
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Double Negative wrote:
Parked cars are mobile ovens... Though it would have to be 95ºF out and parked for 1+ hours to hit 140ºF.

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Okay.

The chart don't go high enough. In late July/August the ambient temp mid afternoon here is 102-106 average.


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 Post subject: Re: Light colored camera bags for hot weather?
Unread postPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 3:30 am 
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Double Negative wrote:
Actually, light-colored bags make a lot of sense. While cameras might be able to take the heat a bit better, yeah - lenses certainly won't. Grease will quickly turn into a liquid and shift and outgas, fogging the elements.

I certainly have my fair share of black bags, but also have some green and grey ones. I don't think I'd ever buy a white one, but beige would be great.


How about a Billingham Hadley Pro in Neon Orange?

https://www.leicastoresf.com/store/prod ... 0000003144

Or Red?

https://www.leicastoresf.com/store/prod ... 0000003146

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 Post subject: Re: Light colored camera bags for hot weather?
Unread postPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 6:31 am 
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Call me crazy, but you know... I actually kind of like the neon Billinghams! Probably because I enjoy the 80s so much. And the fact that they're so "anti-stealth." :D

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 Post subject: Re: Light colored camera bags for hot weather?
Unread postPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 11:11 am 
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I have the Hadley Small in Orange. It is counter to anything we think of in a camera bag. It's "so in your face" that it's ignored...

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 Post subject: Re: Light colored camera bags for hot weather?
Unread postPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 11:56 am 
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swamiji wrote:
I have the Hadley Small in Orange. It is counter to anything we think of in a camera bag. It's "so in your face" that it's ignored...

Nice! That's exactly what I'm thinking too... It's just that bright that people wouldn't pay any attention to it (as a camera bag).

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