Going to Vietnam in Summer - keeping DSLR cool?
I'm going to Vietnam in two weeks, which is unfortunately their summer! Vietnam's temperature in January is generally low 30s (Celsius), and I will be taking my Nikon D7000 basically everywhere I go in this heat.
I want to minimize the amount of stuff I have to carry around, so I don't wanna take a camera bag with me. I just wanna have the single camera around my neck and leave all my lenses & equipment in the hotel room. (so that excludes a nice insulated camera bag from the list of suggestions!)
I was just wondering two things:
A) Is the temperature really something I need to be worrying about? Is it really gonna be a problem for my DSLR, or am I just an insane-o?
B) If it's a problem, what are some suggestions? I'm pretty DIY, so I'm open to anything. I was thinking of rigging a small CPU fan to the bottom of the camera, but seeing as the base is PLASTIC, I can't imagine that helping too much with the cooling (would need it blowing on some sort of heatsink pulling the heat away from the CCD - no way I'm touching that!). Plus, y'know, batteries.
Hopefully you can provide some insight
You're going to be very sorry if you don't take a water proof bag. Getting caught in a sudden down pour is a way of life in SEA.
Journalists did it for years, albeit with film cameras but they did it. They all carried some kind of bag to keep their cameras dry. Dry is actually a bigger concern than cool. Carry a bag.
I take my photo equipment to the Caribbean all the time, which is always tropical; hot and humid. I can't imagine Vietnam being any more harsh than the Caribbean. I don't think you will have a huge issue with humidity. Just let the camera gear acclimate to changes in temperature/humidity (going in and out of air conditioned areas), and you should not have a problem.
You will want a good day bag, such as a Think Tank Change Up (the bag I carry).It comes with it's own little "rain coat", to keep the contents dry. It is a small bag, and has room for a DSLR and attached lens, plus another medium lens and flash (or two medium lenses). Not a large bag so I can't see why it would be hard to use.
Lol… You think low 30s is hot? You're wrong mate, Vietnam is heading into winter not summer and daytime temperatures depend on where you are. Have no fear your camera is safe from the heat, it may not however, be safe from opportunistic thieves if you walk around with it dangling from your neck. The snatch and grab thieving gets bad just before Chinese New Year so take precautions and make sure you have insurance. Why would you leave your lenses in the hotel room, what's the point of that? I carry 2 bodies and up to 6 lenses in a Lowepro Slingshot 300AW and this is the carrying bag I recommend to you. It only has the one shoulder strap but it has a waist strap and the thieves wouldn't risk trying to get it from you when there are easier pickings getting around. Another thing to remember is you don't need the aircon on all night. If you do your your gear will fog up when you leave the room. Set the timer for it to go off about 2am. You're going to see a lot of people getting around with quality camera gear and I may be one of them. Been here 10 years this time round. P. S. The southern half of Vietnam has just entered their dry season, if you go north it will be wet and it will be cold!