Can heat damage my camera, and how do I protect it?

Modern cameras are more robust than photographers fear and more vulnerable in ways they do not expect. The body will not melt on a hot day. What actually happens is that video recording stops after a few minutes, long exposures come out noisier, batteries quietly lose capacity for good, and a lens fogs internally at exactly the moment the light is best.

Step by step

1. Keep it out of direct sun.A black camera body in sunshine absorbs heat efficiently and the internal temperature climbs well above the air. A light-coloured cloth or towel over the camera between shots, or simply keeping it in the shade of your body or a bag, makes a substantial difference for no cost.
2. Never leave it in a car.This is the most common way cameras and lenses are damaged in summer. A boot or a dashboard reaches temperatures far beyond anything the equipment is designed to be stored at, and it degrades the battery, can affect lubricants in a lens, and can damage LCD screens. Take the bag with you.
3. Expect video overheating and plan around it.Recording video is the most demanding thing a camera does thermally, and many mirrorless bodies shut down after a period in hot weather, particularly at high resolutions and frame rates. Open the screen away from the body so the back can shed heat, drop the resolution or frame rate if you can, remove any thick case, and carry a second body if the recording genuinely matters.
4. Expect more sensor noise on long exposures.A warm sensor produces more thermal noise, which shows as coloured speckles in shadows and is most obvious on long exposures and astrophotography on a warm night. Letting the camera cool between frames, and using in-camera long-exposure noise reduction, both help.
5. Look after the batteries as the real casualty.Lithium cells lose capacity permanently when stored hot, so a summer of batteries in a hot bag or car is what kills them by the following year. Keep spares in the coolest part of the bag, out of the sun, and store them at partial charge rather than full when not in use for a while.
6. Understand the condensation problem.The classic failure is moving a cold camera into hot humid air — out of an air-conditioned car or hotel room, or from a cold morning into a warm afternoon — when moisture condenses on and inside the lens and body. It fogs the glass, it can affect electronics, and repeated cycles encourage fungus in a lens.
7. Acclimatise it inside the bag.The fix for condensation is to let the equipment warm up slowly inside a closed bag, so moisture condenses on the bag rather than on the camera. Put the camera away before leaving the cold environment, and give it fifteen or twenty minutes outside before opening the bag.
8. Use silica gel and store it dry.Silica gel sachets in the bag absorb moisture and reduce both condensation and the risk of lens fungus, which is a genuine problem in warm humid storage. Dry the sachets in a low oven periodically or replace them. Store equipment at home somewhere dry and ventilated rather than in a sealed case in a loft.
9. Keep sand and salt out of it.Summer means beaches, and sand and salt spray do far more permanent damage to a camera than heat does. Change lenses inside a bag with the camera facing down, use a rain cover in spray, and wipe everything down with a slightly damp cloth after a day near the sea.
10. Take basic sun-protection measures for the gear itself.A light-coloured camera bag reflects rather than absorbs. Never leave a camera lying with the lens pointed at the sun, especially with a long lens, since the optics concentrate light and can damage the shutter or sensor — the same reason a magnifying glass burns paper.

Tips

• White or light-coloured camera bags and lens covers are common on professional long lenses for exactly this reason, and they are not merely a style choice.
• If a body overheats while recording video, taking the memory card out and letting air at the compartment helps it recover faster than simply switching it off.
• Lens fungus grows in warm, humid, dark, still conditions. A cupboard with some airflow is far better long-term storage than a sealed case.
• A cheap dry box or a sealed box with fresh silica gel is worthwhile storage in a humid house, particularly for lenses that sit unused for months.
• Phones suffer the same problems more acutely and have their own guide — a phone shooting video in direct summer sun will stop long before a dedicated camera does.

Common mistakes

• Leaving a camera bag in the car while you go for lunch — A boot or cabin in summer far exceeds the equipment's storage limits and permanently degrades batteries, quite apart from being an obvious theft risk.
• Opening the bag immediately on stepping out of air conditioning — Condensation forms instantly on the cold glass and inside the body. Let the camera warm up inside the closed bag first.
• Leaving a camera with a long lens pointed at the sun — The optics concentrate sunlight onto the shutter or sensor and can burn them, in the same way a magnifying glass burns paper.
• Storing kit in a sealed case in a loft — Heat plus trapped humidity plus darkness and stillness is the exact recipe for lens fungus, which is expensive or impossible to remove.

Questions people ask