Cold-weather battery life
Also known as: cold battery performance, winter battery life
How much shorter a camera runs in the cold, where a battery can deliver a fraction of its rated capacity without being faulty.
Updated
What it means
A lithium battery in the cold is not empty, it is slow. The chemistry delivers current less readily at low temperature, so the camera sees a low voltage and reports a flat battery that recovers when it warms up again.
The practical effect is dramatic. A pack that runs for ninety minutes in summer can manage a third of that on a winter morning, which turns Battery life from a planning detail into the limiting factor of the day.
It is reversible, which is the useful part. A battery that died in the cold is usually fine once warm, so the discipline is about managing temperature rather than about buying better cells. An Enduro battery helps, but warmth helps more.
How it works in practice
Keeping spares against the body is the single most effective habit. An inside pocket holds a pack near body temperature, and swapping a warm one in restores full performance immediately.
Starting a session with everything warm buys the most recording. A camera and pack taken straight from a cold car begin at a disadvantage no setting recovers, and the first recording of the day is usually the shortest one as a result.
Planning more spares than the summer arithmetic suggests is simply realistic, and a Dual battery charger makes turning a day of recording around between sessions practical.
What to watch out for
A camera that shuts down abruptly can leave an unfinalised recording, so cold weather increases the chance of a Camera crash file as well as shortening the day.
Condensation is the second order problem. A cold camera brought into a warm room collects moisture internally, and powering it on before it has dried is how water damage happens without any water.
Charging a cold pack is also bad for it. Lithium cells should be warmed before charging, and a charger that accepts one anyway is not evidence that doing so is harmless.
How RawClip handles it
A winter session typically arrives as more, shorter files than a summer one, because batteries ran out sooner and were swapped more often. Clips are analysed individually and reassembled by timestamp, so a fragmented day is not a problem.