Digital cameras forum: Can I leave my camera in the car all the time ?

Be careful if you do. Keep it hidden.

I kept my camera with me in the car for several days BUT when I brought the camera into the house to take some pictures, the lens fogged over immediately.

Dwight

Yep those photos happen outside alright.
I have left mine in the truck for years and am in north Florida. Not any cold winters but but we have those hot killer summers. My camera has held up just fine. It stays below the dash console way out of the sun.
Cannon Powershot A 40.

Your biggest problem, apart from theft, will be condensation. This caused by temperatures having different Dew Points. This is a complicated subject as at the same percentage humidity of say 70% at 25 degrees C the air will be holding far more water than at 5 degrees C at 70%. The same principle would apply at say minus 25 & minus 5, so the temperature difference in more important than the actual temperature. This is a very simplisitc explanation, as under certain rarer conditions the reverse could be true. It does not help if you are using air con in the car. It could help if you kept the camera in an air tight freezer bag and then wrapt this in a piece of old blanket. Going from a higher temperature to lower, generally speaking, should not be a problem, going from lower to higher you should leave the camera in the air tight bag for approx 10 minutes, near to some heat souce if possible. Placing on a warm car bonnet or in the sun will suffice outdoors, in the region of a radiator when going indoor will be OK. I sometimes run a hair drier over my camera, at a low setting and at a distance, when bringing it back into the house, maybe a cheap one working off the cigarette plug would be an idea. Condesation, Dew points and temperature are interactive making the subject very complicated. As a rule of thumb hot to cold OK, cold to hot beware

From my personal experience, I would avoid leaving my digital camera in a vehicle. Besides theft, the other major issue is temperature. Apparently, the lubricants used for the mechanism that allows lense movement can thin under the high temperature levels in a vehicle, causing the lense to stick. My camera developed this problem and I have to pay about $180.00 for a repair. (I since have purchased a ew camera) Once the moving parts are without the proper lubrication damage will occur.

First off.. Do you have a garage? This will help in answering your question from the factor of being stolen or humidity. I reside in Canton, OH with similar weather conditions to Detroit.. I do not leave my camera in the car although I have a very large three car garage that is heated. However, my opinion is that leaving a camera in the car given my circumstance would not be a problem.

Heat/cold condensation is the real killer on the circuit board of any electronic device due to corrosion. You be the judge as you know your circumstance. If you do not have a garage, then forget about keeping it in the car......

Yes of course you can. Especially if you want to have it stolen.

A small leather case is available for most of these pocket size cameras which you can fasten to your belt. They are about the size of a cell phone and easy to extract from the case. I don't carry mine all the time but I wear it if I think there is a chance of getting a picture.

Baper

What does LCD mean?

Can it freeze?

CCD = Charge Coupled Device

Cars don't get hot enough to melt glass although it seems like that at times.

to Rick09.

Here is an article that describes liquid crystal.