Dry ice coolant...?

I have a Celestron-Williams cold camera. The 35 mm film is chilled with dry ice to, -109 degrees F. Would there be any advantage to chilling a digital in that fashion?

Bobguz

Some of the digitals do use TEC (Thermo Electric Cooling). Not sure if they go as low as CO2. Issue with the cold camera was reloading it with dry ice and dealing with film chips. It has a large glass plug to keep condensation from forming on the film/glass. Many of the digitals use an optical window/sealed chamber or some other means to prevent the condensation issue. With TEC, no reloading/bumping the scope/camera, consistent temperature.
Used a Cold Camera once, real pain!
Brian Risley
AM Celestron Moderator.

I'll let more experienced jump in here--but that seems way past the point of diminishing returns for a cooled ccd camera. For a digital SLR, it might have some attraction if it could be properly engineered, but considering that much of the noise is generated inside the camera itself, you still might have (heat generating) electronics between the cold and the chip. Besides, isn't that below the operating temperature of these cameras?

Considering the potential for icing, condensation, and other problems--I wonder whether it would be of value.

Alex

Alex