this is mainly for those living in polar bear areas like us in winnipeg, regina, montreal, halifax,etc... 
i am sure some of you are living in colder regions.
my question, now that winter here again: 
how brave are you, and how much do you trust to bring your camera (ie. your baby)
outside to shoot ? 
montreal is now about -7 C, halifax is just -1.  but in other part of the prairies i am sure it's much colder. 
i know some of you are living in yellowknife,etc..
the other question is:  Is it really safe to take photos in say, the blizzard, the strong winds,etc.. where the chill factor gets to - 15.    won't you get condensation problems when you get inside. i just came back from shooting outside my apartment for 15 mins and my camera, which is supposed to me
water protected, was quite cold to the touch. so i quickly quit shooting and put it back into my bag, wrapped in my toque. i kept it there when i came in, to prevent condensation.

any experienced cold weather photographers out here? advice please ! cheers

-25 with my 350d. The battery depletes much faster than in normal conditions. Rarely Err99 displayed on LCD. The main problem is with the lenses. The Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 refused to autofocus accurately at this temperature, all the other lenses worked fine.

You can probably find some more authoritative info out there, but a couple of tricks I picked up from advice given to amateur astronomers w.r.t. their telescopes and binoculars are:

1) Put the equipment into a tightly sealed plastic bag BEFORE bringing it inside, so that as it warms up, the moist air inside the building won't be able to condense on it.  When it has reached the temperature of the room then you can take it out, and no condensation will form.

2) Otherwise, when you bring it inside and condensation forms on it, be sure you DON'T put the equipment into a bag, box or anything, but leave it sitting out in a dust-free place, with lens caps, etc. OFF the equipment.  This way the condensation will evaporate as the equipment warms up to room temperature.  I would guess that it will take at least an hour or two for a heavy SLR camera with battery pack, etc. to warm up after being outside in freezing temperatures.

For optically perfect performance when outside in cold weather it is well known in astronomy circles that the equipment must be fully cooled to air temperature before use.  The warm equipment tends to make "heat waves" in the air, and the optical elements tend to be warped from the uneven temperatures causing contraction/expansion.  I would guess that for cameras, this is more true for large telephoto lenses than for smaller, compact lenses, but it's something to keep in mind.

2) Otherwise, when you bring it inside and condensation forms on it, be sure you DON'T put the equipment into a bag, box or anything, but leave it sitting out in a dust-free place, with lens caps, etc. OFF the equipment. 

 The warm equipment tends to make "heat waves" in the air, and the optical elements tend to be warped from the uneven temperatures causing contraction/expansion.  I would guess that for cameras, this is more true for large telephoto lenses than for smaller, compact lenses, but it's something to keep in mind.

wow, awesome help from all... thanks /merci le cyclope,xalanx,vonkara,pet-chia and a.k.a.tom,
i have never enjoyed winter shooting . but i remember in my ansel adams zone VI beginner days i carried my 4x5 zone VI view to the frozen marina at alymer (yes, i lived there too.  worked and lived  all across canada)...
anyway,.the wind chill was -50, and had first stage froze bite. i had a couple glasses of gin and thought i was warm, until my friend came to carry me inside. i got so angry and was going to scold him, but found i could only mumble. that was when i discovered how
i could have died had i been all alone out there. thanks goodness for friends.

now with my new camera, which i think is moisture sealed or whatnot (pentax k20d), i am thinking of doing some crazy winter shot, if i can find some.
i remember seeing one of the top bad weather photograph ( i am sure one of you will know who created it), it was a demonstration of the old war , and this photographer made a bundle with his shot of a "soldier with frozen icicles on his hat, beard,etc".
i don't remember where i saw it, it was a long time ago, when i first was a teeny weeny student in photograph class. but i still remember how he said he sold that photo.
i thought he was crazy, at that time. i still think he is, ha!ha!...

cheers once again.

ha ha ... being one of the few people around who has never seen snow, i find this interesting. Now, if you want to know about heat ...

I've also never seen slow. . . often wonder when is it to hot to take out the camera! Went to the Kalahari desert recently. In Dec the ground temp reaches 70 Celsius (I believe 158 Fahrenheit) but when I was there they had a cold front (fortunately).