EPIC FAN NOISE - HEARTBREAKING DURING INTERVIEW

[Russ Campbell]

Same problems with my Epic-M. Fan set to manual 30/100. After about 20 mins into the interview, temp hit the critical mark and the fan went up to 100%. Had my Red One MX recording at the same time without any problems. I have recorded interviews of 1 hour and longer in very confined and hot enviiroments with tungsten lights without any issues. The Epic size must be contributing to poorer heat dissipation. I'm going to try John's idea to remove the front grill and see if I can get away with a higher fan setting during takes without the sound dept throwing their toys. Also going to try my Epic-X next time and see if it copes with longer takes.

[Michael Ou]

Also started a thread about it a week ago, i really hope red can somehow find a solution for this...

This perhaps falls principally within the realm of the chip manufacturers, and the present state of the art. The day they make cooler running chips capable of the same or better performance/power, then the need for fans will be diminished. In the meantime (read:always) we need to learn, plan, and work around the particular qualities of every camera system. Red is not the only camera with a fan, but it is the only camera that gives us 5k, with 6k waiting in the wings, yummy!

[Erich Ocean]

This perhaps falls principally within the realm of the chip manufacturers, and the present state of the art. The day they make cooler running chips capable of the same or better performance/power, then the need for fans will be diminished.

That's a "process improvement", and it's been happening roughly every 18 months for the last 30+ years.

I'm sure RED would love to give their ASIC a die shrink for all of the reasons you mentioned, plus cost.

[Simon J Reilly]

A few of things worth noting:

• You can adjust fan settings mid-take, no problem at all. I often ride the fan setting a tiny bit manually in a long interview take. Keep my eye on the rate of rise in temp, and if its looking likely that I will hit a critical temp before the interview is over, just nudge it up 1 or 2 % and keep my eye on things.

I did not know you could access the fan setting while recording , very good to know
thanks John

[Michael Panfeld]

Why can't RED offer a bolt-on Cooling Module to solve this very issue? I am envisioning a solid-state Peltier device with a large heat sink.

[Tommi Hares]

Just a quick question: Why are the fans so small in the camera? Why not use larger ones with lower RPM for required airflow? Though, I'm sure the fans are just the right size, and I just lack the required understanding (as usual)). :D How about a "QUIET TAKE" module for extralong continues shoots?

Coming from a TOTAL amateur (feel free to shoot me): To be fair; I don't think you need 4(5/6)K RAW for closeup interview shots, do you?

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Just a quick question: Why are the fans so small in the camera?

Because it's such a small camera. That being said, an 80mm 'top plate' with a d-tap on it would be good.

[Steve Sherrick]

Was DITing on a T3 in October and they were doing 12 minute takes. When the fans were set to 35% they would overheat in the small rooms. I set them to 40% and during the long takes there were no issues with the camera overheating. Typically for hot days or small rooms I set to 40/100, works great. If you need absolute quiet then you need to keep your takes down to 5 minutes. Also you should be cutting your camera when you're doing long interviews anyways as if you lose power for whatever reason while at minute 19 or whatever, you've just lost the entire clip and have just wasted 19 minutes of your time. So the moral of the story is shorter clips :)

Or have the camera plugged into a UPS. There is one director I worked with recently who wanted the cameras running continuously during the interview because he wanted the off the cuff stuff. Cutting at 5 minutes was not an option. This was on a Red One, so fan setting wasn't an issue.In general though, I do agree with cutting when possible. But RED also breaks the data up into chunks so you don't lose the entire piece if something goes wrong deep into it.

[Tommi Hares]

Because it's such a small camera.

Yeah, but relative to the chassis, the fan size could be bigger.

[Kemalettin Sert]

i killed 4 people on the sets with epic fan noise.most deadliest weapon ever!