Epic Body Clean - Camera used in dusty environment :/

[Dominik Muench]

Hi Guys


my Epic just came back from a hire job where both the director and the DOP came up to me after the shoot and suggested I should get the camera professionally cleaned as they were shooting in a very dusty environment and "couldn't do anything about it".

I inspected the camera body as well as i could as a "non technician" and both the body and the sensor area look fine and dust free, could there be any actual damage to the camera if i set it up and run it or would you guys recommend sending it of to RED for a thorough clean ?

as i said, from the outside the body looks perfectly fine, but no one from the crew could tell me how much the actual vents at the top of the camera were exposed to the environment. so i couldn't say if any dirt actually entered the camera internals. any suggestions ? thanks heaps

 

[Adam Eden]

I just wouldn't hire the camera to them again! If my Epic was to be is such an area i would insist it be housed in an underwater housing, as your lenses have more chance to being damaged than the camera

 

[Dominik Muench]

Hi Adam

it was a bit of an unfortunate situation for the crew from what I heard.
but yeah my main concern is what I should do now, can I safely hook up my batteries and LCD and give the camera a test or should i not bother firing her up and send her off straight away ?
there is a bit of dust in the heat sink at the top of the camera but nothing else looks visibly dirty.

 

[Adam Eden]

Take your camera into Lemac or someone similar and let them be the judge. I wouldn't bother sending it back to RED unless i saw mud caked on the grilles.

Don't just can an air compressor and clean it out as most air compressors expel water particles at the same time so you need to use either an air compressor with a proper filter
so no water vapour comes out or cans of compressed air.

I would ask the DOP or camera assistant ( the AC will probably tell you the truth more likely!) exactly what conditions they were filming in so you know what you are up against.

 

[Louis Maddalena]

Remember for the most part with electronics sucking is better than blowing. Use a powerful vacuum cleaner way before you start blowing canned air into the camera. The canned air could just blow dust and other particles deeper into the camera.

 

[Dominik Muench]

might stop by lemac or panavision tomorrow then.

thanks for the tip with the vacuum cleaner i will give that a try now.

 

[ericyoung]

The camera electronics are fully sealed from the cooling fans and heatsink, so they should be fine if you use vacuum/canned air in those areas.

The sensor area is vulnerable, but you should be able to clearly see any dust with a Maglite or Sensor Loupe. Check with the AC what kind of dust it was. Sand, dry dirt and grit are much more abrasive than say flour!
If there's dust, vacuum what you can without getting close to the sensor/OLPF glass, then if necessary a filtered blower like the Giotto Rocket or similar, then if necessary an antistatic brush like the Artic Butterfly, and finally if all else fails a wet sensor swab clean with Eclipse liquid.
If in doubt about your abilities, get Lemac/Panavision do it, and watch how they do it carefully.

 

[Dominik Muench]

hi eric

ah thats good news about the electronics.

i took it down to panavision and they gave it a good clean...without taking the camera apart.
the dust was actually volcanic ash, which apparently can be lightly magnetic....so i might still send the camera off to red to have it 100% cleaned adn inspected.

 

[ericyoung]

Pretty sure you don't need to worry about the magnetism. If you've got almost all the visible dust off, any residual magnetism is going to be miniscule. And aluminium isn't magnetic, so there's no reason magnetic dust would stick to it any more than "normal" dust!

Some types of volcanic ash can be really abrasive though, especially the stuff which is basically microscopic glass particles, so careful if there's any on the sensor/OLPF.

 

[Christopher Mills]

Let me get this straight... They rented your camera from you without telling you they were going to a volcano?
Wow.. I can think of a few vendors who would just call the insurance company and file a claim to get the camera body replaced, or rebuilt by manufacturer, and if the rental insurance policy wouldn't cover, would bill the production company.
Yeah, they'd go on my do not rent to again list... the least they should have done was get an environmental housing to isolate the camera...

Did the rental house guys use a vacuum? I do feel thats a safer way to deal with potential interior dirt...

 

[Dominik Muench]

hey christopher

no, i was informed the camera was going near a volcano, but apparently conditions during the last take got quite rough and they couldn't react quick enough. i had the camera professionally cleaned at panavision today, including the sensor area and those guys reckon it should be fine. i shot with her all afternoon and there were no issues either.

 

[Christopher Mills]

sigh of relief... yeah, mother nature is pretty unpredictable..... I imagine the crew probably got pretty anxious when the volcanic activity increased unexpectedly..... (cleaning of linens also may have come into play when they made it back to safety.....)