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RED One and Warm/ Hot Climate

Dominik Muench

Dominik Muench

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hi guys,


directly related to the RED ONE - Cold weather post. i have the exact opposite of the problem.

Im based in Qld. Australia and currently in a very early stage to prep a feature to be shot in south America.

Even under normal shooting conditions here in Australia, the RED gets very warm, so far I didn't have any problems during shoots (*knocks on wood) with overheating. But its still a worrying issue for me.

How did some of you guys who are shooting in similar conditions solve that problem ? Cooling packs sound good....but in remote locations they only provide a short relieve.

I am currently looking into building an active cooling system rig....with my very limited engineering skills :construction:
Maybe consisting of 12 V computer fans that can be attached to the red rig, to get some constant air flow going.....but then there is obviously the issue when recording sound.

Tough one :waaa:
 
I don not thing that you need any cooling system . First of all get Some Cover for camera , and cover camera under sun . Same covers are used for film cameras. Also Put cooling mode in camera not to auto , let coolers work all time . Also search a forum , and you will found some HOT tests .
 
We shot in the Atacama desert in Chile and in the Aussie outback. My assistant brought a white cotton cloth and draped it over the camera. We were a small crew so we didn't have grip stands and umbrella covers.

This simple solution helped quite a bit.

The only overheating occurred during a car mount in the desert where we had inadvertently wrapped the heating vents. Not good!

As long as you can keep the internal fans cranked (when not rolling sound) and keep the direct sun of the black body, I don't imagine you will experience difficulty.
 
My RED One worked all day in up to 115F (inside a pottery studio with tin roof) without any additional cooling. When we're headed for heat, I keep six or so sports gel packs in a lunch-pail cooler on the camera cart. I'll wrap these in a small terrycloth towel and squeeze them on top of the camera between the top mounts.

Michael
 
interesting, what exactly is that ? a cooling device once current runs through it ? 15,8V is a bit funky, but shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Peltier devices are used for various ways of cooling and heating, they are rated at different voltages (usually dc) and amperages for different applications. I just chose the one I referenced as a jumping off point. They are silent so it seemed appropriate for your application.
 
peter: they are very interesting, already talked to the guy who runs the online shop and the seem pretty much perfect. he said the only down point could be condensation build up.

but given their price, i might order some and give it a try.
 
Dominik Muench said:
but given their price, i might order some and give it a try.
Click to expand...

The irony here is that there's already a peltier system inside the camera to move heat to the surface. I think you'll be okay using shade only and cooling packs if it gets up past 40 degrees.
 
Cail Young said:
The irony here is that there's already a peltier system inside the camera to move heat to the surface. I think you'll be okay using shade only and cooling packs if it gets up past 40 degrees.
Click to expand...

There were talks about using a peltier system in the camera when it was first discovered the camera would overheat but from what I know it didn't actually made it into the camera.

Another thing that helps a lot is active cooling of the camera in between takes, or in other words: just put a fan on it. Nice for the crew as well.
 
Punch Packs

Punch Packs

Hi Dominik,

If you want, I can sell you the spare 200 ice packs I have. You punch them once, they go cold in a second, and you slap them on the camera. I'm based in Perth, Australia.

BUT, you probably don't need them. The reason we have 200 spares is that we never needed one on our entire feature shoot. One day, I caught the 1st AC putting one on the camera, and he said he just wanted the fun of using one.

Before our shoot, on a 35 degree day (that's 95F), we did a few tests. We knew that for some shots the camera would be in full sun for 5 minutes with the fans off (for very long takes on the move). So we put it out in the full sun, and shot for well over five minutes. There wasn't even a hint of it getting too hot.

On set, our only precautions were:

a) keep the camera on, with the fans running when we weren't shooting

b) stick a basic umbrella on a stand to keep the camera body in the shade.

We had about ten very hot days, and no problems.
 
Hey Dominik

We're using 2 REDs up in hot and humid Far North Queensland.

Keep some shade on the camera and as long as there is a bit of breeze it should be fine. The only time I experienced a camera getting (what I thought was) too hot was indoors with no breeze - turned a ceiling fan on and it cooled down remarkably quickly. Having said that - we weren't getting heat warnings - the camera was just VERY hot to touch. Outdoors it has been fine as there is always enough airflow for the camera but we are careful to shade them from long periods in the direct sun.

Hope that helps

Cam
 
I've definitely had heat issues... I live in the desert of Phoenix, AZ. Anything above 95 degrees and your asking for trouble if you don't come prepared. I've had no luck with any cold packs- best case scenario is about 20 minutes of relief. Far to much trouble to deal with.

A small white cloth can help quite a bit. Having the fans on high (when possible) helps. Shade is a must whenever possible. A little breeze does little- hot air is still hot air to the camera. I've been using the old style ice containers (headache bag) that have a sealed, screw on lid. They are simple to use... just drop in ice and place it on top of the camera squeezed in under the handle. The containers have a pretty thick wall of protection, however, they will start to perspire at some point. I always monitor the bag. Usually need to dump the water and put in new ice about once an hour to be safe. Never had a problem with this setup... even shot in 115+ degree days outside.

Still looking for another solution that is more long term... some type of saddlebag would work- probably just make one myself in the next month or so if I can't find anything.

FYI, if you see the "Hot" arrow come up on your display, you've got about 5 minutes to do something before the camera just shuts down.

Best of luck...

Alex
 
thank you guys, its good to know that the camera should hold up in situations like that.


christopher: 200 ? Haha damn, how much do you want for them ? *gg

Cam: like you said, i had the same experience shooting in Qld that the cam gets very hot to touch but still works. in the first few days of using the cam i just wasn't sure if that's how its supposed to be.
 
I guess it depends on the type of heat. Dry hot dessert heat may impact the camera far more than wet tropical heat. Alex's shooting environment sound less than ideal for any electronic equipment (not having a go at you Alex, just noting the unpleasant temperatures you deal with!) so in that situation cool packs are probably manditory.

Just saying that as an example in the tropics, which is predominantly our shooting environment, we haven't had heat related issues.
 
Cam Crowley said:
Alex's shooting environment sound less than ideal for any electronic equipment (not having a go at you Alex, just noting the unpleasant temperatures you deal with!) so in that situation cool packs are probably manditory.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they need to be testing EPIC out here in the desert. Hot air is hot air and blowing it on the camera doesn't help. Once you're over 100 degrees you're asking for trouble. I think I've had the camera overheat and shut down about 5 times. RED runs hot constantly when the temps are 95+. I've been using ice packs but I think Alex's old style ice bag idea is probably better.
 
I had a pickup shoot for some fx elements last weekend, about 43 deg C temps, in Sydney in an open park near coastal water. There was a bit of breeze about, but it was HOT!
Camera was in the shade of some trees, so no direct sun and no umbrella needed.
Never dropped a frame, but first sign of problems was that the joystick didn't respond trying to switch menus. I could still start/stop the camera though. Fans were on AUTO.
I rebooted it a couple of times and things started working again for a little while.
Eventually I ripped the 3 ice packs I had out of the Esky, dried the moisture off them and stuck them on top of the cam between rails.
That seemed to keep it just cool enough to stop the joystick problems.
Just had to keep an eye on any condensation drops.

Definately need to carry some sort of external cooling while we are having these heatwaves....

cheers
Chris
 
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