Any experience with the RED at 14°F

[Dan Weigl]

Hey everybody. We are shooting a music video on the weekend and have a location with -10°C or 14°F and are scarred that it might affect the Camera.
Does anybody have experience with shooting on RED under these conditions?
Do we have to expect malfuctions and is there a good way to handle it and take precautions?

Thanks

Dan Weigl

 

[Anson Fogel]

Generally fine, some EVF challenges at times

Generally fine, some EVF challenges at times

We've shot winter sports a fair amount in similar temps (albeit low humidity at alt) - no problems at all, even in high freezing winds. Others have reported EVF image freezing and failures and have had to carry hand warmers to heat the EVF.

Do a search, its been discussed a lot here.

 

[Jim Hoffman]

Try to keep the LCD and EVF warm or it could lead to serious issues.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

The only thing that should be a problem at that temp would be the EVF. It performs poorly at anything below freezing. You will definitely want to keep it warm. The RED Drive could also be an issue if you spin it up and it's frozen. I would recommend using just CF cards or the RED RAM in freezing temps.

The LCD freezing up should not happen until you're down to -4F or colder. At that point, you will also have to start worrying about batteries freezing too. The good news is that the bricks are dense and it takes some time for them to freeze if you don't have a way to keep them warm.

Coldest I've had my RED is -19F (-28F). Used a warmer on the back side of the LCD and it still had some issues. Didn't even want to try the EVF or the RED Drive at that temp. I refuse to spin-up a mechanical hard drive in sub-freezing temperatures.

Also at that temperature, I had some issue with whatever lube was in the set of zeiss primes I had rented. The focus rings froze up tight and I wasn't willing to try and force them work, didn't want to chance breaking anything. My Cooke 18-100 and the RED 18-50 both handled just fine at that temperature. They did stiffen up a bit, but still usable.

Other tips for extreme cold:

Plastics / rubber can become brittle, be mindful of how you twist and coil cables.
Metals contract. If you're coming from normal living temps to extreme cold like this, you will want to double check the collimation on your lens mount once the camera is acclimated to the temperature and after it's been running for a bit to warm up to normal operating temperature.
Make sure all your gear is tightened down on the rods before you move it. Make sure all your stuff clamped to rods is loose or removed from the rods before you allow it all to warm back up!
Carbon fiber can become more brittle in some situations too. -10C / 14F isn't that cold. Yes, it's cold, but it's not the extreme cold where the stuff I just mentioned is all likely to happen.

Watch out for wind-chill it's more than just a factor of how cold it feels. Any surface with moisture or any highly conductive surface (aluminum and other metals) can undergo a rapid cooling effect. So it can be hazardous for crew and for certain types of gear.

Edit> I should also add that I was at moderately high altitude -- about 8000ft. and less than 10% humidity. When acclimating gear to cold temperatures or returning cold gear to warmer temperatures, always be on the lookout for condensation. I've had my RED as high as 14,200ft, but it was near 45 degrees that day at the peak. No problems there, but once again I didn't take the RED Drives (which are only rated to 10K ft.).