1st problems in the field...

[Jannard]

We report the good news and...

We encountered over-heating problems today in the "jungles" of Spain. Our handmade prototypes struggled in the 100+ degree temperature and all day shooting. At the end, they kept "Bombay" and "Romeo" going with ice packs and fanning. These handmade prototypes have the old sensor design without the Peltier sensor cooling system that will be found on the production cameras. But it was a bit of an eye opener nonetheless. We hadn't had problems like this in NZ. But this is why we chose to do testing in the field of battle before production. What we learned:

1. The Peltier cooling system is mandatory.

2. If you shoot in the extreme heat for extended periods, cover the camera from direct sun. Short recording times don't seem to present a problem. All day might depending on how much improvement we can find through our engineering effort. Bring a fan.

We have our engineering team on it. If there are other things we can do to mitigate the problem, we will. We do expect major improvement with the new sensor cooling system.

Everything else seems rosey.

Field testing is designed to shake out the camera. We expected some issues to arise. Glad we still have some time to work on it.

Jim

 

[IAN SUN]

Was the schedule impacted by the overheating problem?

 

[Manfred Lopez]

Wow... Wasn't someone talking about potential overheating issues in the uderwater thread... But I am happy that this is comming out now before production models are shipped. Thanks Jim for your openness. We really apreciate it.

 

[Jannard]

Was the schedule impacted by the overheating problem?

Nope... the SS team knew that they were shaking down our cameras live on a film set and have been very supportive. The cameras finished the day working fine with the help from a frozen water bottle. Tomorrow there will be zip-lock baggies supervising the action. It is really hot there. I think the longest they were down was about 10 minutes. They are shooting out in the middle of nowhere and there isn't a 7-11 around the corner, so water bottles were the best they could do.

Jim

 

[Tonaci Tran]

Talk about being upfront about everything. Again, thanks for the update.

 

[Scott Webster]

Any shifting backfocus due to the temperature?

 

[reality]

Great news Jim, thank you for the update. On Superman and Apocalypto the cameras overheated constantly, and they were "production" cameras.

Glad you went with peltier (quiet). The F900 still overheats and it has 3 incredibly loud fans.

 

[Jannard]

Any shifting backfocus due to the temperature?

None. Rock solid.

Jim

 

[Jannard]

Great news Jim, thank you for the update. On Superman and Apocalypto the cameras overheated constantly, and they were "production" cameras.

Glad you went with peltier (quiet). The F900 still overheats and it has 3 incredibly loud fans.

We had heard this but I didn't want to bring it up... it is a difficult trick, these sensors.

Jim

 

[Spinflight]

Were these prototypes Black or Silver? Just curious how many degrees a silver one would reduce the temperature if these overheating prototypes were black.

 

[J. Bernard Vallon]

Any shifting backfocus due to the temperature?

Would shifting backfocus even be an issue without an optical viewfinder? Maybe for focusing to infinity...

 

[Jannard]

Were these prototypes Black or Silver? Just curious how many degrees a silver one would reduce the temperature if these overheating prototypes were black.

"Bombay" and "Romeo" are black. We are looking at paint options... actually, we are looking at a lot of things. Just so you know, we aren't nervous. We have overcome some incredible obstacles along the way. The worst thing that can result is that extra care be taken when shooting all day in "wicked hot" locations.

Jim

 

[IAN SUN]

Nope... the SS team knew that they were shaking down our cameras live on a film set and have been very supportive. The cameras finished the day working fine with the help from a frozen water bottle. Tomorrow there will be zip-lock baggies supervising the action. It is really hot there. I think the longest they were down was about 10 minutes. They are shooting out in the middle of nowhere and there isn't a 7-11 around the corner, so water bottles were the best they could do.

Jim

Fantastic, Jim that sounds like 90% good news to me.
I can't wait to see these films, er...REDS.
Glad to hear you are already on top of it with a new design.

Does the overheating sensor result in any noise showing up in the image?

 

[Manfred Lopez]

I would still want a black one...

 

[Jarred Land]

Would shifting backfocus even be an issue without an optical viewfinder? Maybe for focusing to infinity...

yes if you relied on your lens distance marks.

 

[Shawn Nelson]

Any chance of an on-set picture?

 

[Steven Parker]

On a show in Mexico a couple years ago with F900s, we kept a 4x4 Silk on the dolly to shade the A-camera, or a small silk for B-camera. That helped immensely. Didn't hold heat like a flag would, and very little light pollution. Sounds like it's a bit hotter in Spain than we had in Sonora, however.

Thank you, Jim - your honest reports are really appreciated. Now if only there were some stills to post...:whistling:

 

[Jannard]

Fantastic, Jim that sounds like 90% good news to me.
I can't wait to see these films, er...REDS.
Glad to hear you are already on top of it with a new design.

Does the overheating sensor result in any noise showing up in the image?

We have been told that the images look incredible. But at the moment the sensor warnings went off, those shots showed just a bit more noise. But still better than most anything you could shoot. As soon as the cameras cooled, images went back to incredible. They will make sure the sensor warnings don't go off from here on out.

Jim

 

[Manfred Lopez]

What happened to Jarred's answer? Wasn't there one? I wanted to read that one too but decided to post right away (before reading it) so as not to loose my place in the answer avalange. :tongue:

EDIT:

Arghhh... it's back... My browser is acting up...Please ignore this post. Now I am embarrased.

EDIT #2:

What... Jarred's post now comes after mine (#14 & #15)?? I saw his before posting mine... weird... anyway, getting back to the overheating issue... (actually my brain is overheating)

 

[Jannard]

Thank you, Jim - your honest reports are really appreciated. Now if only there were some stills to post...:whistling:

You mean the other guys don't tell you this stuff during development?

We can't post stills for obvious reasons.

Jim