Best Dragon fan settings for long takes??

[Bruce Schultz]

As in full 126GB & 256GB mag rolls? I will be shooting a project that requires not stopping the recording rolling for the durations of those mag capacities and we can't afford to have the fan(s) go off during the recording for the obvious sound reasons. I would be interested to hear what settings people use for the fan(s) when faced with this production situation.

It would be for 5K and 6K material at probably 6:1 or 8:1 compression, not a lot of camera movement either.

I realize that all the chatter is over the Weapon upgrade, but maybe someone would like to take a short break from that and give me some insight into this . . .

 

[Phil Holland]

I keep saying it, but Adaptive is the thing you want to use for pretty much everything.

I bump into people occasionally who still use manual and it freaks me out.

 

[Marc Wielage]

As in full 126GB & 256GB mag rolls? I will be shooting a project that requires not stopping the recording rolling for the durations of those mag capacities and we can't afford to have the fan(s) go off during the recording for the obvious sound reasons. I would be interested to hear what settings people use for the fan(s) when faced with this production situation.

If it's critical, you should hire a sound mixer who knows what to do in order to treat the room and prevent the camera noise from affecting the interview. In a worst-case scenario (hot room, little ventilation), I'd put the camera back as far as possible and set up C-stands with sound blankets on at least one or two sides of the camera to absorb the noise. A wireless lav on the interview subject will help eliminate room noise, even though a boom will give you more natural sound overall. There are some who feel it's best to record both ways, then decide in post which sounds better and use that one exclusively for the final mix.

 

[Nikhil Kamkolkar]

I had a situation recently where although we were indoors, for one particular setup, the camera had the sun hitting it directly (unavoidably).

Not to make this offtopic and about blackshading, but the fan wasn't able to bring the temp down enough to cool the core temp down. I ended up having to roll even with the T/E indicator at yellow (I know that's OK, but I like green )

Still have to go back and figure out what I should be doing if the sun is hitting the cam directly while you are blackshaded just fine otherwise. Adaptive and lowering the target temp didn't help.

 

[ericyoung]

I had a situation recently where although we were indoors, for one particular setup, the camera had the sun hitting it directly (unavoidably).

Not to make this offtopic and about blackshading, but the fan wasn't able to bring the temp down enough to cool the core temp down. I ended up having to roll even with the T/E indicator at yellow (I know that's OK, but I like green )

Still have to go back and figure out what I should be doing if the sun is hitting the cam directly while you are blackshaded just fine otherwise. Adaptive and lowering the target temp didn't help.

I'd Magic arm a small flag directly to the camera body or pan & tilt head, or even some black wrap crocodile clipped to the body or a noga arm. Anything to keep direct sun off it. Or even a small USB fan or similar if audio noise isn't an issue.

 

[ErnestoDeCarvalho]

I keep saying it, but Adaptive is the thing you want to use for pretty much everything.I bump into people occasionally who still use manual and it freaks me out.

Hey Phil, would you care to elaborate? Thank you!

 

[Phil Holland]

Hey Phil, would you care to elaborate? Thank you!

Adaptive Fan Mode really is the best general purpose shooting mode for short and long takes "for most situations". It keeps the camera pretty quiet and "adapts" the fan speed to keep the sensor within calibration range. Using this mode allows you to focus on other things and it works great.

 

[Bruce Schultz]

Adaptive Fan Mode really is the best general purpose shooting mode for short and long takes "for most situations". It keeps the camera pretty quiet and "adapts" the fan speed to keep the sensor within calibration range. Using this mode allows you to focus on other things and it works great.

Phil, I pretty much always use Adaptive for fan setting, but I've never shot an entire 128 or even 256 mag all the way through in a controlled indoor environment like an interview situation to see if the fan would start up unexpectantly. I'll do some long tests with Adaptive and see. Blackshading in advance seems like a good idea too.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

They are also 3rd party tools out there that are efficient for long takes. But as said adaptive mode set to 70c gets the best results. If indoor shooting blackshade at 43c as your camera sensor will heat higher.

I've worked on this issue extensively.

Pat

 

[ErnestoDeCarvalho]

Thank you for the input, Phil... I understand. I do tend to use Manual a lot because I can monitor temperature levels through the day, and never let them reach close to emergency mode (never happened to me). I do calibration with a slightly higher temperature that way. The advantage is that the camera is generally quieter, including on standby, which is important for the kind of work I do. Do you think this is outrageous behavior? Hehehe. Also, per your explanation, I wonder what other types of situation would warrant a different mode, and what that would be. Sorry for picking your brain! And thank you again!

Adaptive Fan Mode really is the best general purpose shooting mode for short and long takes "for most situations". It keeps the camera pretty quiet and "adapts" the fan speed to keep the sensor within calibration range. Using this mode allows you to focus on other things and it works great.

 

[Kyle Wright]

Personally, I'd rent a different camera. Even in adaptive mode set to 70° the fan can make noticeable noise, especially if the room is semi-warm. If you're rolling super long takes, I just don't trust the camera to keep quiet.

 

[Meryem Ersoz]

I toggle between "manual" between takes and "quiet" during takes and monitor the camera temp closely.

There have been too many times where Adaptive kicks up the camera noise during a long take, and it can spoil the audio. The fans are much quieter overall, but they'll still kick in if your camera gets hot. I tend to run them as much as I can between takes to cool down the camera. It usually runs in the yellow with this method, but I've never lost a take because of the fans kicking it into high gear - whereas, I have had Adaptive kick my camera into high gear. Always indoors with hot lights....

 

[Patrick Tresch]

Why don't you folks use the FanPlate?
Pat

 

[Tom Sefton]

Craig Lees might be better off passing on advice here than me, but we are working on a 3D project together with dual Dragons shooting at 4kHD. Each take is between 40 mins and 1hr20 in a soundproofed windowless room. There is no ventilation during the recording session, but in between takes we have doors open and 2 fans to cool the room down. Both Dragons have been rock solid after 3 weeks of use. That is 6 takes per day with fan modes set to adaptive. In between takes we have a 20 minute break and sometimes bump the fans up to 100% manual to bring the temp back down to a low level, but that has been fine so far. Footage looks brilliant.

We have 2 lav mics on the interview subject. One direct to Left Dragon, other goes direct into a sound desk. Both have produced beautifully clean feeds so far. Love working with Red.