Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Cold Weather Performance

D

david berez

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 27, 2009
Messages
50
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Website
www.postofficeeditorial.com
All,

I know there have been several threads dedicated to this, but I've encountered a pretty consistent problem shooting in very cold weather and wondering whether others have encountered this problem. My camera stops delivering an image in temps at or around minus 5˚ below. The camera is on, the menu is on the LCD, but there is no image, just black. Warming up the camera (say in a car for a few minutes) returns the image, but then as the camera cools down the picture disappears. No warning . . . just goes. Anybody else see this?

Second question, aside from chemical heaters (which can barely dent the cold here in Maine) is anybody using a better solution to keep their camera warm?

Thanks for your help.

David
 
Hi David!

I just shot a commercial in Beijing last week, we shot in few different scenes in mountain, street, the weather were around minus 14, I don't have any problems with my camera.

Cheers

Perry Ho
Dop - Mainland China & Hong Kong
 
Perry, I just missed you!

My EVF was going crazy in that cold Beijing air when we were shooting.
 
david berez said:
Second question, aside from chemical heaters (which can barely dent the cold here in Maine) is anybody using a better solution to keep their camera warm?
Click to expand...

Put the fans on QUIET so it isn't trying to cool itself so much. Other than that, you can try putting it in a non-breathing bag - basically it generates enough heat internally to keep operating well, however if the breeze or other factors are sucking that warmth away too efficiently, you might see problems like you have.
 
Have been shooting under -15C recently in Vilnius, Lithuania. We have found the camera to perform without a glitch if you don't turn it off for a longer period than switching the battery. As we moved to a different location the camera gave the black screen, as in the above described case. Warming it up a bit solved the situation. EVF was unusable at that temperature.
 
are there any precautions to take when shooting around 0 degree weather?

How does that effects things like a lens? Are there procedures for moving from freezing to indoors to prevent condensation? I wonder if there is a good, dependable resource any of you know of?
 
I had a problem with no monitor image in cold temps.

It was a black screen on B17 when i reinstalled B16 the symptom changed to an interference pattern in both LCD and EVF.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23335

Are you getting a rocketio error message when you press record?

If you have all this it is probably a hardware issue.
 
I have just spent a week shooting at between -6 down to -15 C. Very little wind.

I was using the LCD monitor, not the EVF.
I kept the batteries in an insulated case with a hand warmer when not in use.

No problems at all.
 
Cold performance

Cold performance

Wind chill and humidity may be a significant a factor in these different experiences, as we test camera operation to -20C quite regularly to make sure behavior does not change across new firmware builds etc.

The displays are probably the most sensitive to cold (having said that, the 5.6" and 7" LCD's hold up to extreme cold very well), as they have the biggest surface area exposed to the elements.

A blanket or other wind breaking device therefore may be worthwhile.
 
I'm wondering about the idea of taping over some of the air intake when shooting in extreme cold. Truckers do this with their radiators. Anyone tried? Seems to me that you can wrap the camera but if the fan is still pumping very cold air into the body . . .
 
Cold Weather performance (updated)

Cold Weather performance (updated)

All,

Thanks for the responses. Coincidentally, the camera does seem to consistently work at around -18 celsius, however it consistently malfunctions (no image) at temperatures a bit lower like -10 Fahrenheit. Admittedly, that's with no protection or coverings so I'll incorporate the advice offered and let you know what I find.

And yes, I did get "rocketio" errors when pushing record. Stuart, what kind of hardware failure does that indicate?

David
 
RED in RUSSIA in -22C. It was a RENAULT shot - outside temperature -22 Celsius, Camera worked like a charm, did not sneeze once, the EVF sucked, LCD showed little "jitter, color blures", batteries to my surprise held fine. AJA IO HD - freaked out half way and needed to be rebooted quite often. just an update. Too bad it was a warm winter here in Moscow.
 
To those of you shooting in the cold - I recommend calling Porta-brace. They have a line of heated barneys. I had them custom make one for my Arri SR when I shot in Antarctica. They are very helpfull, and I'm sure they would be interested in making a product for which there are thousands of buyers.

Cheers,

Nick
 
Whenever we are shooting here in Beijing in a studio it's always cold. There's no heating at all in the big studios so most of the time the environment is around 0 degrees Celsius, if not colder. We didn't meet any problems when shooting in that kind of cold.

Richard Darge, If you have any problems again, next time you're in Beijing, you can always call us. We might even have time to help you out whenever you meet any problems.
www.redgaterentals.com
 
I second the Portabrace. I have been using a Polar Brace that was previously seeing duty on my HVX. It is like a puffy for the body. Worked great in a Norwegian snowstorm for 3 days. EVF was kinda like a Jimi Hendrix Experience but still worked.
 
I third the Polar Brace. I shot in the freezer hold of a whaling ship for several days using it with a f900 and had no problems.

I believe it was between 20 and 30 below Fahrenheit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top