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  • 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 :)

EPIC Fan Tests // Old Fans vs New Fans

Wey Wang said:
Hey Isaac, thanks for the test! You made some very thorough notes of the camera's temperature and fan speed.

But I was wondering if you made any notes for the actual decible levels you were recording? I'd also be interested in a test where the mic wasn't pointed directly at the camera, but in a setup where it would most likely matter. Like the mic was 2 ft higher than the camera and pointed down, as if in a sit down interview.
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I wonder why you would like such a test as we know that the Epic makes fan noise and the aim is to test the different solutions out there? It would make sense if like I did once you would liked to compare the.noise of the Epic with the Alexa, the F65 or the delta Penelope.

But your test holds to many variable to make it usefull. Can we make it in a scientific ISO configuration?

Pat
 
Wey, interesting question. If I had multiple mics I'd have done some from above and behind the camera. I actually did record the camera from 3' behind it and at head height (I'm 6'1") and the tone becomes softer and flatter for almost every fan combo. But I only did this test for a couple of the configs, and I didn't have a enough data to make it worthwhile.

And as Patrick said, this test had too many variables, and not only that but it's fairly apparent that the Lower Fan 2.0 was obnoxiously whiny from anywhere in the room. I even make mention that the mic pointing directly at the camera is fairly unrealistic, however moving that mic anywhere else wouldn't change the overall impression of what sounded better overall.

I wish I could have gotten dBl levels, however my sound pressure level meter only goes down to 60dB and no fan was registering in the idle state well enough, so I skipped trying it. If I had better equipment I'd have tried that.

Overall this helped confirm some suspicions and reports I'd heard online. I think this combo of old lower/new upper helps the Epic a lot, the camera is still not NEARLY as quiet as the Alexa though.
 
Isaac - Why is your fan only dropping to 40% in quiet rec mode? This is confusing.

My fan is dropping to 12-14% during rec - dead silent, basically. Never goes about 20-30% unless on massive takes. During preview it hangs at around 45%. Temp stays at 40-43 for sensor temp the whole time.

I appreciate your tests, but the results confuse me, as they are different to what I am seeing and hearing on location. I will check later whether my new front fan stops during quiet rec as well...

One question. Did you actually run "discover hardware" when you installed the new items? Otherwise the camera firmware won't recognise them as being new additions and wont adjust the algorithms accordingly.
 
Ivan Kovax said:
One question. Did you actually run "discover hardware" when you installed the new items? Otherwise the camera firmware won't recognize them as being new additions and wont adjust the algorithms accordingly.
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Yes, when I initially got the fans in august/september. And the whine was annoying enough to send them in for evaluation.

I re-discovered hardware again for this test. Even at varying speeds the whine was persistent enough to be an issue.

But I appreciate the question. Maybe I got a bad fan ultimately. But the sounds are consistent with two other epics locally with the bottom fan 2.0, so I'm a bit confused as well if a lot of these kits are sounding as 'whiny' as a lot are reported to be. And I was rooting for the bottom fan 2.0 to be awesome.
 
Isaac Marchionna said:
Yes, when I initially got the fans in august/september. And the whine was annoying enough to send them in for evaluation.

I re-discovered hardware again for this test. Even at varying speeds the whine was persistent enough to be an issue.

But I appreciate the question. Maybe I got a bad fan ultimately. But the sounds are consistent with two other epics locally with the bottom fan 2.0, so I'm a bit confused as well if a lot of these kits are sounding as 'whiny' as a lot are reported to be. And I was rooting for the bottom fan 2.0 to be awesome.
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WHat did your fan speeds drop to during quiet record mode?

Mine are at 12-14% Rec and 45-48% Preview. Sensor temp between 40-43. Does that match what you had?

(FYI - currently shooting in Thailand in 34 Celsius heat too)

EDIT: As an addendum, in order to achieve similar (but slightly poorer) results with the old fan in Quiet Rec mode, it would run at around 24-28% Rec and 65-70% in Preview mode.
 
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Offhand I can't tell you as I'll have to dig up the notes I took.

How long are you maintaining 40-43 before you hit 46 (i.e when the fans must rev up)?

On quiet record with the 2.0 bottom fan I wasn't getting an audible silencing on record. Even after multiple hardware re-discovers. I've since tried this on another Epic locally with the 2.0 bottom fan, and that problem persisted as well. Different firmware. So it's a head scratcher.
 
Isaac Marchionna said:
Offhand I can't tell you as I'll have to dig up the notes I took.

How long are you maintaining 40-43 before you hit 46 (i.e when the fans must rev up)?

On quiet record with the 2.0 bottom fan I wasn't getting an audible silencing on record. Even after multiple hardware re-discovers. I've since tried this on another Epic locally with the 2.0 bottom fan, and that problem persisted as well. Different firmware. So it's a head scratcher.
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I will test this all during our lunch break when we aren't taking and will let you know both regarding time to 46 and whether my bottom fan deactivates during rec. I have a theory, but let me check out the gear before I let you know my theory as I may be wrong.
 
Understood.

Ideally doing this in a more measured way with more receptive sound pressure level meters, and varying the temperature all the way up to 100+ degrees would be more thorough. It seems wether we like it or not we're all going to have to use the bottom fan 2.0 when we go Dragon.

I'd be interested to see when you hit 46 degrees, which seems to be consistent with my Epic as to the 'rev up' point. Thanks, Ivan.
 
1. My camera didn't hit 76 degrees. My 128GB SSD entirely filled before the fan had a chance to whirrrrr because temp hit 76. I got to 74 degrees and it just turned over to 75 as the SSD was done (shot at 5:1)

2. So I ran in quiet record mode and my front fan surely slowed down tremendously. So mine does slow down to what I assume is the stated speed. However, I did hear that mechanical sound (it actually sounds a lot like film being run through the gate of a 35mm camera) and it was annoying if I put my ear right up to it. However, when standing in front of the camera, the matte box diffused nearly all the sound such that it was inaudible from even a few feet away. It was the kind of sound that seemed to dissipate rather easily, despite it sounding nothing like room tone. Which makes me think - when I put a piece of cardboard angled downwards from the top of that front fan (so it basically sucks air from below) it basically eliminated the whirring. If somebody was to make a simple fixture that was padded from the inside with a slight audio-proofing material this would essentially solve the problem.

Honestly, we have been shooting for weeks now in every possible location, and not one of the sound boys have noticed it.

If anybody would like I could try designing a cap that absorbs the sound and sucks air from a downwards direction. I know some guys here in Thailand who can probably make that thing if it is designed and if there was enough interest...

Additionally it sounds as if the axle of the fan doesn't have enough lubrication on it. I am going to see if this is user fixable (yes yes red, invalidates fan warranty... ) by greasing it up with a drop of sewing oil or some such thing.
 
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