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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 : Noise and heat ? Epic M users ?

We shot my movie in August, Italy summer, 40° celsius and more, it was an hell working with that hot temperature but the camera never overheated. We had some noise sound problems in close spaces even with the fan at 33% during recording. It was an early Epic M.
 
Satsuki Murashige said:
Hi Eric, you are not alone! I had a very similar experience two weeks ago. House day interior, minimal lighting, interview setup on sticks, and we had the same issue. Epic-X with VF top plate, side handle with Redvolt, AB plate with v-lock adapter, with Preston powered via d-tap. I set the fan to manual (50/100%) but still had the same issue. We were running the previous firmware, sounds like it fixes some temperature warning issues...

Edit: ours was a rental house camera that works all the time.
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This is a new Epic X on it's 4th day of shooting- all stage shoots. Running the latest release build.
 
Eric Haase said:
This is a new Epic X on it's 4th day of shooting- all stage shoots. Running the latest release build.
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I've had the exact same problem as Eric. My Epic-X is brand new and seems to overheat (hit 75C) very quickly at which point the fan bursts on.

I did two tests:

5K 90fps 12:1 - the fan came on at 10 mins

5K 1fps 12:1 - the fan came on at 13 mins

This makes no sense and is extremely worrisome.
 
When in doubt leave the Fan settings to AUTO... We set the Fan ratings depending in specific need, which is best to control sound, if recording IT, otherwise in AUTO...

Our two EPIC M have been in +130°F +45°C inside Underwater Housing, inside a Sauna, and in the DUBAI's Deserts out side RAK... NEVER, a single problem, EPIC is solid as a ROCK...


Even if couple of times we could not hold on to the SSD Media, because of how HOT it was!!


Never stopped running never dropped a single frame!!
 
Jay A. Kelley said:
I am confident this will be fixed if nessesary. A noisy camera is death on set... It will be handled.
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I know of several productions where the Epics have caused sound problems in quiet indoor scenes. Having a fan at 35% is still quite audible, especially when the camera is close to the actors indoors. It's not really a problem outdoors, or on very large sets. The problem is that the fan noise is broadband, and is not easily notched out, unlike a "whistle" or a hum.

I like the pictures the camera makes, but I think the mechanical noise issues really should be addressed. I'd love to see somebody take a weighted Sound Pressure Level meter reading of the camera at Standby and during Record. (And in fairness to the Epic, I've heard some noisy 35mm film cameras in my time, too.)

I was on a Red One shoot a few weeks ago, and the camera wasn't nearly as much of a problem for sound as the DIT cart. Too many drives, too many fans, tons of noise.
 
I've found that setting the camera to 42% on run worked well for long interview takes. Mostly recording 12:1.

We were basically rolling whole 128G cards for the duration without cuts. Initially there were overheating issues, but 42% seemed to do the trick.
 
On my shoot, fan was first set to auto, then manual at 50% while rolling, 100% while cut. Still was not enough. Haven't worked with that camera since, however.
 
Satsuki Murashige said:
On my shoot, fan was first set to auto, then manual at 50% while rolling, 100% while cut. Still was not enough. Haven't worked with that camera since, however.
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When was this? If it was back in June or about there, could have been a firmware glitch. I had some glitchy fan control and temperature reporting on my EPIC-M with one of the firmware builds through there. Deanan sent me an updated build via email that fixed it, so they were already aware of the problem on some cameras. By glitchy, the camera kept reporting that it was getting hot, had to dial the fan all the way up to try and stay ahead of the temp which would climb into RED. Occasionally the fan would stop working all together and I would have to power cycle the camera to get the fan back. Like I said, updated firmware fixed it. Later through July / August I was shooting in some hot temperatures and no trouble. Did a 4 day shoot in AZ, mid-July, with the temps around 116F. EPIC-M never skipped a beat.

EPIC has been very solid here, both M and X. Just anxiously awaiting more and more features to be enabled! :)
 
I have recently shot some long interview stuff, eating up the better part of 256g ssd or 1.5 hrs. I used the 40% fan record setting and have had no problems. It does get hot but has not overheated. I also am shooting with a lens around 80mm so the camera is not too close to the talent. No complaints from the sound department.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
When was this? If it was back in June or about there, could have been a firmware glitch. I had some glitchy fan control and temperature reporting on my EPIC-M with one of the firmware builds through there. Deanan sent me an updated build via email that fixed it, so they were already aware of the problem on some cameras. By glitchy, the camera kept reporting that it was getting hot, had to dial the fan all the way up to try and stay ahead of the temp which would climb into RED. Occasionally the fan would stop working all together and I would have to power cycle the camera to get the fan back. Like I said, updated firmware fixed it.
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Thanks Jeff, shoot was in mid-August with whatever the current firmware was at the time. Rental house camera.
 
Just a follow up to the overheating issue I had as I posted above. I had a shoot yesterday and set the fan to manual 38% while recording and 100% while not recording. Longest take was 28 minutes and the temp reached 71C. Cooled back down to 40C when not rolling for a long time. The fan at 38% is fairly quiet.
 
I still think the fan is too loud for intimate interior work. It would be cool if we could disable to fan for 5 min takes or even 2. No fan for when quiet is needed.
 
Just starting our first tests with our newly arrived Epic-X and we're experimenting with the fan settings.

We shoot a LOT of docs and need to record lengthy interviews so camera noise is an issue and it certainly appears louder than our RED One. I think the loudest we can tolerate the fans would be around 33% and at this setting the camera gets hot quite quickly.

How hot can the camera get before we should worry?

What temperature would the fans automatically kick in when the camera gets too hot?

Best wishes

Scott
 
From my personal tests an on camera mic is not possible with an Epic-M. Maybe when they upgrade the M to X this will change since there is a heat sink update involved
 
Just ran a quick not very scientific heat test on our Epic - in the office we set the fan speed to 32% while recording and the camera went from circa 45 degrees to 70 in just under 17 minutes. Obviously under proper filming conditions with lighting the camera will heat up more quickly than this but I'm using this as a first test.

I think we can live with the noise at 32% but I'd like to know what the safe operating temp of the epic is? Anyone able to help with this?

Best wishes

Scott
 
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