EPIC working temperature

[Ulf Krentz]

I am wondering what would be a good working temperature range for the EPIC. Obviously the cooler the better (less noise) but there might be situations where you don´t want the fan to disturb the audio recording which will lead to higher camera temperature. As I could not find usable information in the manual I thought I´ll ask here: Up to what temperatures did you already roll with good results? Any advice, which temperature for sensor or core should not be exceeded? Any issues, record errors, shutdown due to high camera temperature? Thank you in advance.

Cheers,
Ulf

 

[ericyoung]

It depends very much on ambient temperature and airflow.

I've been fine with camera temperature of 37 Degrees Centigrade - in a studio with big hot tungsten lights. I'm sure others have shot in deserts!

Noise is not an issue if you blackshade ideally within say 3 or 4 degrees of your shooting temperature. Manually set your fan speed to the same as in recording mode for 15mins or more, in the shooting environment, to get the standby camera temperature up, before blackshading.

 

[Ulf Krentz]

Thank you Eric, just to be sure, you are talking about 37°C sensor temperature (the first number displayed) what about the second temperature (core). I am asking because I recently had recording errors within five minutes rolling, possibly a thermal error due to a low fan setting of 25% (and that was in a cool ambient).

Cheers,
Ulf

 

[ericyoung]

Yes. 37°C sensor temp. 10 hour days for 4 days. No issues.

The few recording errors I've experienced with the Epic seems to have mostly been related to particular high contrast picture content. Eg shiny cutlery, and very contrasty lighting. Very hard to reproduce. Seemed to go away with a camera repower and/or Redmag swap.

 

[Nathaniel Kramer]

39 to 44 is normal operating temps for core.. if you do a correct black shade you should be fine up to low 50's or even higher. As I have written before, quite a few times, we warm up the core/sensor before we black shade by letting camera record so the core/sensor heat up, we then let camera cool down to around 38, and then we black shade... we have found that this procedure gives us the lowest noise and protects us if camera gets hot due to long takes...because if your temps turn yellow( warning) you should black shade again.. We also always have camera powered on all day so it does not cool down... because if it gets cold, you have to run another black shade... If we absolutely have to power down and we know that there isn't time to shade again, we put the camera in an insulated cooler (soft sided) so the camera retains heat..

 

[Ulf Krentz]

Nathaniel, thank you for your answer. That is what I thought, my question was initialized by experiencing recording errors from which I thought they might have been temperature related (prior to any warning signs). RED examined the log file and requested to return the camera for a check. I will dive into the blackshading process once it is back, I´m with you, you have to know your gear and I love to be able to squeeze the max out of my gear ;-) Thanks again for your advice.

Cheers,
Ulf

 

[Jon MIchael Puntervold]

We also always have camera powered on all day so it does not cool down... because if it gets cold, you have to run another black shade...

Is this really necessary? How much difference is it in noise levels between this procedure and running the factory default?

 

[Ulf Krentz]

Jon, I did not really experience any noise problems with my Scarlet yet, in fact I find it quite pleasing, for me it adds a little life/organic feel to the digital image. I used to follow this two simple rules, though:
1. Proper exposure, 5ooASA for me, the EPIC / SCARLET sensor wants some light.
2. I don´t let the blue channel starve by setting CT to 32ooK, I leave it at 5ooo / 56ooK and use filters instead.
But now as you can have presets with the new firmware build I´ll do some testing with different blackshading settings for sure.

Cheers,
Ulf

 

[ericyoung]

Is this really necessary? How much difference is it in noise levels between this procedure and running the factory default?

No, it's not necessary. Just let the camera warm up again.

 

[Glen Powell]

Build 4 Lets you know if your current Blackshade and camera temp match - The display will tell you if you need to do a new blackshade to correspond to the current operating temp.

 

[Ryan Lightbourn]

Build 4 Lets you know if your current Blackshade and camera temp match - The display will tell you if you need to do a new blackshade to correspond to the current operating temp.

That's great news...my shoots tend to vary drastically in temperature & the blackshade hassle was the main reason I was holding out on an Epic!