FW 4.0 beta power management/black shade

[paul schefz]

i haven't had a chance to play with the new beta since my scarlet is still in the capable hands of the red team for repair of the funky file issue....
was wondering how the power saving functions work in the field....on a normal day, get the camera up to temp, blackshade for settings and (realistically) keep it running to keep up the temp and to keep the blackshade valid....where do the new power options come in? auto off and sleep require the camera to warm up after restart, so what is the power savings?
does the power still drain when the camera is off (redvolts in side handle)?
i guess i am wondering if there is a change from my existing method of using redvolts int he side handle and attaching bricks (or AC power) when not shooting or when switching redvolts....so the camera really runs the whole time to keep the temp up.....
any ideas?

 

[paul schefz]

anyone?

 

[stu aull]

One-shoot observation-
-with 150Wt bricks
-blacks as I understand, are not lost with any power savings mode - or any normal power down for that matter. These are "saved" within the camera's memory. Perhaps I misunderstand your question.
-did NOT get much sense that I was saving a lot of juice btw power UPs with the standby/save engaged. Others mileage will vary. Since there is no published figures about "save-mode" durations vs "full-power-up" mode, I guess we have to wait for more definitive info?
-yes camera will pull power from a battery if connected, even fully powered down. The results are even more dramatic on the smaller RedVolts. If field power is at a premium I would pull the battery between long breaks
-if you are shooting in a very cold environment (winter outdoors, say) then keeping the camera running will obv maintain the core temp - or at least make it warm-ER. Normal indoor shoots, etc. I power down as needed. Camera always pops back up to temp and I have never had any recording issues with footage.

Stu Aull
SX 199
Alaska

 

[paul schefz]

so what is the point of these new features? and the battery still drains when the camera is off?

 

[Peter Majtan]

RED did say this is work in progress. I personally don't use the sleep mode, but like (and use) a lot the 'low power preview' which effectively turns down the brightness of the monitor considerably until you press any button. Speaking of which - this goes for REC as well. So if you need to start record from low powered preview - you need to push the REC twice...
I will do more detailed testing comparing the two modes durations later on and post the results here...

Peter

 

[Roy Gregorio]

I wonder if at this point it would be best to use sleep mode or turn the camera off for say, 1 minute. I wonder if it would be more efficient to just leave it on sleep, since it takes 26 seconds to turn off and boot up and drain battery during this process, or if it will still save more battery than sleep mode during the other 34 seconds that it's completely off.