How long do you run your Dragon?

[Linda Barzini]

I ran my Dragon at 6KHD most of the day and either the new fans are pretty quiet or the Dragon handled the heat pretty well. I was on AC power with an Anton Bauer Dionic HC for auxiliary. The Dragon never complained and worked fine. I kept expecting the fans to kick on loudly between takes, but this never happened.

What are other people's experiences? Also, are there any issues running a Teradek Bolt most of the day. It got hot, but also performed well.

 

[Joel Voelker]

Depends on the ambient temperature, framerate, fan settings, and your target camera temperature. At room temp, 24fps, and using adaptive rather than "Quiet Record" the camera should be fine. Adaptive Preview, Quiet Record will let the sensor heat up and then often have to crank the fans to cool it back down once you cut. The video transmitters will get damn hot but should also run fine all day.

Running around in the desert at 110 degrees in the open sun last summer, the fans had to rip at full speed all day but the camera miraculously never overheated. Fortunately, I was filming a music video and not running audio. I was impressed. Paralinx transmitter help up too. The black carbon fiber and metal bits on the camera build were too hot to touch but it just kept on working.

The Weapon definitely does an even better job of cooling. I haven't had any hot room shoots to stress it yet but the thing is whisper quiet. Definitely a noticeable difference.

 

[Hugh Scully]

I ran mine all day in room temperature. We only shut it down for lunch. I run the fans "adaptive" on battery power and then AC while switching batteries and no problems whatsoever including fan noise. They never kick up.

 

[Brandon Woodard]

We run Paralinx and Teradek gear all day everyday at the CSLA showroom. No problem.

 

[Björn Benckert]

We run dragons in studio environment all day. don't even shut down for lunch and always with a bolt on top and yes it´s crazy how hot the bolt gets. Personally I´m not worried of having the cameras on for really long hours. In my mind they are very much like computers and are more likely to fail on shutdown, startup or possibly most likely in transport. I think running them on a good power source does not cause much stress on them.

 

[Nick Morrison]

I think running them on a good power source does not cause much stress on them.

Agreed.

 

[Linda Barzini]

Great feedback. I was nervous because we used a teleprompter and had the Dragon and Bolt covered with Duvetyne.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

We run dragons in studio environment all day. don't even shut down for lunch and always with a bolt on top and yes it´s crazy how hot the bolt gets. Personally I´m not worried of having the cameras on for really long hours. In my mind they are very much like computers and are more likely to fail on shutdown, startup or possibly most likely in transport. I think running them on a good power source does not cause much stress on them.

But aren't the sensors likely to get failing pixels and similar? What is the affect on the sensors during long term use?