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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 :)

Odd heat question

Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz

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Hey all. This is somewhat of a weird question, but does anyone have any idea on the heat that a RED puts out of its exhaust vents? A number would be wonderful, as "hot" is somewhat unscientific.
 
Lots of variables... ambient temperature, frame rate etc.
 
Hang on a sec... I'll fire it up.
 
This is not very scientific, but here it is. Using an ordinary wall-hanging mercury thermometer, and room temp at 85 degrees F. Overhead ceiling fan turning at 3rd highest setting on a 4 setting scale.

Turned on camera for about 10 minutes to let it "warm up". Took a reading at the CF module entry where there is no fan but heat does vent from. That temp was 88 degrees. Turned camera on and shot at 2:1 4k for about ten minutes @ 24 fps. Placed the thermometer bulb as close as possible without touching the CF opening. The temp climbed to 98 degrees sans camera fan, during the time it was recording. Stopped recording and measured the temp at the same place while fan was cooling things down. The temp only rose to about 101 or 102 during a 2 or three minute span. Seemed to stop climbing so I stopped measuring.

Empirical observations: touched hand to top of camera and smelled no burning flesh. I do not advise doing this under outdoor sunlight conditions. This should only be attempted in a cool indoor setting as I have described.

I would think you could add another 25 to 30 degrees, maybe more, for longer shooting times... especially continuous takes.
 
Additional info:

In the time it took to write my last post, I checked the camera (fan running pretty darn fast) and the temp at the CF opening was down to 96 degrees. However, this was measured from a starting point on my thermometer of 88 degrees which means the camera has raised the ambient temperature in this room 3 degrees. Something to think about if the heater goes out this winter. Just sayin.
 
thermal properties of cameras

thermal properties of cameras

Elsie N said:
Just wish it could have been more scientific.
Click to expand...

I think you measured the data and described the experimental setup pretty well. Another way to figure it out is simply how much electrical power the camera uses. All of that energy ultimately ends up as heat going into the room, first as hotter camera interior, then as hotter camera body, ventilation air, camera mount hardware, etc. If there is a slow fan = slow airflow, the air temperature will be higher than if air moved faster, but total amount energy is conserved.

If you added up the total electrical energy used, and then added up the (increase in temperature * heat capacity) of the camera, the air, and anything else heat is transferred to during the shoot, they should always be equal.

Note: The stock Red 1 uses 75 watts. http://www.red.com/faq/what-is-the-power-consumption-of-a-red-one/

Heat is heat, and behaves the same way no matter if the source is high-tech or low. Think about a 75 W light bulb in a RED-sized box, with the cooling fan... that's pretty much it.
 
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