Shooting in warm weather advice

[marcus adolf]

Hi Everyone,

Not sure if this is the right spot to post this as I'm new sorry!

I'm headed down to the tropics next week and was wondering if anyone has advice on shooting in hot and humid temperatures? Any suggestions on changing the target temp or after shoot care when back in the air-conditioned environment?

Looks like there's a bunch of discussion on cold weather but couldn't find anything on warm. Any suggestions/experience is welcomed!


Thanks!

 

[AndreasOberg]

Hi Marcus. We have filmed in Costa Rica, Sri Lanka and Mexico. In general there is not so much you need to worry about. We would film in Sri Lanka for hours and it was 40 degrees.

On our Epic i would just put the fan on 100% speed pretty much all the time. With the Helium it is easier so may not need to.
If you can try to stay in the shade when you film. We often would film from cars or just beneath trees.

You could play around with target temperatures until you find what you can keep stable. Right now we black shade for 41C.
We have not had any problems with humidity. I would almost be more worried about the batteries. You can buy these humidifiers and put them in the bags that should help a bit, but we in general do not use them.

So dont worry, the camera can handle it.
Andreas

 

[James Darren]

In high humidity, the fans will be super noisy, even in adaptive mode. I've done shoots in hot/humid weather where we can here the fans even when shooting exteriors.

It's one of the biggest problems I've found with Red cameras and can really frustrate sound guys.

 

[Nick Gardner]

I hear these complaints about the fans and really am floored. I have shot all over the place in extreme heat (Mali Africa, Biloxi mississipi in august), and just never had these problems. I've had more issues keeping the camera warm when shooting in the winter.

Nick

 

[brian hanson]

I'd recommend bringing extra alcohol based lens wipes if you are shooting in high humidity. I've shot in greenhouses and couldn't stop my lenses from fogging within a minute or two.

 

[Chris Kennedy]

Haven’t had any issues (knocks on wood) with high humidity in the Philippines or where I live in Fort Lauderdale. I do have 2 black shade calibrations: 38 degrees for indoors and 44 degrees for extended outdoors use. Generally black shades are good within 4-5 degree differences.
As far as acclimating the camera/lenses to humidity changes I’d drive with my windows down and camera and lens cases open 15 minutes before I’d arrive on location so nothing would fog up. Then when I’m done for the day I’d place a couple silica gel packets in my cases then store lenses/camera in an electric dry cabinet for long term storage.

 

[Björn Benckert]

Yes camera will do fine. More problem with fog and fungus in lenses and on olpf and such. Bringing equipment out from airconditioned rooms out into humid heat is a bad idea everything fogs up then. Bring wipes and let the gear climatize.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

In high humidity, the fans will be super noisy, even in adaptive mode. I've done shoots in hot/humid weather where we can here the fans even when shooting exteriors.

It's one of the biggest problems I've found with Red cameras and can really frustrate sound guys.

Never had this problem shooting in the Amazon and Zambia. There are a lot of good practices to achieve a shooting in hot condition without to much troubles. It’s been overdiscussed on this board.

 

[AndreasOberg]

Yes, the fans are quite loud if you are recording close by. But if the recordings are not that long you will do fine in having it reduced while recording even in hot weather. I guess if you will do 30min recordings of interviews and recording at the same time this could be a problem.

 

[James Darren]

I guess if you will do 30min recordings of interviews and recording at the same time this could be a problem.

This... We did a long form interview, Alexa Mini as A-cam & Red Helium as B-cam (B-cam was being converted to black & white in post). It was set to 45C adaptive mode & despite the Helium have an umbrella over it for shade, the fan was very noisy. The Alexa Mini was quiet by comparison.

 

[Audy Erel]

It's been 2 years shooting in the tropics without any temp problem, my Scarlet-W has always been blackshaded at 44°C. Here in the warm and humid climate of Indonesia fungus grows happily and they could build a kingdom overnight, so I've created a custom airtight box to store my SW and all the lenses with a couple of strong moisture absorbers in it.

 

[Frank Martin]

I live in miami , we own lots of cameras. RED cameras will do fine
I set adaptive temp a few degrees lower when it’s over 90 degrees out , but I have never had audio complain aside from the old epic hairdryer episodes...
Moisture is your enemy in the tropics not heat. Bringing cameras in and out of AC into 99 degrees and 100 percent humidity creates issues if you don’t stay on it Use contact cleaner on your LEMO connectors . We also find battery performance can suffer when it gets to be August at homestead raceway on the Tarmac
BUT the RED Camera’s have never crashed or overheated. Even our R1 never needed ice packs , we just put a floppy over camera.

 

[marcus adolf]

Hi everyone thanks a bunch for the advice! Sounds like I'll be careful with audio nearby and shoot for 41-44c target temps.

Thanks for all the responses!

 

[Patrick Tresch]

I shoot 47c in Adaptive mode.

Pat