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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 :)

The highest altitude for Red One?

Peter Majtan

Peter Majtan

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Hi Guys!

What was the highest altitude You have filmed with Red One on and can You share any observations, issues, etc...

We are going with Julian and Brent (my colleague) shoot this weekend at 4,640 m (15,220 ft) above sea level on the summit of Sierra Negra here in Mexico. If that was not enough - we will shoot stereo (3D)... :)

This should be fun...

Cheers

Peter
 
We have used it at 15,000+ in high humidity in Indonesia. The only thing to watch for is acclimatization as you go from (presumably) hot sea level to colder high altitudes and back. Like any camera hot to cold is usually OK, cold to hot will require you to wrap the camera in an airtight bag and let it come to room temperature slowly.
 
Thanks man. We are going from hot & humid Mexican summer in rainy season on the sea-level to the 15000' dry & cold summit in under an hour. I was really worried about the sealed compartments inside the camera - are they truly pressure-tight? Will this affect the camera? I suppose since You have shot at that altitude it should be OK, but I am not sure how quickly did You get up there...

Going back down we will protect the camera in the plastic as You have suggested. But again - it is going to be a smooth 1hr descent in a car...

Thanks anyway...

Cheers

Peter :)

PS: Do You know the exact altitude of Your location? Where were You shooting? I would like to know the "unofficial" altitude record for Red One... :)
 
I know of a RED that's gone to to the top of Pike's Peak (14,110 feet) and no troubles. I've had mine up to about 13,000 feet, no problems. Not sure about the Pike's Peak weather conditions for that shoot, I wasn't there. When I had mine at the 13,000 foot mark, it was about 65 degrees and sunny, oh and about 5% humidity as a guess, maybe less, very dry.

I'll be doing a lot more mountain treks and higher altitude stuff this winter.

Peter, if you're talking 32F on the summit, you'll be just fine I think. That isn't cold. :P
 
Peter Majtan said:
Hi Guys!

What was the highest altitude You have filmed with Red One on and can You share any observations, issues, etc...

We are going with Julian and Brent (my colleague) shoot this weekend at 4,640 m (15,220 ft) above sea level on the summit of Sierra Negra here in Mexico. If that was not enough - we will shoot stereo (3D)... :)

This should be fun...

Cheers

Peter
Click to expand...

I've heard (and have seen) back focus issues in cameras operating at higher pressures due to changes in refractive index of air. I am not sure how much it will affect your particular lens, distance, etc... Perhaps a quick back focus adjustment (is that an oxymoron?) would be a good idea. :)


Peter Majtan said:
Should I be extra concern about UV? It is lot stronger up there...
Click to expand...
Sounds like filming in Australia, mate.
 
Hey Pawel! Thanks mate! (I did live in Melbourne for 4 years and still have a house there and a property in Tasmania) The UV can get bloody awful down there. I got 3-rd degree sun burn on my back after 5 hours of sea-kayaking near Melbourne in my first month in Aussie...

The backfocus should not be a major issue as we will be mostly shooting distant object with focus on infinity. The only close object we will film is the telescope with 164' diameter dish! I am sure that even with the widest lens we would have to be at a distance from it...

Is an infinity going to be issue?

Thanks for Your help...

Cheers mate!
 
Interesting about what Pawel said with the back focus and shifting refractive index. I haven't experienced that, but I'm based at about 6000ft. in altitude so when I go to 13000, it's nowhere near as drastic as what you will be doing, Peter. I could see this having an effect though... Just as extreme temperature shifting can alter air pressure enough to cause refraction anomalies on hot surfaces like sand or hot asphalt and give us a mirage. Best plan on double checking back focus once the cameras are at altitude and acclimated to any temp and humidity changes. Better safe than sorry, I suppose...
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
Interesting about what Pawel said with the back focus and shifting refractive index. I haven't experienced that, but I'm based at about 6000ft. in altitude so when I go to 13000, it's nowhere near as drastic as what you will be doing, Peter. I could see this having an effect though... Just as extreme temperature shifting can alter air pressure enough to cause refraction anomalies on hot surfaces like sand or hot asphalt and give us a mirage. Best plan on double checking back focus once the cameras are at altitude and acclimated to any temp and humidity changes. Better safe than sorry, I suppose...
Click to expand...

Jeff, it is hard to quantify. What is certain is that:
1. Back focus is easily affected by even slightest changes in the optics between rear lens element and image plane.
2. Even small changes in air pressure affect its refractive index that it could be easily seen "with a bare eye".
Depending on the actual lens, and thousand other parameters, it may or may not be a problem. I guess shooting close subjects with very wide lens would be the worst case scenario, but infinity may also be somewhat affected. How much? I duno :watsup:

I have seen terrible effects of this phenomenon on Howard Hall's Imax, where the camera housing was pressurised to ambient pressure at 330 feet (about 10 times the atmospheric pressure). It was wide angle, focused on (very close) virtual image (using a small dome port) and, adding IMAX's shallow DOF, open wide (low light) - the result was softer than most standard def footage I have seen. This must have been the worst case scenario, and the result was, indeed, the worst I have seen. It must have been devastating going through such enormous effort, risk and expense only to get something that could have been obtained with a $1000 consumer-grade camcorder. But, it was certainly world's first, it made into the film and the narrative kind of diverts viewer's attention from otherwise significant technical problem.
 
Peter Majtan said:
I suppose since You have shot at that altitude it should be OK, but I am not sure how quickly did You get up there...
Click to expand...

Traveling by helicopter, we went from 90ft elevation to over 15,000 feet in perhaps 20 minutes. Going up was fine, but coming down everything fogged up - including the interior lens elements of our zoom.


Peter Majtan said:
PS: Do You know the exact altitude of Your location? Where were You shooting? I would like to know the "unofficial" altitude record for Red One... :)
Click to expand...

The location ( 4° 2'33.65"S 137° 9'27.71"E ) is about 15,105 feet in elevation and we were perhaps 1000 feet above the ground. Is 16,105 a record?
 
CrewPix.com said:
OK :-)

We also shot on the ground at the top of the mountain - 15,000ish.
Click to expand...

We are doing the color correct for this shoot next week. I can't wait to share footage with the RED community.

The aerials that Brent is speaking of are particularly breathtaking!

Hey Brent - wasn't this your sick day?! :-)
 
Sorry Guys, Just did a 17,000' shoot in Chile
The Red Drives started to suffer at that altitude
Anyone have a RED RAM drive for rent, I'll be at 14,000'
next week
-Dan
 
The spinning drives in REDraid are rated to 10,000 ft so we recommend using CF.

The REDram drives are very close. They're coming out of beta and going into production now.
 
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