Weapon in very cold conditions.

[Peter Strietmann]

In December we were shooting in the Saw Tooth mountain range in Idaho in temperatures that were around -20 degree Fahrenheit. We were shooting with several cameras. The scarlet weapon had issued and would give us an error message the the media was not recognized by the camera. The epic dragon however had no issues. Once the temperatures were over 0 Fahrenheit the weapon did OK. After consulting red tech we learned the weapon is only good down to 0. Are other people having issues in extreme cold with their weapons?

Thanks, Peter

 

[Chris McKechnie]

A thought would be to get those heat packs where you crack them to get heat and tape them to your camera body. Or, you could essentially create a trash bag tent around the camera so it can keep the body warm enough, creating a little oven.

 

[Tommaso Alvisi]

What Chris said!

Also you could power up the camera as soon as you arrive on location and getting out of the cases so it's still relatively warm, then its ASICs do the rest for you!

I mean it, like MINUTES after you come out of the car/truck to keep it warm.

I also noticed that the new cooling flow helps tremendously with batteries in cold climates since hot air is keeping the batts warmer.

I used PAG L90s and these were good at around -15 Celsius.

Weapon was "acting funny" a couple of times where it was stuck 4-5 seconds in play mode while reviewing a clip but nothing major.

 

[Peter Strietmann]

Thanks for the input.

So my work flow went something like this...

Power up camera about an hour before setting out (AC).
Put camera in hard insulated Petrol case with hand warmers.
Put batteries in cooler with hand warmers (both charcoal and chemical kind).
It would take about an hour to get to location on snowmobiles so once there the camera came out of case and covered in insulated custom cover and powered by blueshape 270 wh batteries, which by the way are the best batteries on earth.
The camera would stay powered up all day. One day I made the mistake of powering down at lunch and it took over 45 minutes to get back up to temperature.

Not sure what else I could be doing to keep cameras happy. Any info is greatly appreciated.

 

[Chris McKechnie]

Yea...not a lot you can do. But I'd really operate with a trash bag/other bag over the camera. Will recoup heat a lot faster.

 

[Paul Watt]

-25 C. No problems with couple heat packs taped to the motion mount and a touque and plastic bag on the cam.

 

[Satsuki Murashige]

As for why the two cameras behaved differently, since the Scarlet-W is a lower spec'ed camera than the Epic Dragon, maybe the boards inside don't generate as much heat? Or maybe the DSMC2 chassis and cooling system is better at dissipating heat?

Anyway, sounds like you had a good system. A heated camera barney could also be useful. And a few space blankets. Perhaps a cover for the air vents, just for cold starts. How did you protect the lenses from fogging, changing backfocus, or freezing up mechanically between radical temperature shifts?

 

[Michael Maes]

I shoot a couple of months per year on the high Arctic @ -20 to -40. Haven't had any issues yet with Weapon. Only batteries perform less in the cold.
Watch your cables, especially in high winds.
Also pay attention to the sensor temp and BS calibration.

I hardly ever use heating aids. Best "trick" which works for me is to always keep your gear outside (or inside in a non-heated environment).

 

[Peter Strietmann]

My cover is like a barney and I keep the area over the fan closed till it is up to temperature. Then I open it and use it as a hand warmer. I've had no problems with the blue shape 270 batteries at any temperature. Back in the day I would grip tape warmers to the batteries. Over the years I have learned it is best to let lenses come up to temperature slowly, like several hours so they don't fog. I leave the gear in an insulated case for extreme temperature changes.

 

[Dylan McLaughlin]

Last month I was operating my Scarlet Dragon in North Dakota in -20F. Wasn't out for too long, but the first issue I started to have was the Touch LCD starting to lag, or create a ghost image. It was pretty surreal.

 

[AndreasOberg]

In December we were shooting in the Saw Tooth mountain range in Idaho in temperatures that were around -20 degree Fahrenheit. We were shooting with several cameras. The scarlet weapon had issued and would give us an error message the the media was not recognized by the camera. The epic dragon however had no issues. Once the temperatures were over 0 Fahrenheit the weapon did OK. After consulting red tech we learned the weapon is only good down to 0. Are other people having issues in extreme cold with their weapons?

Thanks, Peter

No news on Weapon, but we used our Epic MX down to -20C for 10 hours in a row with no problem.

/Andreas