CCCold!

[Andris Matiss]

Has anyone found a solution to shooting in the cold, with the eyepiece.

We have been using the camera on a series here in Toronto for a few months now. Things have been pretty good aside from the usual glitches. Now that winter has approached the image in the eyepiece goes to mush when the temperature drops, as if you have added a solarization effect.

A.

[Shane Kelly]

get some handwarmers (the chemical kind ) and tape them around the eyepiece. It should last all day. I did this on a varicam movie that I shot in minnesota a couple of years back and it worked well.
Shane.

[William Wedig]

What if you're camera doesn't boot from the cold? What's a good battery solution for car mount stuff? Any easy solutions or do you have to have a lot of bodies and be switching them out as they start to freeze (undo-able on my shoot)?

[Andris Matiss]

We have not had a problem rebooting, just the crappy viewfinder image.

We tried the rental house's "electric heater" and taping a bunch of hot shots on, and it did not work.

I was wondering if someone has found some after market heater that would work?

A.

[Vince K]

get some handwarmers (the chemical kind ) and tape them around the eyepiece. It should last all day. I did this on a varicam movie that I shot in minnesota a couple of years back and it worked well.
Shane.

We did this as well in this -40 weather last week, and it worked like a charm.
I should mention that we changed them at least 3 times though.

[Steve Freebairn]

It may sound strange but you could take a winter glove and make some strategic holes for the mount and cable to go around the evf and then stuff it with warmers :)

[Casey Green]

Has anyone found a solution to shooting in the cold, with the eyepiece.

We have been using the camera on a series here in Toronto for a few months now. Things have been pretty good aside from the usual glitches. Now that winter has approached the image in the eyepiece goes to mush when the temperature drops, as if you have added a solarization effect.

A.

Almost sounds like the "False Image" mode is getting turned on. But I doubt that is the case.

Can you post a still image of the EVF problem?

[Andris Matiss]

Sounds like and looks like, but definitely is not the "false image" mode.

Were in the studio for the next week so I cannot post an image. In January we start up again and I will try to post something. I'd like to point out that you can still see, but judging focus is useless. After doing a shot with a 180mm and telling the director that you don't know if the shot is in focus is not fun. I've seen this happen now on two different shows with different suppliers. What the supplier gave on this show, did not work.

I like to know if "digitaliris" was out side for many hour or just a few shots.

Looks like we have to build something ourselves.

A.

[Roberto Lequeux]

We did this as well in this -40 weather last week, and it worked like a charm.
I should mention that we changed them at least 3 times though.

Was this with exteriors? And how long was the day? I'd like to know if four bricks and two chargers would keep me going week after week working 12hs days?

Andris, so the only problem you've had up in Toronto was with the EVF? Does it only happen on exteriors? Could you give me an estimate of the temperature at which you get this issue? And please confirm if this is the only problem you've had.

[Vince K]

Was this with exteriors? And how long was the day? I'd like to know if four bricks and two chargers would keep me going week after week working 12hs days?

Andris, so the only problem you've had up in Toronto was with the EVF? Does it only happen on exteriors? Could you give me an estimate of the temperature at which you get this issue? And please confirm if this is the only problem you've had.

We were outside for about 6 hours of the day...with a heated tent to keep our cam gear warm in between takes.
We were more worried about condensation in the lenses than anything else...and pissing off our DP. Yikes.
Keep in mind, that the -40 was with the wind chill, so it was actually only
-25 or so.
I'm not sure about Andris, but that was the only major issue we had, and it worked itself out.
If you're going to be outside in the severe cold...stock up on your charged batts!!

[Roberto Lequeux]

Well I hope we will be able to shoot indoor breaks but we haven't figured out what we'll be doing for condensation... I am guessing using primes is just asking for trouble right? Should I make sure to get a zoom?

Needless to say there will be a lot of planning going into a schedule, which we fully expect to have to constantly modify depending on what the elements tell us to shoot when. I am starting to look for a 1st AC with experience in the cold, with a very limited budget unfortunately. But I'll make sure and look hard and wide for him. It promises to be a fun shoot, so long as we can get into a groove early on.

Do you think four bricks and two chargers wouldn't be enough? It just sucks that the chargers don't charge both batteries at the dame time...

[Vince K]

I think you'll be fine with 2 chargers and 4 bricks, as long as those chargers are running all day. You probably know that the cold is a battery killer, and in the cold we have in Winnipeg this time of year, batt barnies suck ass.
We also had a couple of electric blankets standing by ALL DAY....they were great for keeping the camera and camera heads warm while outside when there was no downtime.


Where are you shooting that it's going to be so cold?

[Vince K]

....re: lenses?

We never really had that much of an issue with fogging, but any lenses that you are not using....keep them indoors if possible. If not, place an electrc blanket over the lens case...that may do the trick.
Yup....cold sucks.:cold:

[Roberto Lequeux]

70% takes place in a lake community in the middle of your kind of winter. :watsup:
I have a bit of night exteriors, which will be on the warmest nights we can score and all of it takes place within 100 yards of our twin cabins. Then a very healthy serving of day exteriors which will be our main scheduling concern...
:cold:


Hey, about the electric blankets... how do you power them? I didn't think of that. What I was thinking about getting was tons of chemical warmers.

[Vince K]

The chemical warmers ( hand and foot) are great, but if you can get an L/X to
to run you a stinger, electric blankets are the cats ass....and they never need to be replaced. They just have the regular 2 prong plug.
Either/ or will work though.

*EDIT* - probably obvious to all, but electric blankets should be kept DRY at all times!

[Roberto Lequeux]

The chemical warmers ( hand and foot) are great, but if you can get an L/X to
to run you a stinger, electric blankets are the cats ass....and they never need to be replaced. They just have the regular 2 prong plug.
Either/ or will work though.

Very interesting... I wonder how much it would cut off out gennys capacity?
We will be limited to the house's power, a quiet Honda 2000W and a quiet Honda 6000W. I suppose it can't be much at all, but at night we'll need every watt we can squeeze.

[Vince K]

The blankets don't use much power at all. You could have 2 or 3 going continuously and shouldn't see any effects on the gennys.

Cold...night....exteriors? Ouch.

[Roberto Lequeux]

Cold...night....exteriors? Ouch.

Yup... There was no way I could have written the script without it. http://www.smileyshut.com/smileys/new/Nature/snow.gif

But it is very limited... one big scene, a plot point. And two small sequences with no dialogue, but a couple of cool shots... all of that lit with all 8000w running HMIs, hopefully running a bit of juice from the house and bars. I planned the plot point for the shore of a lake about 60 yards from one of the cabins, but I don't think we'll be able to do all that much anyway, given our whole eclectic package ain't much for night ext... but maybe all I can get two primes and a zoom or something like that... one great thing though... everything being white we might be in for some pleasant surprises in terms of how much we'll be able to bring out in the BG with a hand full of 1.2 pars. The script helps the night stuff feel like it was longer than the time we actually had to be out there at night. It really stretches the night and takes advantage of it while keeping us nice and toasty. :)

Did I mention two slow cookers running at all times with hot soups? Right next to the coffee. Double cup the coffee if it is under -40.F... that way it will last you at least two or three sips. ROFL!

[Vince K]

Yup... There was no way I could have written the script without it. http://www.smileyshut.com/smileys/new/Nature/snow.gif

But it is very limited... one big scene, a plot point. And two small sequences with no dialogue, but a couple of cool shots... all of that lit with all 8000w running HMIs, hopefully running a bit of juice from the house and bars. I planned the plot point for the shore of a lake about 60 yards from one of the cabins, but I don't think we'll be able to do all that much anyway, given our whole eclectic package ain't much for night ext... but maybe all I can get two primes and a zoom or something like that... one great thing though... everything being white we might be in for some pleasant surprises in terms of how much we'll be able to bring out in the BG with a hand full of 1.2 pars. The script helps the night stuff feel like it was longer than the time we actually had to be out there at night. It really stretches the night and takes advantage of it while keeping us nice and toasty. :)

Did I mention two slow cookers running at all times with hot soups? Right next to the coffee. Double cup the coffee if it is under -40.F... that way it will last you at least two or three sips. ROFL!

Ah yes...the hot soup and java......staples of a winter shoot indeed! :)
....and throw in plenty of positive energy...the cold has a tendency to kill good moods on set fast. - unless you spike the coffee of course! :whistling:
j/k!

[Roberto Lequeux]

unless you spike the coffee of course! :whistling:
j/k!

What? Who said that? Early wrap after sundown... like 3pm. We then could actually walk or drive about half a mile and we hit the Bar. I'd love to see how much we end up actually walking it... as in too drunk to drive back, hahaha! :sick:

:glare: No, seriously we are going to have a blast... the whole thing is going to be a blast. We have 15 ft. snowmobile jumps in there somewhere. A little encore at the end but no x-game thing, serious.

They totally got -40 there the other night, well Fargo did but it is only 45min. away. We are filming in Fargo too though, we have several scenes there.

We are also hoping to find some good alumni and some Seniors from this great film program they have at Moorhead State. Moorhead is a twin city to Fargo, like Minneapolis-St. Paul. I love it up there! We are doing an other bar scene on Broadway St. :watsup:

[Vince K]

That does sound like a fun shoot! :)...
And Fargo is only a 3 hour drive south of here....give or take.

When is production scheduled to start?

[Roberto Lequeux]

We are hoping to set a date for next winter, not this one, so second week of January 2010. It is my script, micro budget, no names, but with production value and something totally different, plus completely marketable.
I really wrote it trying to satisfy a little bit of a vacuum I think I found in the market. The project has a lot of other good things going for, which I also wrote right into it.

The catch is, you also have to survive making it. HAHA.. We are looking for a 95% local crew cause that way you know we'll be ready for the cold.

http://www.getsmileyface.com/christmas/9.gif

[Vince K]

Nice!!
Maybe I'll take a little trip down there to catch the action when it happens! :)