Can Red take Kenya?

[Mike Peckham]

We're planning a 2 month shoot in Kenya this spring. It's a series of 6 short narrative films, about a half hour each.

We would like to shoot Red (we have 2 on order) but our DP is a bit unsure if they can hold up in the dust and humidity.

Can anyone tell me how your Red has held up with long shoots under these kind of conditions.

The biggest concern seems to be a camera dying and only have 1 spare, and having to send the camera back to the States to be fixed.


Thanks for your feedback.

Mike

[James T Mather]

I shot with mine in Kericho, Kenya earlier this year and had no problems at all.

[I Bloom]

Shot for a month in tropical environments, camera never went down. My EVF did though. I'd bring a second body if I could. And replacement cables, LCD etc. just because you will be so far from your umbilical.

[Russ Campbell]

2 week shoot in June in Kenya with no problems. Lots of dust and heat. You definitely want some form of backup though.

[dewaldaukema]

Shot for two weeks in Nicaragua and Costa Rica in temps in the high 40 Celsius with humidity in the upper 90%. Absolutely no problems. Had it been on a F 900 Sony, which I have lots of experience with, the humidity would have caused major problems with the heads.

[Ramesh Jai]

I guess Ghana is hotter and more humid then Kenya. On a couple of occasions when we didn't use the ice packs the camera heated up and refused to budge until we gave it some time to cool down. Now we just put ice packs on from shot 1.

Just want to add that once the ice packs are on we do not face any problems whatsoever:).

[Russ Fill]

3 Weeks on the border of Kenya in Uganda, rain, rain, rain, Then blazing heat. The camera never said no to any of it. I know for a fact that the humidity would have killed most tape cameras after the first rain.

[dewaldaukema]

Whenever possible kept the sun of the camera with umbrellas, Element Technica top cheese plate helps to a certain degree when brollies are not possible, and careful selection of the various internal fan settings meant we had no problems. Never ran the cam for more than 30 min takes though...

[Trevor Meier]

Just back from six weeks in Swaziland and Israel. Hot, humid, dusty... the camera did fantastic. A couple times it warned about overheating. I turned the fan to HOT mode for those instances and no further problems.

[Jimmy Gitonga]

When in spring to you want to come to Kenya?