EPIC FAN NOISE - HEARTBREAKING DURING INTERVIEW

[Mike Kushner]

Was shooting a feature for NBC Sports for London Olympics last week. The fan settings were "Manual" and record speed was set to 25% (then later in the interview after coming on automatically it was set to "Off", then back to 25%), and stand-by speed set to 75%. The room was air conditioned and was in the mid-to low 70's F. Cool, HMI and Kino Flo lighting. Was shooting for the PAL broadcast out of London at 25 Fps.

This young Olympian we interviewed has a tragic story of being sexually abused by her mother's boyfriend and her mother dying in a car accident right after the abuse.

As she told the story to the camera and tears streamed down her face...the camera fan turned on automatically at 100% (even though set to manual).

It sounded like a leaf blower was three feet from the microphone. It was, of course, very loud in the quite room Ruined the content for that sound byte...and ruined the moment as we had to stop. I ran the fan, put a bag of ice on the camera and apologized to the producer for the interruption.

After cooling the camera and re-starting the interview...the fan kept going on by itself about every 4-5 minutes. We eventually concluded the interview and the editors will try to salvage the audio and content...but i was extremely disappointed in the real world functionality of the camera as it relates to overheating. The picture was great, but if i can't get through a one hour interview in a room temperature environment without very loud fan noise, I've got an issue with that as a tool for recording sync sound in an intimate setting. (interviews)

Could just be a software bug, and maybe my camera is the only one that does that. Wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience or has any advice on how to keep the fan from starting spontaneously during an intimate interview in a quiet room that may require long clips rolling continuously.

[Yaque Silva-Doyle]

My experience is that setting the camera manually to an artificially low setting creates a situation where the camera is not cooling off enough and has to over compensate later. This is what you experienced. In the future you might sacrifice a touch more of the quite for sustained fan level.
Setting the fan to low auto is usually sufficient if the camera is not way to close to the mike. This will insure that the camera does not have to bump up the fan mid take.

If anyone else has thoughts on this it might be helpful. Setting the camera at auto seems to work just fine and seems to have perfectly except able noise level.

[Mike Kushner]

the camera was about 5 feet from the subject in a dead quite room. Low auto was used originally, but was a little too loud for the sound department.

[Yaque Silva-Doyle]

Copy that.

Some times good enough is better then perfect. This is one of those cases. Sound that was just good enough for the entire interview would have been better than perfect sound for just part of the interview.

That being said; not having been there and knowing that some times a room can have certain acoustic characteristics that can be very unforgiving it would be nice to know what the min sound/fan/time that we can get out of an Epic on the current build is so when we are in these situations we can manage our expectations and make reasonable setting adjustments so that they don't come around and kick us in the ass.

The tech question should be a know factor and it would be great to get a breakdown from Red.

Cheers Man.

[Doug Beatty]

I'm going to echo a sentiment that I read elsewhere:

"What if after carefully lighting a set, we started shooting and light started emitting from my recorder so strong that the continuity of the lighting was destroyed? I think I would be ejected from the studio along with my equipment fairly quickly."

The Epic is great for a lot of situations, but it is the wrong camera to use for rolling long takes when clean sound is essential. Like it or not, audio is half the equation and something to consider when choosing what camera is needed for the job.

[Bob Gundu]

This is why I always have my quiet 1080p camera as backup. Typically it's my Af100, but if space in my bag is tight, I bring my GH2 and D800.
I'd also like to add that if possible, move the camera as far away as your lens will allow from the mic/talent.

[Wes Machnikowski]

Hi Mike
I totally understand your frustration.
Fan noise on my Scarlet is #1 issue for me as well.
Love the picture, understand compact design and need for cooling off the sensor but very loud fan noise is not acceptable in many situations.
In other threats users had better luck with manual settings 37-40 recording 57-70 standby.
Personally I'm always nervous shooting longer takes in quiet location.
I wish there would be some firmware upgrade to make it fan run quieter.

Scarlet #772

[Mark Phelan]

I have shot many a long take interview, say over an hour long and have not had to fool with changing settings on the camera. I disagree with the notion that the Epic is the wrong camera for the job. Good planning is necessary, knowing that the camera does have to breathe and if you cut off its supply of air, at some point it's going to gasp, which is not the camera's fault. I have more of an issue with building air conditioners, white noise generators, etc than I have had with the camera.

[Michael Ou]

I sympathize with your situation Mike, sometimes these things catch us off guard or we get caught in a corner during a live event. During my prep work for a feature shoot that was using long takes (5+ minutes each) I ran a few tests with my Epics to familiarize myself with the fan function so I knew what the thresholds are, perhaps this thread can help with your preparations next time:
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthr...bout-fan-speed

These little machines are processing so much data/second that naturally, like all "super" computers, they generate heat. But they also give us a picture with such resolution and range, that nothing else in the market even comes close. Once we become familiar with the Epic/Scarlet's characteristics, we can really maximize their potential, and then ours. I encourage you to run some tests and to really put the camera through some challenging scenarios before you find out in the field.

[Paul Nordin]

Great info in that cross-link Michael. Thanks for posting, I missed it first time around.